~Hakurei Shrine~ > Patchouli's Scarlet Library
Between Two Dimensions: The Non-Spoiler Edition!
Tsuken Yasashi:
Because I plan to write this idea as a novel series and sell it in anime conventions as a Doujinshi Novel Work, I will give you all, the readers, the non-spoiler edition of my summary of the series. In addition to revealing some of the plot of the book, I will exclusively add in the Journal of Eiji Kuroda in this forum topic instead of the complete story of what I plan to write, which gives out further details about the perspective of the main protagonist of the series before, during, and after the book series' events! Think of it as an appetizer before each book nears its release date.
So where do I start? Ah yes, why not summarize the three books I plan to write? Here we go:
Book 1: Bond of Memories The Outside World: A world that is known to us as the Present Era. Nearly 50 years has passed from that era, kicking off what is known as the Science Era, which began after a war between Japan and Korea ended with a peace treaty several years ago, showing mutual respect to one another in pursuit of scientific discovery. Eiji Kuroda would have been an average citizen of Japan, doing his duty as a Junker: one who cleans the streets and convert machine and computer parts that existed long ago into the new machinery of today?s standards. One night, in a district at the city of Tokyo, Japan, he encounters what seemed to be a kidnapping during his nightly exercise routines, changing his life forever when he finally mustered the guts to stand for the poor woman who was being attacked by the mysterious pursuer.
Renko Usami, now aiming for her Doctorate?s Degree in Physics on Strings at Tokyo International University, had lost someone. For a year, she wandered around Japan, looking for the clues and whereabouts of Maribel Hearn, her best friend and confidant, who went missing one day. They were members of a club called the Sealing Club, in which the both of them would discuss about the extraterrestrial and spirits. One night, in a district at the city of Tokyo, while searching of her missing friend, a youkai: a mystic apparition based on folklore, began attacking her in need of sustenance, changing her life forever when a mysterious man saved her from being eaten by the monster.
This book series is about the endless possibilities of the world, as well as a nod to the Touhou Series and its fans. The first of this series dives into finding the unseen and forgotten connection between modern reality and fantasy folklore. What paths will Eiji and Renko walk on as they struggle in the modern world? Will they eventually find what they truly seek?
Book 2: Revelation in Redemption [Will give out summary once I completely rough-draft book one]
BUT WAIT, THARE'S MORE TO COME IN THE NEAR FUTURE, as I have everything that I have written out in various Microsoft Word files. In the mean time, feel free to drop in questions, suggestions, and feedback of what I have posted so far~!
Now, I has a link, posting my draft copy on it. Check it out: Between Two Dimensions
Tsuken Yasashi:
Next, we move onto the characters. As they say, one does not have a story if the audience does not know who the characters are, right?
Characters, as they appear in order of appearance in each book:
-Character #1: Eiji Kuroda (Main Protagonist) [First Appearance in Book 1]
Race: Human Male
Age: 25
-Occupation: Junker, Former Martial Artist, and Former College Student of Tokyo International University [Associates Degree in Modern and Feudal Japanese History]
-Personality: Eiji has an air of aloofness around people, preferring to not interfere with the way they live. This has made him reserved, distant, and sometimes disinterested about many subjects between conversations, though this has enabled him to become more aware of the situation around him, as well as taking matters rather seriously instead of seeing them either in a positive, negative, or humorous light. In combat, he seems to be more of the reckless type, despite his calm and cool demeanor, rushing in combat first to assess his opponent. He yearns to improve himself in combat and as a person; the textbook definition of a true martial artist. He has a soft, yet shy side when approached by women and girls and hides the fact that he is interested in all forms of music. He also tends to be forgetful at times, despite being the wise person that should know everything.
-Backstory: Born in Tokyo, Japan to a normal family, Eiji would have been your average person. In fact, he was living a normal life until his middle school years came around, in which he began to see Youkai: fantasy spirits and creatures based on folklore, around his vicinity. Despite the fact that he had a choice to save people from these creatures' misdeeds, he was powerless to do so, forcing him to watch in fear partially due to his own moral code of “not interfering with anyone’s life.” From random strangers to friends that he knew and saw back then, they were either eaten or abducted alive in his line of sight, gone missing, or were apparently “kidnapped.” This burdened his mind with regret to a point that Eiji nearly committed suicide, witnessing such events in front of him numerous times.
As a result, he tends to not make many friends throughout his growing years, though people who have helped him develop himself tend to have his respect in his own point of view. He took up the martial arts at the start of his high school education to ease his regrets of the past he created, which lead him into going to college. However, he eventually dropped his academic education to focus more on the martial arts to begin training and proclaim himself as a Youkai Hunter. Little did he knew was that he is actually a descendant of a lost clan that existed long ago in the history of Japan, which were known for their extermination skills against Youkai.
-Abilities: Eiji has knowledge and experience of various martial arts and their weapon counterparts, though he prefers his variation of Bushinryu Ninjutsu, a fighting form he managed to replicate from the Video Game Series Fighters on the Street (WE HAS A STREET FIGHTER SCWUB HERE!). This fighting style relies on the practitioner to execute fast, rapid strikes and kicks to overwhelm their opponent(s) until a weakness appears in their opponent(s) for the user to exploit. Because he recently replicated this fighting style from a video game, he lacks the full utility of the style that is portrayed in the video game due to real-life physics taking into account and his limited knowledge in this particular fighting method. To compensate for his inexperience with the new strategies given to him, he modified some movesets with his own martial arts experience, trading off gravity-defying attacks for heavy and strong attacks that would actually make sense in real-life fight situations and physics.
-He also could detect and sense Youkai and spirits at a short distance, which he later hones to become instinct upon entering Gensokyo. However, this power derives from his connection with the lost clan his ancestors once existed as, and as a result, he finds out that he is the inheritor of this lost clan's secret, but forgotten technique: the Sealing Strike during a near-death experience in combat. It is a focused open-palm strike that seals an opponent's magical abilities, and unlike most sealing techniques, which has a limit to how much power it could seal away, the potency of this technique is near limitless, that even powerful youkai or entities are not immune to it. However, he only shares a very small fraction of this lost clan's bloodline. As a result, the ability can only be used once per fight, last for a certain amount of time upon contact with the opponent, and does not affect an opponent's physical capabilities. Other limits are the facts that it requires a small window of time to charge up, the technique's range is in melee reach, and must have his full concentration to achieve the full effect of the ability. Almost any form of contact can break this technique's prep time, so Eiji sparingly uses this attack in most situations.
-He has the ability to strengthen a weapon's durability he is holding during his fight against his first youkai and later, could create a spirit weapon that takes the form of the broken blade of a weapon, which allows him to deflects danmaku, ranged attacks, and letting his strikes pass through physical matter. Its drawback is that he could only create a spirit weapon from broken swords only, as that is the preferred weapon he is proficient with.
[Picture(s) Coming Soon]
-Character #2: Renko Usami (Main Heroine) [First Appearance in Book 1]
-Race: Human Female
-Age: 25
-Occupation: College Student of Tokyo International University [Aiming for a Doctorate’s Degree in Super Unified Physics Major].
-Personality: Renko tends to take matters in a very objective and logical approach. Being the leader of the Sealing Club, she tends to be a bit flashy and mostly takes pride in her approaches when discussing about discoveries and the mysteries of fantasy folklore. Some speculate that she and Maribel shared a Pseudo-Love relationship, since they were generally together during their club activities and discussions, hinting her constant swing to depression when they are separated from each other during their adventures. Renko takes this as a sarcastic compliment in response more than an actual ‘fling’ going on between the two.
-Backstory: Renko Usami is a College Student of Tokyo International University, living near Tokyo, Japan. She majors in physics and is very objective and logical in her approach to matters. She has a friend named Maribel Hearn and together, they began the Sealing Club. Their club, consisting of only the two of them, describes itself as a “club for necromancers.” However they don't do many of the things necromancers would normally be associated with. Instead, they investigate spirits and such. Specifically they're interested in Gensokyo and seem to be among the few, or even the only, humans in the outside world who know of Gensokyo's existence. About a year ago, her friend disappeared from the world, in which she is currently seeking clues across Japan to find where she could have disappeared to
-Abilities: Renko is a Living GPS, Telling the current time by looking at the stars and the current place by looking at the moon. Upon entering in Gensokyo or being near the Great Hakurei Barrier, her powers can extend from “buffing” magic based on Astronomy that motivates her allies to fight efficiently, to making the galaxy stop functioning for a short amount of time.
She also carries a spray of mace as a self-defense tool against strangers, as well as a handgun. Though the handgun is believed to be broken, making it a mere toy to the public, it is believed to be of futuristic design and has the crest of the Lunarian Capital on the magazine design.
-Character #3: Jun Satou (Side Character) [First Appearance in Book 1]
-Race: Human Male
-Age: 23
-Occupation: Martial Artist, College Student of Tokyo International University [Aiming for a Master's Program in IT Degree], Japanese-English Translator
-Personality: Jun is a focused martial artist and takes his practice in the martial arts seriously, though he originally joined martial arts just to keep his fitness and health in check. However, he seems to be more of the talkative person and seems to be carried away by doing so, making a lot of friends and connections in the process. He also tends to be more honest about himself compared to most others that he has encountered. He also seems to be more prudent and prefers the careful mindset when it comes to fights and solving problems, always wanting to study his opponent(s) or the situation first, plan a strategy, and then execute said plan to take them down. Because of this, he tends to keep a cool head in many situations. However, he tends to try to keep things at a positive level, and when situations become too serious or unbelievable to understand, he tries to joke about it, hoping for the situation itself just passes by. He does care about friends who are close to him, particularly Eiji and Renko.
-Backstory: Jun and Eiji first met when they both were taking Karate at different times five years ago. Eiji was a black belt, 2rd rank at the time, while he himself was a brown belt, and they both learned from each other from sparring, tournaments, and even hanging out with each other once in a while. As time went on, Eiji left the dojo in pursuit of creating his own style, while Jun remained in Karate, dabbling in Judo to make him more diverse in many combat situations. At the same time, his father wanted him to pursue a safer goal in life, so he chose to pursue being an IT Technician to keep the old man happy. Being in a co-habituate school system, from the dorms to the classes, he became Renko's roommate, and although he does not understand Renko's current situation, he does everything he could within limits to at least help her live a good life.
-Abilities: Like Eiji, Jun is a Martial Artist, and prefers his fists and weapon in combat, a Katana, mainly used for Kata forms. He does not know this, but he has potential to use spell cards, despite being a Human with no special magical abilites. Unlike Eiji, who is currently focused on developing his own form of fighting, Jun focuses more on being a Karate Master and has dabbled in Judo as a secondary fighting style to fall back to.
[Picture(s) Coming Soon]
Character #4: Rumia (Antagonist) [First Appearance in Book 1]
-Race: Female, “Youkai of the Dark”
-Occupation: N/A, Generally, Youkai are Youkai, and therefore, they hunt for food, humans or not.
-Personality: Apparently, Rumia is quite simple-minded, and doesn't like the sunlight or the summer heat. She seems like to fly around aimlessly during the day and the night, sometimes bumping into trees since she is less capable of seeing obstacles through her veil of darkness. Because of this, some speculate that she is not as smart as she believes so. Despite her innocent appearance, she eats humans and thinks that a youkai's job is to hunt them down, but she also seems to be quite lazy and has commented that it is generally a pain for her doing it.
-Backstory: Being a youkai was simple for Rumia. For one, she was not tied down to a job or role in life, owing nobody anything. However, even hunger gives off something to do once in a while, and Rumia was one of those youkai who hunted humans. The Vampire Contract, which states that a youkai could not simply hunt a human in Gensokyo down in free sport, made her job rather hard to execute. However, that did not stop her by much, for hunting humans outside of Gensokyo or those who were gapped inside Gensokyo were fair game (And that is why many people make Rumia the first person to be an obstacle for most of their OC's). She grew fond of tormenting a person named Eiji Kuroda at one time during his growing years, as he reminded her of a hopeless version of a person she once met in Gensokyo, and continued to do so until he quit college. After that, she stuck to people who recently gapped inside Gensokyo, until one day, she once again wandered into a gap that she could not see, transporting her back into the Outside World of the Science Era.
-Abilities: Rumia has the ability of manipulating darkness. By covering herself in pure darkness, she is able to prevent sunlight from passing through the darkness, as it is magical in nature and can render traditional lights such as torches useless within it. Because of this, people who happen to go inside the darkness would not able to see anything.
In addition to her power to manipulate darkness, it is hinted that her ribbon hides a form that was sealed off long ago. When removed by a person with abilities to seal magical powers, Rumia unleashes this sealed off power, becoming EX Rumia! She gains a black stormbringer sword, looks more mature, and her magical powers are multiplied by 9, becoming a formidable threat to even the most skilled youkai exterminator.
It should also be noted that while her field of vision is reduced by her own ability, she is used to it enough to be able to read Aya's newspaper even with almost no light, while Rumia herself couldn't write notes or read her notebook. At that time, she has also shown that she can control how much light can pass through the darkness, as she let only a bit of it entering to be able to read.
Normal/EX forms
Character #5: Charlotte Cambria (Side Character) [First Appearance in Book 1]
-Race: Human Female
-Age: 28
-Occupation: Youkai Hunter, Bodyguard of a Noble Daughter in France.
-Personality: Secretive, dutiful, and honorable, Charlotte tends to keep these things at heart, especially in her dual roles as a Bodyguard and Youkai Hunter. She is also materialistic, often buying things here and there. Many men comment her as being the ‘textbook definition of a woman’ in their perspective. However, she is against her secretive side of the job, which is to keep society from noticing that there are youkai around their everyday life, making her say more than what she really needs to at times. Even though she holds this in so that society itself does not break out in rampage, she has held a grudge against the organization she serves because of this. She believes that human society has a right to know where these things come from so they do not fall victim of attacks such as those reported as “kidnapped,” or “Gruesomely Murdered.”
She also has a disdain for men, for they were the ones who constantly tried to get together with her because of her beauty and attractiveness. As a result, many see her as having a cold heart when they were rejected or witnessing such events, which sometimes it is true.
-Backstory: Celeste was raised to be a maid of the Royal Palace in France. One day as a child, she was brought up by the combat instructor of the palace for the students to demonstrate their fencing skills on her. However, instead of them beating her up for demonstration purposes, she too demonstrated talent for fencing and beat them instead. The instructors at that palace, impressed by her talents in the sword skills despite her youth, taught her combat lessons in fencing for free with better accommodations and education of the Royal Palace in France. Later, she became the bodyguard for the lady-in-waiting of France; the young noble Liliana du Alexis. Later, she was recruited as a Youkai Hunter by the International Youkai Exterminators' Agency when both the princess and her survived a band of wild Youkai assaulting them in the dead of night at a country side in Romania.
-Abilities: With the power of Christianity at her side, Celeste Cambria is specialized in exterminating ghost, demon, and vampire type Youkai. She is skilled in Fencing, and seems to be a master at it. She also could create mirrors from thin-air, which could reflect laser danmaku around, depending on the angle of the mirror and the trajectory of the shot, while it could support her weight while she advances forward towards her opponents. This power, however, can only be formed with light sources that are around her on the given situation, whether from the moon, sun, or the interior lighting of a building. When focusing her attacks, she can project a laser danmaku from her weapons, which shoots at a straight direction to her opponent at blinding speed.
[Picture(s) Coming Soon]
Maribel Hearn/Yukari Yakumo (Main Antagonist?) [Mentioned in "Journal Entries" & First Appearance in Book 1]:
-Race: “Gap Youkai,” Formerly Human
-Occupation: Unknown, she sleeps most of the time. Was formerly a student at Tokyo International University from the outside world many years ago [Bachelor's Degree in Psychology].
-Personality: Yukari is known for being a very youkai-like youkai who sleeps all day and lives for the enjoyment of life. Though she rarely leaves her house, she's well-connected and is acquainted with most of the most powerful youkai and anyone having anything to do with the Great Hakurei Barrier or the outside world, although she rarely attacks humans. She has a tendency to toy with her opponents rather than use her full power from the start. If anyone is suited for the role of "mastermind", it's Yukari. She excels at mathematics and is experienced due to her long life.
She possesses superhuman intellect, and especially surpasses in dealing with numbers. Concretely to what extent this amazing intellect goes is hard to know, but it would be no mistake to think that this intellect far surpasses that of humans.
-Backstory: Before she was Yukari Yakumo, she was once a human girl named Maribel Hearn, who lived in the outside world, attending a Japanese College or University. Maribel came from a lineage which has had the ability to sense the supernatural since long ago. Because of this, she has the ability to see borders. Society wasn't receptive to strange people, so she had to keep her ability a secret.
As opposed to how it has been revealed that Renko Usami's hometown is Tokyo, Maribel's hometown and home country is unclear. Since she fluently speaks Japanese with Renko, she probably has lived in Japan for a long time. Some speculate that she and Renko shared a Pseudo-Love relationship, since they were generally together during their club activites and discussions, though Maribel denies this notion between the two due to being the complete opposite to Renko.
The more that Maribel and Renko ventured between the boundaries of Gensokyo and the Outside World, the more Maribel began to lose grip between what was real and fantasy. Eventually, she broke down, abandoning Renko Usami in order to save her only companion’s life as a human from the fate that Renko would have succumbed to during their last adventure together, and became Yukari Yakumo, the dimensional traveler that would later become one of the most powerful youkai in Gensokyo History.
According to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, an apparent article on Yukari appears in the first edition of the Gensokyo Chronicle from 1,200 years ago. However, this article did not refer to her name as "Yukari Yakumo". It is believed she chose this name for herself, the name "Yukari" signifying that she was a youkai of boundaries, and the name "Yakumo" from a poem about creating a great fenced mansion where one can live a peaceful life in seclusion, and a strong fortress to keep the gods trapped inside. This land would be Gensokyo. It is also hinted that Yukari forgot her real name because Renko Usami constantly nicknamed her “Merry” during her time as a Human.
Over a thousand years ago, Yukari met and became friends with a human girl named Yuyuko Saigyouji. Over time, Yuyuko was driven to suicide out of despair over her ability to control death. After Yuyuko died, her body was used to seal the Saigyou Ayakashi, a youkai tree which drained the lives of too many humans, by an unknown individual who hoped Yuyuko would never have to suffer and experience pain again. The seal was created as the boundary between life and death. Yukari continued to be friends with Yuyuko's ghost, although Yuyuko gradually forgot who she had been and why she had died.
It is not stated who sealed the Saigyou Ayakashi. It was someone who held Yuyuko very dear, judging by the record "My wish... is that she will never again reincarnate, and never again suffer pain..." Yuyuko's profile describes the hypothetical breaking of the seal as "breaching the boundary." The boundary sealing the Saigyou Ayakashi is apparently the boundary between life and death.
-Abilities: Yukari is with no doubt one of the most powerful youkai in Gensokyo. A few other youkai like Suika Ibuki and Yuugi Hoshiguma have been considered to be around her level. Yukari also refers to Eiki and Watatsuki no Toyohime as being stronger than she is, and tries to avoid direct confrontations with them. Despite her power, she might still lose spell card battles to humans or youkai.
Her physical strength is what you'd expect from a youkai. While the extent of an average youkai's strength is never really specified, their bodily ability is typically very high, so her strength is still far from that of a human.
Yukari is able to create boundaries in thin air within space and time. With the word "boundary" in its name, Yukari is capable of pretty much anything put under the influence of this ability. The most common application of Yukari's boundary manipulation abilities is opening "gaps," which act as portals between two places, where she's able to hold, sit on or emerge from such gaps.
Yukari is skilled in Onmyoudou, the Taoism-derived arts of traditional Japanese court wizards, and specialises in spells which create and manipulate barriers (presumably due to overlap with her innate abilities). Yukari has been able to teach some of her spells to Reimu Hakurei, whose own techniques have similar roots.
Yukari also displays great aptitude with shikigami, a technique that binds a powerful kitsune and numerous lesser servants at once under her command. As Shikigami are strongest when following orders, Yukari must also be skilled at giving the correct orders to fully maximize her shikigamis' potential.
More will come, eventually. I just gotta sort all of the characters out atm, xD
Tsuken Yasashi:
And then, to the settings. This is where many people believe that a "Black, shadowy world" or a 'random anime convention name' is considered a plot. However, that just spells laziness in a writer's details, since details are an important part of how a story builds imagery to the reader!
So, HERE WE GO WITH IT!
Book 1: Connections
The Outside World (Book 1 and 3). Basically known as the Science Era and somewhat as the world we envision tomorrow. This is where Eiji and Renko live at, as well as the original world Maribel/Yukari formerly lived at. Youkai generally go here to hunt for prey in prudent and silent ways to satisfy their hunger for food due to the Vampire Contract ? A law that states that any human living in Gensokyo cannot be hunted down by youkai in free sport.
o Tokyo Prefecture/Metropolis
-Arakawa-Cho
?Eiji?s Apartment Quarters (Apartment #209)
A Japanese Rental Apartment in Tokyo, Japan at the city of Arakawa of Tokyo Metropolis in the residence of Higashi-Nippori. The apartment has a living room, two bedrooms which one could be interchangeable to living quarters, a restroom, a hallway, and a kitchen that is connected to the Living room. Eiji keeps a Shamisen and a Guitar, as well as an old game system that is maintained rather well here. He also has a workshop, where he is currently developing a wooden sword for practical use.
?Near the Riverbank of Sumida River
A river that branches from the Arakawa River outside Tokyo, Japan, which runs through the Saitama Province, and empties out onto Tokyo Bay. In Tokyo, the Suijin Bridge plays as a landmark of the city of Arakawa in the metropolis.
-Shinjuku-Cho
?Kyoshu-Ryu Karate Dojo
One of few martial arts dojo that resides within the city surroundings. Eiji and Jun trained here as they developed their martial arts skills together once before.
?Boyu Shinkansen: Hiroshige No. 36
A Subway train and route that runs between Tokyo and Kyoto. It runs in a straight line, is underground, and features a Kaleido-screen projection on its windows to educate the people of Japan and its tourists of its history. It takes almost exactly 53 minutes to reach either destination in a one-way ride.
?Eiji?s Workplace: Takeda Salvagers
Eiji works here, as his occupation is a Junker, a variant of a mechanic who disassembles and salvages parts and electronics to reuse them on new or repairable items. Though some may think that he was wasting his life here, he is rather content with his current position in the workplace. ?Service is its own reward,? as what he would comment about it.
o Saitama Prefecture
-Kawagoe, Saitama
?Tokyo International University
A university that both Jun and Renko go to learn about the ways of their respective majors. Apparently, the two are roommates at the dorms and keep themselves friendly towards one another. Eiji used to go to this university as well, until an incident happened, forcing himself to quit university to change his life.
o Kyoto Prefecture
-Minami-za
The primary kabuki theatre that resides within Kyoto, Japan. In 1996, Minami-za was registered as a Japanese Tangible Cultural Property in respects to its historical architectural value in connection to the city itself. This seems to be the last standing Kabuki Theatre in Japan.
-Mount Atago
A Mountain that resides within the Kyoto Prefecture. The mountain has many paths to the summit, but the viewpoint is practically the same once reached.
-Maribel?s Former House
A house within one of the many residential areas of Kyoto. Maribel and Renko used to live at Kyoto, attending community college in the prefecture. Now, Renko uses it as a secondary house when she needs to search for Maribel in Kyoto.
o Yamanashi Prefecture
-Yatsugatake Takane-Cho
?Highway
A highway that connects Kiyosato, Japan to Tokyo Japan in terms of the highway direcctions. Nothing special here, except that walking on highways are legal in Japan.
?Kiyosato, Japan
A small town that resides within the Yamanashi Prefecture near the mountain ranges of Yatsugatake. This town is more of a tourist location, in which one of the high school Kendo Clubs are famed for winning the State Kendo Competition multiple times.
?Hakurei Shrine
A shrine that resides just north of the town near a highway route. It is deserted and in decrepit condition, as nobody is willing to take care of it due to multiple hauntings happening at the place.
o The Boundaries Between Gensokyo and the Outside World
An area between both dimensions that show nothing but eyes floating everywhere. The ground is invisible, despite the fact that it can still be stood on, giving off a feel that one is flying around it, despite gravity being normal in such a place.
Book 2: Memories((Coming Soon, once I've written the rough draft of Book 1))
Book 3: Forgiveness((Coming Soon, once I've written the rough draft of Book 2))
Tsuken Yasashi:
[UPDATE: July 4th, 2015]
Been a long time since I last updated and posted, but I have been busy writing the book. Got 6 chapters done, so I've decided to release some back story in the form of my main character's journal entry. Keep in mind that the following journal entries are scaled only to the important ones in his journal, as they have relevance to the events that will occur in the actual story.
High School Years:
Synopsis: Seven years prior to where the story begins, this section of journal entries were the developing years of Eiji Kuroda. A highly intellectual, but cynical high school student of Tokyo, Japan, he was invited to join the International Youkai Exterminators' Agency, a secret organization that controlled the population of troublesome youkai around the world. To join, however, he was to create a journal and continue to write in it for two months and submit it to them by way of letter in order for the organization to have an idea of his psychological behavior and him as a person. After analyzing what he wrote, the organization rejected him due to the fact that he lacked the necessary qualifications in joining the organization.
Saddened by the recent loss of his brother from a war between Korea and Japan, Len Kuroda, Eiji became lost in life after the organization refused his entry application. Still, he continued to write in his journal in an effort in finding peace with his mind and spirit, recording special events happening around him, and his personal thoughts and afterthoughts of his decisions in life. Many events had occurred to the point that he believed his path was found once more. One of these events was the encounter with Hata no Kokoro at the end of a Noh performance his school underwent in Kyoto, Japan by way of Backstage pass, rewarded by his homeroom teacher for him being a filial student throughout his years in high school compared to his peers. She had foretold that a series of events in the near future will change his life forever and that a half of one of her masks will aid him as those events unfolded. Having an interest in Sengoku Japanese History to the modernization of the states, Eiji decided to aim for a History Major once he was in college.
The following is the journal entries made by him throughout his high school years:
May 2nd, 2065
The International Youkai Exterminators’ Agency, a place I plan to work for after high school, told me to begin a journal and turn it in within two months so they could get an idea of how my psycho-whatever you call it was like before considering me for hire. So, here I am, beginning this journal. Although I do not like to reveal what is currently happening with me in my life due to the fact that I lost many of my friends back then, I suppose it would help calm my mind doing so.
Where should I start? Len, my older brother, left due to the fact that the “Call of Duty” for his country was made. Something about a war about to happen, I suppose? Can’t blame him for answering the call, for he was the one who drafted in it to pay for his college dues. At the very least, he taught me how to dismantle, clean, maintain, and assemble a pistol before he left, entrusting a copy of an instruction manual of how to do so. I thought that he was joking at first when he told me that I was pretty much the ‘man of the house’ once he left. Hopefully, he will be safe and sound in the army. Last time I saw the news with my dad, we had just engaged in war with Korea, and those people could be dangerous folks to handle…
May 14th, 2065
School is easy. I can’t believe that most of my peers believe that school was hard enough for their lives to live through, and instead, want the smart guy to answer the questions the teachers gave him to cover for their mistakes. They, themselves, are to blame, for they were always on their holophones and tablets, wanting to update themselves. What is a selfie anyways? Despite all this, I keep having this feeling that there are eyes watching me at almost every direction I go, trying to distract me while I try to live life the way I want. I should probably try to pay no mind to it, since it may just be my imagination or something like that…
May 25th, 2065
Today is my older brother’s birthday. He called us, stating that the army was going to dispatch troops to an army base just north of the city of Matsumoto, Japan in Nagano Prefecture to begin an airlift to Korean Soil. At least, that is what I heard from my dad, and it was a relief to me that he was all right. Hopefully, he comes back soon, as I do not know what I would do without him if he dies…
June 6th, 2065
An explosion happened somewhere northwest of Japan. I heard it in the morning when I was walking to school. I knew that it was not so close to us in Tokyo, and at school, we were given the day off after morning classes ended. The teachers around the faculty kept the projectors on the news channel, which the news stated that an army base just northwest of this prefecture suffered an attack from the Koreans. How they came up to this conclusion was mind-boggling to me, despite the fact that the faculty and its student took heart of this. However, something was strange from this explosion, as it did not look like any ordinary bomb created such a huge hole on the surface, according to what I saw in the news. Not only that, but my older brother must have been in there. Oh god, I hope he is all right…
June 27th, 2065
I could not go to martial arts practice today, despite finishing final exams. Today marks a sad day for me. My brother went missing when that explosion happened. The Army delivered this letter, in which my mom read it to dad and me. He is considered MIA at the moment, and the army was doing their best to search for him. I know that my mom and dad told me to keep my hopes up, but I only have one thing to blame here, and it was most likely that curse that I have when I tried to make friends back then! Why? Why must all of you that lay hidden from the sights of us humans torture me of all people?! Ever since middle school, I have been seeing these floating creatures flying around, and each time I tried to tell people not to follow them, they generally thought I was kidding. Even if I tried to stop my friends from following them, those creatures knocked me back and left me there, as they kidnapped my friends! I wish that they would take me instead! That’s it, I can’t handle life anymore!!!!
-A letter from the International Youkai Exterminators’ Agency-
July 4th, 2065
We have reviewed your journal that you had submitted to us, and we have taken full consideration of your thoughts and spirit in entering our organization. After reviewing what you have wrote in here, we have decided to seek others who have better qualifications on the job. We’re sorry that we could not fill in a proper position for your entry to our organization at this time. Please apply once more when times are rather peaceful in Japan...
With Honor and Apologies,
Mr. A.
Y.Y.
-End of Letter-
July 14th, 2065
Awake, in Arakawa North Hospital. What happened to me when I threw myself off a building? Last time I remembered, I broke down shortly after the ‘death’ of my older brother, despite my parents’ objection to that theory of mine. They still thought that I was crazy, but I’ve calmed down ever since. I read the letter the place I wanted to work in. Now, I do not know what to do with my life at this point… Guess I should prepare to go to college to buy myself some time before the call to living on my own happens… I’m still against the fact that my parents believe that college is everything, but if it makes them happy, I guess I should go to it for their sake. Once I get out of this hospital, maybe I should pay a visit to Jun, one of my martial arts buddy, to see if I missed anything important in Karate Practice.
August 7th, 2065
I could have sworn someone was watching me at a distance as I walked home from getting school supplies. Anyways, the start of school is about to arrive, and I still have not completed my history assignments I was given over the summer. Even though that is my strong subject, I did not come up with a topic just yet on what to write about. Maybe if I pulled a topic in Sengoku Japan, I could come up with something really quick. Yeah, I better get to it right now…
September 14th, 2065
For some strange reason, I have yet to continue writing in this journal of mine, despite the fact that the job application is over. Maybe I have developed some sort of talent to write, or maybe it’s just the fact that writing in here brings a bit of peace in me from what this world throws at me. Regardless, I have my thanks to give to the application I made so long ago to that organization... Anyways, I came across a very rare game system that someone wanted to sell off in a garage sale. Gathering what allowance I could muster up, I was able to buy it, as well as two games within the system. One of them was an installment on a fighting game series: Extreme Fighters on the Streets VII, while the other was a tactical RPG game: Bright Feelings.
Despite the former having a consistent lack of story, it does have some useful fighting techniques that I could use for the martial arts, specifically that ninja that likes to flip around and talk about his martial art bearing a burden to the world’s balance. The latter has a good story in it, and it has made me interested in what Jun was constantly going on about in terms of his interest in Anime/Manga that he mentioned to me before. Perhaps I should console him about it so I could grow a common interest among him and me.
November 2nd, 2065
Finally landed my first part-time job! My parents have nagged me about it for so long, that I decided to make money on my own so I could begin to purchase things that I could call as my own. It’s not so great, being that I have to work as a Janitor, working at 750 YEN per hour, but at least it will put me ahead of the other students who are merely studying in school, right? I know that this will pretty much mess around with my schedule in terms of the martial arts and school, but money pretty much helps me establish a base to live on in life; a good commodity to have in times of need.
December 25th, 2065
So I was cleaning up my room in part of the Omisoka Festival, when all of the sudden, I came across a picture of my friends and I back in those later years during middle school. I miss them a lot, and considering the fact that I do not know what happened to the half of them, I sincerely hope that the ones I knew that willingly left do come back here one day. I know that’s asking too much in reality, but the friends I have made so far too began disappearing from class as of late. I know that these floating creatures or humanoid beings console to them to follow them, but I just kind of wished that those friends knew exactly who they were in their life. Kind of a depressing sight, witnessing your friends follow those creatures to escape the real life, if you ask me, journal. Well, back to cleaning, I guess.
March 7th, 2066
Our class went to Kyoto, Japan via the Boyu Shinkansen, Hiroshige No. 36. Even though I have never witnessed such places as what the kaleido-screens were showing us on the train’s windows, I bet they were a sight to behold back then when they were authentic once before. Later, we went to Minami-za, in which we witnessed a Noh performance happening. It was interesting to watch, especially when those masks floated around that woman with long white hair. After the performance was done, she called me to the backstage. Though I objected, the teacher was fine with it, revealing that she had paid for a lucky student to go to the backstage to get an autograph of the star performer in this Noh play.
However, as I was given what seemed to be a half of a replica mask with this star performer’s signature on it, she looked at me with that famed emotionless face she was known throughout her previous play. It was as if I gazed into an empty void, as well as someone or something was looking within my soul! I wanted to pull back, but something within myself made me stay firm and resolute. After what seemed to be a long while of us staring at each other’s eyes, she pulled back, stating that an unsettling event will happen to me in the near future that would change my life forever and that this mask will help me calm down when the events began unfolding. Gazing at her eyes alone made my heart want to faint, but I held strong and was later lead out of the backstage, taking her word for it. From her gaze, I felt sadness within them; as if something within her wanted to be released… Still, the play itself was interesting enough, which drew in my curiosity about the origins of the playwright.
April 8th, 2066
Final exams are coming up. When brought up to the school council about my future career, I have decided that I will walk the path of a Historian after that play I just witnessed back in March. This too was fueled by my interest between Feudal and Modern Japan History, as that has always drawn my interest in how our culture was affected by those events. Sure, my English skills need improvement, as well as my science grades are lacking, but at least I have math to back my history grade up, as I found out through my high school years that I’m a master at trigonometry. Some of my peers believe that I was wasting my time in studying hard for history, but I disagree, for it seems as if history had completely taken an ironic turn to them, despite the fact that they had not noticed it just yet. Wish me luck in my pursuit in life, journal!
May 30th, 2066
Final Exams are complete, and there is so much that I must talk about. The war is over between Korea and Japan, in which the two had signed a peace treaty between one another. From what I heard over the news, they stated that a new era was about to occur, adding in evidence that they were now going to focus more efforts in discovering ways to benefit for one another, as well as find solutions to cleaning up the environment and ways to increase scientific innovation in their respective countries. Finally, they got their heads out of the water!
Additionally, I hope this treaty extends more than just a peaceful one, for we Japanese do need help picking up ourselves off the ground. I hear that the American from the east got it worse than us in terms of how the majority of their society live in absolute freedom these days, but I just hope that we at least pass them in terms of working conditions in the near future.
June 27th, 2066
Today marks the day that Len Kuroda, my older brother, died during that bomb explosion that happened in Matsumoto, Japan. My parents still kept hope that he will come back one day, knowing that the army is doing everything they could to find him, but I know that he won’t come back at this point. Sure, he may have survival training with him, but there is no way that basic survival training can help a soldier outlast for a year, much more if the army could find his body. I must hurry to complete my martial arts training and college education. Sure, I could try to reapply again to the International Youkai Exterminators’ Agency now that peaceful times are here, but they might say the same thing again to me once more.
August 25th, 2066
After obtaining the results of my final exams, and supplying myself with the college schedule and books early on, I was able to enter in Tokyo International University! Sure, I may have to revise my English scores to do better in the future, it was most likely my history score that kept my qualifications high! Some say that being excited for college is not a satisfactory objective to be proud of, since it is pretty much like high school again, but to me, I just want to learn a lot more about the history of our culture and the relevance of others. Jun wished me luck as I departed the train station to the university, and I told him that I would write back to him once in a while about my college adventures. I just know that this year of college will most likely be a blast!
Tsuken Yasashi:
[UPDATE: December 21st, 2015]
Once again, it has been quite a while since I have updated. Got another 6 chapters done, halfway completed with the 1st draft. Will get the pictures in as soon as I could, seeing that I now have 2 months of break from writing, beginning January
College Years:
Synopsis: College: A time where debt and beer is heavily involved to those who become lost in its freedom. After declaring his major in History in High School, Eiji decided to attend Tokyo International University in hopes of knowing more about Japan's history. He had met an American by the name of Elza Shannon during his time as a Professional Test Subject, who proclaimed him as her lover after resolving an experimental incident involving the Lilly of the Valley flower. Knowing that he was not ready for love, he continuously rejected her claim on him, though she kept going after him, no matter what.
While trying to keep Elza away from him as much as he could, Eiji managed to develop his own variation of Bushinryu Ninjutsu, a military art that specializes in swift attacks and calculated rushdowns with the help of Jun Satou, his sparring partner at the Kyoshu-ryu Karate Dojo in Shinjuku, Japan. In addition to his newfound fighting style, which originated from the Fighters on the Streets game series, he incorporated his knowledge in Kenjutsu from the amount of years he had put himself in Kendo into his newly formed fighting form. Gathering his martial arts knowledge paid off, as he was too forming up his very own samurai outfit after witnessing the Battle Theater event in one of the anime conventions his friend and him went to during the month of July.
However, a fateful night had occurred. Elza Shannon, the woman that kept pursuing Eiji as her lover, died in front of him as he hopelessly witnessed her death in Tokyo, Japan. A small girl with a red ribbon on the left side of her head had murdered her. He planned on telling the authorities about it, but a young woman in purple approached him, telling him that this would be their "little secret," which he was not to explain what had happened at this very night. Sensing a great unsettling presence upon these two women that had committed murder, he silently left them, knowing that he caught them on camera with the use of his camera glasses. Although he had the chance to tell them, he chose not to, knowing that he may be implicated for murder instead, given that he too was in the scene.
With the death of Eiji's proclaimed lover, who he was about to return the feelings after his second year in college, followed a number of episodes of being depressed, he began to make preparations to leave the college life. This has affected his performance in the Martial Arts, which he almost drove himself to death by purposely poisoning himself with the Lilly of the Valley flower during his participation in the university's Grand Kendo Tournament. Instead of losing like most handicapped participants would, he came out as the victor, but at a high price: He can no longer participate in any other Kendo Tournament due to using excessive force, as well as not being able to actively participate in Martial Arts due to his almost permanent ailment. This has caused many people to become jealous of him walking out with the trophy after the tournament, making some schools target him altogether because of the hosting tournament's lax punishment in their final decision.
As Graduation came to a close, Eiji rethought his life and decided to make preparations to live on his own, choosing to work as a night stocker at the Takeda Salvagers, a salvaging company that specialized in fixing old furniture and electronics for both the government and its people. After all, life does not always have to revolve around college...
The following is the journal entries made by him throughout his College Years:
September 7th, 2066
The start of my first semester in college, and I have to say that college seems to be a lot simpler than high school. I joined the International Kendo Club and became a professional test subject in the scientific studies in medicine, despite my current curriculum being a History Major. Now that I could not go back to the Kyoshu-Ryu Karate Dojo in Tokyo for a while due to the distance between the university and the dojo itself, I’m at least enjoying the newfound freedom given to me here as a college student. Thanks to my experience in Kendo back in high school, I was able to pass the entrance exams on it with flying colors. Though there were several recent graduates from my high school going through college here, the people that I met during the first day were a lot better than what I expected of the typical student. This may yet be an interesting school year that I will be attending through.
October 22nd, 2066
I attended a beginner’s Kendo tournament in late September, and though I fought well, I could not pass the semi-finals of the event. There are a lot of strong opponents that I’ve encountered, as ‘the path of a martial artist is an arduous journey,’ according to what my master would say to me. There’s nothing much to say about school, except for the fact that the studies have suddenly picked up. I did make a few friends, especially one female named Elza Shannon, who happened to be co-workers with me, despite living in the United States. I asked her about how that state was going, and she responded that it was all right. Guess that debunks my theory about the United States was in the worst conditions at the moment.
In any case, I met her while I was a test subject for some chemical achievement scholarship in the science department. I think she was researching a flower named ‘Lilly of the Valley,’ a flower that contains a harmful substance when consumed by humans. From what I have participated in it, I happened to be grouped with students who were in charge of finding a cure as a scientific breakthrough project, in which I happened to be one of their guinea pigs for the project. An accident happened as we were being tested, which I was part of that control group that was affected by it.
At first, I thought I was going to die as my heart slowed down and I became nauseous for the most part. She helped me fight through the poison coursing through my veins by helping me manage my breath control. Eventually, they found the cure in time before the outbreak was loosened into the school in the form of old medicinal practices, which, according to Elza, contained the following items and procedures: ingestion of activated charcoal, breathing support, IV fluids, an electrocardiogram and a temporary pacemaker, depending on the nature and severity of the symptoms.
For that, I owe her my life for saving me from this poison our group was experimenting on.
November 12th, 2066
Speech class has given me a tough time, as well as with the other students. Many of them tend to be rather shy when they try to be on stage. Though that has placed me on my nerves at times, I can’t say that the same thing has affected me at all, for I tend to have stage fright when I realized that there was a crowd in front of me, watching everything I do when I try to share my speech topic to the others. I know that we were taught to remain calm and all, but it’s just so hard to do so when that feeling keeps happening. Speaking of which, this is beginning to feel like the past once more... I just hope that the college students here are not on the exact same boat as the high school students I had met from before...
December 5th, 2066
College Exams ended. I am to go back to my parents, rescheduling my college classes based on my major, and seeing what Jun has been up to during the past six months. Though Elza planned to stay at the college dorms, I have to see what everyone has been up to as of late at home. I can’t wait for another sparring session with Jun, now that I have a weapon form to be on par with his abilities.
December 23rd, 2066
My father was proud of me as he noticed that I am a good student at the University. I have to admit that some of the classes were rather easy, though I had to work hard on my speech and English classes to get them where I wanted to be at. Right now, I’m securing myself in terms of my money, avoiding most parties, and making sure that I do not turn into a bad egg. For the record, I’m glad that I am still living at this very moment, seeing that life is suddenly taking a turn for good for the first time in a long while. The train is approaching soon enough, for I have to go back to Tokyo University to prepare for the coming semester.
January 10th, 2067
I’m back in college now, holding out fine. From the looks of it, the classes are becoming a bit harder as I keep going forward. I’m barely holding my duties between Kendo Club activities and my work, for the two are beginning to overlap one another. None of my friends are affected at the moment, but it feels as if I had developed my own way of fighting as of late. From those techniques that existed from the Fighters on the Streets series, which I’ve taken into my own martial arts, I’m beginning to replicate that fighting style. I know this, in a way, is a bad habit of mine, but it feels as if I’m onto something, and that I should capitalize on it while I could. I’ll record more notes about it as I try to break the fighting style down soon enough. For now, I have to get back to my homework about Modern Japan.
February 14th, 2067
Love is in the air, but not on my case. Elza asked me out for a date, and I thought that she just wanted to talk about something. However, I could not accept her love, and as a result, the atmosphere became awkward. I should have known that she would do something like this… All I wanted was a friend from this world that was not interested in what I could see at all, not a lover who wanted to be with me for life. I thought that she would be a good normal friend to have around. Sure, I have Jun, but meeting other people than him has been a privilege to have in college. I just hope that she understands that I am not ready to take on the responsibility of love just yet…
March 22nd, 2067
The middle of semester, and we students finally have a break from all the school work. I have broken down Bushinryu Ninjutsu, the fighting style that existed in my copy of Extreme Fighters on the Street VII to its core base. As it turns out, it is not a hard fighting style to understand, just complex to execute because it constantly defies gravity and the laws of physics. What intrigued me about the fighting style was the fact that this way of fighting relies on a person to perform rapid strikes and kicks to overwhelm an opponent until a weakness is shown for the fighter to exploit. An alternate way of fighting would be to effectively counter an opponent’s offense by ‘beating them to the punch,’ a strategy that I’m familiar with, according to Kyoshu-Ryu Karate principles. I believe that I could work with this with what I know about martial arts. However, it’s going to be a first for me to constantly go at the offense, since I tend to try to be careful when it comes to fighting tactics. When I get home, I might try this fighting style out to surprise Jun of my findings. Until then, more studying, I guess!
April 19th, 2067
There’s nothing much to report, except the fact that final exams are coming up. It seems as if more and more college students are disappearing left and right, but I guess it’s the fact that in college, one has a lot more freedom to do whatever they please. For sure, I would have missed a class or two to hang out with the crowd, but then again, I’m not the one who likes to enjoy parties as they are. It just does not fit my lifestyle, compared to Elza, who happened to be a party girl at times. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that I rejected her request to be my girlfriend after all…
May 8th, 2067
Time to head back home, for college is over for the year. Once again, I have to sign up for next year’s classes. I have a lot to show to Jun, especially the fighting style I have made up over the year. Also, I hear that an anime convention is coming up, so I’ve been looking forward to spending my hard-earned cash there! My grades are still holding off strong, so I hope that that, itself, can get myself a good job in the future.
July 21st, 2067
Convention was all right. It did not pique my interest that much, until the Battle Theater Event was around. That event makes me want to make a costume for such an occasion to happen. Perhaps I could dress up as a samurai from Feudal Japan next year or in two years. Jun was happy that I had an interest in anime conventions, despite the fact that I originally went for the historical facts to be confirmed in the Modern Era about these conventions that many people once went to back then. At least this is still one of those traditions that were practiced back then and has endured the test of time, which makes me happy in a way.
I surprised Jun with the new fighting style that I had developed during my college year. He asked me where I got it, and I told him that it was a secret. I cannot allow him to find out that I managed to replicate a fighting style that was based on a video game. Otherwise, he may study and find holes in it, making my secret weapon during our sparring matches not so much a secret anymore. Speaking of which, this begins our monthly sparring sessions together, in which every month, I would come visit this dojo so the two of us could fight against one another. We would keep track of one another’s fight record, as well as giving each other tips and advice for our next duel. Additionally, we may choose to use a weapon or not, so this would be a good way to help each other develop our own respective skills more quickly in the martial arts. I’m looking forward to our next duel the next month!
August 28th, 2067
I sustained an injury from our second duel and now I’m heading back to college as I write in here. I should not have tried to flip and perform a sidelong wheel kick in mid-air. Gah, I almost bent my leg trying to land a hit on Jun, which ended me landing on the ground, unbalanced upon landing. I have to remind myself to revise and refine some of the moves in Bushinryu Ninjutsu, since some of them seem to defy gravity and real-life logic. Some of those moves would probably find no place here on Earth after all…
October 17th, 2067
It seems like this new club has been taking a bit of popularity as of late in my university. They call themselves the Sealing Club. The members consist of the leader and only one member in it. I believe their names are Renko Usami and Maribel Hearn. Never heard of them around campus, so I suppose they are students that transferred from a different university in Japan. For a club that is small, they’re rather flexible about their relocation to this school. Perhaps people would join that club in the near future. Guess we will find out as events unfold!
October 31st, 2067
Okay, this Sealing Club has officially made Occultism popular somehow in this school. With the way people are around here, I thought the students here would be more interested in learning about the world outside Japan and the other way around, not about religion and finding one’s purpose in life. I’ve thought about joining them, but my schedule is just too much to handle at this point. I just hope the club does not steer the school’s direction in teaching students here about the world…
November 8th, 2067
Elza joined the Sealing Club and wanted me in it. Though it had piqued my interest in what club activities were there, I already was in the Kendo Club, which the yearly Kendo Tournament was going to happen in five months. In fact, I am still working as a professional test subject, saving up what little money I gained from a job in my intended future. I’m becoming quite a busy person as of late, as my grades are gradually slipping due to my overbearing schedule. Additionally, I plan on buying some armor to customize it into samurai armor, so yeah, pretty much busy preparing for the future, hehe!
December 17th, 2099
My parents wondered why there was a large package back at home. I told them that during the break, I planned on developing a samurai uniform for a convention that Jun and I wanted to go during this summer. What followed was a lot of squabbling from them, stating that I should not spend my money so frivolously. However, it has been a while since I actually spent any money for myself, so seeing that I should treat myself to awards once in a while could not hurt me, right? At least I feel motivated to push through my college classes and activities, now that my armor is prepared for fitting trials and adjustments for the holiday.
January 17th, 2068
Start of my last semester in school, hmm? I’ve just noticed that Elza and I have a class together and hopefully, she could stop with the flirty mood she was displaying to me during our time together. Even though we were partnered up with each other for the rest of the semester, I sincerely hope that we could keep things professional. I really do want to avoid awkward situations from happening, especially when many were looking at the two of us working in synergy with each other.
Also, my camera glasses came in today. I plan to test them out on an experimental run when the time is right.
February 15th, 2068
Once again, love was in the air once more, but I still am not ready for it just yet. She kept asking me to fall in love with her yesterday, but despite her constant request for me to do so, I just am not ready for it. There’s a reason why I could not do so, and that was because I’m too young for love, especially when there is so much for me to do in later life while I grow older. Thinking about love or long-term companionship is something, in my point of view, that should be thought out once someone has secured themselves onto a secure financial base, and right now, I still have not found that base just yet. As I see most of my college peers falling in love, I wonder to myself if they actually are doing so while being aware of the burden it has between one another, or if they are doing it just for instant gratification…
She gave me a watch as a present. I wonder if it holds any significance, seeing that she gave it to me so suddenly...
March 3rd, 2068
Elza has disappeared for the past few days. I do not know what happened, but I have been tasked to look for her by request of her dorm mate, who knew of us being partnered in a class that we took together. I suppose this is the time where I pull my camera glasses out to search for her. According to her dorm mate, the last location Elza mentioned was that she was heading off to Tokyo, Japan at one of the districts. Wait, she better not know where my house is at… It’s cold out there, but I have to go, regardless if I like her or not. After all, she is a friend of mine and if there was one thing I knew about friendship, it would be to never leave them out in the cold.
March 7th, 2068
Back at home. Caught and now reviewing footage that I recorded from my glasses on the search. Fortunately enough, my parents think I am taking a small break from college, but right now, I’m trying to think of what just happened. From what I saw in the film, I just witnessed a small, blonde hair girl eating what seemed to be Elza Shannon, who she just killed in front of my eyes by impaling through her heart. Why did I do nothing as I hid inside a bush as I watched her get killed like that? After the scene, the blonde girl apparently flew off and disappeared. After that happened, another woman with an umbrella appeared behind me as I stood up to check my phone, which I had an unsettling feeling about her.
She then told me that this would be “our little secret between each another,” in which I stood up and ran back home in fear for my life. For some strange reason, she looked like a member from the Sealing Club back in Tokyo International University. However, seeing that I made a ruckus on the scene, the authorities may be after me at this point. So here I am, hoping that I did not leave anything behind at the scene. I’ll have to change clothes, wash my old ones and myself, and then continue on with life as it is at college. If I cannot stop her death from being revealed, then at least I could try to do my best to prevent my involvement in the scene.
March 20th, 2068
I just wished that I would have told Elza that I did love her… Why did I have to leave a cold attitude behind for her in the afterlife? I wonder if that decision would have made a difference between her life being saved or not. I’m getting the feeling that my former self is reverting back onto me… I have to focus on the tournament at this point, but it’s so much harder to do so, especially when I’m going through a loss. Bah, enough of this pessimism! I must win this tournament for the sake of the International Kendo Club!
April 10th, 2068
I can’t actively participate in Martial Arts anymore... At least, that was what the doctor said during my physical examination after the fight. According to their report, they stated that I had pushed myself too far after sustaining some sort of poison during the fight. It’s not my fault that I was dealing with a loss, only to see the murderer of my friend spectating at a distance. It’s not my fault that my mind went blank when I was facing death for the first time! Everything I did to carry this club to where it could be at, and for what? Nothing!
Regardless, we won the trophy for this year’s tournament, but because I used full-force (I think I shattered someone’s armor with my weapon), I was banned from future tournaments for a number of years in order to recover from the incident as of late. I have no clue on who spiked my drink during my break, nor am I in the condition to think of it… On the bright side, I feel as if I have developed a new form of fighting after going through Kendo. With the knowledge that I have learned over the years in martial arts and that video game, that video game I have been consistently playing, I think I’m ready to take the next step in life. I know that my parents would be angry about me not continuing with college, but as what my master once said, “The mountain top can be reached by many paths, and yet, the viewpoint is all the same, regardless of the path.”
I just hope that this poison is not a permanent health issue… The doctors did say that it came from a flower that was rarely seen today and when they asked me about it, I did not have a clue about the details. That’d be terrible to live through if this certain poison still remained within me…
April 25th, 2068
I feel conflicted as I began to apply to different jobs across Japan. This is probably one of those human elements that I am facing, one factor being the uncertainties of one’s future. At least, that is what the conditions were mentioned about it, according to my psychology class. It’s just the fact that I have to move on with life that is stopping me at the same time doing so. Need to shake this feeling of mine off before it flusters into a mess in my life!
May 18th, 2068
Graduation ceremonies happened and my family and relatives wanted pictures with me and my degree on hand. I have to admit that I am a bit proud of myself, though I have boldly decided to myself that I will no longer take college classes unless if a skill set was required to be learned in college for a specific job I wanted later in life. I feel ready to tackle the real world, now that I have applied to many different jobs around Tokyo, Japan. Now all I need to do is play the patience game and wait for the job interviews to be ordered and passed by and then hope for the best that I actually get hired by any of the places I have applied to.
May 30th, 2068
One of the organizations back from the Kendo contacted me about that tournament they hosted up back in April, calling me to meet up with me about my behavior. Not sure what they meant, but I suppose it wouldn’t be so bad to see what they want with me… I have a bad feeling about it though, given their attitude when they requested me to go to where they were at. Still, it wasn’t my fault for doing so, since I was handicapped by poison during the third round during that fight. Let’s just hope we could just work out a peaceful agreement or something like that…
June 16th, 2068
Convention time had passed by and I was able to draw in some who wanted my picture or selfies with me. I was not surprised when many were not interested about Feudal Japan, due to the fact that they were more interested with the hyped anime of the year. Despite all of this, I won in Battle Theater for being the most stylish combatant out of everyone who participated. I owe that award to my martial arts training and Fighters on the Streets, for it has taught me many techniques to use in the performance, specifically that ninja’s fast run technique and the many sword movements I learned from my Kendo lessons in college. Upon arrival back at home, I had a message from one of the jobs I applied at. The Takeda Salvagers, a salvaging company that ran in the Shinjuku District, called me to see when I was available for an interview.
Though this is not the job I sought out to work for, as long as I am contributing to Japan’s well-being, I would not mind working here, even if that meant for the rest of my life. Wish me luck on the interview, for I will need as much as I could get to sustain a job these days!