#the thing is it feels almost impossible to predict what they'll do

[bewareofthenewphannie]

I am so scared for april fools. I know they are plotting something and oh to be a fly on their wall during this discussion.

which ideas do they bring up but regard as too much or too little? how do they calculate our response to whatever they'll end up doing? how much they are willing to mess with us? how much are they willing to risk for a joke?

well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see

[dearweirdme]

Hello! If they ask you why you believe in taekook, what would you say? And on the other hand, what do you think happened to Bogum and Tae's friendship?

Hi anon!

This might get long, because it seems insufficient to simply state ‘ít's their bodylanguage". Let me first state that I don't think it's possible for anyone to be absolutely sure that Taehyung and Jungkook are together. We see so little of their actual lives, it's impossible for anyone to be 100 percent sure of this. Having said that, I do believe it's possible for us to be fairly sure that they are a couple.

I wouldn't be able to explain my believe in Taekook in just one sentence or by just one situation that's shown their connection. BTS as a group are very close. Some of the members are also physically comfortable with each other. The way it's normal for men to show skinship in South Korea is a thing that has made me question whether I was misunderstanding Tae and Jk's relationship a lot in the beginning. It was confusing to me because on the one hand being queer isn't much accepted in South Korea, but on the other hand it isn't weird for men to hold hands or be touchy in general. So it took me some time. I went through a lot of footage and I payed a lot of attention to how Jk and Tae interacted, but also to the way they interact with the other members. And... it's just different. For instance, we all know this moment:

Can you imagine this happening with any of the other members? I cannot, not even with Jimin who both Tae and Jk are very comfortable with. There's just a sense of safety they have with each other. No touch seems unwanted or too much. You can also just tell that their touches are calming (except those that are not calming at all ;) ) to both of them. It seems cliche, but they really are each other's safe place. To explain this to others is so difficult, because it always comes down to perception. And for every moment I could use as 'proof' someone else could come up with a debunk. To me it's just the amount of instances I've seen with Tae and Jk. It's consistent, it's almost something predictable at this point... I just know that whenever we see Tae and Jk together, they'll be drifting towards each other.

As I said at the start of this reply, simply stating "bodylanguage" isn't enough. An understanding of context is also very important. Understanding that South Korea is not a safe place for queer people and that therefore Tae and Jk's relationship has to actively be hidden. They cannot show the extent of their feelings to the public. So if they seem awkward or dismissive, the reason for that will probably be feeling unsafe as opposed to them not loving each other. BigHit has tried very hard to make it seem like Tae and Jk aren't close and if someone were to not pay attention to how they actually interact, that person might believe what BigHit tried to convey. To me one of the biggest 'weird' things is the way they went so hard on Tae and Jimin being soulmates, while never adressing the close (to my eyes closer than Jimin and Tae's bond) bond Tae and Jk obviously have. These days especcialy it's so obvious that Tae and Jk spend heeps of time together, while Jimin is hardly ever mentioned even. Not to take away from Jimin being important to them, he obviously is, just... Tae and Jk are more important to each other.

To kinda conclude... because I could go on and on and on about this... To me Taehyung and Jk just react to each other differently than any of the other members. Their eye contact is more intense, with a way longer duration than just 'normal' eyecontact. Their touches linger and never seem to be enough, while with other members they might also touch and cuddle, but it's always for shorter periods and with a definite ending. When they're not touching, they're looking. They are always checking out the way the other responds to things. They take care of each other's well being to an extend none of the other members do. Aside from all this... there are so many instances on camera that show clear desire, attraction, jealousy, hurt (never underestimate the 'only love can hurt like this'). It's continued patterns in their relationship that make me quite convinced that they are together romantically.

As to Park Bogum and Taehyung.. I'm not really sure what you're asking. You mean do I think they were together?

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and based on a series of dreams I’ve had regarding the situation I need to break up with my boyfriend. The biggest issue…Christmas is next week and two weeks after that is our 1 year…what do I do…He knows I want to talk and I said I’ve been on and off with our relationship and he said he has to followed by “I still like you and want to make it work.” so like we’re singing the same song but completely different tunes. I still care and would like to stay friends I just can’t do the whole romantic relationship thing. It’s barely even felt like that for a while. Please help.

Yeah, situations like this are really hard. Breakups right before the holidays are very difficult and I understand why you're reluctant to do that (though I wouldn't worry as much about breaking up before your anniversary). But it's up to you to decide if you can hold off until after Christmas or not. Don't feel bad if you can't. At the end of the day you have to do what's right for you and let the pieces fall where they may.

Your best chance if you want to stay friends with your partner is probably an open and honest conversation about where you're at and why you need to break up. Sometimes people handle breakups better when the reason is orientation, because it's not them you're rejecting. But everyone's different and breakups almost always hurt, so it's impossible to predict how they'll take it or how they'll want to handle it. All you can is what's in your own control and hope for the best.

Breakups are never easy, that's just how it is. But you've just got to get through it.

All the best, Anon! Good luck!

[zackbuildit]

Hey! So I saw you reblogging a post from spyret-the-shitposter saying "Fictive and introject describe headmates and the traits they formed with, rather than interests gained as someone grows up".

Do you think it's possible for fictives and introjects to be tied to someone's interests? Imma not diagnosed with anything but I do suspect I have some kind of a dissociative disorder. A lot of parts of "myself" I experience as being fictional characters, usually from shows or games that I'm currently into. They behave like alters though, being pretty much their own person and really only based on someone else and not actually them.

Ik you're not a professional but I wanted to hear your opinion in this anyway! Ofc you don't have to give one and I understand why you wouldn't

Essay in 3,

2,

1

They very much do correlate! Though, less because of the interest, and more because of the focus on the topic and the time spent interacting with it. It makes sense from a psychological standpoint, if a brain is making an introject then it not only needs to somehow get the information resources needed to introject them, but also it needs reason to expect that who or whatever is being introjected is the easiest or most convenient way to get the results it expects for the system as a whole. Think of the process of formation being like the brain filling out a character sheet. Introjection, in this way, is like using knowledge or inspiration from somewhere or someone else as a way to make filling in the gaps of the sheet more easily. But, of course, to fill in the gaps you need information about the source in the first place.

This is why most systems that get introjects are getting an introject from a source they have a lot of knowledge and memories about or with, because it gives the brain a lot more to work with. Plus, with introjecting vs with original formation, the brain can sometimes better predict what effect they'll have on the rest of the system. Forming a new headmate is inherently unpredictable, since once they form, they become almost completely out of control of whatever force in the brain forms them. This is why brains almost always have at least most of the stuff in every headmate be existing knowledge, beliefs, thoughts, or personality traits from before they formed, it makes them less uncertain. Introjection is just the extreme of that "ensuring intended thing happens" property of formation.

Anyway with all that said, there's also something else relevant. We don't know what the brain did to form a headmate, and we don't know how or why it did that. This is the point of the "introject and fictive are descriptions of headmates" thing. It's almost impossible to know whether a brain intentionally made the headmate similar to a character, or planned to make them feel very connected to a source, because we can't ask a brain to find its motivations.

As for why you feel like parts of yourself are literally certain characters, plurality isn't the only possibility! There's also mirroring, which is common for people with autism, BPD, and a few other mental health conditions. It's where someone unconsciously or unintentionally copies and/or adopts certain personality traits from others or from media. Not saying either one is more likely in your case, the only relevance is it's important to keep in mind there's multiple different possibilities, and even if you completely rule out one or two, it doesn't necessarily confirm or deny something else, make sense?

[makeste]

some meta about Izuku, Katsuki, and trust

and choosing to trust is the real bridge that goes to accepting that person as a part of your live again and what the offender has to earn. I think the interesting aspect of Deku and Bakugou's relationship is that Deku has always trusted Bakugou, and I would say more than he had forgiven him at the start of the story (where he does show more frustration and resentment towards Bakugou's behaviour and see him as a jerk) but despite that he can always trust Bakugou to him himself, attested to

the fact that Deku feels very confident about how Bakugou will act or what Bakugou's true motives are and probably the reason why he always sees Bakugou as a hero despite his hurtful behaviour is because Deku 100% trusts Bakugou even if he's doing something disagreeable or that will hurt him. Knowing someone and trusting is not exactly the same and I see it as trust because of Deku willingness to be co-operative. On Bakugou's side he is mistrustful of Deku and thats where the communication

breaks down and there has been plenty of meta exploring why Bakugou has deep rooted problems around Deku and his journey is him taking accountability of that and changing to be a better person. While understanding and miscommunication get their fair due I think trust and mistrust are the true bedrocks of the bkdk river bed because that allows for how they can still be so connected despite the miscommunication (with Bakugou mistrust is mixed with some trust) because of knowing.

anon I really enjoyed this, thank you for sharing your thoughts! I concur with just about all of this, and this ask got me thinking a lot about the nature of trust, and how it applies to Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship.

I think a lot of people’s reactions to reading the sentence “Bakugou and Deku have always trusted each other” would pretty much be, “???” and “lol what.” like, yeah, sure. they trusted each other so much that Bakugou decided that throwing a tantrum for ten years would be an appropriate reaction to Deku trying to hold his hand. classic Trust, right there!!

lol but I honestly think this is true, though. it’s just that there are different... levels?? types?? of trust. let’s go with types. there are different types of trust, and what makes Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship so interesting to me is that it’s kind of the opposite of what these fictional rival-type relationships usually are. it’s basically the difference between knowing, and understanding.

okay so first of all let’s back up here to make sure we’re all on the same page. we’re defining trust as “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone”, which is the Oxford Language definition and which works pretty well for me. you’ll note, btw, that the current relationship between Katsuki and Izuku more or less meets all four of these criteria.

reliability - both boys regard each other as dependable and are willing to rely on each other in a pinch (although Izuku is currently having some difficulty with that, but that’s another topic for another day).

truth - both are honest with each other, though not completely honest (this is the aspect that Katsuki still needs to work on, as he’s currently hiding his desire to atone).

ability - neither of them have any difficulty with this. Izuku admires Katsuki’s ability so much that he’s made it his own gold standard since childhood, and Katsuki respects Izuku’s ability enough that he made him his main rival, and never doubted that Izuku was qualified to receive OFA and become All Might’s heir.

strength - as with ability, this is another aspect of trust that neither of them has ever struggled with. in fact, a lot of their relationship struggles happened specifically because Katsuki never doubted Izuku’s strength, but feared it because he didn’t understand it.

so yeah. there’s a lot more trust between them than most people realize, I think. but the thing is that the type of trust they have is based more on knowing than understanding, and that’s where so much of their conflict stems from.

when I say knowing, I’m talking about the kind of awareness that comes from familiarity and experience. this is the type of trust that’s difficult to take shortcuts with, because it mostly just has to be accumulated over time. this is all about learning what someone is like through observing them and being around them. and it’s just as much about being known as well, because at the same time that you’re learning who the other person is, they’re learning about who you are. and that’s where trust starts to work its way in. it’s the slow unveiling of who you are, and laying it on the table piece by piece over time. and every time another little piece of you is revealed and accepted, and every time you accept one more piece of who the other person is in turn, that trust increases a little bit more. this type of trust takes a long, long time to build up, but in exchange the foundation it creates is pretty much rock-solid and nigh-indestructible.

understanding, on the other hand, to me is more instinctual. it’s about empathy and insight. and the interesting thing is that it’s possible to know someone for years upon years, and yet never truly understand them. and on the flip side, it’s also possible to understand someone within minutes of meeting them, even if you know almost nothing about them. if “knowing” is about learning who someone is, I would say that “understanding” is about learning why they are who they are. this type of trust isn’t necessarily always mutual, but it does necessitate forming a connection with someone. because empathy is such a critical component of it, it’s basically impossible to understand someone and not form an emotional connection to them in some way. this type of trust can be far more powerful and intense than the “knowing” type of trust, but the flip side is that it can sometimes be less stable and easier to break.

I think that the majority of fictional relationships, especially the ones that become really popular ships, are based more around the latter type of trust because of its intensity and unpredictability and potential for story development. the thing is, both of these types of trust are necessary for a good ship (and when I say “ship”, I’m talking about both romantic and platonic relationships just fyi). if neither type of trust is present on at least some level, then there’s really no foundation to start building up the relationship. so most of the time a ship will start out with one or the other, and then over the course of the story they'll work on building up whichever one was lacking.

and because of how stories work, the majority of the time we’re going to be dealing with characters who at first don’t know each other all that well. and so the relationships we get are ones where the characters first form some kind of emotional connection that builds understanding, and then over time they start to learn more about each other and build up that kind of trust as well. I feel like 90% of ships have this kind of dynamic. it’s the basis for things like enemies-to-lovers, fake dating AUs, and basically any kind of trope in which the characters get stuck somewhere and are forced to spend a lot of time together. it’s good, and it works.

but the fascinating thing about the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki, though, is that it’s actually the exact opposite of this. the premise of Izuku and Katsuki's story is that these are two people who’ve known each other their entire lives, but have almost no understanding of each other whatsoever. they know almost every little detail about each other, so much that they hardly even think about it. but all of their conflict is based on the fact that understanding between them is basically nonexistent.

and to me this is such an intriguing dynamic. the two of them know each other like the back of their hand. they’re familiar with the smallest habits. they can predict each other’s actions. they know how the other person thinks. and they have the kind of trust that comes with having seen the other at both their best and their worst. Katsuki is capable of letting his guard down around Izuku in a way he doesn’t do around anyone else. he cries in front of him on multiple occasions. he lets Izuku call him “Kacchan” long after their other childhood friends have stopped doing so. and even though he fears and resents Izuku’s strength early on, he also subconsciously acknowledges it in ways that even he doesn’t realize (e.g. “don’t you dare get into U.A.,” rather than “you can’t get in” or “you won’t get in”). he knows Izuku.

but he doesn’t understand Izuku. he knows who he is, but he doesn’t understand why. he knows that Izuku is strong, but he can't wrap his head around the nature of that strength. and because he lacks that understanding, this vital aspect of the trust between them is lacking, and is all too easily broken when Katsuki falls into the creek and Izuku tries to offer his help. Katsuki knows that Izuku is a good person, but he doesn’t understand that goodness, that selflessness, and so he’s mistrustful of it.

on the flip side of the coin, however, Izuku has the utmost faith in Katsuki. to him, Katsuki is the strongest, smartest, most capable and most amazing person in the world (aside from All Might). and Izuku, unlike Katsuki, actually does understand his childhood friend at least a little bit. he understands Katsuki’s reasons for wanting to be a hero. he understands that Katsuki is not just mindlessly pursuing strength. he understands that Katsuki’s motivation is about overcoming obstacles and beating challenges. and most importantly, he understands that Katsuki, in spite of everything he’s said and done to Izuku over the years, is fundamentally a good person.

and this is crucial. because, along with the bond of familiarity they’ve built up together over the years, it’s this other, one-sided bond of understanding that is responsible for their relationship enduring for as long as it did despite everything. as you put it, anon, Izuku’s trust is ultimately what becomes the bridge between them. on some level, he trusts in Katsuki’s innate goodness. he believes in it in spite of all of Katsuki’s attempts to persuade him otherwise. e.g. when Katsuki suggests that he go jump off the roof, Izuku is hurt by the words, but he never once takes them to heart, because he knows on some instinctive level that Katsuki doesn’t mean them. and so he grumbles to himself about Katsuki needing to think before he speaks, but aside from that he never gives the words another thought.

Katsuki would no doubt consider this yet another example of Izuku not caring enough about himself or taking himself into account. but it really is more than that. the reason the words don’t cut deep in spite of them being vicious and well-targeted is simply because Izuku knows that Katsuki isn't truly that cruel. and he knows that on a level so deep that Katsuki is never able to break it despite his best efforts. he can’t break it, because there’s nothing to break, because it’s true. the reason the relationship endures in spite of everything is because deep down Katsuki is fundamentally a good person, and so Izuku’s trust, in the end, is based on truth. and so it never fully breaks, and eventually, it becomes reciprocated.

and that’s what their story is all about. it’s two people that have known each other their entire lives, but have to work in order to build their understanding of each other. unlike many ships, they start off already having that foundation of knowing and being known, and so their story instead is about forging that connection of empathy and insight. and it doesn’t come easily to them at all. but they keep at it.

anyway, so thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this, anon. I didn’t even get into the topic of forgiveness, but I agree with you about it being a process of letting go of negative feelings and resentment. I also agree that forgiveness is a separate thing from trust, but I do think trust plays a big part in one’s decision to forgive or not forgive. it's a lot easier to forgive if you have an understanding of the other person’s actions. and it’s also far, far easier to forgive if the offender’s actions are long in the past. and because the latter is now true in Katsuki’s case, that shows a pattern of him learning from his mistakes and not repeating them. which further builds trust, especially in the “reliability” department. and so even though forgiveness and trust are two separate things, they’re still connected. and in many ways, by working to rebuild the understanding between him and Izuku, Katsuki is also working towards earning Izuku’s forgiveness, even though that’s ultimately something that can never truly be earned, but can only be granted.

I’m not sure if I’m really making my point very clear here lol, but basically what I’m trying to say is that while the relationship may have once been one-sided in this aspect, it’s not anymore. it’s mutual, and they’re both putting the work in. and Katsuki is also doing his part without any guarantee or expectation of forgiveness on Izuku’s end. it’s unconditional. he’s doing it because he wants to atone. and he’ll continue to do it whether he’s forgiven or not. and that’s important. it’s important because it shows that the relationship has value to both of them. and it’s important because neither of them wants to lose it. they want to fix it; they want to make it stronger.

and ultimately what that means is that the relationship will continue to endure, despite their ups and downs. because even though it may have started out as something incidental -- two boys who just happened to become friends because they spent a lot of time together as children -- it’s not, anymore. it’s no longer just something that happened, something that just accidentally came together. it’s something that they’re both working to build. they want to trust each other. they want to understand one another. their relationship is no longer something that simply withstood and persisted -- it’s something that is now being nurtured. and you love to see it.

so let's see, how do I even begin to tl;dr this post lol. something something blah blah blah trust, understanding, childhood friends, knowing someone, having faith in someone, being the recipient of that faith, and working to become worthy of it. they're very confused, but they care about each other a lot, and they are good boys.

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

TLDR: even when Democrats win, they still concede defeat and let Republicans take the W

The senate just voted 52-48 to block Biden's vaccine mandate, and even though it will be defeated in the House it raises a lot of procedural questions as to how we even got here in the first place.

It was passed with all 50 Republicans, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Jon Tester of Montana, so why did Chuck Schumer bring this to the floor if the majority of Democrats were against it? Mitch McConnell never let the senate vote on anything unless he personally approved of it, he gave himself the unilateral veto, so why didn't Schumer block this in the same way? Furthermore, why didn't any Democrats filibuster it?!? They didn't even TRY to block it, not a single one, they just let it sail through with 52 instead of 60 votes, handing the Republicans the majority on a silver platter! What the literal fuck?

Why is this party so useless?

Why do they get off on losing?

It's like they're masochists who can only function when the Republicans hold all the cards and can punish them.

"Please sir, can I have another?"

They're gonna get their asses kicked in 2022. The House is as good as gone because of gerrymandering; the Democrats don't seem concerned enough to nuke the filibuster to ensure fair and free elections, so they're just giving up on that front. They're not fighting it, and they're not even claiming to be fighting it, they're just letting it happen in full view of the public and acting shocked, SHOCKED, when it happens and they find themselves out of a job because of it. The Senate could go either way, but I have a strong feeling it's gonna be a bloodbath, with Republicans sweeping. They'll pick up Georgia and Arizona easy because of state level election fuckery to disenfranchise voters of color, and they stand to pick up New Hampshire solely from demographic shifts under governor Sununu (even though he said he's not running, the Republicans were able to flip both chambers of the legislature, so they have a statewide advantage), and I'm also predicting Nevada and Colorado could be very close. Maryland and Vermont are deep blue states but both have "moderate" red governors, so if we're talking worst-case-scenario nuclear apocalypse landslide, that's two more seats that could flip.

Republicans only need 5 House seats to take it, but with gerrymandering and the expected midterm bump for the opposition I'm expecting them to take well over 60. They picked up 63 seats in 2010, and that wasn't even a redistricting year, so they're absolutely gonna give themselves DOZENS of safe seats in 2022, and they'll probably pick up a bunch of competitive seats as well just by happenstance; I'm guessing they'll get 280 seats, but they could easily break 300, and 2024 isn't looking too good for Dems either so the House is gonna be solid red for the foreseeable future.

Republicans only need 1 Senate seat to flip it, but I'm guessing they'll get 3, maybe 4. It probably won't be the nuclear apocalypse, so 56 seems like an upper bound for them; I don't see them getting there, much less surpassing it, though Democrats won 60 seats in 2008 so it's not impossible for the reds to flip some strongholds like California and New York just to rub salt in the wound as the Democratic Party collapses around them. On top of however many seats they win, they'll also have West Virginia and Montana on their side, "blue" senators who will almost certainly vote red to try and save their skins going into 2024, which is gonna be an even bigger bloodbath because Democrats stand to lose the ENTIRE Midwest in one fell swoop; Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and possibly even Minnesota, as well as some east coast states like Virginia and Maine. It's looking REALLY bad for them, and I have NO faith that they'll be able to fix things before then.

We need election reform, and we need it NOW. Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer need to stop FUCKING AROUND and get their goddamn party back in line. If Trump told a Republican to do something, they did it under fear of retaliation. They were afraid of him, but nobody is afraid of Biden. Biden is a laughingstock; he keeps extending an olive branch to the Republicans and they keep slapping it out of his hand and spitting in his face. He never learns! He's betting that they're not as evil as we know they are, and it's gonna cost us everything! All the courts are already rigged, backed by McConnell and Trump, but it's not good enough for them and they'll keep packing it even more so it'll never go the other way again, unless we do something to stop them!

We need a new constitution, an entirely new court system with fresh faces at every level, an all out Revolution to take out the red bastards who are trying to destroy our democracy as well as the blue bastards who are standing idly by and letting them. I'm so mad I could spit.

[toho-literature]

Curiosities of Lotus Asia - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Illusionary Bird

Marisa visited Kourindou carrying one of the beautiful crested ibises that had been increasing in number in Gensokyo lately. After catching it near Hakurei Shrine, Marisa was planning to cook it and eat it with Reimu. In the now lively Kourindou, the owner Rinnosuke was immersed in thought about the reason for the increase in the ibises...

Chapter 2 of an original story based on the Touhou series!

Illusionary Bird

“Hey, Kourin! What's up? Today's our routine hot pot day!”

She shouted as she threw open the door. As far as I'm concerned, today's Animal Protection Day.

“Oh, it's you, Marisa? What's the meaning of coming here and claiming this to be a 'hot pot day'?”

Marisa showed me what she had in her right hand, and there it was, a limp, red-and-white lump...

Some way from the Human Village in Gensokyo is the Forest of Magic, and close by this forest is my shop, Kourindou. In other words, it's halfway between where the humans live and where the youkai are. I thought that I could do business with both humans and youkai in this location, but the truth is that I almost never have clients of either kind. Well, it gets lively at times, but...

“Isn't that a crested ibis? What happened?”

“Yeah, I caught it by the shrine. Reimu's preparin' stuff for the hot pot, so she'll be late.”

“And why did you decide to meet at my place? You never even asked.”

“What are you talkin' about? This'll make a great meal! Sure, he looks a bit worse for the wear, but...”

The crested ibis. More and more of these birds have been appearing in Gensokyo every year. Wherever they become roused, the sky would become dyed in their colors. Yet their meat tastes good, despite their shabby appearances. The hot pot too, would end up dyed in that ibis color, almost a scarlet red. Not a nice way to put it, but it'd look like a human hot pot made by a vampire.

“Well, I guess it's fine, but why hot pot, all of a sudden?”

“Isn't it obvious? Cold days are all about hot pots.”

Marisa continued to chatter while barging into the kitchen. "Well, I just found 'im by chance, but he was pretty lively until a while ago."

Gensokyo is, quite literally, a place where illusionary creatures dwell. At some point, the people in the outside world wrote off “illusionary creatures” as nothing more than “fantasy creatures”. But, of course, illusionary creatures and fantasy creatures are very different. A fantasy creature is just another name for a delusion, misinterpretation or misunderstanding. On the other hand, an illusionary creature is one that can only be found in Gensokyo. It goes without saying, then, that both Marisa and I are also illusionary creatures.

However, the reason behind the sudden proliferation of crested ibises is something I don't understand. Could it be that they have become “illusionary birds”? That would be unthinkable in the outside world I knew, but then again, too much time has elapsed since then. As much as I try to imagine the outside world from limited literature and old memories, it would amount to nothing more than imaginations. An imagination plagued by imaginations is no more than a fantasy. For imaginations, I rank them in the order of Fantasy, Delusion, Prediction, the Virtual, and Illusion.

“Sorry for the wait! Marisa is here, too, right?”

“...I wasn't waiting. How could I when you girls showed up so suddenly?”

“Well, of course we came suddenly. But you should be waiting at all times. Isn't this a shop and everything?”

Reimu came just as Marisa said. She was carrying several bags with her. Ingredients for the hot pot, I guess.

“Hey, Reimu! Took ya long enough! Let's get this hot pot cookin'.”

Marisa had her arm outstretched, with a feeling of “C'mon, hand it over!” to it.

“I brought everything, yes.”

“Huh? This is red miso. Who told you to bring red miso?”

“I didn't need to be told. Red miso is the obvious choice for ibis broth!”

“Hey, hey! The hot pot is already red enough, so we should make it with white miso. Putting red miso in red broth? Are ya some kind of Communist?"

“It's not like you aren't going to eat because of the color. Since ibis meat is red to begin with, it shouldn't bother you, right? And why white miso? This isn't the Genpei War.”

The two of them went on about food coloring, but I wasn't listening. Regardless, Marisa was holding the ibis, and every time she gave it a squeeze, the ibis would squawk. It was kind of weird, like the ibis was supporting her. I'm sure Marisa was doing that on purpose.

"Don't red pickles go with tonkotsu? Wouldja put it in miso ramen?"

"And doesn't fukujinzuke go with curry? But knowing you, you'd probably throw it in cream stew.”

“Having somethin' red in the middle of somethin' white is the sign of a Japanese soul!”

“I'm already red and white enough. And what part of you has a Japanese soul, Marisa? Do you even know what 'Wabi-sabi' is?”

“I don't think ya know yerself, Reimu.”

“Of course I don't.”

“Anyway, we're not makin' a hot pot like that.”

“Wasn't it you who came up with the hot pot idea? We can't eat this ibis raw.”

“So is that how it is? Alright then, let's just divide it now.”

“Decide it?”

“Yeah, that'll work, too. Wanna go?”

In the end, it seems like they decided to settle the matter in a shooting duel, without so much as asking for my advice (even though they came to my shop uninvited). The rules were: 1-on-1 with Spellcard Rules. If Reimu won, the hot pot would be done her way; if Marisa won, she'd apparently make her go buy white miso. Never mind that I had white miso in my place, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I just let them be. Speaking of which, I actually know the tastiest way to cook a crested ibis...

“Marisa, what do I always tell you?”

“If you're gonna fight, then go outside, right?”

“More importantly, could you divide the bird up for Marisa, Mr. Rinnosuke?”

Their objectives seem to have changed already. Whatever the result is, I guess they'll happily eat it however I cook it. I could go as far as to think they arranged this scenario from the beginning, since it always follows the same pattern. Those two are frequently dueling to decide the most insignificant things. On top of that, they've been using attacks with lots of projectiles. It's extremely bright, and hard on the eyes.

Their duels are always a study in contrast. Against the gung-ho Marisa, Reimu – either on purpose or naturally – fights in a more laid-back style. The duels mostly go Reimu's way, but Marisa doesn't always lose. It's just that Marisa attacks with all her skill and might against Reimu, who looks just like she was made of air; it's like trying to pound a nail into dust. In any way, when looking at Reimu, she gives off a feeling that she is not quite from our own world. Anything more than that is something one cannot quite grasp.

“Hey, that's dangerous! What if it had hit me, Marisa!? Geez...”

“Aw, c'mon! Why didn't it hit?”

“Your bullets swerve to avoid me on their own. How nice of them!”

“They're flyin' straight...”

Since I could hear their voices, I went to see how things were going. Reimu looked like she would practically teleport at times. And her bullets would fly guided in impossible directions. It was kind of unfair.

Well then, this nice, round ibis looks really tasty; I've never seen one like it before. Speaking of which, Marisa said something that bothered me...

“Sorry for the wait, we've just made a decision.”

“Yes, you always make me wait like this. I already made the hot pot. With red miso, as expected.”

“Grrr... You already prepared the hot pot? What would ya do if I had won, Kourin?”

“I would have had you eat an ibis cooked in the tastiest way.”

The Hakurei Shrine is located in the edge of Gensokyo. And by edge, that doesn't mean only in the physical sense. There is the border between the outside world and Gensokyo. Because of that, the Hakurei Shrine is not an entirely “illusionary place”. And Marisa said she caught the ibis by the Shrine. It may be that this ibis is indeed from the outside world. So it would seem that crested ibises are not Illusionary Birds yet. I feel somewhat relieved.