#smartphone training classes for seniors

[jcmarchi]

New AI noise-canceling headphone technology lets wearers pick which sounds they hear - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/new-ai-noise-canceling-headphone-technology-lets-wearers-pick-which-sounds-they-hear-technology-org/

New AI noise-canceling headphone technology lets wearers pick which sounds they hear - Technology Org

Most anyone who’s used noise-canceling headphones knows that hearing the right noise at the right time can be vital. Someone might want to erase car horns when working indoors but not when walking along busy streets. Yet people can’t choose what sounds their headphones cancel.

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed deep-learning algorithms that let users pick which sounds filter through their headphones in real time. Pictured is co-author Malek Itani demonstrating the system. Image credit: University of Washington

Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Washington has developed deep-learning algorithms that let users pick which sounds filter through their headphones in real time. The team is calling the system “semantic hearing.” Headphones stream captured audio to a connected smartphone, which cancels all environmental sounds. Through voice commands or a smartphone app, headphone wearers can select which sounds they want to include from 20 classes, such as sirens, baby cries, speech, vacuum cleaners and bird chirps. Only the selected sounds will be played through the headphones.

The team presented its findings at UIST ’23 in San Francisco. In the future, the researchers plan to release a commercial version of the system.

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“Understanding what a bird sounds like and extracting it from all other sounds in an environment requires real-time intelligence that today’s noise canceling headphones haven’t achieved,” said senior author Shyam Gollakota, a UW professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “The challenge is that the sounds headphone wearers hear need to sync with their visual senses. You can’t be hearing someone’s voice two seconds after they talk to you. This means the neural algorithms must process sounds in under a hundredth of a second.”

Because of this time crunch, the semantic hearing system must process sounds on a device such as a connected smartphone, instead of on more robust cloud servers. Additionally, because sounds from different directions arrive in people’s ears at different times, the system must preserve these delays and other spatial cues so people can still meaningfully perceive sounds in their environment.

Tested in environments such as offices, streets and parks, the system was able to extract sirens, bird chirps, alarms and other target sounds, while removing all other real-world noise. When 22 participants rated the system’s audio output for the target sound, they said that on average the quality improved compared to the original recording.

In some cases, the system struggled to distinguish between sounds that share many properties, such as vocal music and human speech. The researchers note that training the models on more real-world data might improve these outcomes.

Source: University of Washington

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[finlaure13]

ChatGPT: Student builds app to sniff out AI-written essays

By Nadine Yousif

BBC News

Illustration of ChatGPT on a smartphone

IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES

Edward Tian has been thinking about the power of artificial intelligence for a number of years.

But it was in a packed lecture last year that the computer science student at Princeton University saw how advanced this technology had become. His thesis adviser displayed a set of text in front of the class and asked the students to differentiate between what had been written by a human and what had been AI generated.

Many students guessed wrong. He realised then that there was a problem that needed a solution.

"This technology is only going to get better and better, AI is here to stay. This is the future," Mr Tian told the BBC.

"But at the same time, I believe we need to enter this future responsibly."

This is why the 22-year-old spent his winter holiday break at a coffee shop in his hometown of Toronto working on an application that can determine, with high accuracy, if a text was written by a human or a bot.

He created it in response to the emergence of ChatGPT late last year - a free online chatbot that can expertly write almost anything, from English essays and news articles, to meal plans and computer code, all from a simple prompt.

The popularity of ChatGPT since its launch has been met with alarm, including from some US schools who have blocked it on their servers in a bid to prevent students from cheating. Others worry the bot will take jobs away from writers and creatives, or will be used for more sinister purposes by hackers to write harmful malware.

Mr Tian, who is in his senior year at Princeton, said the app he developed, GPTZero, was the first step to address a host of concerns that could arise as artificial intelligence becomes smarter and more easily accessible.

Photo of Edward Tian

IMAGE SOURCE, EDWARD TIAN

The app works by looking at two variables in a text - perplexity and burstiness - and it assigns each of those variables a score.

First, the app measures how familiar it is with the text presented given what it has seen during training. The less familiar it is then the higher the text's perplexity is, meaning "it's more likely to be human-written", Mr Tian said.

It then measures burstiness by scanning the text to see how variable it is. For example, does the text have a mix of short versus long sentences? Or does the writing appear to be more levelled and uniform?

"If you plot precisely over time, a human-written article will vary a lot," Mr Tian said. "It would go up and down, it would have sudden spikes."

He is still working on improving GPTZero, but he has released a beta version for public use. In a tweet, he demonstrated how the app can successfully sniff out the difference between an essay published in the New Yorker magazine versus a letter written by ChatGPT.

He said he has also since tested it out by feeding the app BBC articles written by journalists, versus articles written by ChatGPT using the same headline as a prompt. (Mr Tian formerly worked with the BBC's investigations unit). He said the app successfully guessed the difference between the texts with a less than 2% false positive rate.

Since its launch, Mr Tian's app has been used by thousands of people. He said he has since been contacted by teachers and university admissions officers from around the world who are interested in how it works.

While GPTZero was created to combat academic plagiarism, Mr Tian said he sees apps like his being used to address other issues that will come with the rising popularity of artificial intelligence such as online disinformation campaigns.

He is, however, not opposed to artificial intelligence - in fact, he said he was very excited about its emergence, and has found it useful in helping him to write computer code and solve other problems. But he said it was important to develop safeguards for any new technology as it gives its use a sense of credibility.

But he said that, above all, the popularity of his app speaks to "a human urge to know the truth".

[clumsytales]

A Turning Point

 "Papa, why have you been typing on your phone for so long? I need the phone to play games." said little Ishan in a mildly irritated tone. 

"I'm sending an office mail Ishu, wait for some time", said Anand. 

"Why don't you use voice typing, here, let me show you!", said Ishan excitingly, snatching the phone from his Papa. 

Holding the big touchscreen phone in his little hands, he held the voice typing button dexterously and started dictating. "I am Ishan. I am teaching Papa how to use phone smartly. "

Anand burst into laughter watching the brilliance of his little kid. 

Anand was in his mid-thirties and already a Senior Manager in a big tech company in Bangalore. His wife Amruta was a 'work-for-home' mom which was a full-time job itself except she never got any leaves. Little Ishan was a smart kid studying in Third grade. He recently started going to school after attending Online classes almost for two years. Anand's parents lived in their native village and used to visit once or twice a year. The city life never suited them well. 

The family of three had to start their day quite early. Waking up Ishan early in the morning was a challenge. Amruta prepared breakfast and packed tiffin for both Anand and Ishan, while it was Anand's duty to get Ishan ready and drop him to the school bus. Soon after, Anand used to leave for office in his car which was pretty nearby. Amruta used to be all by herself till afternoon till Ishan returns from school. After all household chores are over, smartphone and TV were her best friends. She actually enjoyed this little 'me-time' that she got. After returning from office in the evening, Anand would sit in front of TV watching the stock market news with a cup of tea in one hand while mobile phone in other. This routine of the family rarely changed. 

One day though this routine got deviated when Anand's car met with a minor accident while returning from office. There was a small dent and few scratches on the car. Anand decided to give the car to nearby service station for repair and head home walking instead. 

While walking down the street, something caught his attention. There was a makeshift toy shop on the footpath below a Pipal tree. Colorful, shiny wooden toys from Channapattna. Different kind of spinning toys, Chinese dolls, musical toys and a train set...

It reminded him of his childhood's wooden train set. 

A piece of art it was. Different types of wagons made of wood with vibrant shiny colors. The wagons were connected together with rounded magnets on the end so that train could turn freely on the curved track. The train was pulled by a motorized metal colored locomotive which would whistle periodically. He recollected how happy he was when his father brought this train set. He had hugged his father tightly and thanked him profusely. Anand wouldn't let anyone touch his special toy and took great care of it. His father would set up the train set for him, carefully joining the tracks together and launching the wagons on the tracks. Once the train would start moving, Anand would also run along the train whistling happily. It was one of the fondest memories of his childhood and he always cherished this time spent with his father.  He could not remember though what happened to this train after he moved to different city for college. 

And alas! Here it was now, a similar train set. Anand beamed with joy. Without a second thought, he bought it. He had no doubt that Ishan would love it as well. Anand got it packed carefully, wrapped in a gift paper and set straight to home. He was eager to present this wonderful toy to Ishan. He was hoping to have great time with Ishan playing this train as he had with his father once.

"At least something good came out of today's misfortune", Anand thought to himself. 

When he reached home, he started looking for his beloved Ishu, hiding the present behind his back. Ishan was in his room playing mobile games as usual. 

"Look Ishu, what I brought for you!", said Anand happily. 

"Is it what I think it is Papa?", Ishan asked giggling and jumped off the bed hurriedly to open the gift. 

Ishan tore the gift paper to see what is inside and his face fell. 

"Do you not like it, Ishu?", asked Anand confusingly. 

"It is nice Papa, but I thought you got me the iPad Pro that I wanted.", Ishan confessed. 

And then it hit Anand... Their lives revolved around gadgets. He could not remember when the last time was that he played with his son or had a hearty conversation with his wife. Little Ishan already had spectacles due to excess screentime. Due to lockdown, homes became office cubicles and school, mere videos. Catching up with the latest new, fear of missing out on something kept them hooked to the social media. Mindlessly scrolling through the Youtube shorts became a habit. They all had got so engulfed in technology that they forgot the meaning of companionship.  Anand was disheartened but he was awakened now. 

Anand held the cup of tea in one hand again, but this time, in his other hand, he held the hand of Amruta instead and asked her "How was your day?", with a gentle smile on his face.

[spprkle]

Exploring the Easy Techy: Simplifying Technology for Everyone

What is Easy Techy?

Easy Techy is a term coined to describe the approach of making technology easy to understand, use, and integrate into daily life. It focuses on breaking down complex technical concepts into simpler, more digestible forms so that individuals of all ages and backgrounds can harness the power of technology without feeling intimidated or frustrated.

The Importance of Easy Techy

In a world where technology is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly intertwined with our daily routines, the ability to navigate digital tools is essential. However, many people face barriers when it comes to adopting new technologies due to factors such as age, lack of exposure, or fear of the unknown.

Easy Techy aims to bridge this gap by demystifying technology and empowering individuals to embrace it with confidence. By providing user-friendly interfaces, clear instructions, and ongoing support, Easy Techy initiatives strive to make technology more inclusive and accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of expertise.

Key Principles of Easy Techy

Simplification: Easy Techy simplifies complex technical jargon and processes, making them easier to understand and follow for users with varying levels of tech literacy.

Accessibility: Easy Techy promotes the design of inclusive technology solutions that are accessible to individuals with disabilities and diverse needs.

Education: Easy Techy emphasizes the importance of ongoing education and training to empower users to leverage technology effectively and safely.

Support: Easy Techy provides user-friendly support channels, such as tutorials, helplines, and online communities, to assist users in overcoming challenges and troubleshooting issues.

Examples of Easy Techy Initiatives

User-Friendly Apps: Many software developers are adopting Easy Techy principles by designing intuitive and user-friendly applications with simplified interfaces and guided tutorials.

Senior Tech Programs: Organizations and community centers offer senior-friendly technology classes and workshops to help older adults become more comfortable with smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices.

Digital Literacy Campaigns: Governments and nonprofits launch digital literacy campaigns to educate people about online safety, privacy, and cybersecurity, empowering them to navigate the digital world confidently.

Tech Support Services: Companies provide personalized tech support services, both online and in-person, to assist users with setting up devices, troubleshooting software issues, and learning new digital skills.

In conclusion, Easy Techy represents a shift towards making technology more inclusive, accessible, and user-friendly for everyone. By embracing the principles of simplification, accessibility, education, and support, Easy Techy initiatives empower individuals to harness the full potential of technology and navigate the digital landscape with confidence and ease.

[neeraj2001]

Digital Marketing Training in Hyderabad

Overview of Digital Marketing Training in Hyderabad

According to the report from Expert Market Research, the digital marketing market in India witnessed a steep rise of USD 3,931.3 million in 2022 with a CAGR of 30.2, and by 2028 the market is set to rise by 19,268.7 million. The expansion of the digital marketing market is being fueled by the increase in smartphone sales across India. India is currently the leading marketplace for cell phones. It has a large consumer base including youth to senior citizens. India, a market with a medium level of maturity, has a high development potential. The nation is the second-largest online market in the world, with a sizable population of internet users who log on frequently to social media and digital platforms. This rise in the market is also creating more demand for jobs in digital marketing, giving opportunities to young minds.

More and more people are looking forward to beginning their careers in digital marketing and taking opportunities for good jobs and scale. With Emblix Academy offering Hyderabad's best digital marketing course, you have a good learning experience under experts.

Selecting reputable and trustworthy institutions can be difficult. It is essential to investigate the qualifications of the digital marketers delivering the course, including their training and work history. Through our 12 weeks of digital marketing course comprising of real-world projects and case studies, our digital marketing courses were created by professionals in the field to assist you in mastering skills like Google Analytics, SEO, SEM, Web Analytics, and others. You can earn an industry-recognized Digital Marketing Certification with the aid of the top digital marketing courses.

Our training program for internship covered in two weeks will also offer you two months of internship under practical learning experience.

Through our online Digital Marketing Training in Hyderabad, you will be taught the most recent creative methods including Memes and others that can generate views. Our live training methodology is highly effective and promises complete job assistance. From the fundamentals to advanced topics, our all-inclusive digital marketing course in Mumbai ensures that you graduate industry-ready. For your education in digital marketing and professional growth, pick Emblix Academy.

Key Features of Digital Marketing Training in Hyderabad

When you seek admission for the Digital Marketing Training in Hyderabad, it will come with multiple features that can make your learning quite an experience. Some of these features are-

Access to premium tools & digital marketing course materials

Doubt clearing and feedback sessions after every class.

Learn how to build your own website.

97% course completion rate by students

Guest lectures from top industry leaders

[nagarajudigital]

SEO Course in Hyderabad

Best-in-class digital marketing course content taught by leading faculty and industry leaders in the form of online marketing classes, recorded video.s

emblixacademy

Search Engine Optimization Training Institute in KPHB, SEO Training Institute in Hyderabad, SEO Training Institute in Kukatpally

According to the report from Expert Market Research, the digital marketing market in India witnessed a steep rise of USD 3,931.3 million in 2022 with the CAGR of 30.2, and by 2028 the market is set to rise by 19,268.7 million. The expansion of the digital marketing market is being fueled by the increase in smartphone sales across India. India is currently the leading marketplace for cellphones. It has a large consumer base including youth to senior citizens. India, a market with a medium level of maturity, has a high development potential. The nation is the second-largest online market in the world, with a sizable population of internet users who log on frequently to social media and digital platforms. This rise in the market is also creating more demand for jobs in digital marketing, giving opportunities to young minds.

More and more people are looking forward to beginning their careers in digital marketing and taking opportunities of good jobs and PayScale. With Emblix Academy offering the best digital marketing course in Hyderabad, you have good learning experience under experts.

Selecting reputable and trustworthy institutions can be difficult. It is essential to investigate the qualifications of the digital marketers who will be delivering the course, including their training and work history. Through our 12 weeks of digital marketing course comprising of real-world projects and case studies, our digital marketing courses was created by professionals in the field to assist you in mastering skills like Google Analytics, SEO, SEM, Web Analytics, and others. You can earn an industry-recognized Digital Marketing Certification with the aid of the top digital marketing courses.

Our training program for internship covered in two weeks will also offer you two months of internship under practical learning experience.

Through our online digital marketing course in Hyderabad, you will be taught the most recent creative methods including Memes and others that can generate views. Our live training methodology is highly effective and promises complete job assistance. From the fundamentals to advanced topics, our all-inclusive digital marketing course in Mumbai ensures that you graduate industry ready. For your education in digital marketing and professional growth, pick Emblix Academy.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing is a distinct marketing strategy for connecting with the target audience on digital platforms and through Internet mediums. Search analytics gives you a distinct advantage over conventional marketing when it comes to digital marketing. Analytics enables companies to evaluate the effectiveness of their business plans and gives the necessary information to change the strategies to meet market demands and increase ROI.

Regain your creative instinct to build effective marketing strategies to advertise a product or service related to any organization from any business sector with the help of our best digital marketing course in Hyderabad.

[moremedtech]

First wearable device for vocal fatigue senses when your voice needs a break

First wearable device for vocal fatigue senses when your voice needs a break. Singers, politicians, teachers, coaches could benefit from new smart technology. - Vocal fatigue is a common condition caused by overuse - Sensors provide awareness around how much wearers use their voices, with the goal to prevent vocal fatigue and further injury - Developed by biomedical engineers and opera singers, the small, soft, flexible, wireless device sits on upper chest to monitor vocal activity in real time - Using Bluetooth, data is streamed to an app, where machine-learning algorithms distinguish singing from speaking, independent of ambient sounds EVANSTON, Ill - Northwestern University researchers have developed the first smart wearable device to continuously track how much people use their voices, alerting them to overuse before vocal fatigue and potential injury set in. The first-of-its-kind, battery-powered, wireless device and accompanying algorithms could be a game-changer for professional singers, teachers, politicians, call-center workers, coaches and anyone who relies on their voices to communicate effectively and make a living. It also could help clinicians remotely and continuously monitor patients with voice disorders throughout their treatment. Developed by an interdisciplinary team of materials scientists, biomedical engineers, opera singers and a speech-language pathologist, the research behind the new technology will be published during the week of Feb. 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The soft, flexible, postage-stamp-sized device comfortably adheres to the upper chest to sense the subtle vibrations associated with talking and singing. From there, the captured data is instantaneously streamed via Bluetooth to the users’ smartphone or tablet, so they can monitor their vocal activities in real time throughout the day and measure cumulative total vocal usage. Custom machine-learning algorithms distinguish the difference between speaking and singing, enabling singers to separately track each activity. Bienen student Madeleine Zuckerman wears the device in Brancaccio's opera class Image: Northwestern University With the app, users can set their personalized vocal thresholds. When they near that threshold, their smartphone, smartwatch or an accompanying device located on the wrist provides real-time haptic feedback as an alert. Then, they can rest their voices before pushing it too far. “The device precisely measures the amplitude and frequency for speaking and singing,” said Northwestern’s John A. Rogers, a bioelectronics pioneer who led the device’s development. “Those two parameters are most important in determining the overall load that’s occurring on the vocal folds. Being aware of those parameters, both at a given instant and cumulatively over time, is essential for managing healthy patterns of vocalization.” “It’s easy for people to forget how much they use their voice,” said Northwestern’s Theresa Brancaccio, a voice expert who co-led the study. “Seasoned classical singers tend to be more aware of their vocal usage because they have lived and learned. But some people — especially singers with less training or people, like teachers, politicians and sports coaches, who must speak a lot for their jobs — often don’t realize how much they are pushing it. We want to give them greater awareness to help prevent injury.” Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery in the McCormick School of Engineering and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He also is director of the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics. A distinguished operatic performer, mezzo-soprano, Brancaccio is a senior lecturer at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, where she teaches voice and vocal pedagogy. First wearable device for vocal fatigue senses when your voice needs a break. Image from Northwestern University

Unaware of overuse

For the millions of people in the U.S. who make their livings by speaking or singing, vocal fatigue is a constant, looming threat. The common condition occurs when overused vocal folds swell, making the voice sound raspy and lose endurance. Vocal fatigue negatively affects singers, in particular, altering their abilities to sing clearly or hit the same notes as their healthy voice can. At best, one short period of vocal fatigue can briefly interrupt a singer’s plans. At worst, it can lead to enough damage to derail a career. It’s easy for people to forget how much they use their voice. We want to give them greater awareness to help prevent injury.” Theresa Bravaccio Senior lecturer of voice Lack of awareness is the underlying problem. People rarely make the connection between vocal activities and how those activities affect their voices. Although one in 13 U.S. adults have experienced vocal fatigue, most people don’t notice they are overusing their voices until hoarseness already has set in. “What leads people into trouble is when events stack up,” Brancaccio said. “They might have rehearsals, teach lessons, talk during class discussions and then go to a loud party, where they have to yell over the background noise. Then, throw a cold or illness into the mix. People have no idea how much they are coughing or clearing their throats. When these events stack up for days, that can put major stress on the voice.” First wearable device for vocal fatigue senses when your voice needs a break. Image from Northwestern University

Cross-disciplinary connection

As an advocate for vocal health, Brancaccio has spent decades exploring ways to keep her students mindful of how much they use their voices. In 2009, she challenged her students to keep a paper budget — physically writing down every time they spoke, sang and drank water, among other things. About 10 years later, she converted the system into Singer Savvy, an app that offers a personalized vocal budget for each user and helps users stay within that budget. Separately, Rogers, in collaboration with researchers at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, had developed a wireless wearable device to track swallowing and speech in stroke patients. The bandage-like sensor measures swallowing abilities and speech patterns to monitor stroke patients’ recovery processes. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rogers’ team modified the technology to monitor coughing, as a key symptom of the illness. “I wanted to gather more data and make our tracking system more precise and more accurate,” Brancaccio said. “So, I reached out to John to see if his sensors could help us gather more information.” “I thought it was a great opportunity for us to extend our technologies beyond our very important, but narrowly targeted, uses in health care to something that might capture a broader population of users,” Rogers said. “Anyone who uses their voice extensively could benefit.” The pair also partnered with speech pathologist and voice expert Aaron M. Johnson to explore how the devices could be used to evaluate and monitor treatment for patients with vocal disorders. Johnson, who co-directs the NYU Langone’s Voice Center, said the small, wireless device could help track patients’ voices in the real world — outside of a clinical setting. “A key part of voice therapy is helping people change how — and how much — they use their voice,” said Johnson, study co-author and associate professor in the department of otolaryngology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “This device will enable patients and their clinicians to understand voice use patterns and make adjustments in vocal demand to reduce vocal fatigue and speed recovery from voice disorders. Generalizing vocal techniques and exercises from therapy sessions into daily life is one of the most challenging aspects of voice therapy, and this device could greatly enhance that process.”

Singer-trained algorithms

The team modified Rogers’ existing devices to precisely measure vocal load over time. That includes frequency, volume, amplitude, duration and time of day. Like Rogers’ previous devices for COVID-19 and stroke patients, the new device also senses vibrations rather than recording audio. This enables the device to detect vocal activity precisely from the user, rather than the ambient noise surrounding them. The biggest challenge was to develop algorithms capable of distinguishing speaking from singing. To overcome this challenge, Brancaccio recruited voice and opera students to undertake a variety of singing exercises to train the machine-learning algorithms. A team of classical singers with different vocal ranges — varying from bass to soprano — wore the devices while humming, singing staccato scales and songs, reading and more. Each singer generated 2,500 one-second-long windows of singing and 2,500 one-second-long windows of speaking.

95% Accuracy of algorithms when distinguishing singing from speaking

The resulting algorithm can separate singing from speaking with more than 95% accuracy. And, when used in a choir setting, the device captures only data from the wearer and not noise from nearby singers. “Prolonged talking is one of the most fatiguing activities for people who are training to become professional singers,” Brancaccio said. “By separating singing and speaking, it can help people develop more awareness around how much they are speaking. There is evidence that even brief 15- to 20-minute periods of total silence interspersed throughout the day can help vocal fold tissues recover and repair.”

How to use it

To use the device, the wearer simply adheres it to the sternum, below the neck, and syncs the device with the accompanying app. Rogers’ team currently is working on a method to personalize vocal budgets for each user. Here, users will press a button in the app if they experience vocal discomfort at any point during the day, effectively capturing the instantaneous and cumulative vocal load at the time. These data can serve as a personalized threshold for vocal fatigue. When the user nears or exceeds their personalized threshold, a haptic device will vibrate as an alert. Similar in size and form to a wristwatch, this haptic device includes multiple motors that can activate in different patterns and with varying levels of intensity to convey different messages. Users also can monitor a graphical display within the app, which splits information into speaking and singing categories. “It uses Bluetooth, so it can talk to any device that has a haptic motor embedded,” Rogers said. “So, you don’t have to use our wristband. You could just leverage a standard smart watch for haptic feedback.” Although other vocal-monitoring devices do exist, those use big collars, tethering wires and bulky equipment. Some also use embedded microphones to capture audible vocal data, leading to privacy concerns. “Those don’t work for continuous monitoring in a real environment,” Brancaccio said. “Instead of wearing cumbersome, wired equipment, I can stick on this soft, wearable device. Once it’s on, I don’t even notice it. It’s super light and easy.” https://youtu.be/KDCwDGYK-RQ

What’s next

Because Rogers’ previous devices capture body temperature, heart rates and respiratory activity, the researchers included those capabilities in the vocal-monitoring device. They believe these extra data will help to explore fundamental research questions concerning vocal fatigue. “This is more speculative, but it might be interesting to see how physical activity affects vocal fatigue,” Rogers said. “If someone is dancing while singing, is that more stressful on the vocal folds compared to someone who is not physically exerting themselves? Those are the kinds of questions we can ask and quantitatively answer.” In the meantime, Brancaccio is excited for her students to have a tool that can help prevent injury. She hopes others — including non-singers — will see the benefit to keeping their vocal cords healthy. “Your voice is part of your identity — whether you are a singer or not,” she said. “It’s integral to daily life, and it’s worth protecting.” The study, “Closed-loop network of skin-interfaced wireless devices for quantifying vocal fatigue and providing user feedback,” was supported by the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University. Read the full article

[silvertipsllc]

Whether you are a senior, a scholar, an entrepreneur, or a working professional seeking to learn more about your smart gadget, we are here to assist you in overcoming any roadblocks. We bring considerable knowledge and expertise to every customer and tailor our assistance to your specific requirements and worries. Contact our Williamsburg, Virginia Company Silver Tips LLC to enrol in Smartphone training classes today! Browse www.silvertipsllc.com

[southeastasianists]

Myanmar braced for a major crackdown on Sunday night as more troops were deployed to the cities and armored vehicles patrolled the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyitaw. When internet access shut down at around 1 a.m., reporters prepared their gear and cameras and prepared to face the inevitable. A friend sent a message: “Delete any sensitive information on your phone!” A colleague called me, whispering into the phone, “Lights are out.”

By 4 a.m., no news of a major crackdown had been reported, though there were some arrests, including five journalists and two local residents in Myitkyina, the capital of northern Kachin State. They were released on Monday. In the morning, the Civil Disobedience Movement poured back onto the streets of Yangon and Mandalay, as well as the national capital Naypyitaw—the “Abode of Kings”, once thought to be protest-proof but now filled with peaceful protesters and security forces.

For those of us who lived through past uprisings, it is hard not to see the fate of the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement as preordained. We cannot help but replay the past in our minds, and relive the peaceful gatherings and uprisings that faced the military’s wrath and ended in slaughter.

We can see that the military is losing patience, but unleashing bloodshed in front of livestreaming smartphone cameras will be difficult. Since the coup two weeks ago we have seen several livestreams on social media in which citizens fought back against unlawful arrest and attacks by security forces. As in the past, if the military does launch a major assault it will be like digging their own graves.

However, it is frightening even to imagine how this latest confrontation will end. It feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion.

In November, just before the peaceful election in Myanmar, a colleague of mine sent me a message speculating on what the immediate future held for our country. The message predicted post-election violence and envisioned a scenario in which the military would intervene by staging a coup. At the time I dismissed his assessment—but deep inside, I knew there were ominous signs.

Later, after learning of the failure of last-ditch negotiations between the government and the military over the latter’s claims of electoral fraud, I knew we were traveling back into a dark tunnel. On Jan. 29, upon hearing that the two sides had been unable to reach a breakthrough, my colleague texted me simply: “Game Over”.

Indeed, much of the scenario laid out in the message in November—that within six months, the country would see violence, political polarization and the military’s eventual intervention—has come to pass, though the power grab came quicker than expected.

My colleague correctly predicted that the military would stage a coup, citing as justification its claim of voter fraud and an election that was neither free nor fair. Once in power, under this scenario, the military would announce that it intended to focus on key issues including ethnic conflicts, international pressure and economic stability. It also envisions that the military will amend the 2008 Constitution and hold elections, but without the NLD, resulting in a situation much like 2010, when the outlawed NLD refused to take part in the election. The message also speculated that former President U Thein Sein might be offered a seat in the interim government. That particular detail has not panned out—Senior General Min Aung Hlaing leads the SAC.

In retrospect, two high-level visits to Naypyitaw in the weeks before the coup by foreign dignitaries—one by the Russian defense minister (highly unusual) and the other by the Chinese foreign minister—now take on a whole new significance. If they didn’t have knowledge of the coup in advance, I would be very surprised. The military discussed the plan with some close allies at home and abroad. The generals have learned from neighboring countries, and from those further afield, and prepared thoroughly before staging the coup.

On Jan. 29, some senior military leaders in Naypyitaw reached out to ethnic armed forces and told them that, should any unprecedented incident take place in the country, the military wanted to continue working with them to achieve peace. In other words—a coup was on the way.

In 2018, at a café in downtown Yangon, I sat down with a high-ranking official who served in the U Thein Sein government. He warned me to keep in mind the events of 1958.

In that year, under General Ne Win, the military took power from Prime Minister U Nu’s government to restore order amid civil disturbances caused by factions among leaders of the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League. Under a “caretaker government”, Gen. Ne Win held an election in 1960. He handed power back to the winner, U Nu, only to stage a coup and seize it back two years later. Gen. Ne Win claimed to have saved Burma from the abyss and then ruled the country for the next 26 years. Our country became one of the poorest in the world as a result. Gen. Ne Win then endorsed his subordinates to seize power again in 1988 during the nationwide uprising. The “new generation” men in uniform ruled the country until 2010, when they held a sham election. The military-installed government opened up the country, and the West and the international community hailed the reforms and embraced the generals. I am afraid we will see a similar version of these events replayed in the near future. There are hostages in custody, and the military will say: “It’s time to negotiate. What is your price?”

The historical analogy has its limitations, however. Gen. Ne Win ruled in a very different era: He did not have to deal with the creative protest methods of Generation Z, nor were there smartphones, livestreaming, street performances and a horde of celebrities and affluent middle class protesters smiling and exuding a strange calm on the streets. Gen. Ne Win faced a different kind of protest and dealt with it in his own way, dynamiting the Student Union building at Rangoon University in July 1962 and killing many students. (None of which prevented him from receiving an invitation to the US, where he met President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966.)

A week after this month’s coup, the Biden administration condemned the takeover and imposed targeted sanctions. The West and the UN joined the condemnation and backed the protest, the CDM and the ousted elected government. Within days of the coup, protests were mounted in front of the Chinese and Russian embassies in Yangon. To someone who experienced the 1988 uprising as a student protester, it was impressive; it would have taken us ages to mobilize such a movement and international reaction.

The military’s first mistake has been to underestimate the speed with which a mass movement would mobilize; it gave no consideration to the special strengths of Generation Z. Second, it thought the battle would be strictly between the military and NLD. But Myanmar’s youth emerged rapidly and have broken out from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s shadow to take charge of the resistance to the coup makers. These are everyday people—our neighbors. They say with calmness: “If we keep quiet now, gradually, we will become slaves to the military.”

The military has declared war against the people and the nation, and is trying to turn back the clock. To my colleagues who argue about whether this is a “soft coup” or the harder, cruder variety: There is no such distinction to be made; a coup is a coup. The one that took place in Myanmar two weeks ago has one aim: to take all of us back to the stone age.

[polaristranslations]

Shinobu Mustard Episode 1

001

This spring, Harimaze Kie was a first year that had just enrolled in Naoetsu Private High School and a part of the girls' basketball club, and naturally, she was extremely regretting both of those decisions. She was regretting having enrolled in the university-focused Naoetsu High that had a high standard score, and she was regretting having joined the girls' basketball club that was too Spartan for a school that was supposed to be university-focused.

After all, the Naoetsu High girls' basketball club had previously had a super high-school level superstar, and the team had actually competed on a national level. But, as mentioned above, that senior had already retired, and what remained for the next generation to inherit was simply an intense training regimen.

A sports club with intense training, even though they weren't good.

That was the worst.

It was an ancient style of training that was influenced by images of a golden age—a bloated self-projection of, "we're both human beings, so I should be able to reach her level".

In the first place, this superstar senior had ultimately sustained an injury to her left arm and opted for an early retirement, so a Spartan training regimen was really meaningless, or rather, it could even prove to be backfiring on the team... So why was the club still forcing its members to do bunny hops?

Having said that, she wasn't exactly willing to quit the club of her own accord. If the coach or the captain were to give her the cruel verdict of, "You have no talent so you should just quit," then she'd happily resign with that as the reason. But unfortunately—and perhaps this was also a remnant of the era in which a superstar was a member—the Spartan girls' basketball club had a strong sense of solidarity.

And a strong sense of solidarity meant a heavy sense of collective responsibility.

If quitting of her own accord could end up influencing her teammates in some way, then it was hard to even bring up the subject... If she even said a word of "wanting to quit", then it would stop being just her problem alone.

Even though it was a tradition that couldn't be right, she didn't want to be the cause of putting it to an end... She wanted the evil tradition to come to its natural end, praying that it wasn't made out to be her fault. Stemming from the collective responsibility was a desire to shift the responsibility onto someone else. And probably, the other teammates were also continuing to endure the hard training with similar motives, their hands tied by similar ropes, all being foolish together.

And with that, it was today as well that Harimaze Kie had unwillingly participated in club activities right up until she was allowed to leave, dragging her two legs that ached with unending muscular pain down the dark evening path as she'd done for the past few months.

Her teammates all left in different directions, and obviously the time she left from school didn't coincide with her friends from class (in fact, her club activities had been so intense that she'd fallen out of contact with her friends from class), so she was returning home alone in a way that couldn't possibly be considered safe. She was even wondering if some bad guy wouldn't just come up and attack her already.

Even though she'd be able to triumphantly quit the club if she were to get badly hurt.

Even as she realized her thoughts had gone in too serious a direction, she could no longer control her thoughts anymore... She had become utterly exhausted from taking over the awful legacy that had meaninglessly remained, even as she knew it was backfiring.

Even her grades continued to decline.

It was true that practice was stopped before exams, but she'd found it hard to escape from the unspoken pressure of "training on your own" and "training in secret", and so her first midterm exams had resulted in awful scores that would been unthinkable for her in middle school. And at this rate, her rank for the final exams was sure to fall in the triple digits.

Well, not all of it could be blamed on club activities.

The students that had gathered at this private, university-focused school had simply had grades so excellent it made her embarrassed for having evaluated herself as a prodigy just a few months before... She'd gotten depressed, thinking things like, "Won't I end up becoming the first dropout since Naoetsu High was founded?"

Ah, that's why I want to be attacked.

Someone attack me. Beat me up.

Turn my life into chaos.

It could become an excuse for me to quit the club, and I might even get exempted from final exams... Then I can study while in the hospital and catch up on what I've fallen behind on. That's right, even if I wasn't a prodigy, I should be diligent enough to do that.

I can still redo everything.

Was this way of thinking just escapism?

(Escapism... Did that mean escaping from reality? Or did it mean managing to escape to reality?)

To throw away her hopes and dreams, and focus on reality.

In a sense, that was also a form of escapism... But in any case, there was no bad guy that conveniently appeared to strike her head in on Harimaze Kie's way home. No matter how many times, how many days she prayed.

Ah, then it's fine even if it isn't some bad guy.

It's fine if I get run over by a car at some corner, and it's fine if an airplane crashed onto my exact location... If it can make it easier for me, then anything's fine.

Even if it isn't reality... Even if it's a fantasy.

Like.

Yes, even something like a monstrous apparition—

"This is something I think every time I come to this country, but... There isn't a phrase that makes me less thankful than 'Thanks for the meal'... And saying 'It was delicious' is practically the opposite of delicious."

As she came near a three-way intersection, and as she walked—no, as she painfully dragged her legs while looking at her smartphone to make it even easier for a bad guy to attack her from behind, Harimaze Kie was, very openly, approached from the front.

And, as if a self-introduction was a form of etiquette that could never be forgotten—

"I'm the great Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicidemaster. The death-prepared, death-inevitable, death-certain vampire."

Her hope had been granted. Or perhaps, her despair had been granted.

Thinking that, Harimaze Kie raised her head.

002

It had been a while since I'd been to a hospital.

However, it wasn't that I, Araragi Koyomi, was particularly afraid of syringes, nor did I have a fear of lab coats—in fact, I actually loved them. This is just between you and me, but there'd been one time that I'd made my girlfriend wear a lab coat... We'd roleplayed using a mechanical pencil as a syringe.

Regardless (as much as it made me fall into some frustrations), the reason I'd stayed away from hospitals regardless of anything was that, during spring break when I was still a 17-year-old high schooler, I'd had my blood sucked by the gold-haired and gold-eyed, iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire, beautiful enough to send chills down my spine, and spent about 2 weeks as a vampire. And, because of the aftereffects, I had become completely free of injuries and diseases.

I was in such good health that I was almost tired of it.

Or rather, if I found myself getting examined at a hospital, then my aberrant regeneration abilities or superior eyesight could come to light, and I could end up being used as a sample for human experimentation... As a result, I'd even come up with an excuse to skip out on the physical examinations that occurred when entering college.

For the sake of my rose-colored campus life, there was no end to the caution I'd need to take... Regardless, the reason I came to the Naoetsu General Hospital this time was because I'd been personally called there by an adult that I owed more to than even my own parents.

By Gaen Izuko-san.

"So, what do you think, Koyomin? About this patient," said Gaen-san.

In a room on the fifth floor of the fourth ward, she spoke almost as if a doctor would—as if she were asking for my opinion. But I was in the science department and not the medical department, and if we were saying that, then not even Gaen-san was a doctor, either. Although, if it was her, it wouldn't be surprising if she had multiple doctor's licenses... Of course, while I had no intention of pretending to be a doctor at this point, after being prompted, I decided to give the bedridden "patient" a look.

Actually, because the single room wasn't all that big, that "patient" had already been in my field of vision since I'd entered, but it was just hard for me to look directly—I'd averted my eyes on reflex.

It felt like I'd seen something I wasn't supposed to.

The "patient" that was lying on the bed was,

"...A mummy."

While it had been made to wear a patient gown for hospital use, at the very least, it did not seem like a living being—or so it seemed.

"This is a mummy, isn't it? A human one, at that."

When I was a high schooler, there'd been a time that I witnessed something like a mummified monkey, but from the physique, and from the hair that was still left on the head, even if they'd gotten completely dried up, I could tell for certain that this mummy was a human.

Even if they weren't a living human.

They were certainly a dead human.

"No, no, this isn't even a dead human, Koyomin."

"...Um, Gaen-san. Isn't it about time for you to stop calling me 'Koyomin'? I'm already a college student now."

"A college freshman is practically the same as a newborn baby, you know. It was the same for me. I would say, goo goo ga ga."

She was totally unapproachable.

Well, it was a waste of breath. Considering this woman of unknown age, even once I became a fully-fledged adult, she would probably still affectionately call me "Koyomin"... But anyway, what did she mean by, "this isn't even a dead human"?

"It's alive. Still. Even in this state."

Gaen-san spoke without a moment's hesitation—it was a composed, not overly dramatic way of speaking very much like a specialist, or rather, very much like the administrator of specialists.

However, as someone who wasn't even close to being a specialist, it was a line I couldn't overlook.

This mummy was still alive? Really?

I would've guessed this was some kind of sokushinbutsu, some kind of mummified monk, that had been brought from some temple... Although, thinking about it, it would be in bad taste even for Gaen-san to lay someone like that to rest in the bed of a hospital.

"Its heart is still beating, and it's still breathing. Its bodily functions are almost disturbingly normal. Though there's certainly no consciousness, it's not dead yet... If you think it's a lie, you can check for yourself."

"Check for myself..."

Being told that, I nervously reached out a hand to feel the sleeping mummy's heartbeat—but just before I touched it, I was rebuked with a, "Hold on, Koyomin".

"That's a girl, you know. Touching her chest is off-limits. You could at least take the lady's arm to get a pulse like a gentleman."

A girl? Considering it had gotten all dried up, it was impossible to tell the gender of the mummy—however, regardless of whether or not she was a lady, I couldn't ignore the fact that she was a girl.

"...Then, if you'll excuse me."

I touched the left wrist of the mummy. Since she was a mummy, I was worried that she'd crumble into bits if I touched her, so I'd tried to be as gentle as possible, but that dried-up skin was still surprisingly resilient.

And I certainly felt a pulse. Thump, thump, thump.

"I'll just say this right now, but there's not actually any blood flowing—though her heart is still beating, there's no blood circulating."

It's just air circulating—said Gaen-san.

"Just air in a hollow body. Like it's completely empty."

"......"

As I listened to Gaen-san speak, unsure whether the line was supposed to be a joke or a fact, I pushed aside the mummy's hair to carefully check the girl's neck—and, as expected.

Two small holes had been pierced into her neck.

As if she'd been bitten by a snake.

Or, as if she'd been taken in by an oni.

"......"

"Harimaze Kie is the name of that mummy. A female student of the school you used to go to, Naoetsu High... But since she's a freshman that started this year, I don't think she's an acquaintance of yours."

"...Was she attacked by a vampire?"

Though I'd internally gotten flustered at the name of my alma mater suddenly showing up, I confirmed with Gaen-san something that didn't need to be said. It was so obvious that it definitely could've been left unsaid, but even so, I couldn't go without asking.

I gradually began to understand why I'd been called here.

"It seems so. On the way back from club activities, it seems she ran into one with a bang."

"Even though it'd been peaceful."

That was all I could say.

I had no intention of pretending that I understood anything.

However, everything started when I was attacked by a vampire during that spring break—the turmoil that ensued should have been brought to an end with my graduation ceremony, but to think that, just a few months later, a case like this would occur.

Well, it was possible that incidents like this occurred frequently across the world that I just didn't know about—if not for that, then Gaen-san, "the onee-san that knew everything", would be out of a job.

It was a terrible business opportunity.

It was a very niche livelihood—or rather, a niche death-lihood.

"So you're saying, this girl... Harimaze-chan? Did Harimaze-chan turn into a vampire?"

"Well, it seems that she failed to turn into a vampire."

Gaen-san shrugged.

"This is a fairly common occurrence. Successes like your case, Koyomin, are actually rarer. Although, with what happened, from the side of the vampire that sucked your blood, it was a huge failure for her."

Saying that, Gaen-san lowered her eyes to the linoleum that was characteristic of hospitals... That is, to my shadow on the floor.

Of course, there was no response from my shadow.

We were in broad daylight.

"Even though she's still alive, she's just barely not dead... Just a mummy with all its blood sucked out. Not on the verge of death, but still more dead than alive. Is that it..."

Even I could've become like this at that time... However, while a part of me was trembling, another part of me was relieved.

I had no intention of saying that it was fortunate that Harimaze-chan had her blood sucked by a vampire and turned into a mummy where it wasn't clear whether she was alive or not—but, as long as she was still alive, there was still hope.

And because of that, just like there had been for me, there must be a way to turn her back into a human—so the fact that her vampire transformation had failed was a blessing in disguise.

In my case, I had no choice but to do something about it by myself through my own efforts and self-education, but in this case, the omniscient specialist Gaen-san was presiding over it... I wasn't exactly optimistic, but there had to be a way to help this girl out.

"'Help her', huh? Didn't my very own Hawaiian-shirt guy say something about that?"

"...I've already completely forgotten what your Hawaiian-shirt guy has said, but Gaen-san, it's not something you say, isn't it? You don't say anything like, 'You can't help her. People can only help themselves.'"

"It seems like you remember it, though."

Gaen-san gave a sarcastic laugh.

"Of course, I'm here to help this girl, Harimaze-chan. However, Koyomin. If you simply think that a homebody like me being out here from the beginning is 'dependable', then that would be troublesome for me," she said.

What did she say?

"Huh? What does that mean? If you're saying you can't be depended on, Gaen-san, then who else is there that we can depend on?"

"That's a very nice thing to say, but before I explain, let's change locations."

"Change locations? To where?"

"We'll be making our rounds. Since it doesn't seem like you hate playing doctor, Koyomin, let me introduce you to the next patient."

003

It was a mystery how Gaen-san, who was neither a doctor nor a staff member of this hospital, was able to walk around as if she owned the place, but after seeing that a similar-looking mummy had been laid down in the bed of the next room over, I decided to come to the conclusion that the director of this hospital was the one who made the request to this specialist.

With these patients who had had all the fluids sucked out of their bodies and yet for some reason were still alive, if two were brought in in quick succession, it wasn't exactly something that modern medicine could do anything about... It had to be the work of the occult.

"This girl is called Honnou Aburi-chan. Another student of Naoetsu High—however, she's a second-year, so it's possible for even Koyomin to know her."

Unfortunately.

During my high school days, I wasn't exactly the sort that interacted much with my juniors.

Or rather, I hadn't even gotten accustomed to school enough to remember the names of students in other years... If she was currently a second-year, that meant that when I was a third-year, she was a first-year.

It was possible that I'd at least seen her face before, but because she was a mummy, and because she'd been made to wear a patient gown, I had no way of identifying her by her appearance... If I had to be completely honest, I couldn't even distinguish her from the mummy in the previous room.

"Harimaze-chan's mummy, that had been lying on the road, was discovered by a passerby the day before yesterday. Honnou-chan, who'd been found as a mummy at home in her own futon, was discovered last night by her mother."

"One person a day? That's quite a fast pace."

"It's not necessarily one person a day. There could be more that just simply haven't been discovered yet. Right now, it may just seem like only female students from Naoetsu High are being targeted, but there's a possibility this is only two out of a hundred victims."

Two out of a hundred. And that wasn't totally an exaggeration.

As for the vampire I personally knew, she boasted that she could stay alive even if she only drank the blood of a single person every few months, but on the other hand, she still had an appetite where she could suck the blood of all of humanity if she lost self-control.

However, in this case, I suppose I had to consider things based on Gaen-san's conjectures... There was some unidentified vampire targeting female students of Naoetsu High.

Unidentified... No.

The vampire I personally knew.

"Um, Gaen-san. Could it be possible that you're suspecting Shinobu? It's true that she'd been the subject of a rumor among the female students of Naoetsu High once before—"

"No, no, I've never once thought that to be the case. I only just realized when you asked me. It's not for that reason that I called you out, Koyomin, when you're enjoying your college life. I was just hoping to cooperate with you, as you know the lay of the land. So that we can prevent a 3rd victim, or perhaps a 101st victim."

Of course, you aren't a stranger to helping out a girl that you have absolutely no relation to—said Gaen-san, as if she were making fun of my personal history. Although I had nothing to say in response... It was because I got so desperate to help those I saw within range or within reach that I would end up troubling those who weren't within range and weren't within reach.

But, what should I do now?

After suddenly being shown not one, but two mummies in quick succession, and hearing that they were mummies of high school girls, I would inevitably be driven by a sense of moral obligation to help them, but fundamentally, a request made by Gaen-san wasn't something I could accept so readily.

For an adult that I couldn't know the true nature of, in a sense, she was scarier than a vampire.

Seeing that I stayed quiet instead of giving an immediate response, Gaen-san spoke.

"To be honest, the state of the board is such that I'd like to depend on Koyomin, too. A dependable Koyomin," she said. "It's a situation where someone like me, who likes working behind-the-scenes, had to be dispatched, you see. And if that's not enough, I can even say this... Right now, I'm taking measures to call that Yozuru back here."

"Eh... Kagenui-san?"

Perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised at that. However, I was still more than surprised—I was more surprised than I'd been after seeing two mummies in quick succession. At the very least, my reaction to Gaen-san's statement had to be more than what she'd anticipated.

To call that Yozuru back here.

Certainly, Kagenui-san, Kagenui Yozuru-san, was an onmyouji that specialized in immortal oddities, although it was hard to say that she was a respectable specialist. If anything, she was the specialist in this world that strayed furthest from the correct path—once, in my high school days, when I'd worked with together Gaen-san on a job, even in spite of the fact that an immortal oddity had been involved, Gaen-san had stubbornly refused to rely on Kagenui-san.

That meant that Gaen-san was predicting that this current situation was worse than that time.

In that case, was this something I couldn't ignore? It's not like I particularly had any love for my alma mater (in fact, when I'd still been attending school, I'd absolutely hated it), I'd feel guilty about pretending that I was unrelated to it.

Plus, though I had had almost no interaction with students of other years, it wasn't like there was absolutely no one I knew among my underclassmen... If I imagined one of them becoming the victim of a vampire and turning into a mummy, I couldn't exactly keep calm.

"...However, the practical issue is, if Kagenui-san is going to come, then I don't think that really gives me a chance to act. Or rather, I'd probably just become a hindrance to her. Maybe if I were still a high schooler with stronger aftereffects of my vampirism, but due to various reasons, I've gotten a lot more subdued after entering college."

"That's true. Though you were such an enthusiastic boy back then, it makes me feel lonely to see you all subdued like this."

Yeah, yeah.

"However, Yozuru isn't exactly nimble enough in her footwork to come as soon as she's called. As you're well aware, there are some special circumstances for her. No matter how much she hurries, it'll still take a few days until she arrives at this town... And those few days could very well be crucial to the number of victims."

I see.

If we went that far, then I was now a college student with more than enough time on his hands. If we were speaking of nimbleness in footwork, then I was even better than when I was in high school. Even today, I'd voluntarily skipped my algebra course to respond to Gaen-san's summons.

To tell the truth, there were a lot of circumstances with Kagenui-san that made me feel that it was simply difficult to face her right now, but in that case, it was possible that we could end this oddity phenomenon before she arrived at this town.

And, needless to say, doing that was preferable for Gaen-san, as well.

"Oh yeah. If Kagenui-san's coming here, then I'll have to let Ononoki-chan know, as well... Or rather, Gaen-san, aren't you going to inform Ononoki-chan about this?"

"Well, she herself is in the middle of work on a different case. But it's a secret from you, Koyomin."

"?"

I wonder what it is.

It seemed that Ononoki-chan had recently been hanging out with Sengoku a lot, but if that was the case, then it was hard for me to probe into it... Especially after being specifically told that it was a secret.

"It's important to not sweat the small stuff. If anything, this is just foreshadowing for the next installment. Nonetheless, I have no intention of pressuring you to work with me like I'd done before. If you can state in minute detail a legitimate reason as to why you'd like to flatly refuse getting involved with an incident that could possibly be traumatic, then I'll quickly drop the matter. If that happens, I'll call Kaiki."

"Leave it to me!"

No matter how I saw it, it didn't make sense for Gaen-san to think that that con man would make his entry for a phenomenon of this type, but if she brought out that name anyway, then I didn't really have a choice in the matter.

If it was to keep him as far from this town as possible, I'd do anything.

Con men were prohibited from entering this town.

"Well, con men are prohibited from most towns. Of course, I won't have you be working for free. In exchange for the considerable risk you're about to take, Koyomin, this friendly onee-san will be sure to offer the right amount of compensation."

A considerable risk, you say?

Well, it was quite likely that I would end up facing off against a vampire, and it wasn't like I could nonchalantly linger in safe zones... Not to mention, if I was going to get involved in a case estimated to be more dangerous than the revival of Shishirui Seishirou, I would need to be prepared for that much.

However, if you asked me whether or not I wanted compensation that corresponded to that level of risk, then honestly speaking, I didn't really want it... Frankly, receiving anything from Gaen-san was scary.

The deeper our relations or obligations get, the further into the depths I'd fall.

Being called out each and every time like this was almost like not being able to graduate from high school no matter how much time passed—but as I thought about it like that, Gaen-san spoke as if she'd accurately guessed the contents of my mind.

"If you decide to cooperate in the resolution of this oddity phenomenon, Koyomin... Until you graduate from college, that is, for the next four years or so, I won't appear in front of you again, and I won't even try to contact you. I swear it. You'll be able to go ahead with your bright and happy campus life, free from oddities and specialists," she said.

"For... For real?"

"Yes, for real. You'll never catch me in a lie or in twintails."

If it was Gaen-san in twintails, then I felt like I'd do anything to see that form, but this was a proposal that was even more attractive than that... Well, in another point of view it almost sounded like she was declaring that she'd cut ties with me, and if she swore that much it could even be a bit lonely (which sounded a bit selfish, even for me). But if it meant I could cleanly wash my hands of a life where I would be spoken to with an air of condescension whenever the chance arose, then there was no better compensation for me.

Well, it wasn't exactly clear how credible an oath made by the senior of that con man really was (it was even possible she'd done her hair up in twintails before), but, well, regardless of whether that promise was there, this certainly wasn't a situation that I could ignore.

All my reservations had been cleared up.

In the first place, for Gaen-san, I wasn't exactly a card that was easy to use. And it wasn't the same as with Kagenui-san. It was a problem of being too nimble in footwork. When it came to not moving within Gaen-san's predictions or directions, high school third-year Araragi Koyomi had been especially bad, if I do say so myself—now that I was remembering it, I had better repent for my behavior back then.

If an incident that forced Gaen-san's hand into using this worthless card was occurring in my hometown, then I absolutely couldn't just overlook this... That's right.

Sometimes, it was fine to help out people I didn't know.

"Understood. I'll do my best to work with you, to the extent that it doesn't interfere with my schoolwork—however, I don't want to cause trouble for my family, so I'd like for you be considerate in that respect."

"Ah. Of course, I can do something about that. I'd be well aware of the relationship between Yozuru and Tsukihi-chan even if I wasn't an onee-san that knew everything—oh!"

Just as Gaen-san managed to successfully gain my cooperation, her cell phone began playing a ringtone—well, considering we were inside a hospital, the thing that received a call could be her PHS, her Personal Handy-phone System, instead. She was an onee-san that carried a large number, with various kinds, of telecommunications equipment.

"Hello? Yeah. Yeah. ...Yeah."

As she spoke on the phone, Gaen-san's tone grew lower with every nod.

She was fundamentally an onee-san with a carefree style that didn't suit seriousness at all, but it seemed that the radio waves had managed to deliver information that could make this onee-san stop smiling.

"I have some unfortunate news, Koyomin," said Gaen-san after hanging up. "A third victim was discovered. Once again, a female student from Naoetsu High."

004

If you asked what would be the most striking difference, or perhaps transformation, between the Araragi Koyomi that attended Naoetsu Private High School and the Araragi Koyomi that attended Manase National University, then the most appropriate answer would be the method he took to go to school. Though I'd fundamentally spent my high school days going to school on a bicycle and otherwise on foot, when it came to college, my hands instead gripped the steering wheel of a car.

It was a Volkswagen New Beetle. It was after grueling hours of hard work at my part-time job that I managed to procure a used one in good condition, and I'd further restored it on my own—well, saying so would make a really good impression, but actually, it was a new car that was gifted to me by my parents to celebrate my high school graduation.

I was really being pampered.

Surprisingly enough, the fact that I so easily accepted that amount of pampering without resisting as part of my rebellious phase could actually be considered the biggest difference, or transformation... But putting that aside, after exiting the hospital, I had Gaen-san sit in the back seat of that New Beetle and headed towards the scene of the oddity phenomenon.

If you were wondering why I had her sit in the back seat, it was because a child seat had been affixed to the passenger seat—my passenger seat was reserved for a certain young girl.

"By appearance, isn't Shinobu-chan about 8 years old...? Though it's not even comparable to her in her complete mode, isn't she old enough to not need a child seat?"

"That feeling of having a slightly older kid fit tightly in a child seat is what I like."

"Mm... That's something you'd be better off not telling other people, Koyomin. Even me, an onee-san who knows everything, would have preferred not knowing that."

As we lightly exchanged such witty banter, we headed for our destination, which, as expected, was the school road to Naoetsu High—it wasn't a place that was too far off from the hospital, so we arrived fairly quickly.

Because it was immediately following the discovery of the mummy, I had thought there would be a crowd of onlookers that had formed or police officers that had rushed in, but the area was surprisingly unpopular... Even if it wasn't the time when people were going to school, could a normal road like this really be so deserted?

It had made me a bit suspicious, but it turned out that that was a result of Gaen-san's arrangements.

A way of keeping people out through some sort of barrier, the domain of specialists.

It should have been obvious from the beginning, but I wasn't the only person at Gaen-san's beck and call at this case—Gaen-san's forte was working in a team, and it could be seen as a good outcome that the search party had already managed to discover another victim that had been mummified in the same way as the two that had already been carried to the hospital.

Already. And yet, too late.

It couldn't really be said that finding the third victim was a good thing.

"I know you have some anxiety around strangers, Koyomin, so I had the search party leave the area, too. So you can perform your on-site inspection at a leisurely pace," said Gaen-san.

I was happy for that concern, but my stranger anxiety wasn't that extreme.

Well, from Gaen-san's perspective, she probably didn't want to introduce a temporary member like me to her subordinates, or her "real cooperators"—I could understand that.

Since my education wasn't very good.

"Even so, there's a limit to putting up a paranormal barrier in a residential area in the middle of the day, so let's move quickly. I expect this to have a strong visual impact, Koyomin, so make sure you prepare yourself mentally for that."

And Gaen-san exited from the back seat of the New Beetle... After being shown not one, but two mummified high school girls in quick succession, why was she telling me this now? That was what I'd been wondering as I followed her out, but immediately, I realized the importance of that advice.

Where the third victim had been discovered was, to be precise, inside some kind of shack that I didn't really understand, built on the other side of the guardrail alongside the school road.

Well, it had probably originally been some sort of wooden structure made for some purpose, but now, it could only be seen as some unidentifiable pile of wood... Though I'd said she was inside, it could at best be seen as some sort of awning, and with this many gaps in the woodwork, it likely would be able to keep out neither rain nor wind.

And, at the dried-up mummy inside it, I was rendered speechless.

Comparing the mummy that had been made to wear a patient gown and been laid down on a hospital bed, with the mummy that had been found in this mysterious incomprehensible shack wearing a high school uniform and collapsed on her side as if she had just dropped dead, the visual difference was striking.

Her shoes had fallen off, her clothes were a mess, and her bag had been thrown to the side.

Those details insistently nagged at me that this was the actual reality of things... Even if it was an oddity phenomenon, it was a reality that couldn't be passed off as fantasy.

There was no distinction between reality and delusion.

I was starting to regret having entered a domain that amateurs shouldn't lay a hand on—if it hadn't been Gaen-san that I'd made a promise with, I would probably turn tail and run.

However, it wasn't good to have my whole body tremble in fear.

In fact, it almost made me want to put on airs like a specialist... I tried to act as composed as possible and began to approach the mummy.

"This one also looks like a failure from a vampire transformation," I said, saying something I'd just learned as if I'd known it all along.

As I'd done earlier in the hospital, I took her wrist to feel for a pulse—and then.

"Koyomin, look out!"

It was unusual to hear Gaen-san shout, but it was no wonder she did.

When I'd squatted down near the mummy, she sprang up as if a spring had been installed in her back, and reached her arm out towards me—no, not her arm, but her finger.

And not her finger, but her nail.

The mummy tried to scratch me—tried to tear me to shreds.

"Wh-whoa! Ah..."

Being held down by a high school girl could be considered exciting and pleasurable depending on the circumstances, but if the conditions were that it had to take place inside an ominous shack and the high school girl had to be a mummy, then it definitely wasn't something I could feel happy about—though I'd carelessly approached the mummy to take her pulse, I'd ended up grabbing both of her arms for different reasons—for self-defense reasons.

I was able to somehow defend myself against the girl's ten unpainted nails, but I couldn't do anything about her fangs—by grabbing both her wrists, that also had the effect of sealing my own arms from being used.

And if the mummy, while holding me down, tried to come and bite into me, it wasn't like I could try and bite into her to defend myself.

Though I'd managed to perform all kinds of different kisses in my life, a mummified girl was way out of my strike zone—but ultimately, it was the work of a specialist that sealed the lips of the mummy that came onto me so passionately, and more importantly, the fangs that glinted within those lips.

Rather than sealing them, it was more like Gaen-san unleashed it—and what she unleashed was a cloth-like curtain that had covered the window of the shack.

And with that, the rays of the sun entered indoors, shining like a spotlight onto the mummy, and stopping her movements—like the opposite of a doll that moved using solar cells, as a result of bathing in the sun, the mummy ceased functioning.

As if her soul had been taken from her—if that was even possible—she collapsed onto me. That in itself was pretty frightening, but it seemed I'd just barely managed to escape from the predicament I'd carelessly stumbled into.

Although, considering that Gaen-san had cleaned up the predicament of this amateur college student with the most minimal of actions, perhaps it could hardly be considered a predicament... I see, even if the transformation had failed, the mummy was still a vampire, and was weak to sunlight.

Come to think of it, the hospital rooms where the mummies had been lying had also had the curtains open... And there were probably various other measures in place in that hospital room to seal the mummies' movements.

Even if they had no consciousness, even if the transformation had failed, a vampire was a vampire.

Even drawing near was dangerous.

"So... Sorry, Gaen-san. For acting on my own accord."

Rather than acting on my own accord, this was the result of me acting pretentious.

It was surprising how little I'd grown... Though I didn't know if getting my blood sucked by a mummy that had failed to become a vampire would turn me into a vampire, this had come dangerously close to eerily reproducing the events of that spring break when I was a 17-year-old.

Feeling ashamed of myself, I crawled out from underneath the mummy... But to that, Gaen-san said, "No, it's a great achievement, Koyomin," with some sort of consolation that I didn't understand.

An achievement?

"The name of this girl is Kuchimoto Kyoumi-chan. A first-year of Naoetsu High. Because of how tall she is, I'd thought she was a third-year, but it seems kids these days are growing very well."

Without showing any more concern for me, Gaen-san had taken the bag that had been off to the side and looked through her student handbook and wallet and other belongings to obtain the victim's personal information—the first mummy had been a first-year, the second mummy had been a second-year, so the third would be a third-year... But there was no such clever progression.

"Um... Gaen-san. What do you mean by it being an achievement?"

"When Kuchimoto-chan went after you to try and scratch you, Koyomin, she dropped the set of flash cards that were in her hand, you see—you're not a high schooler anymore, Koyomin, but you remember what vocabulary flash cards are, right? The pieces of paper that you use to memorize English words."

Without turning to face me, she promptly tossed me those flash cards—of course I remembered. They were a huge help when I'd been taking entrance exams.

I caught them—it seemed Kuchimoto-chan wasn't particularly studious, as the flash cards were almost brand new. Among those flash cards, only the first one had been used, and what had been handwritten on the surface in red pen wasn't even an English word.

"B777Q".

"...? What is this?"

"I wonder. By the way, there was a pen that seems like it could've written that among the writing materials right next to it—the cap of the pen wasn't even on. It was as if, when being attacked by a vampire, Kuchimoto-chan panicked and grabbed whatever she could to try and memorize that vocabulary word."

Gaen-san spoke carefreely as she fiddled with a smartphone with a strap on it, likely the high school girl's—unfortunately, it seemed a lock had been placed on it, which meant the contents of the phone could not be analyzed by even a specialist proficient with telecommunications equipment.

But anyway, the flash cards.

She tried to memorize vocabulary at that point... There's no way.

If anything...

"By the way, it seems Kuchimoto-san was an avid reader, which is admirable for this day and age. There was a work by Ellery Queen in her bag. You know, that Ellery Queen, famous for her 'Challenges to the Reader'."

And that Ellery Queen was famous for her dying messages as well—although, Kuchimoto-san had failed in a vampire transformation, so she was neither dead nor murdered, so the term dying message wasn't exactly accurate—but, "B777Q".

"It's a code that would elate that mystery maniac Ougi-chan. Although it would be impossible to go and depend on her now."

"Indeed. And she is still a student of Naoetsu High. She may even pull us further into the dark... At least during her stay of execution, I'd like to have her stay quiet."

During her stay of execution, huh? It had a nice ring to it.

Although it didn't particularly seem like she was going to stay quiet, there was no way I should further stimulate her curiosity—although, if more students of Naoetsu High were going to become victims, then that dark girl would very likely start acting on her own.

I was at a loss. If I were still in high school, I'd be able to depend on Hanekawa without hesitation, but... No, wait.

"Gaen-san. Will you please give Koyomin a chance to redeem himself?"

"Hm? What's that?"

"This dying message... Well, maybe we should be calling it a living message, but I think I have an idea about how to solve it. Please allow me to hold onto these flash cards for a bit."

"If you're going to say that much, then I don't mind. Living message, huh? How clever. It's common to make a joke that turns 'dying message' into 'dining message', but going for 'living' is fresh. And discovering that bit of evidence so early on is all thanks to Koyomin, after all—meanwhile, I'll be in charge of this."

Gaen-san had so disappointingly left the task to me that it felt less like she was giving me a chance to redeem myself and more like she'd discovered an even more important clue in her investigation—Gaen-san's line of sight was still resting on Kuchimoto-san's smartphone.

To be precise, what the specialist's keen eyes were looking at was not the locked smartphone itself.

It was the item that was literally connected to it, the strap.

"...Is there something wrong with the strap, Gaen-san?"

To an amateur like me, it looked like nothing but an ordinary strap. It had two accessories in the shape of the alphabet letter "K" dangling from it—without even needing to think about it, they were most likely the initials for the name "KYOUMI KUCHIMOTO".

Even if you locked your cell phone, if you left that personal information dangling out in the open, then it felt pretty meaningless...

"Of course, with just this, it would just be cute accessories that you could see anywhere. But if the second victim known as Honnou Aburi had a similar strap attached to her smartphone, wouldn't the story change?"

"Eh? ...A similar one?"

"Accessories with her initials. For Honnou Aburi-chan, it would be 'A H'... The lettering was the same. Of course, it could just be a coincidence. It could be a simple trend that this onee-san past her prime is unaware of."

The smartphone of the first victim, Harimaze-chan, wasn't decorated with any accessories at all, too—said Gaen-san, making a prudent excuse, before continuing with a "However".

"However, if the victims have something in common besides just being female students of Naoetsu High—there's a possibility that that missing link can tie back to the identity of that unidentifiable vampire as well."

005

Gaen-san called an ambulance to transport the third mummy, Kuchimoto Kyoumi-chan, to Naoetsu General Hospital, as the previous two mummies had been. And afterwards, I drove my New Beetle and headed for Manase University.

It wasn't anything like the admirable attitude of a college student to at least attend his afternoon lectures—it was to follow up on the idea I'd had with regards to solving the living message that had been left.

Conveniently, the 5th period course for today was the cryptography course I'd been thinking of—and undoubtedly, Meniko was sure to attend.

Hamukai Meniko.

She was a new friend I'd made in college. Considering she'd become a friend of mine, she was as usual a bit of an oddball, but what was important was that Hamukai Meniko was my first friend in a while to be completely unrelated to monstrous apparitions or evil spirits, urban legends or oddity stories—to be honest, just this made enrolling in university worthwhile.

I was glad I worked so hard to study.

Anyway, when I arrived at Manase University and entered the cryptography lecture hall in a bit of a late fashion, as usual, there was some good news and bad news.

The bad news: class had been canceled.

This was something that happened in college, after all.

However, the good news—there was a single person sitting in the lecture hall, neither reading a book nor playing with her smartphone nor draped over her desk asleep. And the one that was sitting while staring vacantly off into space was the student I was looking for.

"Yo, Meniko."

"Ah. Araragi-chan. Hola. Class is canceled, you know?"

"Hola. Seems like it, huh. But then, what are you even doing here?"

"Because I planned on spending my time here—I guess?"

As if she was wondering for the first time as to why she was sitting in a lecture hall for a canceled class, she responded as if she were playing dumb.

Thinking about it, it had been something like this when I first spoke to her, too—I'd come late to a class that had gotten canceled, and I'd ended up meeting Meniko, who was sitting in the classroom not doing anything.

In short, Meniko was decidedly bad at making changes to a schedule that she'd decided upon—even if a class was canceled, if she decided that she was going to spend that hour in that classroom, she'd move according to that schedule.

She was definitely an oddball. Although not as odd as I was.

But it was thanks to that that I could find her like this—because her personality was like this, it was pretty difficult to make plans over text as a result.

"There's something I want you to take a look at."

Finding it fortunate that the classroom had no one else in it, I took a seat next to Meniko and got straight to the point.

"All ri~ight. I'll look at anythi~ing. If it's a reque~est from Araragi-chan."

"It's about this flash card."

Since it was my first friend in a while with no involvement with oddities, I took special care not to get Meniko tangled up in my various oddity-related affairs, as I'd done with Oikura, while trying to maintain friendly relations with her, but in this case, it probably wouldn't be a problem—or rather, there were certainly many kinds of people in college, and among them, a female college student like this, with such a leisurely atmosphere, that it almost seemed like she was living in a different flow of time, and her hobby was deciphering codes, even when she wasn't a mystery maniac—she was quite an eccentric one.

She'd enrolled as a mathematics student as a result of her code maniac growing intense, and she was a promising ray of light among the first-years, valued highly by even the professor in charge of this cryptography course, although it had been canceled today.

And she was aiming to get a job in the police department's cyber security division or something... So, if I couldn't rely on Hanekawa or Ougi-chan, then I couldn't think of anyone else better than Meniko to ask for help—of course, I didn't reveal the fact that this was, not a dying message, but a living message left behind by a mummy that had failed to become a vampire.

I absolutely wouldn't introduce her to Gaen-san, either.

If I wanted to protect my precious friendships, I had to draw the line there.

"'B777Q'... Hmm?"

It seemed she'd been intrigued by it. It was hard to tell by her facial expression, but fundamentally, if there was something Meniko didn't find interesting, she'd ignore it as if she didn't even see it.

If you took in the fact that she'd so carelessly promised to "look at anything", then her words didn't match up with her actions at all, so it was good that I got her to look at it.

"Flash cards, hu~uh? How nosta~algic. Hm? There's something written on the back, too."

"Huh? The back?"

When I flipped through the cards back in that shack, I had judged that the rest of them had been completely blank, but right, since it they were flash cards, there was a space to write on the back, as well...

I definitely wasn't cut out for the role of a detective.

There were too many things I overlooked.

Nonetheless, when I inspected both sides of the flash cards dropped by Kuchimoto-san that I'd thought to be blank, both the fronts and the backs of almost all of them turned out to blank after all, without anything strange appearing—however, as Meniko had pointed out, on the other side of the very first card with "B777Q" written on it, the numbers "231" had been written in a manner even messier than on the front—"231"?

"B777Q" and "231"?

Absolutely nothing seemed to click for me—but what about the code maniac?

"Yeah. I have no idea."

"So you have no idea, either?"

"Yep. I have no idea. Why Araragi-chan, who's so much smarter than me, couldn't solve such an easy code like this—I have no idea."

So basically, did that mean she solved it?

006

I told Meniko that I could treat her to tea or something as thanks, but she politely declined, saying she had the next lecture to attend—well, that was the case for me as well, but unlike Meniko, I was flexible. The fact that I was not in the least reluctant to skip out on lectures was the same as in my high school days.

And, more simply, I had no time to waste.

Because it was an oddity phenomenon that involved a vampire, I needed to do as much as I could before the sun set—it's good to have a shelter against every storm.

After all, I'd even nearly been torn to shreds by mummies standing on the boundary line of life and death, unclear whether they were living or dead.

If I was going to have to confront the vampire itself—well, since I was under Gaen-san's management, it probably wouldn't develop into a battle, but it would still be better if I could resolve things before Kagenui-san arrived.

As such, I followed my navigation and traveled from Manase University to the Naoetsu General Hospital using the shortest paths possible. After arriving, I called the number of Gaen-san's PHS that I'd gotten from her when we'd parted ways, and had her tell me where Kuchimoto-chan's hospital room was—I'd foolishly wondered if, now that a third victim had appeared, it would be better to put them all in one large room for the sake of convenience, but it seemed Gaen-san wanted to keep them separate.

Well, if those related to the female students (mainly their families) ended up sharing strange information, it could cause a huge uproar—it was probably better to deal with each one of them as its own separate case, with "cause unknown", under the pretense of confidentiality, so as to keep this terrifying supernatural phenomenon behind closed doors and not cause a panic.

Of course, there had to be limits to that, but...

"Hey, Koyomin. You got back pretty quick, didn'tcha?"

Next to Kuchimoto-san, who'd been changed into a patient gown and laid on the bed like the two before her, Gaen-san, who was placing some sort of charm (vampire-sealing?), turned to look at me.

"Did you solve the code? I'd be happy if you said you did. Something a little inconvenient happened on my end, so I'd love to hear some good news."

"Huh. It's pretty unusual for something inconvenient to happen for you while I wasn't there."

"Totally."

Though she wouldn't offer any details, it seemed something truly inconvenient had indeed happened—although, unfortunately, I hadn't been able to return with good news that could make up for that.

Thanks to Meniko, the code I'd been assigned had indeed been solved, but that didn't change the fact that I had no idea what it meant—of course, this was just an amateur's judgment.

Perhaps, if I presented Meniko's solution (decryption) to Gaen-san, a specialist, it would be something immediately recognizable for her.

"My friend, who's planning on majoring in cryptography, solved it in 10 seconds. It was actually a bit too quick to be satisfying, but it was a code that a high schooler thought of, after all."

But it wasn't a code that couldn't be solved.

I put the flash cards on the shelf by the bed and tried to make my explanation brief.

"'B777Q'. If we take it apart, it's made up of a 'B' and a 'Q' with three sevens in between them, but what characteristics do the 'B' and 'Q' have in common?—although, I shouldn't need to start showing off like that in front of you, Gaen-san."

"No, it's fun. Keep going like that."

Even if you encouraged me...

Well, I was happy that she was going along with my self-redemption, now that I noticed it. It seemed she had some good points, when I actually could speak to her like this.

"Well, to sum it up, for the capital letters 'B' and 'Q' that look completely different when written in uppercase, they end up becoming the same shape, but rotated, when written in lowercase as 'b' and 'q'—and, if we think of them having the same shape, then there's a pair of Arabic numerals that also have the same shape."

"That's true. I'm well-aware of it from playing Uno."

"Um, it doesn't matter whether you know about it from playing Uno or not."

It was "6" and "9".

And, as you can see, "6" and "9" more or less had the same shape as "b" and "q"—in other words, after substituting them, we could come up with the equation that "B777Q" equals "67779".

"B777Q" = "67779".

"Oho. I see, I'm following you so far. But what does the number '67779' mean exactly? Do you have an interpretation for that?"

"Though she's aspiring to major in cryptography, that friend, like me, is a mathematics student, so when she sees a number lined up like this, she's the kind of person that thinks of prime factorization first, you see."

"What an annoying kind of person."

"Indeed. However, without even needing to do prime factorization, it should be clear as day that we can split '67779' into three prime numbers. That is, '67/7/79'."

"How is that even clear as day? Something like that is fainter than looking at a ghost."

Gaen-san shrugged her shoulders as if she was astounded.

Even an onee-san that knew everything couldn't know this as thoroughly as a code maniac and a prime number maniac could.

"So? How do you interpret '67/7/79' next?"

Of course, without even needing me to explain what prime numbers were, Gaen-san sought out the next step of the decryption—she was certainly good at using people.

"Well, we had a step where we converted the alphabet into Arabic numerals, right? So it's an orthodox method of doing the opposite now and turning the Arabic numerals back to letters of the alphabet."

"Hm... So is it 'S/D/V'?"

She was sharp.

Yes... "67" was the 19th prime number when you counted from "2". Similarly, "7" was the 4th prime number, and "79" was the 22nd prime number.

"67/7/79" = "S/D/V".

"If she managed to figure that out in 10 seconds, then I can't look down on college students these days, huh. Well, I don't have any complaints so far, but I still don't understand what 'S/D/V' is supposed to mean. You still have more, right?"

"Yes... I'm sure you probably realized this, Gaen-san, but for every piece of a flash card, there's always a backside... In the same handwriting as the front side, the numbers '231' were written."

"I hadn't realized it, though. Don't overestimate this onee-san too much, because I'd hate to disappoint you youngsters. '231'? Since it's obviously divisible by '3', it's naturally not a prime number. Although, among the titles of Maurice Leblanc's works, I think there was something like '313'."

"Since it had been specifically written on the back side, we should take this not as another code, but a sub-key to use as a hint... That is, it could be pointing out the order."

"The order? So, we should take the three letters pointed at by the code on the front side, and put them in the order of '2-3-1', like an anagram? So basically, 'S/D/V' becomes 'D/V/S'..."

"S/D/V" = "D/V/S".

It was likely that, in order to give off an air of perfection, the code had been rearranged to show the three sevens, "777", and this was an operation to put everything back.

Even I thought that "B777Q" looked better than "77QB7".

Putting it all together...

"B777Q" = "b777q" = "67779" = "67/7/79" = "S/D/V" = "D/V/S".

That was it—I was happy that I was being overestimated with her saying "Araragi-chan, who's so much smarter than me", but really, Meniko, arriving at something like this was impossible for me.

However, for a code maniac like Meniko, her decryption only went as far as this—just because "S/D/V" was "D/V/S", it still didn't change the fact that it was completely meaningless.

We could only decipher up to here for now.

However, if Gaen-san continued to say, "I still don't understand. You still have more, right?", then I'd have to throw my hands up—but the onee-san that knew everything stayed silent.

"......"

Without pressing further, and without even stating her own thoughts, she put a hand to her mouth, quietly behaving as if she were deep in thought.

Was there an interpretation that a specialist could make, as I had hoped? Could "D/V/S" be some sort of specialized term used by specialists... For example, something like "Dracula vampire soulless"...

But, as if chiding me for thinking something so stupid, Gaen-san said, "This is indeed an abbreviation, but these are initials, Koyomin. For example—the initials of a name like, 'Deathtopia Virtuoso Suicidemaster'."

"D/V/S" = "DEATHTOPIA VIRTUOSO SUICIDEMASTER".

007

It was an awfully specific name to use just as an example, but it seemed as Gaen-san had no intention of explaining any further, as she said, "Thanks, Koyomin. It seems like we might have something to go off of now," cutting short the conversation with her gratitude. "Give your friend my thanks, as well."

"Ah, yes..."

If the leader wrapped it up like this with that much force, I couldn't exactly go against it... Well, the fact that Gaen-san wasn't explaining it could mean that it was better off for me not to know. At least, for now...

In any case, for now we could put aside the deciphering of the living message that the third mummy, Kuchimoto Kyoumi-chan, left behind... As for me, I was more curious about Gaen-san's gloomy face that she'd shown when I entered the room.

Something inconvenient happened. That was what she'd said.

That's why she wanted some good news.

Even though she had said thanks, it didn't necessarily dispel the gloom from Gaen-san's expression, so I wondered if what I had brought was not good news but bad news. However, I couldn't just pretend to ignore whatever inconvenient thing happened while I'd been out.

"It might have been a bit of an exaggeration to call it inconvenient. Or rather, if it's like this, then I should say I'm glad I called you in in advance, Koyomin... In a way, this is fate. Well, because of the cell phone straps, I was wondering if there was another point in common between the victims aside from just them attending the same school, so I did a little invasion of the girls' privacy."

"When you put it like that, it makes it really hard to understand what exactly you're a specialist of, Gaen-san."

"As a result, I uncovered a completely unforeseen fact. All three of them were a part of the same club."

"The same club?"

Ah, then even if they were in different years, it would still make sense for them to be connected by having the same kind of strap... Although, I'd never been a part of a club, so I'd hardly associated with anyone who wasn't in my year.

Then, it wasn't just Kuchimoto-chan and Honnou-chan, but even the first mummy, Harimaze-chan, that were connected by a common missing link—but what was inconvenient about that?

Wasn't that a good thing?

It seemed much more concrete than the information I'd gone all the way to my college to bother a friend for, and it seemed like a much better clue that would take us a step closer to the resolution of the incident...

"And that club happens to be the girls' basketball club."

"Ah."

I understood. I understood very well.

Because, even though Gaen-san had almost nothing to be afraid of, specializing in all sorts of monstrous apparitions, she happened to have a single weakness, an organization that reminded her of her older sister... The Naoetsu High girls' basketball club.

Gaen Tooe.

That was the name of Gaen-san's sister, the onee-san's sister, and that onee-san's sister's daughter's name was Kanbaru Suruga—currently a third-year high school girl at Naoetsu High, and the former captain of the girls' basketball club.

She was one of the few juniors I'd interacted with—more precisely, she was the junior of my girlfriend, but, anyway, the keyword "mummy" was something that really had a bad affinity with Kanbaru.

And even if that weren't the case, the Naoetsu High girls' basketball club was rather unique... It was on quite a different level for a club that was in that uptight university-focused school.

Even if there were no oddities, it was still an odd organization.

If all three victims were members of the girls' basketball club, then it seemed impossible to just pass off as a coincidence... Although it was also dangerous to assume that that was the source of the incident.

Though I didn't remember when, a specialist had once said this.

Oddities have their own appropriate reasons—indeed.

Even the vampire that sucked out my blood during my spring break as a 17-year-old had inevitably had her own reason for doing so.

And if it happened that this case was also inevitable...

"We'd have to keep digging into it, right? Um, so basically... It would be better if I was the one to do that, right?"

"Right. I shouldn't get any more involved with Suruga, after all."

That was probably what she'd meant by when she said she was glad she'd called me in in advance... Once before, during an incident that wasn't just oddity-related, but also vampire-related, Gaen-san had needed to make use of Kanbaru's "left arm", and had operated under a fake name to do so.

She'd needed to do that much, because it was that taboo for her to step on her sister's shadow.

Though she was someone that was fuzzier than Oshino, she was strict about at least that much.

"Not to mention, Suruga has lost her 'left arm' now—or should we say she 'recovered' it? Really, Kaiki did something so unnecessary. Because of that, I lost another one of my successors."

"...Thinking about what happened before, I feel the same way in not wanting to get her involved. But, well."

I looked towards the bed... The third girl to be mummified, Kuchimoto Kyoumi.

After seeing her dried-up form once again, I knew I couldn't say that.

"In the first place, since it's been a while since Kanbaru retired from the basketball club, so it could be doubtful whether or not she has any useful information."

"Even so, I'd like you to do it. Since she's sociable like her mother, there's no way she wouldn't know even a single one of her juniors—if possible, I'd like to get a list of all the club's members."

"Understood."

And, though I accepted it, I couldn't reject the feelings of reluctance that followed. Because no matter how much caution I took, if I came to her with a weird approach, then Kanbaru would be sure to recklessly poke her nose into these affairs... At the very least, I didn't want a repeat of the events of the previous incident.

I checked the watch on my right wrist, confirming that it was currently in the middle of 6th period at the high school—at this rate, it should be possible to meet up with Kanbaru before the sun set.

Unlike Meniko, since Kanbaru was preparing for entrance exams, it was probably better to set things up over text beforehand... Or should I just handle everything by calling her? Although, considering the circumstances, I did want to meet up and talk to her directly...

"Also, I may as well let you know what I've ascertained after going through her belongings, Koyomin. From the on-site inspection, I had come to the conclusion that this girl had to have been attacked by the vampire this morning, but it turns out that she'd become a victim as early as dawn of yesterday."

"Yesterday? Um, then... She was the third person to be discovered, but Kuchimoto-san was actually the second victim?"

"Yep. That's how it is. She'd been missing for almost an entire day—that's what I learned after contacting her family. Putting it all together, Naoetsu High first-year Harimaze Kie-chan was attacked in the evening of the day before yesterday—and, before daybreak, the vampire attacked another Naoetsu High first-year, Kuchimoto Kyoumi-chan. It's still unclear whether the vampire sucked her blood in that shack or the vampire sucked her blood and then moved her to that shack, but regardless, it was done in the night—as a vampire does, it took a break during the day after the sun rose, and when night fell again, it bit into the neck of the Naoetsu High second-year, Honnou Aburi-chan, in her own home."

The permutation had changed, but, if anything, it broke down the hypothesis, high-paced as it was, that one victim was formed per day—by now, it wasn't exactly good news to hear.

This vampire was quite a glutton.

"Speaking of which, didn't vampires need permission to enter the houses or rooms of others? The second... that is, the third victim, Honnou-chan—wasn't she discovered in the futon of her own room?"

"There are variations to that idea, so I can only say that it depends on the circumstances. There are times when that's the case, and there are times when it isn't—however, if the culprit was some extremely handsome man with a well-proportioned body and an annual income of 500 million yen, like Shishirui Seishirou, then there's probably no high school girl that would not let someone like him enter their room."

Well, I wasn't sure about Shishirui Seishirou's annual income being 500 million yen, but, well, that was indeed a truth, or perhaps divine providence... It was also possible that, as was conjectured with Kuchimoto Kyoumi-chan's case, the unidentified vampire sucked the blood of the girl in an alleyway, turned her into a mummy, and then carried her into her room after that... Although I had no idea why it would do something like that.

"Of course, there might be even more victims, so I'll keep an eye out in this town for more dried-up mummies, not just limited to the female students of Naoetsu High—really, it feels more like searching for an ancient civilization, instead of just an oddity story. It's fortunate for now that the search range is just within this town, but depending on the situation, we may need to expand it even further."

"...Would it help if we asked Hachikuji for assistance?"

If we were talking about this town, then that lost child had become this town's god, so she'd probably be aware of troubles that were occurring in town... It was possible that she knew something.

"Hmm. I wonder about that. There's certainly a high possibility for that, but since she's become a god, that means by now that she's firmly on the side of the oddities."

"I see."

I wouldn't exactly be able to deal with depending on my old friend and putting her in a dilemma between humans and oddities.

Even gods had their own positions to keep in mind—if I appealed to her using my friendship and ended up toppling her from the seat of a god, that lost child could end up falling straight to hell without getting lost on the way.

After all, the road to the Kitashirahebi Shrine had become a throughway to hell.

And that was something that—well, it didn't really pain me to say it.

"Well, in any case, I'll set up plans to meet up with Kanbaru for now. And while I'm at it, I'll go and clean up her room really quick."

"That's a pretty incredible task to just do while you're at it. My niece is really causing trouble for you."

Although she wasn't as bad as you.

Well, I suppose it ran in the family.

"What will you do now, Gaen-san?"

"Though I feel bad because you and the search party are all working hard, I'm going to borrow an open bed in the hospital and take a nap—since I'm going to have to be active at night. No matter how young I dress myself up as, at this age, pulling an all-nighter is rough."

Well, that made sense.

As long as vampires were nocturnal, you'd have no choice but to adjust your biological clock to deal with their movements—even sleeping was part of the job.

Incidentally, a benefit of my aftereffects was that I didn't need to plan my sleep schedule like Gaen-san—it didn't put too much strain on me if I lost one or two nights of sleep. My vampire constitution had been modestly useful during my exam period.

"Oh yeah, by the way, Gaen-san. What should I tell Shinobu about this case? There's no doubt she'll wake up once night falls, after all."

Like with Kanbaru, during the case of Shishirui Seishirou, Oshino Shinobu had also been put to work, but I couldn't say that that weak-minded little girl had been totally useful.

If anything, she'd totally gotten in our way.

Well, I could sympathize with her situation, so I couldn't one-sidedly criticize her for her actions, and I had no intention of doing so, but if this was going to revive her feelings of remorse from that time, then perhaps we'd be better off excluding her from this case from the beginning.

After being sealed in my shadow, she had become not quite a half-vampire and more of a half-slave, but she wasn’t the kind of person that worked the way I wanted her to.

"After all, since they're both vampires, it could end up being someone she knows. That in itself would put her in a dilemma."

"For sure. It could be someone she knows. That would put her in a dilemma," repeated Gaen-san, nodding suggestively. "Well, we can think about that while she's sleeping. For now, focus on getting as much information as you can before tonight."

"Understood."

008

As I stepped on the accelerator on the way to Kanbaru's house, I pondered the possibility that the note that had been jotted down on that flash card was not actually a living message.

"B777Q" = "D/V/S".

It seemed Gaen-san had come up with some sort of hypothesis, and I believed Meniko's decryption had been right—however, for a code left behind just before the victim was transformed into a mummy, I felt that it was a little too elaborate.

Because, even if the cryptography was correct, this wasn't a mystery novel... Perhaps Ougi-chan would be convinced by it, but if you were being attacked by a vampire, or some other bad guy, would you really have the luxury of considering what the 22nd prime number was, or thinking that putting the three sevens together as "777" looked better?

No matter how much of a hard worker she was at school...

To be honest, even for me, who I could only recognize as having made it into college through his math skills alone, counting the prime numbers wasn't something I could easily do in my head, especially when I was driving like this... And if I were in a panic from being attacked, I was sure it would be close to impossible.

Well, it would be possible if it were Hanekawa, or even Meniko... Perhaps we could leave open the possibility that Kuchimoto Kyoumi-chan was one of those rarely seen child prodigies, but looking at those blank flash cards, it was hard to see her as anything but a studious honors student...

Especially if she was a member of the girls' basketball club known for its intense training... It was the same for Kanbaru, but that club had a system where you wouldn't be able to keep up if you didn't do your duties.

In that case, perhaps it wasn't a living message, or even a dying message—wasn't it more appropriate to deduce that this was actually the "signature" of the "culprit" vampire?

Signature, a declaration of crime, a proclamation of war, a self-expression.

It didn't matter what you called it, but it supported the theory of it being "initials" like Gaen-san mentioned briefly, or maybe even carelessly—it wasn't that the victim left behind the initials of the "culprit", but that the "culprit" left behind their own initials in the hands of the victim?

As if—making themselves known.

...If that was the case, the first (for now) victim, Harimaze Kie-chan, or the second (to be discovered) victim, Honnou Aburi-chan, could have something hidden among their personal belonging that involved such a self-inflated signature.

Should I let Gaen-san know about that? No, if it was a possibility on a level that I could come up with, then there was no way that Gaen-san didn't already hit upon it... And even if she hadn't, it wasn't a hypothesis worth waking her up, when she was trying to recharge herself for the coming night.

For now, I would focus on my own duty.

And as I pondered, the New Beetle arrived at the Japanese mansion where Kanbaru lived... I hadn't completely gotten free of the appeal of bicycles, but in the end, cars were on a completely different level in terms of mobility—I barely had the time to guess at deductions while I was traveling.

As if working as parking attendants, my junior stood outside the open gates, still in uniform on the way back from school—but, oh? It wasn't just one junior that was there.

Next to Kanbaru stood another female student, naturally wearing a Naoetsu High uniform as well—by the color of her necktie, she was a third-year, but who was she?

"Let me introduce you, Araragi-senpai. This is my friend from when I was in the basketball club, Higasa. After I retired, she took over as captain."

In a somewhat rushed greeting, Kanbaru introduced her classmate and friend to me when I left my car—her friend, who had been the captain of the girls' basketball club until very recently. I see, so when I let her know about the general idea of my business over the phone, she'd made some arrangements.

What a capable junior. I was unworthy of her.

"It's nice to meet you, Araragi-senpai. My name is Higasa Seiu. I've heard rumors about you for some time now."

"Haha. I'm sure they weren't any good rumors, right?"

"Ahahahahahahahahaha."

I was laughed at in an almost unnatural way. It seemed they weren't good rumors.

"Come inside, Araragi-senpai. No point in standing around here. Grandpa and Grandma are out on a trip, so they'll be away until the day after tomorrow, but even I can at least make tea for you."

"Eh. Um, but, your room..."

"It's fi~ine. I already know about it."

Though I'd been in a panic, Higasa-chan spoke up as if in total understanding—it seemed my capable junior had a capable friend. I felt a bit of relief at learning that Kanbaru had a friend among her peers that could tolerate such a chaotic room—but, anyway, I didn't want to overstay my welcome.

The problem in Kanbaru's left arm had been resolved, and it seemed she was lively and in high spirits, so let's quickly finish up my business here and take my leave—before she found out that I was playing around with her aunt.

"Here, have some tea, Araragi-senpai. I haven't put anything suspicious in it, so drink up without any worries."

"You don't need to add that remark!"

"Ahahahahahahahahaha."

Perhaps she was just someone who simply got drunk on laughter, but it seemed Higasa-chan didn't particularly mind sitting with and relaxing with a senior she'd just met, in this room whose mess seemed almost like a lie—as expected of Kanbaru's friend, she sure was easy-going.

"No, no, I'm actually very shy. Unlike Ruga, who's so boorish."

Although she certainly didn't seem like it.

Also, so Kanbaru was called "Ruga" by her friends...

For a moment, I'd been about to lean into the description of my cute junior as boorish, but in terms of our relationships, Higasa-chan was much closer to Kanbaru than I was, so it would be weird to condemn her evaluation.

"However, Araragi-senpai, you feel like someone I've known for a long time, so it doesn't really feel like we've just met for the first time."

"Really, what kind of rumors are floating around about me...?"

She was speaking as if I was someone like Lieutenant Columbo.

"You were the only delinquent among Naoetsu High's graduates, after all."

So that wasn't just Hanekawa's own misunderstanding?

Aw man.

"Although, just from hearing the rumors, it makes me quiver with fear. I'm so awestruck, so please forgive me if I end up being discourteous in any way out of my nervousness. Oh yeah, and I want to brag to all my friends, so could I please have your number?"

She didn't even hesitate.

Attached to the cell phone that was cheekily yet amiably presented to me was a strap with the letters "S H" as accessories... Hmm, it seemed that she had still left it on even after retiring.

What about Kanbaru?

Ah, that's right, her getting a cell phone was something that happened after she met me—it ended up being like that.

"So... About the girls' basketball club."

"Yes, yes. I have the data prepared right here."

From her school bag, Higasa-chan deftly pulled out a file that looked rather thick—it looked almost like a class's attendance record, but considering the context, it was most likely a register for the club.

"Since I joined the club, it's always been Higasa that kept records of all our activities, you see. If it were me, I wouldn't have even thought to make a list like that, and even if I did, I probably would have lost it somewhere," said Kanbaru.

Indeed, seeing the wretched state of this room that I had cleaned just the other day, I could see that she wasn't just being modest to praise her friend.

Though Higasa-chan had retired after she'd become a third-year, she'd still been present during the recruitment for the club in April, as she seemed to be completely aware of the affairs of the current second-years and the current first-years—however, when I reflexively reached out, she suddenly raised her hands in a banzai and kept the register out of my reach.

Like a basketball player trying to prevent a steal—or not.

"What is it? Nobody said, 'put your hands up!', Higasa-chan."

"Yeah. We-ell, Araragi-senpai. I shouldn't even need to say this, but this is the personal information of a hundred high school girls, after all," said Higasa-chan with a smile, holding the register in the air.

A hundred?

I turned to Kanbaru—and she nodded.

Wow, so the girls' basketball club had a hundred members.

A hundred members just from the first- and second-years... So were there at least fifty from each year? With a concrete number being defined, it put me at even more of a loss than when we had hypothesized an unspecified large number of victims.

Gaen-san had said something like "two out of a hundred", but that should have been just an example...

Well, for a sports club that competed on a national level, it could even be considered a fewer number of people than usual...

"To be exact, it's not fifty from each year. There are 76 second-years and 24 first-years, for a total of one hundred," said Higasa-chan. "So, even if this was something I made personally, if word got out that I leaked something like this, it wouldn't exactly end well for me."

"Right. Yeah, that's true."

I couldn't do anything but agree—I knew that, as someone who'd already graduated, and as someone who'd been part of the go-home club with absolutely no relation to the girls' basketball club, it was from the beginning a rather selfish request to ask for a hundred girls' worth of names, addresses, and contact information.

"Yes. If that happened, my blood will be spilled."

She was probably joking, but just today I'd laid eyes on three mummies with the blood sucked completely out of them, so I couldn't exactly go, "Ahahahahahahahahaha".

"Yes. It's not something to laugh about. It's not just their names and addresses and contact information—it even has their height and weight and three sizes and whether or not they have a partner."

"I'm sorry to take up more of your time, but Higasa-chan, would you mind blacking out those parts for me?"

"Even though it wouldn't end well for me, if I handed these records over to that Araragi-senpai infamous for being a hentai..."

"Infamous for being a hentai?"

"No. I said Araragi-hentai, infamous for being a senpai."

If that was what you said, that sounded even more cruel.

Should I go to Naoetsu High starting now to try and fix my bad reputation?

"Higasa. Being a hentai is my territory. And don't act all buddy-buddy and have fun with Araragi-senpai."

From off to the side, "Ruga" demonstrated the narrowness of her dignity.

Really, I couldn't feel any star power from her at all... And yet, they still called her the legendary ace of the basketball club.

However, if her intention was to protect the personal information of her members as an ex-captain, then Higasa-chan surely would not have even bothered to bring the register to this mansion on Kanbaru's request in the first place.

"I see. Understood, Higasa-chan. If I want to get that register, then you're saying I have to defeat you in a game of street basketball, right?"

"Um, no, that's not what I'm saying."

So it wasn't that? But I'd already taken off my jacket.

"Rather than that, the reason I'm risking becoming a bloody mess to lend you this top-secret register, Araragi-senpai, is in the hopes that maybe you'll be able to break down the current state of the Naoetsu High girls' basketball club."

"...? The current state of the club?"

"Higasa. If you ask that much from Araragi-hentai..."

While I was tilting my head at the rather unsettling wording, Kanbaru rebuked her friend—you're also calling me Araragi-hentai, aren't you.

You absolutely can't lend out the personal information of a hundred high school girls to someone like that!

"No, no. Even you feel some responsibility for it, though, don't you, Ruga? For the girlsbas right now. Perhaps even more than me."

"That's... Ah, Araragi-hentai. 'Girlsbas' is just a shortened form of 'girls' basketball club', and, most assuredly, does not mean the girls' bath."

"Could it actually be you that's spreading around my bad reputation, Kanbaru-kouhai?"

In any case, it seemed that, even between the two ex-captains, they didn't share the same opinion. And hearing that much, I wasn't the kind of Araragi-hentai that would back down so easily.

Not to mention, if there was some sort of trouble in the girls' basketball club right now, then, surprisingly enough, it could have some connection to the cause of the current serial mummification incident.

"Let me know what's going on. After all, I didn't come here to ask for help without doing anything in return. If there's something bothering you, I'll do my best to help."

"I'm very happy you feel that way, but it's enough to have you come over to clean my room every week or so, Araragi-senpai."

"Isn't that actually more than enough, Ruga...?" said Higasa-chan, scowling as if saying, don't say things that will make it harder for me to rely on Araragi-senpai. She then turned to me and said, "It's kinda in big trouble, the girlsbas after we retired," in an informal tone.

Really, what part of you was shy?

"It's not really a matter of there being any specific reason, but the atmosphere feels awful... When I visited the gym to try and be senpai-like and have them let off some exam stress, it almost felt like I put more stress on them instead."

Perhaps it was because of that that this girl was joking around in order to not make the atmosphere around here heavy as well—if so, she had a pretty good personality... Kanbaru had been acting as if she was embarrassed by her friend's behavior, but really, what you should be ashamed of is the state this room is in.

"Does it have to do with them getting weaker? Like, they fell out of the golden age that had the two of you in it."

I probably should have chosen my words better for that, but as someone with a small vocabulary, I couldn't think of another way to express it—they got weaker.

Although, well, that could just be inevitable, in a sense.

In a sense, Kanbaru was just too extraordinary.

To be even called a superstar, she was a student that was far more out-of-place than I was at Naoetsu High, a private school that was university-focused...

"That's true. Since I just worked really hard at my studies to chase after Senjougahara-senpai who I yearned for so much."

"Incidentally, I'm a sports-minded girl who can study without even needing to work hard at it."

Higasa-chan boastfully puffed out her chest, still keeping both her arms raised.

Well, there were those sorts of people, too.

"But I don't think it's because they got weaker. If anything, I'd say that would be even better for them... But, the atmosphere turned bad."

"The atmosphere—"

"The girls' basketball club stopped being a club that's bright and fun with a sense of solidarity," explained Kanbaru, almost unwillingly, in a way that was very much unlike her. "They lost their sense of solidarity—and all that was left was a sense of collective responsibility. And, to be specific..."

Kanbaru Suruga paused, then continued.

"Out of the hundred members listed in that register, five of them have gone missing."

009

According to Higasa-chan, saying that they'd "gone missing" was a bit of an exaggerated take from my rash junior, but to sum it up, among the first- and second-years, there were five members who couldn't be contacted.

Surprisingly enough, I was already familiar with three out of the five names they gave—although it wasn't that surprising.

Harimaze Kie. Honnou Aburi. Kuchimoto Kyoumi.

I could understand up to that point.

Thanks to Gaen-san's deft manipulation of information, and perhaps even an embargo of information, the various mummified girls were being treated as having a "strange disease", so their matters weren't publicized—as such, the three of them were seen from the outside as absent for some vague reason, the actual circumstances imperceptible.

"Gone missing".

Up to that point, it was a pre-established harmony, in a sense, so it wasn't worth getting shocked or taken aback—the problem would be the fact that two more names were included in the group of "missing" girls.

It was a fact that I didn't want to face.

It was a bit premature to assume that both of them had already fallen victim to a vampire, but even if that wasn't the case, five students going "missing" was more than enough to be a huge incident, wasn't it?-although, that was just what I thought as someone who'd already graduated, but, thinking back to when I'd still been enrolled, I had to conclude that that wasn't necessarily true.

I'd already mentioned that I'd skipped class in high school a lot, but it wouldn't exactly be right to say that, at this university-focused school where people "going missing" was rare, everyone but me was an honors student.

If you wondered what happened to the students that couldn't keep up in class, that weren't suited to the school tradition of having the top standard score, that ended up falling behind... Well, in short, you'd say they—"went away".

They'd transfer, or they'd drop out.

Or, like Oikura Sodachi, they'd shut themselves in their own home—they "went away".

What Higasa-chan had said was certainly right, and a "delinquent that graduated from Naoetsu High" like me was certainly rare.

It had to be an exaggeration to say that I was the "only" one, but most of them didn't make it to graduation.

They'd go away—they'd disappear.

As if they'd never been there in the first place—so, at Naoetsu High, becoming "unable to see" a student was not an especially unusual affair.

What the school was turning a blind eye to was not the students that fell behind themselves, but the idea that the school even had students that fell behind to begin with. That was the reality—the real problem.

Well, it wasn't just Naoetsu High. All private schools probably wanted to avoid scandals like that...

But, in terms of the trouble occurring in the girls' basketball club this time, what was different about it was that it wasn't trouble that stemmed from the intensity of class or exams, but trouble that stemmed from training and teamwork.

"Ruga herself will probably deny this, but to be perfectly clear, Naoetsu High's girlsbas was a club made around Kanbaru Suruga, because of Kanbaru Suruga, for Kanbaru Suruga, after all... Even from when I joined, I proactively worked to lead the club in direction, as well," said Higasa-chan. "I don't think doing that in itself was wrong, and it was because of that that we could make it to Nationals, after all. The problem was that, even after Ruga hurt her left arm and had to retire, that arrangement ended up being passed down as is... At least when I was captain, I did my best to fool the club to somehow keep things going, but after retiring in April, it fell apart all in one go."

A goal that was too far, training that was too hard, peer pressure that couldn't be escaped...

Not a sense of solidarity, but a sense of collective responsibility.

"Sports isn't something people should be suffering through, so if it's that harsh, then I feel like they'd be better off resigning, though."

Since the club was formed around her existence, it was hard to deny it completely, but Kanbaru, who was usually a straightforward person, spoke instead with a weak tone of voice.

"Even if they did want to resign, they probably don't want to be the first to do so."

"That's something I can't understand."

"Well, of course you can't, Ruga." And, as if exasperated, or maybe to sidestep the subject, Higasa-chan said, "There were kids that did resign, of course. Not that they sent in with an official notification of their resignation, since they resigned after getting hurt during practice."

Higasa-chan made it sound like they got hurt on purpose to resign... And I couldn't say that I didn't understand how they felt.

Although I couldn't say it was exactly the same, when I'd been studying for exams, I'd been tempted by the idea of hurting myself in order to avoid tackling a problem set for hours on end—of course, because of my vampire constitution, it didn't actually go well, but I could only say that there had been something wrong with me at the time.

In other words, there was something wrong here.

With the girls' basketball club right now.

Because they'd lost the support of the Kanbaru era—or rather, they'd lost the core.

"So, we knew we needed to do something about it, so we had a meeting of the OG third-years and debated over what to do, and, well, it's not like we didn't try to put some of our countermeasures in action, but it was like they backfired, since over the past few days, more and more members have stopped coming to school—and because it looks like there are no problems on the surface, it feels even worse than it should be. Even the ones that are having a hard time feel a sense of fulfillment or get filled with euphoria when they reach a stopping point, so they get stuck in place. And if someone carelessly complains about something, everyone else gets together and enjoys criticizing that person."

"It's hard for us to change that structure from where we are, Araragi-senpai. Or rather, it's because our generation is the one that made that structure in the first place, so what they're doing is almost exactly the same as what we're doing."

"Yeah. The difference is just how they feel about it. ...Um, it's possible that maybe we were wrong to set that up in the first place. Our advisor, who'd lived in an age of corporal punishment and a prevalent pecking order, had given us the opinion that 'it might not fit the current generation, but it was still good in its own way', and we didn't want to ignore that. Well, from the day I joined to the day I retired, I'm pretty sure I had fun every day, right?"

Well, who knows.

It was true that it was hard to deny a process before seeing the results, but the undeniable reality was that, even if they said and did the same things, if the people doing those things changed, then the impression would also change—however, in that case, I could understand how Kanbaru and Higasa-chan felt, about how it would be hard to guide their juniors that were just imitating them.

"The school itself is keeping us from saying anything, so we were basically at our wits' end when you approached us, Araragi-senpai. I almost thought this was a godsend."

They must have really been at their wits' end if they thought being approached by a pervert was a godsend, but anyway.

It was true that the timing was good.

Considering the current era, if it weren't for this timing, I doubted Higasa-chan would've even told me about the register's existence—however, I still couldn't say if this was inevitable or just a coincidence.

If the trouble in the girls' basketball club had a direct connection to the vampire turmoil occurring in this town—for Higasa-chan, she probably would never have guessed that I was already busy trying to resolve that trouble.

"...Hmm."

However, I still stopped to think.

I stopped to compare things with my experiences from last year... or not. What I was actually remembering were the words of my classmate, Hanekawa.

At the time, she had certainly been having some trouble, even though she didn't show it. And Hanekawa Tsubasa, whose worries had driven her up to the wall, had thought, during her spring break as a 17-year-old, that she "wanted to meet a vampire".

It was an earnest desire [setsubou].

It was despair [zetsubou].

To meet an incomprehensible monster that could burst through the immovable walls of reality, of real problems, in a single blow—even after graduating from high school, the Hanekawa that had spread her wings overseas was like that.

In that case, was it really so farfetched to infer that the students troubled over their club and worried about their school life thought, in the same way, that "it would be so much easier if a vampire came an attacked me"...?

And if that strong, earnest desire—or perhaps, that strong despair—was the missing link that connected the victims.

I couldn't afford to not determine the whereabouts of the remaining two names that had gone missing—especially if they hadn't been mummified yet, but no, even if they did already have their blood sucked.

"I got it, Higasa-chan. I don't really think a blockhead like me can do anything about the delicate problems that girls face—but if you can lend me that register, I promise I'll do my best to make sure that no more members go missing among your juniors, at the very least."

"Just you promising that is enough for me."

And though I knew that my words wouldn't give any peace of mind, Higasa-chan still said that and lowered her arms that had been raised all this time, handing over the register to me.

"By the way, Araragi-senpai, do you have a girlfriend?"

010

Nervously wondering about what would have happened if I had said that I didn't, and feeling embarrassed at myself for allowing myself to be teased by a high school girl that I'd met for the first time, I once again headed back to the Naoetsu General Hospital.

I'd ended up feeling a lot gloomier as a graduate of Naoetsu High, but just from the results, I'd managed to obtain the member list of the girls' basketball club fairly easily, so I assumed Gaen-san would still be in the middle of her nap in preparation for the night, and I started thinking about how I might be praised for my quick work, but when I arrived, the specialist was already awake.

Didn't she only sleep for about 30 minutes?

Even though she'd said that pulling an all-nighter was rough, was this woman also a short sleeper, like other eminent figures were...? In any case, I returned to the first hospital room I'd visited that day, containing the mummy of Harimaze Kie-chan, first-year of Naoetsu High and a member of the girls' basketball club, and relayed the information to Gaen-san in much the same way as a carrier pigeon would.

"I see. You're really living out your youth, huh?"

Those were her first words.

Well, for Gaen-san, who was from a completely different era, and had never even attended Naoetsu High, that may be how it seemed.

As someone who'd known firsthand of Kanbaru Suruga flourishing as a versatile superstar, it honestly pained me just hearing about the state of affairs in the current girls' basketball club, but it was useless to try and have those feelings be shared by an unrelated third party.

It was surely the same as how, for a fresh-faced college first-year like me, the concepts of employment or marriage were something I still couldn't understand.

"That's a little upsetting to hear. Even this onee-san had a period where she was in her youth, you know? A youth spent with Oshino and Kaiki and Kagenui... And a youth spent with my sister. Indeed, just as how youth is written with the kanji for 'blue' and 'spring', it was a springtime that turned me blue with shock."

"...I'm very sorry about that."

However, it was absolutely true that I couldn't picture Gaen-san and company in their teenage years... Especially not a teenage version of Kanbaru's mother, Gaen Tooe-san.

"From what you're saying, Koyomin, so far, there's no evidence to conclude that this has anything to do with the girls' mummification, but there is equally no evidence to dismiss it as irrelevant, either. So the members of the girls' basketball team were feeling depressed, wondering why they had to sacrifice their studies and devote themselves to grueling practices, when the seniors that would aim that high were already gone—and perhaps the vampire was attracted by the darkness in their hearts. That hypothesis does have a certain degree of plausibility."

"Oddities have a fitting reason to their existence—right?"

"Well, let this onee-san that knows everything tell you that the period of time that Suruga was a member of the team wasn't necessarily a healthy and beautiful adolescence, either. Putting aside the other girls, it wasn't as if that niece of mine got faster for a positive reason."

Indeed.

The superstar hadn't been a superstar from the moment she was born. Rather, circumstances made it so that she had to become a superstar.

Because she made a wish to a monkey.

"Even if she was freed from that monkey, it doesn't mean she's been freed from the worries of her adolescence. Well, it's the fate of upperclassmen to be bothered by their underclassmen. We'll just have to roll with it in order to uphold the cheap promise you made, Koyomin."

First off, why don't we focus on searching for the remaining two "missing" members of the club?—said Gaen-san, deciding on our plan of action after riffling through the register I gave her.

"Of course, we'll also be confirming the locations of the remaining members, too. Kanguu Misago-chan and Kiseki Souwa-chan—both second-years."

"Hypothetically, if those two have already had a run-in with the vampire, then out of the five victims, there would be three second-years and two first-years."

Not that I could draw any conclusions from that, and I might have been getting ahead of myself considering their mummies hadn't been discovered yet.

But I didn't want to turn away from unpleasant possibilities just because the pessimism would bum me out—I wanted to think of everything I could, so that I could deal with the worst-case scenario.

3:2... That was the ratio of the club members.

"Oh yeah. Gaen-san. I only thought of this afterwards, but do you think it's possible that the living message that Kuchimoto-chan left behind on that flash card was actually the vampire's signature?"

"I'd say it's very possible."

It seemed that it was a possibility that she'd already considered, as she responded to my question in an instant—the initials, huh?

"D/V/S".

"However, there was nothing of the sort in the belongings of either Harimaze Kie-chan here or Honnou Aburi-chan in the next room. Of course, there were no living messages either. But if the 'B777Q' on the flash card is actually a signature, it would make more sense if a similar code was left with every mummy."

That was true... But for her to have already verified that—did this person really take a nap while I was gone?

"In Kuchimoto-chan's case, instead of being on a public street or in a private house, she was in an abandoned shack. Maybe the vampire felt that they could work leisurely without worrying about being seen?"

As I said that, I couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Without worrying about being seen? Work leisurely?

A vampire worrying about being seen sounded like some sort of slapstick comedy... In that case, it would make more sense that they had left a code behind with the mummies of Harimaze-chan and Honnou-chan, a code that didn't seem like a code.

"There are a couple more things that don't make sense, Koyomin. If you explain this as a vampire leaving their signature in much the same way an artist signs their name on a work of art, it's pretty hair-raising and very appropriate for an oddity story—but in that case, don't you think they would have added it to a work that they'd be more proud of?"

At least, they wouldn't be doing it on a failure... —said Gaen-san, looking up from the register and towards the mummy on the bed.

I see.

As an ordinary person, my thoughts came to a standstill when I lay my eyes upon such a gruesome mummy, but in the end, a mummy like this was something that had "failed" to become a vampire—no matter how much they longed to be in the limelight, there was surely no artist that would sign their name on a failed work.

Then, should I simply assume that it was just a living message left behind by Kuchimoto-chan?

"I did do a handwriting analysis. I compared the writing in red pen on the flash card with the writing in her notebook that I found in her bag—however, I couldn't come to a definite conclusion. There didn't seem to be any matches in the handwriting, but if they were scribbling it down while being attacked by a vampire, it would make sense for it to be messy."

"That's true... Well, in the end, whether it's a living message or a signature, it doesn't really matter."

"Although, from our perspective as the pursuers, a vampire that longs to be in the limelight is much easier to find, so that would be helpful. But anyway, as the commander, I'd like to give you a command to follow, Koyomin."

"Ah. Yes. What is it?"

The sun was about to set. Time was running out.

We were entering the world of the night.

It seemed that, after the reconnaissance and discussion, it was finally time to come up with a practical response to this oddity phenomenon—thanks to talking with Kanbaru and Higasa-chan, my motivation to solve the case had increased as much as my mood had decreased, but now, what did I need to do?

"I was really unsure about whether or not I should ask this of you... But it seems I'll have to after all. Koyomin. This is only something you can do."

Gaen-san spoke with a serious expression.

"I'd like you to hold Shinobu-chan back for tonight."

[baekhypnotized]

☆— [one]

summary: Baekhyun is just a man who doesn’t believe in romance as much as Byul, who is trying to give herself to him. But day by day, he will soon realize that her fleeting actions are breaking down his cold-hearted brick wall, no matter if it takes her a million years.

warning(s): -

word count: 2.7k+

author’s note: first chapter is finally up!! feedback is much appreciated so please leave your thoughts regarding this fic!! to anyone who would like to be tagged in the next chapter, please let me know too :) 

tag list: @baestelcolor​ 

[next]>>

Today marks three months since I moved to an affordable studio apartment in Seoul. With an agreement, my mom agrees to let me further my studies in Seoul on one condition, she can only give a limited amount of monthly allowance for me. It doesn’t really matter to me because I have been planning to find a part-time job in a cafe or a flower shop to pay for rent and my college fees. Trying to find a job in a city where only experienced people will be prioritized is quite a struggle considering my lack of experience but I am grateful to be able to land a job in a small cafe near my university. I will be working in shifts to fit my class schedule and the weekends.

Since it's the weekend and some of the workers are taking their leaves, I take this opportunity to take over their shifts for extra wages. This is the only effort that I can do for my own living. Next week will be super hectic with orientation week as a post-graduate student. I’m feeling a little nervous about it that I can feel the shiver down my spine. I wake up early in the morning, prepare a simple toast for breakfast and get into my work outfit. Styling my hair with a messy bun, I apply lip tint on my lips to make me look alive for today. 

The walk to the nearest train station is about 10 minutes from my apartment and since it’s still early, the amount of people on the train is less than I imagine. Maybe, most of them are still tucked in bed and enjoying their weekend with beloved ones. But here I am, working on a Sunday when tomorrow is my first day as a Master student. The view of the Sunrise, lighting up the panorama of Seoul with her gleaming rays, reflecting beautifully on the blue water of the Han River is endearing to me. The beauty of Seoul will always catch people’s attention, including me and that’s the reason why I decided to continue my studies in my own hometown. It feels good to be back in Korea after living in New Orleans for years with a new family for so long. 

When I arrived there, the cafe is already open as I guess, Senior Hana arrived earlier. I greet her politely and she instructs me what to for today. An hour left before the cafe’s starts to open, cleaning the place up would be a good idea somehow. Dahyun will be here any minute now because she’s responsible to display the cakes and appetizers at the display counter. I rearrange the tables and chairs accordingly, sweep the floor and finish it up by mopping the floor. 

The first bell chimes make me turns around, noticing that Dahyun has finally arrived. 

"Morning, Byul!” She greets with a loud yawn.

I pause for a moment from cleaning the cashier counter to look at Dahyun, with a smile stretched. “Morning, Dahyun.”

She leaves me alone to set up the desserts by the display counter as I go back to the staff room and grabbing my black apron as I wear it, completing it with my nametag pinned on the apron. There are approximately 15 minutes left before we open for today’s business and I just hope my first day at the cafe goes well considering we’ll be getting a lot more customers on a Sunday.

"I’m done arranging them! Finally!” Dahyun huffs a loud sigh before she plops down on a small chair. I give her a thumbs up, rewarding her for her hard work. Dahyun stands back on her feet, walking towards the staff room to prepare herself. “I think we can start for today, Byul.”

"Are you ready?” I confirm it back to her, waiting for her reply. 

"Yes, I’m ready. I’ll be back and you can unlock the main door already.”

I comply with her commands, go straight to the main door and unlocks it, and then turning the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’. Waiting for customers to enter the cafe behind the cash register counter, I hum to random songs while figuring out what outfit should I be wearing on the first day of university tomorrow. I’m feeling quite edgy and anxious but I pray that everything will be fine.

A tinkling sound comes from the wind chime that my boss hung at the door, alerting the staff of new customers. My first customer for today is a he. The heels of his expensive shoes makes a clear, nice sound against the wooden floorboards. He enters the café. His hair is combed perfectly and parted in the middle, looking so sleek in his black suit. As he comes closer towards me, I can clearly see a few cute little moles on his face. 

This man in front of me greets me with a smile that manages to make my heart beats loudly, my cheeks redden into a rosy pink color. I let out a small cough to control myself as I plaster a polite smile to him.

"Good morning, sir! Do you have anything in mind?”

The guy scans through the menu board, taking his time to order.

"I’ll have one cup of latte and a waffle with honey on top.” He asks with a firm voice, unknowingly making me feel nervous. 

I key in his order into the system one by one without leaving anything. “That will be $15.65, sir.”

He digs into his pocket and hands in a 50-dollar bill. “Keep the change.”

"But sir… It’s my responsibility to return your change back. It’s a business policy…” I stutter while explaining to him, hoping for him to understand my current situation since I don’t want to risk breaking a rule or worse, get fired from this only part-time job that I have. 

The guy is busy staring at me in amusement when I’m trying to be a good and innocent staff that wouldn't have done any wrongs. He gives me a contemplating ‘hmm’ before he complies. “Listen here,” He reads my name tag, “-Hanbyul. Let’s just say I treat your next upcoming customers. How does that sound?” He smirks slyly before taking a seat by the window, playing with his smartphone to kill time while waiting for his orders. I baffle when he just left without giving me an answer. I sigh and keep the dollar bill into the cashier and start brewing his hot latte and baking the waffle.

Dahyun comes back to the front and she is surprised with the early customer that we got. “Woah, what the heck is he doing so early in the morning? It’s only 8 in the morning!”

She nudges me with her elbow but I refuse to answer her because I am busy with my work. But, she’s right though. How on Earth does a guy wake up so early in the morning looking so handsome like this guy?! And it is the weekend for God’s sake!

Once I finish up preparing his orders, I bring the tray to him instead of calling him because he’s the only customer in the café.

"Sir,” I greet him while serving the hot latte and the waffle on the table, “your orders are here. Hope you enjoy it!” I beam brightly and bow 90 degrees as respect. The guy was busy scrolling his phone as I leave him behind. 

"Hanbyul.” My name was called by his husky voice, making me stop in my tracks, turning around to face him.

"May I help you with anything, sir?” I question him as he starts to take a sip on the latte. He starts to make weird faces and I assume there’s something wrong with the latte. 

"Is there anything wrong with the latte, sir?” I ask worriedly.

He shakes his head before the frown on his lips stretched into a grin. I am taken aback but I sigh in relief, knowing that I didn’t do any mistake that might risk me my position.

"It surely tastes sweeter today,” he says with a hum, taking another sip. “Yeah, definitely sweeter than yesterday. Probably because it was prepared by a sweet girl.” His eyes sparkle with a glint of something unfamiliar as he gazes at me. The intensity of his gaze is making me feel so, so warm that I’m sure he notices my whole face reddening in front of him.

What an odd day. 

On the first day of class, I wake up earlier so I don’t have to rush. It’s going to be a challenging day because I’m going to meet new people for me to get along with throughout these two years except for Soomin. Thank God we’re decided to continue our study and graduate together like we used to. Living in the same house with her and now enrolling in the same class. Again. But, I will never get bored with her or maybe I would, one day. 

"Wake up, Soomin. We’re going to be late for our first class.” I shake her shoulders violently because she is a heavy sleeper and waking her up softly will be fruitless. However, Soomin with her eyes still shut tightly doesn’t budge even as I raise my voice an octave higher, simply humming before going back to sleep.

I rake my head for ways to wake her up. After a few long seconds of thinking, an idea came into my mind and I can only hope for it to work. I lift her thick duvet from her body and push her off from the bed, letting her body fall to the floor with a thud.

Ouch!” Soomin sits up with her hand rubbing her back as she tries to glare at me with her half-lidded eyes.

"Breakfast is ready so please, go and take your bath quickly,” I order her as I’m busy folding the duvet before placing it nicely on her bed.  She fumes in anger, holding her tongue from cursing to me early in the morning. Stomping her feet on her way to the bathroom, she expresses her irritation towards me with a powerful slam at the door. 

I only let out a giggle because her tantrums are not foreign to me, I’ve known her for years, a childish yet a good friend that I would rather stick to even if it takes years to unglue her from me. The only person who understands her annoyingness is her family, me and Sehun. The three of us are best friends since high school and I’m grateful that Sehun loves her a lot by making her the only girl he would have after his mother and older sister. I couldn’t imagine an unfamiliar guy coming into her life and claim her love without deeply knowing her. 

And that’s not what love is about. 

Heading back to the kitchen to prepare peach tea for us, I remember the encounter I had with the guy at the cafe yesterday. The way his deep voice calling my name made me feel butterflies in my stomach and I somehow wish for him to drop by the cafe again, just so I can admire his good looks again.

"What took you so long to stir the tea?” Soomin says as she passes by me. “And ew! Is that drool?! Byul, I don’t want drool infested tea so early in the morning.”

Soomin’s voice knocks me off to reality as she was standing by the fridge for a few minutes.

"Gosh, can you please don’t hurt my poor heart like that?” I say with a soft tone and she smirks, pulling a chair to sit by the island table. She takes one french toast and take a single bite, staring at me curiously. “What are you thinking of?”

"Nothing,” I say while grabbing clean cups from the cupboard. I place them on the table and pour the peach tea before handing one to Soomin. She thanked me before taking the cup from me, blowing on the surface a little to cool it down before taking a sip. Soomin scoffs. “You never hide secrets from me.”

"How did you know that I really told you everything?” I say, successfully turning her into a furious woman as she grabs the toast, ready to throw it to me. “Okay geez. I’m kidding.”

She brings the toast for a bite but continues to give me a death glare. I chuckle silently and sip my tea, glancing at the clock hanging by the wall. It’s already 8:25 in the morning but both of us are still busy having our breakfast.

"We’re going to be late!” I hurriedly gulp down the tea and put the empty cup in the sink. Rushing to pack my stuff and making sure that I don’t leave anything important at home, I prepare myself for the last time in front of the standing mirror. Light makeup added nicely with a shade of pink blusher and the nude colour of lip matte; I’m good to go. 

"Come on, Kim Soomin!” 

She groans loudly to take her car keys as we leave the apartment. Crossing my fingers and calming my nerves, I stare at the outside scenery by the car window. How the fluffy clouds hang beautifully by the blue azure sky, following the Sun shining brightly. Everything will be fine, Byul. 

We arrive 10 minutes early before the class starts. As Soomin and I settle down in the big lecture hall, I observe the seats around me. It’s already occupied with people who are taking the same course; Master in Business Administration. All of them are unfamiliar faces to me.

"Good morning, Byul.” Sehun greets me. I smile at him back before he takes a seat beside Soomin, leaving a peck on her temple. 

"Good morning, baby.” He greets her this time with adoration but Soomin only hum as a reply. Sehun looks at me curiously when I could only shake my head and shrug my shoulders to his wordless question. “Tell me who ruined your morning, Soomin.” 

Soomin quickly points her index finger to me that makes me lift both of my hands in the air, defending myself. “I only pushed her off the bed. It wasn’t that bad.” I grin as I confess. She dilates her eyes and starts pinching on my arms, causing me to groan at the slightest pain.  “Okay! Okay, enough! It stings!”

Sehun can only chortles while watching this normal catfight between us. I am only able to stop her off by pushing her away. I brush my already wrinkled blouse, thanks to her. I roll my eyes and divert my attention to the front. One by one people enter the hall up until an aged woman comes in with a rattan tote bag and I guess she’s our lecture for the financial management class. 

"Hello and good morning everyone! My name is Lee Kyungmi but please call me Mdm. Lee,” she greets the whole class with a firm voice.

The whole class replies in unison with a loud ‘yes’ to her greeting. She then decides to begin our first class with ice-breaking session even though in my opinion, it is very lame for university students. But, I’m glad she didn’t jump directly into the syllabus in our first class.

We are separated into a few groups where I finally get to detach myself from my best friends and sit in a circle that is full of unfamiliar faces strangers. We begin to exchange our names within the group. Being around people whom I’ve never met is making me feel a little more confident. When it is my turn, I start to introduce myself, “The name given is Kim Hanbyul, but I prefer being called Byul.” I plaster a smile to them. After about 10 minutes, we head back to our seats and Mdm. Lee decides to start the class with the first topic. 

I take out my notebook and pencil case from my bag, ready to jot down notes that will be displayed on the white screen from the projector. But before Mdm. Lee gets to continue her words, a single clear knock is heard from the door. She then calls the intruder to come in. I don’t pay attention to the intruder as I am focused on my notebook.

"Late for your first class, Mr. Byun?” She takes off her glasses to look at him as the person goes straight to an empty seat. I lift my head up to focus back on the screen, gasping softly when my eyes accidentally landed on him.

It’s him. The 50-dollar bill guy with the same dashing look from the cafe. 

[jcmarchi]

Google advances mobile AI in Pixel 9 smartphones

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/google-advances-mobile-ai-in-pixel-9-smartphones/

Google advances mobile AI in Pixel 9 smartphones

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Google has unveiled its new range of Pixel 9 smartphones, emphasising their enhanced AI capabilities.

The company released the devices much earlier than usual, as Google typically presents new Pixel models in the autumn. However, compared to previous versions, the changes in the new models are revolutionary.

The new smartphones feature more advanced integrations of Google’s AI technology. For instance, one unique Pixel feature allows users to search for information and images within their screenshots, thanks to a more deeply integrated approach. Additionally, through the Gemini chatbot, some features of these smartphones are available as overlays from other apps.

At Alphabet’s Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, Rick Osterloh, the Senior Vice President of Devices and Services at Google, informed visitors that the company plans to focus on practical applications of AI. He spent time describing the “Gemini era” to the audience, which will commence with the creation of Google’s advanced AI model.

The Pixel 9 series offers several models. The base model, the Pixel 9, features a 6.3-inch screen and costs $799. A larger alternative, the Pixel 9 Pro XL, has a 6.8-inch screen. A slightly enhanced version, the Pixel 9 Pro, offers a better camera system, though its price is higher. The final option is the foldable Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Regarding the initial shipping date, Google stated at the event that the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro XL would ship in late August. The Pro and Pro Fold models will ship in September, with all models available for preorder starting August 13. During Google’s presentations at the event, Gemini’s new functions were showcased in a live demo, focusing on the latest conversation features. Additionally, the company announced updates to the product’s exterior design, the installation of Google’s advanced camera system, and the integration of the new Tensor G4 chip.

In addition to smartphones, the company unveiled new versions of the Pixel Watch 3 smartwatch and Pixel Buds Pro 2 wireless earbuds. The watch can track the user’s heart rate; if it stops, it will call emergency services. This feature will be available in the UK and the EU.

As reported by IDC, Google’s share in the global smartphone market was less than 1% in the second quarter of 2024. Samsung and Apple took the first and second places, with market shares of 18.9%, and 15.8%, respectively. In the US, Google ranks fourth among smartphone operating systems, holding 4.5% of the market share.

Industry analysts note that although Google Pixel is not among the best-selling smartphones, it showcases some of the benefits of the Android operating system. Android has become the dominant operating system, used by more than 80% of smartphone users worldwide. Consequently, many people, even those who have never used a Google Pixel, may indirectly experience and appreciate the features that Google products offer.

The event also touched upon Google’s further intentions and previous efforts to implement AI across its product lineup to stay at the top of the game. Not long ago, the company integrated AI improvements into its core products, including its search engine. Additionally, Google announced a content-sharing agreement it reached with Peloton. As a result, Fitbit Premium subscribers will have free access to the Peloton training class library.

(Image Credit: Google)

See also: Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro dethrones GPT-4o

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

Tags: ai, artificial intelligence, gemini, Google

[angelily95]

Drowning In You (Pt.1)

Yongguk x reader

Romance, slight angst, bodyguard!au

Inspiration: Not Mine by DAY6

How can I go back to our beginning

When we were looking at the same place

When we had the same heart

Sneakily reaching for the door, you tightened your hold on a pair of black heels while stretching out your arm to turn the knob.

"I believe you're supposed to be in your bedroom at this hour."

You pressed your lips together to form a thin line, forcing yourself to think of an excuse. Letting go of the knob, you turned around to face the owner of the deep voice. He was standing there in his casual clothes and looking at him triggered the disappointment and anger you tried hard to bury. There was Yongguk, the man who you had been there by your side since you were born, back then he was 5.

[Flashback]

"Who is this baby, father?"

Instead of receiving an answer from his father, your father patted Yongguk's head with affection, "She's your new friend, a younger sister."

"She is my friend? But she's so tiny, she can't play soccer with me. Look, Tigger is bigger than her." Yongguk compared his favourite plushie with the baby in the crib.

"You are right. She's so tiny, isn't she? That's why I chose you to protect her." Your father stated, still smiling.

"Protect her?" Young Yongguk was confused as he didn't know the weight of the responsibility bestowed upon him. "Father, does that mean I have to stick with her all the time like you've been doing with Uncle Kim?" The young boy looked at his father.

Your father, the Uncle Kim, chuckled at Yongguk's choice of word.

"Yes, that's what you have to do. Stay by her side and protect her."

[End of flashback]

"Mind your own business." You said, ignoring his gaze that was scrutinizing your tight and revealing outfits. 

"You're my business." He stated matter-of-factly, resting his arms on his chest. "Did your mother know you're going out?"

"Stop being so nosy. Who do you think you are?" You arrogantly questioned him. You could see from his face, he was tired of your attitude. It had been going on for months, since he broke your heart for the first time.

"I am your bodyguard."

No, Yongguk. You're more than that. But you couldn't say that out loud. "Doesn't that mean I am above you? You're working for me. Why do you think you have the right to boss me around?"

His firm gaze faltered, you never treated him like he was below you while both of you were growing up. Only after that night, things changed. You changed.

"It's for your own safety." Yongguk insisted, dying to hold your hands and make you understand. Like how he used to.

[Flashback]

"I'm not eating." You said when you heard knocks on the door. They had been asking you to have your meal which you ignored after your father decided to punish you. He took your laptop and smartphone away and forced you to study since you failed your test miserably. He also didn't let you hang out with your friends. You hated being a high school senior, they put high expectations on you. Especially because you were the only child.

"It's me."

You heard a familiar voice, the one you'd longer for because he had been away for his studies. You jumped from the bed and ran to the door, pulling it open with wide expecting eyes.

"Yongguk!" You jumped into his arms, earning a chuckle from him while he caressed your head. His body had become sturdier, different from what you remembered. His skin also got tanner.

 "I've missed you so much. Why didn't you tell me you're coming back? Everyone has been so mean to me when you're away." You tightened your hold around his waist.

"Did you misbehave?" He asked with a teasing tone. You pulled away in disbelief, he was implying that you deserved whatever punishment you received. You pouted and stomped your feet before making your way back to your bed. You pulled the thick blanket over your head, hiding from him. You actually did well in school when Yongguk was still around because he tutored you after school. Yongguk was smart, first place in school. Things changed and you lost interest in your studies after he enrolled in college overseas. He was there for academic studies and physical training. Because of time differences between you and Yongguk, you always pull an all nighter to call him around dusk, causing you to fall asleep in class. Nobody in school dared to wake you up whenever you fell asleep because you were a daughter of a politician.

"Aunt Mae prepared special dishes for me. Let's eat together." Yongguk sat on the edge of your bed, watching your sulking figure under the blanket with an affectionate smile.

"I'm not hungry." You swatted his hand away when he tried to pull down the blanket to see your face.

"We haven't seen each other for almost a year. Come and join me. I'm craving for korean food."

"Go ahead. I said I am not hungry."

"But I want to eat with you. I will be away again after two weeks. I want to spend my time here with you to the fullest."

It made you pull down the blanket to show him your face. "Don't go."

"But you don't want to spend time with me."

"Don't go." You repeated, sitting up while hugging his arm. He was like a brother, you were very dependent on him. "I'll eat with you. Don't go back there. I need you here."

He offered you a guilty smile. "I still have to go back, though."

"Daddy is so mean. He's taking everything away from me. My phone, my laptop, my friends...and you." You blinked your tears. Yongguk took your small hand in his, drawing random patterns on the back of your hand with his thumb.

"I'm training and studying hard for you. I'll come back stronger and wiser to protect you. I want to be someone you can be proud of."

"I don't need protection."

As if you didn't say anything, he continued, "in the meantime, I hope you will focus on school. Your dad is punishing you for your sake, for your future. You have to make me proud of you too."

"I want you to be proud of me." His opinion mattered to you, that was how important he was in your life.

"So, excel the exam. If you did well, I would grant your wishes." He made a promise, still caressing your hand. You liked it, his action was comforting.

"Okay. I'll do it for you."

[End of flashback]

"Stop acting like you care about me. Besides, I am going to meet my boyfriend. Why wouldn't I be safe around my boyfriend?" You retorted, rubbing the word 'boyfriend' to his face. "Stop wasting my time. I am leaving.." You opened the door and left the house with an aching heart. Hurting Yongguk was basically you slicing your heart open. It hurt so bad. But it was your way to seek satisfaction even though you gained no entertainment from your action at all. You forced yourself to believe your words hurt him when in reality he only treated you like a burden, a grown kid he had to babysit until you got married. He was stuck with you until then.

You let out a sigh when you looked at the rear mirror, his car was following you from behind. No matter what you did and said to him, he would fulfill his responsibility to protect you like nothing had happened.

Part 2

[jojosbizarreadventur]

Time’s Crusade: Chapter 2 (02)

also available on AO3 (under emih)

This chapter: The events leading up to the infertility discovery. Also, fuck cool jazz.

warning (just in case): oddly-detailed smut (is this allowed anymore on here idk)

Summary: Yesterday in 2011, your husband Noriaki and close friend Jotaro were both murdered together just months before your university graduations. The day before yesterday, you discovered that your nerve-wracking IUI procedure was successful. Two months before that day, said close friend made a proposition to the both of you due to your husband’s recently-discovered infertility.

Today in 1988, you’re over 20 years into the past of an alternate universe, suddenly tasked with trailing after different versions of your late husband and close friend as they travel with unfamiliar faces to Egypt, determined to confront the man you now work for.

And in the following days, you discover how easy it was for your sentiments to change.

02

A Promise, Part 2

Summer, 2011

You planned everything.

Actually, you and Noriaki planned everything. You two designated a day, a time, the setting— as strange as that sounds. Before such issues, you sort of just… you know, went at each other when you both felt like it. Logistics going beyond ‘not busy, foreplay, take clothes off, more foreplay, fuck, orgasm’ had never been considered by either of you, but here you are. You both made sure this would happen when you were both ready, where no one or nothing would disturb you two. You were sure that everything would go smoothly… you mean, you both did all the necessary steps, right?

Yet, you stared— dumbfounded— at the plastic pregnancy test a little over a week later.

{    | }   ——   Pregnant { |  | } / Not Pregnant {    | }

That’s the third time. 

The third fucking time.

You were seriously ready to dunk that plastic piece of shit in the garbage bin, along with letting out a good shriek. Though, that might get you some written complaints from the neighbors, and you at least had the decency to prevent yourself from doing so.

But why?! 

You were so confused, proceeding to run a hand through your hair and groan in frustration. It got to the point where you even started to think if the at-home pregnancy test you bought was faulty, but then that’d mean that everyone you bought so far were all shit. That couldn't be the case at all, unless the creator above you was trying to get back at you for something you had no recollection of. You even bought different brands each time, but you realized that regardless of label or color scheme, they were all manufactured with the same function. 

And… well, they worked, but not in the way you wanted them to.

Noriaki wasn’t there when you took the test, as he was on campus that day for class. He had already left about two hours ago, leaving you by yourself as you didn’t have class today. You were thinking of getting a head-start on your work until you remembered about the pregnancy test that you bought from the convenience store.

This time, you were just going to be honest with yourself— you failed to conceive for a third time. The myth (and eventually-executed plan…) of fucking in different positions to increase the chances became less funny as each pregnancy test you took kept resulting in negatives, so for this attempt it was something forgotten altogether. At this point, you weren’t really sure what to do besides giving the ‘announcement’ to Noriaki… again. Same announcement, possibly same reaction.

June

The first time you announced that, anyway, Noriaki seemed very nonchalant. At least that’s what he looked like on the outside.

He was actually bummed out a bit. The process of trying for a baby seemed to be more complicated than he expected; rather, you two actually had to make an effort to ensure that you get a positive test. Perhaps it was his fault for being too clueless. Hours after you told him, he was awake beside you as you slept in bed, thinking to himself that maybe asking his non-married colleagues about babies was not the best idea. Noriaki even asked Jotaro during one of their rare gym outings, who simply claimed that he focused on marine biology, not that type of biology while on the treadmill.

Besides, this wasn’t something you’d want to blame him for— not in a million years. It’s not like he did anything wrong. You even suggested that you two just try again and see.

So you did days later. 

You were pretty sure you couldn’t walk the day after, as your thighs and the rest of your legs were more sore than usual. You remembered groaning and moaning about it that day— about how you remembered about walking to and from the station, to and from campus and all that. In response, Noriaki only gave you a cheeky laugh and a peck on the cheek as he worked on his project.

…that teasing lovable bastard. 

You were probably ready to offer to fuck him again right then, but you held back. He needed to get that project finished, anyway. The professor for that class had a reputation of being a strict asshole; after all, you overheard a girl sobbing over one of his assignments in the library one time as she expressed her anger to her friend. Anyway, you weren’t willing to let your husband face that geezer’s wrath just because you wanted to suck him off first and possibly distract him. Besides, you were still pretty sore.

Then, the pregnancy test after that came out negative too. 

Hints of worry came from Noriaki’s face, though he still refused to give up. He recommended for you two to be serious about it next time. That meant getting rid of every distraction around you— getting work done early and whatnot. You accepted, believing that your hefty schedules were the culprit; after all, you two were pretty damn busy.

Even Noriaki was giving himself— then you— some positive reinforcement on the days before. If he had done something similar at the beginning, you probably would’ve questioned his motives for doing so, perhaps even showed some astounded face at such determination. However, as it was already going to be the third try, you teasing about it would make no meaningful contribution.

To think something like this would be of your utmost worries lately— during your last year of university, no less— was rather weird. Instead, you should be focusing on your senior research project, or the unofficial job offers you’ve been getting since last year. This was bound to get you stressed, as you had to deal with a bunch of shit that, frankly, had no place in your mind right now.

On the ‘designated day’, you temporarily let go of your restlessness to spend some time with your husband, whom you’ve only been married to for almost two months now. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?

It’s a day when neither of you have any on-campus commitments, which also happened to be a good day in ovulating. The day before, you both decided to stay in the library to prematurely cram and finish every known assignment meant for the rest of the week to clear your minds. Doing this started to take a toll on the both of you, however— the amount of times that either of you sighed, leaned back and stretched, or rubbed your eyes (or, in Noriaki’s case, took off his reading glasses) was ridiculous. You weren’t even sure if it was going to be worth it at the end.

No— it was, as you kept convincing yourself over and over again. 

Even on the train ride home that night, where your head fell onto Noriaki’s slouched shoulder as you both refrained from going into a deep sleep so soon. It would be worth it, it would — you were sure that by next year, this would be something you’d look back on and laugh about. 

But enough about that.

The next day first started off in a mundane fashion. 

After waking from your slumbers, Noriaki went to go to wash his face in the connecting bathroom as you scrolled through your smartphone in bed. You were suddenly reminded about yours and Noriaki’s lunch break yesterday, where Noriaki mentioned some rumors surrounding a new model of smartphone from the same lineup that yours and his phones came from (he had apparently overheard it during his internship). The previous phones were all released in the summer, so maybe it’s a good time to start being on the lookout for them, you thought—

“We should cook breakfast today.”

You snapped out of your thoughts and turned your head.

Noriaki came walking out shirtless. He had just finished patting his face dry with a towel before looking over at you. Naturally, you gave him a warm smile, even if the sight of his defined chest was starting to stir you.

“That sounds like a good idea,” you complimented, setting your phone down beside you on the bed sheets. “We haven’t really had the time to do that recently, no?”

“Yeah, it’s been a while,” he agreed as he walked over to the tall built-in dresser to grab a new shirt. He must’ve accidentally wet the first one while washing his face— that was a tendency he had that he often complained about. “Pancakes, maybe?”

Groaning as you sat up, you stretched your arms out as you responded.

“That really fluffy recipe?”

“Of course.”

Without any sort of looming distraction, you two were finally free to go about your day as you wished. That meant actually being able to cook breakfast together, possibly screw up the recipe (it happens), lounge on the sofa, take naps or quick jogs (depends on the week), or do some other stupid shit that were quintessential for a pair of college students. Well, a pair of college students that happened to be married to one another, but neither of you regret it one bit.

You’re quick to follow a shirt-clad Noriaki out of the bedroom and over to the small semi-open kitchen. With the help of the wall being open— giving a view of the equally-small living room— you’re both able to listen to and watch the morning news from the kitchen as the ingredients were being gathered and prepped.

“We should make enough for tomorrow morning, too,” Noriaki suggested as he pulled open several drawers. “Also, where’s the spatula?”

“Already planning on it,” you responded, whisking away as you held the bowl of mix. “And the spatula is, ah… check the one closest to the sink. I think it’s there.”

Once he finds the utensil, the process continues much more smoothly. Here and there, you both crack jokes at one another or focus your attention at the television screen (Noriaki resorted to only listening). You’re talking about the news or discussing future plans to go out. Within the next fifteen minutes, a healthy stack of pancakes sat on top of a nice serving plate on the counter. Turning the stove off, you sigh and stretch your arms out again as Noriaki placed the other utensils in the sink to soak.

For a moment, you lock eyes with one another. You both cherish the sight in front of you, knowing that these will be the same set of eyes you get to see for however long your lives are.

Geez, you’re already both thinking about how fucking cliché you might come off as, but you both genuinely enjoy the sight of each other. Mornings like this were something you needed to have more often, as you both have been wrongly deprived of such. You’ll both be mourning its loss the next day… 

Noriaki’s eyes drift down, and he’s taken aback.

“You have pancake batter on your shirt.”

Eyes shooting downward, your jaw drops.

“What the hell, ” you breathed out, pulling the hem of your shirt taut as you scrutinized the stain.

“You didn’t notice it until now?” Noriaki questioned, approaching you as he chuckles.

You shake your head.

Noriaki’s arms swiftly glide around your waist as he plants a kiss on your lips. You hold onto his biceps; you’re noticing how the muscle there is a little firmer than you remember. There were occasions where he’d head out to the gym with Jotaro, though this was rare as even the temporary memberships were ridiculously expensive, and last time, Noriaki had to stop Jotaro from getting into a fight with a taunter.

Your hands then shift up to his warm cheeks, where your right thumb gently brushed against the bone. You’re locking eyes with him again, the sight of his lavender-grey irises through his glasses remind you of your luck to be with such a wonderful man. Though, this sight is gone once again as you lean in to kiss him again, albeit with fervent feeling. Your eyes close, your lips are locked, he’s running a hand through your hair as you back up onto the front of the countertop. The front of his thin pajama pants is what you’re feeling as his growing erection presses against you, and as you shift a little in your spot he only pulls you in closer for your body to act as some sort of friction against him.

Suddenly, you pull away.

“I— do you really want to do it… now?” you asked hesitantly, hands still cupping his cheeks. “We just cooked…”

On your right was the stove top, and on the right of that the plate of uneaten pancakes sat on its serving plate. The glass bowl of assorted fruit and slowly-melting butter sat next to it. You both look down at yourselves, obviously noticing the outline of Noriaki’s erection pressing against you. Though, his arms continue to be wrapped around you.

“Fuck— yeah, you’re right,” Noriaki breathed out. He let one hand go from your waist to run the hand through his red hair. “I’m actually starving, sorry.”

You titter.

“No need to be sorry, we have all day,” you say, forgiving him. In fact, you actually did have all day; however, only this day. Starting tomorrow, you were both going to return to your normal schedules, but with a lighter load than normal. You did finish a good portion of your work, yesterday.

“Right, right…”

Noriaki’s a bit disappointed, though you’d admit that you felt the same way. He reluctantly pulls away from you, and you don’t fail to notice the transferred pancake stain.

“Aw, my shirt stained your shirt…”

——

Lunchtime had already passed for the both of you. 

Before Noriaki kissed you, stood up, and headed to the toilet, you two had been lounging on the sofa and ‘watching’ television for the past hour. ‘Watching’, as in either being fully immersed in the morning drama or talking and not paying any attention; the latter had happened more frequently. At one point, there seemed to be some sort of sad, tear-jerking, and contemplative scene playing in the background, but you were more interested in the story Noriaki was telling you at the time. He kept laughing as he told you— some geezer who worked at another technology-focused school in Wakayama-ken had been caught stealing a bunch of weird shit like schoolgirls’ uniforms. 

Geez, talk about no dignity. Too bad Noriaki forgot the guy’s name; neither of you actually wanted to end up working with a person like that in the future.

You now grab the wireless DualShock controller, which sits next to the console on the television stand. It wouldn’t hurt to play a few games; after all, it’s been a while since you’ve played. Though, right on top and out of place— considering the shelving unit that contained all of yours and Noriaki’s games— sat a case for the cartridge of Deep Sea Crossing: New Reef. 

As you plop back down on the sofa, you’re wondering when Noriaki got the new game. You’ve been seeing reports of it being constantly sold out even with the restocks recently, so you’re not sure how he managed to buy a copy considering how little free time he had before.

Well, you shrug and wipe your forehead. If Noriaki doesn’t get out here sooner, it’ll probably be too late for him to help build the underwater town with the help of the blobfish assistant.

——

Arousal was like an avalanche.

By nighttime, you two were at your breaking points. You had spent time in the kitchen cooking again, though for dinner this time. The amount of space to move within the kitchen was practically non-existent, which meant that there were a uncountable amount of times that you bumped into Noriaki or vice versa. Your hips, elbow, and/or shoulders would collide. Sometimes you had to bend over to reach inside a cabinet, and if Noriaki had to walk pass you, his pelvis would accidentally bump into your hip or bottom if he wasn’t careful.

Honestly, you were probably thinking that it had to be on purpose. That actually happened more than once, and you didn’t fail to feel the gradual hardening at the front of his pants.

It wasn’t any better while you two were eating. You two were sitting at the rounded glass top table closer than usual; oftentimes, you’d opt to sit directly across from him. As you conversed, Noriaki’s breath would hitch as you’d accidentally have your hand resting on his shoulder, then sliding down to his back, around his waist, and to his thigh and knee. His eyes would intermittently dart down, seeing you massage the area excruciatingly slowly. There was a sliver of hope— maybe, just maybe you’d slide your hand up a little higher to where the drawstring of his pants were. Maybe you’d grab at the waistband, reach in, or… or something. 

Noriaki Kakyoin was not a desperate man. He was not supposed to be the type of person to submit so recklessly; in fact, he had spent years trying to move away from that kind of mindset in hopes of becoming a strong-willed person who wasn’t so easily swayed. Yet, you had become the only person that could push him in that direction of need, and he didn’t know whether to hate himself or begrudgingly accept it as he felt your warmth and experienced euphoria.

You both felt that familiar aura around you. Though, you continued to act as casual as possible, acting normal and not-at-all-aroused as you both washed the plates together. You mentioned the need for a dish-washing machine in your apartment— it’s so fucking ridiculous, you discussed and laughed, you two had a built-in fish grill but not a built-in dishwasher, for heaven’s sake— while your heart was practically palpitating. The proximity to Noriaki was starting to be intoxicating, and it only took a question of consent and barely a minute to strip him nude and see him for all he was worth.

Afterwards, it only takes a glance at one another to genuinely start. You stare into each other’s eyes again, silently communicating. Noriaki’s eyes occasionally avert to your bedroom door and back to you, and you do the same.

This was a funny aspect of marriage, especially between people who understood each other inside and out. You seemed to know what the other was thinking, even with the lack of actual verbal expression. And this time, you and Noriaki were good examples of this because of the leap of faith you both take— one that would surely affect your future.

You’re kissing. You’re kissing and holy shit does it feel inexplicably amazing to feel his soft lips connected to yours. Refraining from touching one another for a number of hours seemed criminal, but this build-up… this build-up is great. It’s satisfying to come to such a conclusion (no pun intended) and— oh, his hand’s fingers are buried in your hair. His slender fingers slide through, and feeling him gently hold onto you makes you— for some reason— step backwards. Of course, he follows as you continue to kiss; he occasionally and lightly sucks on your bottom lip, or you roll the curvature of your lips over his. Variations of this keep happening and happening, and you’re not sure of where your feet are taking you until you bump into the actual door of the bedroom. 

Upon impact, Noriaki grinds against you, making you whine against his mouth. He temporarily releases his lips from you— foreheads and nose tips still touching— to sharply inhale and exhale again and again, trying to process the feeling of his erection rubbing against you again. You feel his breaths hitting your burning skin, moving your hands to his chest, his shoulders, his jawline, his cheeks, and back down to his chest as you kiss him again. You both inwardly cringe at the sudden feeling of your teeth clacking with the other’s set before letting your tongues come into contact and swirl around one another. The back of your head is resting on the wood of the door, and Noriaki’s hands shift downward to your breasts, your waist, your hips, your ass cheeks, and he takes the time to knead them as you continue to deep kiss. Instinctively, you wrap a leg around him, and then do the same with the other, which he graciously accepts. 

The throbbing on your behalf seems to be more noticeable to you.

Though you’re supporting yourself by having your legs tightly wrapped around Noriaki—along with him having an arm around your waist now— he takes the time to find the door handle and open it. You almost have to help him, but he gets it eventually. Noriaki starts to lead you into the familiar room, but he has to stop kissing you and back up briefly to turn on the lights with the switch. You both titter before you finally reach the foot of the bed, in which case he slowly lowers you as your legs release from him.

You have to awkwardly scoot up and shift on the bed as he slowly approaches you by using his knees. Your breathing is substantially labored now, especially as your legs instinctively spread open to welcome him.

It suddenly occurs to Noriaki that your clothes were still on you, which was not what he needed right now.

“Can I undress you?” he asks— pleads, voice barely above a whisper. His lips are a bit swollen from kissing you, and he’s already taking off his own clothes. 

All you do is nod in a of-fucking-course fashion in response, and Noriaki doesn’t hesitate to pull off his own shirt, pants, and boxers and hurl them somewhere in the room first before tending to you. 

He first reaches to your shirt, briefly fondling your clothed breasts before grabbing the hem of your shirt to pull up. Because you haven’t been wearing a bra all day, Noriaki is undeniably thrilled to see your already-nude breasts as you lay back down. He plays with them— he takes the time to gently knead the mass of one, fitting your erect nipple between his index finger and his thumb as he noisily sucks at the other. You let out a long but quiet moan, absentmindedly letting your fingers run through his red locks as he alternated between each of your breasts. The weight of his body rests on you, but you don’t mind.

When his lips finally let go of your nipple, you whine at the missing feeling of his warm mouth on your breast. Noriaki sees— hears your reaction, and he compensates by moving his lips lower and lower, occasionally taking the time to peck and kiss the skin on your ribs, waist, and stomach before reaching your elastic waistband. He doesn’t hesitate to pull both of your pants and your panties down, briefly seeing the glistening wet stain in the undergarments as he throws both to where your shirt was on the floor. His lips immediately go back to your exposed mons pubis and downward, and you jolt a bit from the feeling of his warm skin.

You swear you hear Noriaki’s phone ringing behind you on the nightstand, but he takes one glance at it before ignoring it.

Noriaki gently kisses your clit before lapping up your wetness. After taking a few short trips down and back up, he audibly moans at your taste. The vibration that his moan emits onto the lips causes you to tense up; your toes curl as your fingers gently grab onto his red locks. He’s not stopping— he won’t stop, thank-fucking-God, and you feel him lightly rubbing your clit with his thumb as he continues to eat you out— holy fucking shit. He teases you by moving his hand, letting one finger— no, what the fuck, two fingers— slowly enter and exit you as he flicks your clit with his tongue. This elicits a louder, more desperate moan from you; your fingers, entangled in his hair, tighten its grip before Noriaki abruptly pulls away from you again.

Instead of getting mildly offended, you stare up into Noriaki’s lust-ridden eyes. Your breathing has gotten heavier, and you see your own chest rising up and down. The fingers that briefly fucked you had already gone to his cock, lazily stroking the hardened organ. You didn’t think it would be possible, but you swore that you got even more aroused at the sight of your husband doing that.

Sitting up, you opt to go on your knees and bend over in front of him. He’s already staring down at you with anticipation; the slender fingers around his cock tighten just a bit before reaching to your flushed face. His fingers brush against your cheek before gently cupping your face. Neither of you have forgotten the fact that his cock— which had started to leak pre-cum— was now at eye-level with you.

Both of you briefly glanced at Noriaki’s phone, which started to ring again. Opting to ignore it and look up at him, your breaths start to hit his tip.

You start to ask with a small but increasingly desperate voice, “Can… can I…?”

Noriaki knows what you’re trying to ask.

“I… I will probably cry if you don’t,” he responds with a joking tone, though he isn’t joking any longer when you suddenly wrap your fingers around the organ. His breath hitches; he lets out a quiet whine as he watches you pull his foreskin back to taste and suck.

As your cheeks hollow a little, you take the time to swirl your tongue around his glans before bobbing your head. The hand that had its fingers tangled in your hair for a few minutes tightened its grip a little to keep you in place as he shallowly fucked your mouth.

“Nngh— ah, shit, this feels so good,” Noriaki hissed. The moment he sees you flick your tongue against the underside of his cock, pulling up another hand to his balls, he yelps. “Ah… wait… nn, wait, nonononono— if you keep doing that I’m literally going to cum into your mouth—!”

Like last time, he abruptly pulls away from you with heavy pants. His cock was still slick with the mixture of his pre-cum and your saliva now that it’s been slid out of your mouth. Noriaki continues to hold your head, feeling his tip touching your lips as he stares down at you in astonishment. You only give him a cheeky grin at him in response.

Admittedly, being familiar with his taste and feeling, you would’ve liked to continue sucking him off. Not this time, however; perhaps another time.

It doesn’t take long for you two to be situated— your head on the pillow now that you’ve fallen back onto the bed and scooted up, while Noriaki leaned over you. Both of your breathing patterns were heavy, labored, and he’s spreading your legs wider before rubbing his cock down and up, down and up the open lips. Noriaki was supporting himself with his well-defined arms, which you held onto as he smoothly pushed in thanks to your wetness and… holy holy holy shit he’s thrusting— he’s thrusting already, oh my fucking God—

Your moan is louder than the last ones you’ve let out, because this godly, perfect man that you’ve had the pleasure in marrying is actually having you— he knows you’re getting addicted to the thrill of it just from the yes’s and the pleases and the mores and the you feel so fucking goods and you swear you’re probably going to cry. Lifting your hips up, you wrap your legs around his waist, indulging in his quick, desperate thrusts because— the angle he’s fucking you is different now, yes, holy shit— he’s hitting that soft area within you, he’s been stretching you out a bit but shit you don’t know when you’re going to cum but at the rate he’s going it’s probably going to be fucking soon.

He quickly leans forward to briefly lock lips with you again, swirling his tongue around yours— you realize that he tastes like matcha from dinner and yours and fuck he’s getting faster. He moved away from you to hold onto your hips now, his grip is tight enough to leave marks, he’s pulling down your hips harder as he thrusts into you, you hear him grunt and moan and—

—you hear his phone ring again. God, what the hell is up with that stupid phone? Without thinking, you grab his phone from the nightstand and throw it behind him. You both hear the loud thud as it comes into contact with the floor.

Noriaki doesn’t seem to care, however. His brows are creased, he’s only interested in making you both feel good. You’re… you’re pretty sure you’re almost there, your body’s tensing up, you’re letting out moans and whines, you’re feeling yourself dissolve into this pool of pleasure and you cry out his name— he’s starting to babble, he’s saying he loves you, love you so much— fuck you’re perfect you feel so good you’re mine I’m going to cum I’m going to cum fuck—

He stills as he lets out a loud but broken moan, save for the brief moments where his hips jerk as he spills into you. You felt his cock pulsating within you as you panted after crying out, surprised at how fast you two came to your orgasm. You both had been refraining until now to let out steam, so you suppose that explains it.

Once Noriaki pulls out from you, you lay there feeling empty between your legs. Shakily, he goes over to where you threw his (unharmed) phone on the floor, picking it up before heading back to the bed. Noriaki kneels down in front of you, phone in hand when it rings yet again.

This time, you actually manage to see the Caller ID.

Jotaro Kujo 𝐉🤚  

“Was it actually Jotaro that kept on calling you?”

Your breath hitched as you felt Noriaki’s hand slide down in between your legs.

“...yeah,” he replies, handing you his phone to see.

Out of all the nights Jotaro could’ve called, it was this night. 

You could’ve sworn the man was much more preoccupied than usual lately— he even said so himself. He had been swamped with preparing all of his requirements for graduate school, as he planned to pursue a doctorate in marine biology after graduation. This included gathering all of his transcripts and recommendation letters, composing a personal statement, and studying for the TOEFL and the GRE… all of which he’ll use to apply not only for schools here but also for several schools outside the country.

Of course, the thought of Jotaro leaving Japan made you bummed out. After three years, you two have become pretty good friends. There was the ‘warming-up’ period as Noriaki predicted, but after that Jotaro seemed to tolerate you. Sure, you and Noriaki could just call him on the phone or Skype him, but it wasn’t the same.

Noriaki continued to slowly rub your clit in circles as you decided to pick up the call for him. Making a strangled noise in response to him rubbing faster, you slap a hand over your mouth. Jotaro had recognized from your voice that it was you when you greeted him, but he wasn’t sure what you were doing at the moment.

“Hey, how are— what the hell are you doing? Are you okay?”

Your husband’s hand abruptly froze as you resort to gripping his arm— the one whose hand was touching you.

“Ah, our air-con isn’t… working,” you stated stupidly, rolling your eyes at the sight of Noriaki desperately trying to hold in his laughter. You didn’t try to stop him, however, as he— quite literally— had the upper hand with his fingertips just barely pressing your folds now. “It’s hot… it’s hot as hell in our apartment right now.”

This was, in fact, true. You didn’t discover the malfunction until lunchtime earlier today, but you and Noriaki made a mutual agreement not to tamper with it. Even if you two could hypothetically work together to fix the issue yourselves, the landlord would probably berate the both of you until your ears fell off. Or kick you both out. That seemed more likely.

“Eh— just build another one, obviously.”

“That’s not— stop laughing,” you respond, bursting out laughing as soon as you hear Jotaro letting out a rare chortle. “You— you say that as if that’s the easiest thing to do. You might as well create your own fucking body of water so you can do your research there.”

“Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad,” Jotaro joked.

Noriaki’s already slapping the bed sheets with his other hand, silently laughing hysterically. You roll your eyes, despite your amusement.

“Ah, but seriously… do you mind telling Noriaki that I left my copy of New Reef at your apartment?” Jotaro asked as he calmed down. “I came over last week to take turns playing it with Noriaki while you were at your research-thing, and I accidentally forgot it. I’ve been trying to call him to tell him that I’ll pick it up, but he’s not answering.”

You blankly stared back at your husband, who stared back at you. Of course, you both remember what you did his phone as he fucked you earlier.

Also, it has now occurred to you that the copy of Deep Sea Crossing: New Reef was not, in-fact, Noriaki’s. You suppose there’s always something to ruin the day.

“Ah— yeah…” you trail off. “I’ll tell him.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He hangs up.

“...so… that’s not your game?”

Noriaki pursed his lips, shaking his head.

“It’s been sold out for days. Jotaro said that the only reason why he managed to get it was because he actively waited for it, as in had a timer set and everything. He’s been telling me about how stressed out he is from practically kissing up to professors in order to get recommendation letters, so playing the game calms him down.”

You take a deep breath.

Suddenly, he’s staring— almost… almost in awe— at your entrance, which slowly continued to leak out his own cum. You blush under his stare, even though there’s really no need to be a prude about it now.

“How exhausted are you?” Noriaki asks as his eyes avert from between your legs to your face.

“Ah… honestly, not much.”

You saw that cheeky grin on his face.

“That’s great,” he commented while he started to rub at your clit again. You bit down another moan as you melted under his touch. “I didn’t think you came as much as you wanted to.”

July

Now, back to this pregnancy test.

You’re already lying face down on the sofa, hearing your slippers fall as your feet continue to dangle off the seat’s armrest. Turning your head to the side, you find the pink pregnancy test casually sitting on its packaging, which sat on a few tissues.

It’s like the result is just there, mocking you.

There was one idea that popped in your head, but you immediately shoved it away out of pure fear. It wasn’t a thought that you wanted to confront— not now, not ever. You didn’t even want to be preoccupied with such a question today. Though, as you get the same result over and over, it becomes a bit tempting for your thoughts to veer that way.

Was there something wrong with your body? Anything?

Was there?

Growing up, there hadn’t been any indication that there was something going on with you, or had the history of—

—it hits you.

You decide that it’s time to speak with Noriaki when he comes home.

“Are you alright?” Noriaki inquired hours later, voice soft and touch gentle as he wrapped his arms around your abdomen from behind. He lightly rested his chin on your shoulder.

That night, you were both in the cramped kitchen of the apartment you shared together. In the air was a mix of aromas, from the occupied fish grill beneath the stove burners to the pasta sauce currently being mixed and heated.

Noriaki offered to cook the pasta tonight, but you opted to help him with slicing ingredients and grilling the fish as he did so. You snickered at the uncommon combination of grilled salmon beside some inauthentic seafood pasta— Noriaki had forgotten the ‘original’ recipe from Jotaro’s mother, apparently— but you knew the deed was heartfelt.

Though, your thoughts on what happened earlier were still intruding. It hasn’t taken the exit door out of your mind at all, to the point where it started to distract you and make you unproductive. Damnit, you had work to do! It was just some stupid, maybe faulty pregnancy test— as you angrily thought to yourself multiple times. You could try again, as Noriaki would reassure you. Try again… 

Try again… 

Try again…

But what if you couldn’t— no. It’s… it’s not possible. It can’t actually be happening. 

“I took another test.”

Noriaki’s breath hitches at your words. He quickly recognized your tone of voice, and if he remembered from the previous times, he knew you had an uncomfortable expression to match.

You heard him sigh, and the arms wrapped around you tighten just a bit.

“…if it’ll make you feel better by having answers, we can both get tested,” Noriaki suggested, though you can hear his reluctance.

This time, you whipped your head at him in surprise. 

He knew exactly what you were thinking.

——

In the last five-and-a-half years of being friends with Noriaki, Jotaro had never seen the redhead in such a state.

He’s crying, first of all— tears continue to flow slowly but effortlessly down his cheeks. Said cheeks are also flushed red, because he’s drinking; the refilled shot of liquor in Noriaki’s hand is an indication to Jotaro that he’s not planning to stop anytime soon. Yet, even when Jotaro reminded him that that shot is at least his eighth one, Noriaki didn’t seem to give a shit in the slightest.

They’re lucky that they’re drinking in Jotaro’s living room and not in public. Jotaro knew that Noriaki would die of embarrassment the next day if he got inebriated enough to vomit and/or pass out.

On the other hand, Jotaro’s own shot is left untouched on the coffee table because the sight of Noriaki starts to scare him a little. Between the two of them, it’s probably a good idea that one of them remains mostly sober anyway. Despite reaching legal drinking age before you and him, Noriaki always had a pretty low alcohol tolerance. Jotaro swears that you even have a higher tolerance than your husband, considering the amount of times you’ve talked to them about getting dragged to the ‘work nights’ at the local izakaya.

Right… you. 

Noriaki’s wife. 

The wedding wasn’t even that long ago.

Beneath two empty bottles of liquor on the coffee table was Jotaro’s white hat, his shot glass, and an open folder of papers vaguely stained with tears and alcohol. The printer ink displaying the name and general information for the clinic are a bit smudged, now.

“What did you get on the TOEFL, by the way?” Noriaki slurs, wiping his flushed and tear-stained face with one hand. His hand is trembling— good grief— and he does it rather haphazardly, practically slapping himself in the face.

Jotaro doesn’t hesitate to answer. Then again, he’s not sure if Noriaki is in the right mindset to talk about the clinic visit right now.

“Eh… 106 overall.”

Noriaki’s brows shot up. “Wow, really? That’s great, JoJo. Really great. Wonderful. Love it. And to think you used to be the kid who didn’t give a shit about English.”

Jotaro huffed. “My mom and my old man speak it. I also did, in-fact, use your old flash cards that you gave to me—”

“—English is really useful here in Tokyo, you know,” Noriaki interrupted, making Jotaro give him a pointed look. Maybe it was a bad idea to answer the TOEFL question, after all. “Big companies like it if— hic— you speak other languages besides Japanese because it increases your marketability especially because, you know, you’re petting the dolphins and starfish—”

“—that’s not what I do—”

“—and you have to travel all around the world and meet new marine biologists and talk to them and if they can’t understand you then they’re gonna be like [hey you speak English now or go back to Japan you big-cock motherfucker] and then you’re gonna get mad and punch them in the face and you— hic— won’t be able to see dolphins anymore because you’ll get arrested again—”

Jotaro yanks the fully-filled shot from Noriaki’s hand, not minding that some of the liquor splashed on their chests. Noriaki definitely seemed to not care. The black-haired man was practically fuming.

“Shut the fuck up, we need to talk about this right now,” he spat, roughly moving the empty bottles to grab the folder of documents. “By the way, good grief, you already ruined the front pages.”

“She has her own copy,” Noriaki blurted out, now a bit despondent from being separated from the shot glass. Jotaro had to swat his friend’s hand away from his own glass on the coffee table. “My wife, I mean. My lovely wife, I love her. I love her so much.”

“Yes, I know you do.”

“I love her so so so so much,” the redhead blabbered, blatantly ignoring Jotaro. “I love her, I love her, I love her. I love her so much, and I can’t make her happy. I can’t— hic— make her happy, JoJo. I— I can’t give her a child. I can’t father her child. I can’t be a father, JoJo. I can’t be a father, I can’t, I can’t— why can’t I be a father, JoJo?! Why?! Why— hic— not?! Why must I be cursed like this?! ”

Jotaro grabs onto his friend’s shoulders, prompting him to stop yelling. The last thing they need is for one of Jotaro’s neighbors to send a complaint about them, because he did not want to deal with that at the moment.

“Noriaki, listen to me, listen to me,” Jotaro demanded, hardening his glare at him. His eyes temporarily avert to a suddenly-manifested Hierophant Green, which unraveled its legs into its usual web of tentacles. The green humanoid Stand proceeds to dramatically slide to the floor, laying down with its arms stretched out. Though, even with the lack of conventional eyes, Jotaro knew that its expression was representative of Noriaki’s current breakdown.

“She can’t even see Hierophant…”

“Yes, I know— Noriaki Kakyoin, I swear, listen to me.”

Finally, the red-haired man locks eyes with him. 

The sight of Noriaki’s red, puffy eyes and the tears that flow down his cheeks as he sniffles is forever burnt into Jotaro’s memory. Cursing to himself, Jotaro loosens his grip on Noriaki’s shoulders.

“I hate seeing you like this,” he admitted rather bluntly. “You’re not the Noriaki I know.”

“Do you still know him anymore?” Noriaki slurred, rubbing his face with both hands.

Jotaro irritatedly sighed. “Yes, I do. Deep in your gross, sad, drunk mind, he’s there. And I want to help him. He’s been avoiding a conversation with his wife, but I think he has to get on with… that. They need to talk about what to do from here on out.”

“But what if they talk? And he finds out that she hates him?”

His eyes widened at him.

“...she— she doesn’t,” Jotaro choked out, astounded by his words. “She loved him before, loves him now, and will love him until the end. Their friend just hopes that… they don’t get mad if, ah… damnit— if he suggests that he serve as a sperm donor for the child they wish for, because he really cares about them and… hates to see them… like this…”

November 26, 2011

Your conversation with Vinegar Doppio lasted a little over an hour.

Every now and then he double-checks to see if it’s good for you to call him so early in the morning where you are; though, every time he asks, you assure him that it’s fine. It’s not like you had interest in sleeping anytime soon at… nearly 3 or 4 AM. You’d even let this call go on for longer, except he had to continue working on his essay— he was telling you its abstract earlier— about sound communication between frogs. Which, after he hung up, left you sitting up in the living room alone.

How exactly you met Doppio in the first place was a strange series of events. This all involved getting lost in an unfamiliar city, an aquatics championship, a yelling match with an Italian butterfly swimmer, and a variety of ‘phones’ that you didn’t realize classified as phones. 

But that story is best saved for another day.

However, when you did meet him, it had only been a year since his step-father— his only remaining family member— had died. Doppio told you about a fire that burned down the village he grew up in, lamenting the loss of everyone. His step-father, a priest for a local church, had been one of the casualties. The pink-haired man described it as gut-wrenching and sinful arson, furiously upset that he had been away and busy at university in Rome as it happened. He only became aware of the circumstances when he returned home during the winter break and saw only charred debris and some makeshift barricade. And judging by the state of the barricade itself, it happened months before he arrived.

These days, he apparently lives with several roommates in Rome. You guess it explains his ability to sustain himself, now that he’s been orphaned for nearly four years. You’re actually not sure what happened to his parents, but you respect the tacit wish of not discussing it.

“[I believe that someone purposely burned down my village in Sardinia],” Doppio asserts on the other end of the line. “[We were a very tight-knit group of people. I can’t imagine that any of my neighbors would commit something so cruel].”

You furrow your brows. “[Do you have any leads? Like… um, who… caused it?]”

Suddenly, you hear Doppio’s breath hitch. 

He’s quiet— he stays quiet for a while, in fact— and you silently curse to yourself. You must’ve hit a nerve, visiting a particular subject that the Italian man did not want to acknowledge. Yet, he answers, albeit with a voice deeper and a tone harsher than you’ve heard the usually-friendly man speak in.

“No.”

...you slowly blink, clearly taken aback by the sudden change.

Hm.

It’s not something you decide to dwell on anymore. Though, it’s probably best that you change the subject in order to not make Doppio any more uncomfortable.

Taking a deep breath, you’re immediately reminded of your own predicament again, which seemed apropos to discuss now.

“Well, I don’t know who… targeted… my husband either.”

“Where were you when it happened?” he asks with an abruptly softer tone and demeanor.

Now that you think about it, Doppio might actually just be sleep deprived.

“I… was, um… out of town,” you admitted, averting your eyes to the hardwood floor beside you. “I was visiting my hometown— you know, west side of Japan, kinda far from Tokyo— and… well, it’s normal for me. I go once every few months; sometimes my husband goes with me, sometimes he doesn’t. He didn’t go with me yesterday because he had class and…”

You trail off.

On the other side of the line, you know that Doppio is confused by your gradual silence. At this point, you’re just sitting up on the futon and blankly staring. You can hear him say your name, asking you if you’re still there.

If… if there was just the slightest change in Noriaki’s schedule… if the professor for that class had scheduled his class the day before or after Friday, then… oh God, Noriaki would still be here, right? Right? If he went to Iwami-chō with you instead of class, he would not be in a body bag right now. And because Noriaki wasn’t home, Jotaro wouldn’t bother to come over. He would’ve escaped death as well. Yet, fate is convulsing, it’s turning and warping into a series of events that starts to eat at you, fuck, it’s like it knows the effect it’ll have on you as you start to process that they will never be alive again and for you to see their faces just one last time—

“—and you came home later? Where are you staying?”

Your thoughts slowed down. 

Massaging your temples, you deeply inhale before responding to Doppio in a shaky voice.

“...I came home later. And— and… Doppio, I swear to God, I have no idea what to do… I mean, I’m staying at…”

Goddamnit, you were crying again.

You had an inkling— unexplainable, at that— that perhaps Noriaki’s professor had nothing to do with it. Though, you didn’t know what else to think at this point.

——

Just now you’re starting to get tired— fuck, you didn’t even sleep. You had that brief phone call with Doppio a few hours ago, hoping not to wake up your friend or her son in the other room. An hour ago, you sat up from your futon because you heard the wails of the baby, rubbing your eyes. You were supposed to be awake now anyway, as you were supposed to head to the police station in an hour for questioning.

Now that you think about it, your trip to Iwami-chō yesterday might seem suspicious to law enforcement, considering the murders occurred at around the same time. You mean, this was the type of shit you heard of on those forensic crime documentaries. To experience something like this in your lifetime just felt wrong, like it was in the universe’s favor for you to become… you don’t know, a suspected and accused murderer. 

It’s insane, really. But it’s not like you can avoid that.

——

The back of a hand was planted on your forehead, snapping you out of your never-ending thoughts. Your eyes darted around, once again immersing yourself in the environment you briefly left.

You were sitting at the round wooden dining table. In front of you were your laptop— which had long gone into sleep mode by now— along with your open textbook. The mechanical pencil that was in your hand had fallen onto the mostly-filled notebook, having rolled off the table and onto the floor beside your sock-clad foot.

The owner of the hand pulled away, narrowing her eyes at you as she studied your face. 

“Are you getting sick? Stop what you’re doing right now.”

Instinctively, you brought your own hand to your face, feeling your sweltering skin. Even though the detail of your reflection wasn’t so vivid in the black laptop screen, you knew you had dark circles under your eyes and probably the most dehydrated skin anyone has ever seen. Who knew that skipping skincare-related deeds for one day could do something so drastic to your emotionally-exhausted self?

“How could you tell?” you asked your friend dryly. With a bored expression, you shoved your cold hands under your thighs, lightly swinging your legs underneath the table.

Your friend, Tomoko Higashikata, sighed heavily as she placed her hands on her hips.

“You’re looking pale,” she bluntly informed, leaning forward to collect all of your utensils and materials to put away. “I think it’s time you stopped doing work for the rest of the day. Have you eaten yet?”

As if on cue, hunger started to gnaw at you.

The events from yesterday now serve as an impetus to distract yourself as much as possible, though you realize that it’s causing you to forget even the most basic necessities for your body.

You mean, this is normal… it is. On your busiest days and nights, where all of your focus was on whatever you were working on, you’d prioritize that over anything else.

Well, except Noriaki. If he needed anything, you were there in a heartbeat. You’d just multitask— if possible— and he’d leave you alone on his own accord so you could be finished quicker, thus being able to spend more time with him. Although, there were times— you knew, he’d express his own feelings about it— he’d wish you could remember the world around you. Remember that outside the apartment windows, there was life you both could enjoy together.

You wanted to laugh every time Noriaki said that; he used to say that in a ridiculously dramatic way. He’d grab a chair and sit near you, and what he did would depend on the day. Sometimes he’d just be doing some light reading from his textbooks, like the one about color theory when he took that web design class one semester. When he finished his own work, he’d prepare some snacks for the both of you. On other days, he’d do small talk. You typically spoke less during these moments, but you’d ask him questions that were introspective or complex enough that he’d go on and on to answer. When you worked, his voice as he spoke served as music to your ears— as weird as that may sound.

To think that you took something that seemed so minuscule for granted.

“…no,” you weakly answer Tomoko. 

You leaned back into your chair, eyes lowering to your abdomen.

Her eyes followed your own, settling there as well. Expression softening, she placed your utensils and textbook back in your backpack, sliding the laptop in the provided separate compartment inside.

“You definitely need to eat then— I finished the nikujaga,” she finalized, gesturing for you to stand up. “We need to make sure you’re as healthy as possible for the following weeks.”

Suddenly, you were kind of glad you opted to stay with her. She sure as hell knew what to do, mainly because you didn’t. Clearly you didn’t even give two shits that you were in this state; who knew what would’ve happened if you’d let it continue?

The second you told her of last night’s events, Tomoko had offered to let you stay over for as long as you needed. This happened shortly after your whole breakdown at the apartment complex, where you were then suggested to stay at a nearby hotel while the whole ordeal would be dealt with by law enforcement. You already had a number of useful items with you in the backpack that you brought to Iwami-chō, such as your phone, pocket money & payment cards, various IC cards, your laptop, school-related shit, and your passport; however, everything else was back at the apartment. 

You’ve been doubting the likeliness of you getting anything back within the next few days.

Her apartment was smaller than yours and Noriaki’s— if not even smaller— and there was only one bedroom. She even suggested that she sleep in the living room, which you adamantly rejected. It was her own apartment, after all. However, your rejection was also out of convenience for her to care for her son. Just a few months ago, Tomoko had given birth to the boy, whose crib currently took up the corner of her bedroom. This explained her absence from work a while ago, forcing you to converse with the other interns instead and do errands with her after your shift.

You were given a brief overview of the circumstances preceding that; apparently, she had a one-night stand with some foreigner last year who was here in Tokyo for a business trip. She wouldn’t tell you the foreigner’s name or anything about him— which was fine, because you probably wouldn’t have remembered any of it anyway— but you knew she must’ve liked him enough to be willing to carry his baby to term, even after he left and returned to who-knows-where.

How she simultaneously managed to raise the baby alone and go to school at Gakudai baffled you, though all you had was respect for her. To think you both met at work and, during pre-pregnancy, would bond after your assistant and her intern shifts during the company-funded nights at one of the surrounding izakaya.

You were still planning to use the laptop, which she had just put away in front of you. As she walked back into the kitchen, you realized that her back was to you while she turned off the stove’s heat. Your hands slowly grabbed the device from the still-open backpack, gingerly lifting and resting it on the tabletop. It’s not like she’d be able to see you—

“— oi! What did I just say?”

Groaning loudly, you lean back in your chair again and rub your face with your hands. 

“I just—” you interjected, frankly feeling a bit nervous seeing Tomoko storm over to you. Why did she seem exponentially more terrifying when doing this? “—come on, Tomoko, I just need to do— my work —”

Tomoko was currently playing a little tug-of-war with you. It took all of your strength to hold onto your laptop, but even then, she managed to yank it from you with a yell. You yelped and cringed at the sight of her nearly dropping it on the hardwood floor, and gave her a look of indignation when she grabbed everything else from you.

By the way, when the hell did she get that strong? Was it from carrying her son all the time or something? If you got a little stronger from carrying a three-point-something kilogram baby after delivering it… you mean, what you experience in the months before doesn’t seem to be like a bad trade-off… 

She ignored your glare as she shoved everything inside your backpack— closing it this time— and proceeded to carry with her into the kitchen. The sound of your backpack being placed on the floor, the cabinets opening, and the grabbing of bowls and utensils resonated from there as you remained in your seat at the dining table, pouting.

“You’re not taking me seriously,” Tomoko tells you, and she says it in what you perceive to be a weird, motherly, disappointed tone.

The bowl of food and chopsticks are carefully passed to you, and the mere presence of it overwhelms your senses. Your friend sits across from you with her own bowl, glancing over at you before you both put your hands together and say grace. After wiping your hands and picking up the pair of chopsticks, you didn’t even realize how hungry you were, finishing the first third of food in record speed.

At some point, Tomoko repeats her words from earlier.

“I wish you took me… what I say… more seriously,” she expressed as she set her chopsticks down horizontally on the bowl’s edges. “You’re… what? Three weeks?”

You shrug nonchalantly, not making any effort to recall what the fertility doctor told you two days ago. “I think so.”

She gave you a deadpanned look.

“You think—” Tomoko abruptly paused, massaging her temples and taking a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to get pissed at you any more, especially while eating dinner. “—damnit, okay. Have you taken your vitamins? Or… any supplements?”

“Ah…” you trail off, setting your chopsticks down in a way similar to hers. “I was given folic acid and… stuff, I don’t remember.”

To be fair, as an engineering major, it’s not exactly a priority to be taught how to remember things compared to how to do them. Although, you know you might be annoying Tomoko with this skill set.

“Yes, that’s it— have you taken them yet?”

Your eyes avert away from her. This, on the other hand, is something you do know.

“...they’re at my apartment.”

Tomoko’s expression softens all of a sudden. 

She doesn’t have anything to retort with, but she opts to help you out. Standing up, she heads back into the kitchen to reach into her medicine cabinet. Of course, she swore that she had an extra bottle of folic acid that she could just give to you. There was currently no need for her to have a large stock, as she’s now able to go out more frequently since giving birth.

While grabbing the bottle, Tomoko remembers the phone call she had with her father this morning. You were out of the house and at the questioning, so it’s not like you were there to overhear their conversation. She hurries back out over to the dining table with the bottle in hand, quickly thanking her as she hands you the bottle and scoots her chair forward.

“What’s the… hurry?” you retorted, an amused glint at your eyes. Her expression seemed to contrast yours, however, and your amusement wanes.

You hear her take a deep breath, mouth opening and closing in an act of hesitation.

“I just remembered… ah, my dad told me this morning that there’s a family in our hometown, Morioh-chō, that got… murdered three days ago,” Tomoko tells you with a solemn expression and tone, and as expected, your eyes widen. She starts to gnaw on her lower lip before continuing. “It’s all over the news in the region, and… they’re trying to look for the person who did it… I mean, my dad said that they virtually left no trace of themselves at the scene…”

What she tells you leaves your throat dry, unable to enunciate any words.

If you could recall correctly, you did see blood through the opening of your apartment door. It was dark in and outside, yes, but it spattered the white walls and stained the hardwood near the door itself. The memory of that is practically burnt into your mind— unlike other things— and it’s just so… ugh… 

Regardless, you now wonder: was there any trace of whoever murdered your husband and friend? Did forensics manage to pick up on anything within and around the apartment? You haven’t gotten word from law enforcement yet, so that’s all a mystery to you right now. In your grief, it all seemed like an ornate plan to test your patience. You did not want to sit on your ass and wait too long, only to find out that the perpetrator walks scot-free while you remain relatively traumatized by yesterday’s events.

“A 16-year-old girl, her parents, and their guard dog were all brutally stabbed,” she elaborated, stomaching her nausea from imagining it. Tomoko momentarily avoids your eyes, worried that she might have ticked you off by mentioning this. Yet, she can’t seem to restrain herself.

You swear that you hear her gulp before she dives in, asking you a question that she definitely and immediately regrets asking afterward.

“...is, ah… is that what happened to your husband and his friend?”

Your gaze on her briefly hardened before softening.

Was it?

“N— no,” you mumble, staring down at your half-eaten bowl. “They— I was, ah… I’m not— I wasn’t allowed to view the autopsy, so I actually… don’t know. I don’t know what happened to them, I really don’t. I… don’t, I don’t…”

You had your elbow rudely propped up on the table as you facepalmed, forcing yourself not to tear up in front of your friend. 

Tomoko’s brows crease.

“You… don’t have to talk anymore if you don’t want to,” she offers with a quiet, gentle voice.

“Please, thank you,” you pleaded, arm unceremoniously slamming down on the table as you locked eyes with her. “It’s so… so difficult for me— I hate… oh my God, I hate imagining and trying to figure out what happened to them… I haven’t able to find out, I haven’t been told anything, please…”

“Okay, it’s okay, it’s okay… I’m sorry,” Tomoko reassures with haste, silently cursing to herself. She proceeds to reach out to you, briefly placing her hand over yours in sympathy. “I… let’s… let’s talk about something else. How about that? Is that alright?”

Your solemn, yet forgiving expression is enough of an answer. 

She gives a small nod as she diverts the conversation.

“So, ah…” your friend trails off, pursing her lips. Tomoko’s stuck in thought for a moment before she starts speaking. “What are you… planning to do after graduation?”

That was okay to ask, right?

Shrugging, you answered in a bored tone as you wiped your eyes, “Well… I’ve been getting informal employment offers since last year.”

Tomoko’s eyebrows raise.

“It’s November, now,” she points out. “Companies should’ve sent you formal offers last month. Did you accept… any of those offers?”

“Eh… not exactly,” you confess, avoiding her eyes in shame. “It’s— it’s not because of this or…”

You hear Tomoko say your name with a frown on her face.

“Look, it’s… weird,” you continue, scratching the back of your neck. “There’s a high chance that Toppan’s recruiting me, since I’ve already been doing basic assisting for the actual semiconductor researchers. I didn’t even conduct actual fucking research, but I know that if I accept their offer, then I’ll be there full-time. If I don’t accept it, I kind of just threw away my future. You know how it is— our whole ‘work or die’ type of life here.”

“If you accept their offer, then you have to permanently live here in Tokyo,” Tomoko realized with a stunned look. “Is… you know that, right?”

During your occasional nights at the izakaya, you might’ve mentioned from time to time a desire to get out of the bustling life of Tokyo. Even with the returns to Iwami-chō, it didn’t feel like it was enough for you.

You pick up your chopsticks. “...yes, I do now. I mean, after… you know, ah, my worries about relocating because of my hus— his work are supposed to be gone… now. Even then, I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. I planned everything with the expectation that Noriaki would be at my side, but…”

“Take as much time as you need to adjust,” Tomoko consoled. “But you should know that this is not impossible to overcome. You may think that you’re on your own, but you have a larger support group than you think, you know.”

In response, you give her a small smile.

“Thank you, but enough of me— I’ll just… take another look at my offers. After all, I think there’s still time for me to accept Toppan. And if not them, then another company. Anyway, what... what about you?”

“Well, it’s… weird, I agree,” the black-haired woman says. “I’ve started thinking of where I’ll be after graduation, and for a while… I’ve been considering of going back to Morioh-chō. I’m planning to work as a teacher there—”

“—doesn’t sound so bad—” you mumble to yourself.

“—right? And trust me, I enjoy being in Tokyo, but… I just can’t imagine raising Josuke in a large area like this.”

This is the first time you’ve heard Tomoko say the kid’s full name around you. Oftentimes, she just referred to him as 'JoJo'.

“So you’ll be leaving Tokyo?”

“...yeah, I guess so. My business internship at Toppan already helped me get some teaching offers around S-shi, and I’ve been eyeing one at an all-girls high school in Morioh-chō.”

Nodding, you take another bite of food as she talks about her well-planned future.

——

The walk to the apartment complex is substantially more eerie than you remember.

You were able to persuade Tomoko into letting you out of the apartment unaccompanied tonight. The new-mother gave you a hardened look the second you asked, offended that you would ask such a question. There’s a little part of you that even regret asking, but you needed some time to think on your own. Going into different parts of the apartment to… contemplate had been proven ineffective; after all, each attempt had been interrupted by loud cries and rushed slipper-clad footsteps to its source.

Tonight, you said that you were going to the convenience store. It wouldn’t take long.

Or so you claimed.

To be fair, you did go to the convenience store to pick up items from a list you’ve complied this morning after the visit to the police station. You were still rather spooked from the questioning, so you opted to postpone the convenience store visit until now. The plastic bag containing prenatal stuff and snacks were shoved in the backpack you carried on your back. That was something you were able to get back, too.

Once you arrived at the train station, at least a million different emotions rush through you. It reminds you of your long days on campus, where you’d return home to see your husband. Sometimes he’d be on the sofa, the dining table, or even in the damn kitchen, studying as he ate. You’d take off your shoes and give him a quick kiss; when he ate, you always tasted the essence of that food on his lips. You’d spend the rest of the night with him, as usual.

Yesterday, you lost that.

You’re now reminded of yesterday, yet again— after all, this was the exact station you had arrived at shortly before your whole breakdown. As you walk, your footsteps loudly echo against the pavement. It feels like you’re ready to wake up the entire fucking block.

The moment you see the apartment complex around the corner, you feel your stomach churning. You tense up. Your jaw clenches. 

Shit, maybe you shouldn’t have lied to Tomoko. Maybe you should turn back now, avoid this area like the plague for the rest of your time here in Tokyo. Instead of the only year of good memories you had here, the memory of last night starts to cloud your perception of it, and goddamnit is it painful. You should be heading back to the station. You should be going back to Tomoko’s apartment, welcoming the environment that you were barely familiar with. You should be conversing with her, maybe even getting a chance to hold baby Josuke.

Your feet continue to move, however.

Initially, you remember being confused at the sight of your neighbors and some officers standing outside or near the stairwell. It was the dead of night after all; what happened? There wasn’t any fire, any offending tenant being escorted out the building— nothing. This is what you’re thinking before you see other individuals in front of your door, and that’s when you start to panic. Did Noriaki call them? What was going on? Why were they there at your apartment, specifically?

You snap at the sight of the body bags shortly after.

Suddenly, you curse to yourself aloud at the memory. Your actions at the time were uncouth, sure, but that’s a normal response to finding out your friend died, right? To finding out that your fucking husband died, right? If you didn’t react at all, surely that’d be more suspicious. Your ‘overreaction’ should be justified… you think.

The rustling from the park’s trees start to sound. It’s interesting to note that like the apartment you shared with your high school friend three years ago, yours and Noriaki’s apartment complex was coincidentally built next to a park as well. And at this time of night, it’s already empty as expected.

There’s a brief moment where you turn your head, believing that you might’ve heard footsteps. You decide not to mind it anymore; it’s probably just the wind tumbling down empty bottles or forgotten flyers or some shit.

Your chest starts to heave; you can’t believe you’re here again. Your gaze moves up the apartment complex to yours and Noriaki’s apartment door, seeing the area blocked by reapplied barricade tape. The sight of it makes you wonder— albeit morbidly— of the sight inside. What exactly had been knocked down, destroyed? Had any of the windows been smashed open? What did the walls and floors look like besides the blood stains and splatters? Where… 

Where in the apartment did each of them die? Did they die beside one another, or in separate areas of the apartment? How did they die? What was used to kill them, what time exactly did they take their last breath, what—

—tears start to flow down your cheeks, and you didn’t even realize. 

Though, what you do realize is what actually seem to be footsteps. 

Your mind had not, in-fact, played tricks on you. 

There’s someone here.

Sniffling, you feel a rush of panic before calming down. It’s nothing; honestly, it’s probably just someone returning home from work. Yes, that’s who that is. You don’t know them, but that seems most likely. Hell, they might even be from the same apartment complex, maybe even a neighbor you’ve never met. They’ll probably give you an awkward nod— it happens— before going on their way home to rest for the night. They’ll leave you alone, maybe wonder about the strange woman (or neighbor) who stood in front of a building for no apparent reason.

The footsteps don’t seem to stop.

It’s as if… they’re approaching you.

Okay, this is not the time to panic. Perhaps you should move out of the way, give them space to walk? Yes, you’ll do that. 

Taking a deep breath and wiping your eyes and face, you head over to the nearest crosswalk. Even without the presence of actual vehicles on the road, you still take the time to wait and use the crosswalk out of habit. It doesn’t take long to head over to the park, anyway. There’s the… slide, the swings, the monkey bars, the sandbox— all quintessential park and playground equipment. Beside the sandbox is a hedge, which was beside the thick trunk of a cherry blossom tree. What was remaining on that tree had already fallen. Were you just observing around the park to distract yourself? Of course.

Wait, why are you still hearing the footsteps? 

Who the hell is this?

Why are they following you?

This is not the time for you to deal with… whatever this is. You just wanted to take a look at the apartment complex, not suffer from whatever wrath you face. You’ve dealt with enough.

Seriously, this person has probably the loudest fucking footsteps you’ve ever heard in your life. Just a few minutes ago you were thinking that you were the titleholder for that as you walked through the neighborhood.

You whip your head around.

You blink.

It’s a man wearing a long, orange robe-like garment over a black turtleneck. You could see black and white vertical-striped pants— no, in fact, they were crotch-high flat boots. They were worn over black slacks. Normally, this would look out of place to you; though, considering the size and nature of this city, you’re sure you’ve seen someone else before with an outfit worse than his. He has short, black hair with well-defined and ring-like curls, which he runs a hand through.

“[…is there a problem, miss?]”

He’s speaking English, and by his accent you could tell that he was American and probably a tourist. 

Geez, these tourists. Maybe he was lost? Though it seemed a bit irresponsible to travel around in an unfamiliar place alone at the dead of night, regardless of crime rate. Yesterday didn’t help Tokyo’s, though.

All you do is give him quizzical look in response, which makes him backtrack. The man with the orange robing clears his throat.

“[Sorry, um… my Japanese is shit—]” he admits as his voice softens, before he clears his throat again and waves his hands. “[Uh…] is something wrong—?”

His pronunciation is, admittedly, pretty bad, but you understand him just fine.

“[—I speak English],” you interject before apologizing. “[Yeah, sorry. I don’t know why I didn’t… tell you… um…]”

“Why are you here at this time of night?” he suddenly asks back in English, attempting to strike a conversation with you— a stranger. He swears that you were crying just now, based on how red your eyes seem to be.

...okay, now you’re tempted to make a bet.

Are you going to die tonight?

You notice that he had completely disregarded telling you his name, making your shoulders tense up. The man in the orange robing lazily gestures to the apartment complex across the street as he continues. “It’s rather late— I doubt anyone in the building is awake right now, but that might’ve change considering what happened in that apartment.”

He takes the time to point to your apartment door, still surrounded by barricade tape. You purse your lips.

“Well… have you heard about the murders in that small town in S City three days ago?” you ask with a cautious tone, remembering what Tomoko told you earlier. “It’s only north of here. And… you know, it just feels… weird for it to be a coincidence with what happened yesterday.”

You don’t know why, but you’re feeling an inexplicable urge to continue being near this person. Despite your growing reluctance, it’s as if your body rejects the idea of staying away from him. Oddly, this ‘aura’ reminds you of being with Noriaki, but maybe that was you missing him dearly. If this— you and this strangely-dressed stranger meeting— happened on any other night while he was still alive, he’d go out on a limb to ensure your safety. You would’ve just called him for help or something, but now you can’t do anything.

He slowly nods, quietly humming. There's a brief glint of recognition in his eyes, but he doesn't comment on it; instead, he decides to continue playing along the murder-mystery-fascinated, inquisitive personality he presented himself as to you.

“I… haven’t heard of that, actually. Was it done by the same person? Do you know?”

You shrug, unsure of the answer yourself. “I… don’t know. I mean, there was plenty of time for the perpetrator to travel from S City to Tokyo between Wednesday and Friday.”

He continued to follow you, even when you started to stroll near the hedge and the cherry blossom tree.

“So you do believe that the same person did the murders here and there?”

“I— well, I didn’t exactly say that…” you deny, frowning.

The man in the orange robing titters, which you end up copying out of pure awkwardness.

To be fair, that didn’t sound like a terrible assumption, considering how close in date they occurred with one another. But there’s a part of you that doubts any sort of connection between them. It just seemed too… predictable. You mean, if they are connected, and the perpetrator for the case up in Morioh-chō or the case here is found, then that’s relieving.

For some reason you didn’t know, you were expecting for a lot more to come from this case.

——

[STAND NAME]

テイク・ファイヴ — Take Five

[STAND MASTER]

???

——

“You might as well have,” he countered, cheekily smiling down at you. He’s Noriaki’s height, if not a little taller.

You huff. “I guess.”

He chuckled.

“So…” he pivots, quietly snapping his slender fingers in a syncopated beat. Immediately manifested behind him was his Stand, Take Five, who stomped towards you. “Uh… what do you think about the 1980’s? A fun decade, right?”

You slowly blink at him.

Huh.

What the fuck … is he asking? That’s… excuse you, what the fuck? Why would he… why would he think that now was the best time to ask that, the stupidest fucking question ever?

To you, all he does is stare at you, awaiting your response. But who… who does this guy think he is? Is he trying to play some sort of game with you, here? He may ask more questions, he might approach you even further, and God you will not give him the chance to do either. The only thing you want right now is to stay alive to see the downfall of your husband's murderer. No questions asked.

The man in the orange robing notices your lack of reaction to his Stand. In fact, you don’t even show any sort of acknowledgment. You don’t seem to hear the Stand’s footsteps. Not a stare or even a glance towards its towering figure. You continue to stare at the man himself, giving him a flabbergasted look at what you perceive to be a random question. Oh, this is absolutely intriguing— yes, oh-so-intriguing.

You were not, in fact, a Stand user. Ironically, you were married to one, and were friends with another one. But you had no Stand.

He felt like laughing again. 

This was going to be a lot easier than he thought.

“Um… I guess,” you agree with a bored and borderline annoyed tone. “I wasn’t even born yet at that time, so…”

How were you supposed to answer that, anyway? What kind of response was he honestly expecting from you?

You feel your hand brush against the hedge, which only at that point do you notice how much he’s stepped towards you and how much you’ve stepped back. This is already outside of the lot of the park, meaning it's the perfect time to get the hell out of there and head back to the train station. Yet, you're just… stuck— not literally— and you continue to stare up into his eyes. He's not terrible looking, but you aren't staring into his eyes out of attraction. God, no.

This guy clearly has no perception of boundaries, by the way.

Yeah, maybe it’s really time to leave. But you don't. You're getting annoyed at yourself by the second.

“Great… well, anyway, I think you’ll have a fun time.”

…what—?

And with that, the man in the orange robing seizes you by the neck— you don’t even process the action for a split second—

— and forcefully shoves you in the small space between the tree trunk and the hedge, into that nothingness, ignoring your hack and hoarse yell— what the fuck is going on, whatareyoudoing—

He makes sure that he’s able to get your entire body through, lest you become the splitting image of your husband. 

It would be quite difficult for his boss to work with half a body.

—

--> To Be Continued -->

Up Next: A love-hate relationship with an Arrow served with a side of flesh.

Link to the Table of Contents

[daniflestado]

INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENT NO. 1

Who are Generation Z? 

A person is part of Generation Z if he or she is born from  1997 onwards. They are characterized as more open-minded when compared to the previous generation. With issues regarding gender, marriage of gay and lesbian couples, single parenting, and the like, Gen Z tend to view these things as normal topics. As an individual who belongs to the said generation, I agree with the description stated in the article about Generation Z. Through social media, I can see the thoughts of my peers and I have noticed that they are indeed open to talk about matters such as gender and family structures. 

When it comes to Generation Z and Generation Y, they have similar views on present issues. In my case, I have two sisters who are Millennials; my father is a Baby Boomer, and my mother is part of Generation X. Whenever we have conversations about current affairs, I observed that my parents and I have a different perspective, but most of the time my sisters and I have the same opinions. It is interesting to know that it does not only happen in my family. Generation Z and Millennials have naturally similar stance on contemporary issues. 

Similarity and Difference Among Gen Z and Its Importance To Know Oneself

I had my first smartphone when I was 10 years old; I was grade 5 back then. It was a small rectangular pink touchscreen with buttons on the lower portion of the phone. The two online platforms that I commonly used at the time were Facebook and Twitter. Now, I regularly go to YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Like my peers, I am online almost constantly, around 16 hours a day. From what I see on social media, my peers keep on sharing posts about anxiety and depression. With this, I can say that social media have a negative effect on our generation. Since teens can now see what young adults and older adults are doing through their posts, some imitate what they do and what happens is when the response they get made them feel good, they will keep on doing it even if it is not appropriate for their age. An example of this are photos of teenagers wearing revealing clothes and posting it on online platforms. In spite of that, social media have also positive effect on our generation. My peers are more confident in showing their true selves to the public. They are more vocal with their opinions regarding a specific matter. These behaviors that I observed from my peers are important for me to know more about myself. With the similarities we share, I will be able to recognize my strength. For example, being authentic can be one of my strengths as an individual who is part of the new generation. By being true to myself, family, and friends with what I post online, my employer in the future can easily know me better by just looking at my social media sites.

Since Generation Z are more likely to be enrolled in college and less likely to be working as teens and young adults, these make them the best-educated generation yet. However, not working as teens and young adults depends on one’s situation in life. I know people my age who worked during our long school break when we graduated in senior high. In my case, I tried working, but I worked in our company so I do not consider it as a true job. I have not tried working for a summer job like being a crew in a fast food restaurant or anything similar. With this difference in circumstances with my peers, I will be able to recognize my weakness. For instance, not having experience in terms of working with other organization aside from our company will be considered as a disadvantage on my part when I look for a job in the future. 

5 Challenges Generation Z are Facing Today and Solutions to Overcome It

In today’s VUCA world where there are volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, there are 5 challenges that Generation Z are currently facing: moving back to the family home, disrupted education and training, destruction of existing models of work, youth unemployment, and layoffs. 

Young adults have to move back to their provinces or their parents’ house after living alone or with their roommate/s as face to face classes are suspended. In my case, I moved out of the condo I was renting and stayed in my parent’s house in the province. 

Due to social distancing, online classes are held instead of the regular face to face classes. As a student that is enrolled in an online program, I feel the same way as my peers. I also think that I do not properly absorb the information I get and not understanding the material fully, as well as, teachers are going through the content quickly which makes the discussion not in depth. In this case, Generation Z might face lack of opportunity or skills considering that fewer jobs and internships are available. 

In the same way, social distancing resulted to a halt in hospitality, travel, and retail industry. For this reason, young adults are inclined in choosing a more stable profession and or consider careers in medicine. 

Because of COVID-19, there has been an increase in youth unemployment as today’s graduates are less likely to be employed due to their lack of experience which is not appealing for employers at the moment. 

Furthermore, layoffs are prevalent during this time for companies have to lessen their expenses so they can survive and usually inexperience workers like fresh graduates that are newly hired are dismissed. Since some industries are interrupted, employees working in such had lost their jobs or been placed on temporary, unpaid leave.

In order to overcome such challenges, Generation Z need the help of the government and businesses in various industries. The following are 5 key takeaways that I got from the articles which will enable me and my generation to conquer the current rapidly changing world: remain resilient and drive positive change, accelerate progression towards online arrangement, greater help from the government, embrace issues of Millennials and Gen Z, and urgent, extensive efforts from industry players to support Generation Z. 

Gen Z need to remain strong and take action to positively impact their communities as older generations are also having difficulty in navigating the new normal. I can do my part by being selfless and more aware of the needs of others; instead of focusing on the things that I was deprived of due to the pandemic. 

Now is the time to quicken the advancement with regards to online learning, online training, e-commerce, work-from-home, and the like to keep up with the current situation. In addition, this will enable Generation Z to have the necessary knowledge, skills, and opportunity for them to be employed in the future. 

With the help from the government, industries that were suspended, can slowly recover and graduates from such industries can be of help to affected businesses. 

By not giving opportunities to Millennials and Generation Z, companies may lose out on talent in an increasingly competitive market. That is why embracing the issues resonating most with Millennials and Gen Z is important. The opinions and experiences of both generations will be beneficial for organizations targeting such generations in understanding consumer behavior. 

Lastly, industry players are essential in making urgent, large-scale efforts to support Generation Z as they have the capacity to do so. By giving assistance, industry players will gain from it as Gen Z consumers tend to support large businesses that have positively impacted society during the pandemic. In the future, they would want to work for such companies that helped them and their peers, making them loyal to the organization.

[hadoopcourse]

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Data Science Managers: These managers oversee the data science team and their daily work. They are team builders who can balance team development with project planning and monitoring.

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A data science platform decreases redundancy and drives innovation by allowing teams to share codes, results, and reports. Eliminate bottlenecks in workflow by simplifying administration and using open source tools, frameworks and infrastructure.

For example, a data science platform could allow data scientists to implement models like APIs, making it easier to integrate into different applications. Data scientists can access tools, data, and infrastructure without waiting for Information Technology.

The demand for data science platforms has exploded in the market. In fact, the market platform is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of over 39% in the coming years and is projected to reach $ 385 billion by 2025.

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