#Nagano vacation

[thebunnybooknook]

Books That Deserve to Be Inducted ( & Re-Inducted) into Coquette 'Girl Blogger' Canon

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Everywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes-each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned-becomes a redeeming and surprising journey of self-discovery.

Jesus Saves by Darcey Steinke

From one of the most daring young writers in America, Jesus Saves, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, is a suburban gothic that explores the sources of evil, confronts the dynamic shifts within theology, and traces the consequences of suburban alienation. Set in the modern launch pads of adolescent ritual, the strip malls and duplexes on the back side of suburbia, it's the story of two girls: Ginger, a troubled minister's daughter; and Sandy Patrick, who has been abducted from summer camp and now smiles from missing-child posters all over town. Layering the dreamscapes of Alice in Wonderland with the subculture of River's Edge, Darcey Steinke's Jesus Saves is an unforgettable passage through the depths of the literary imagination.

Sula by Toni Morrison

Nel and Sula's devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

As a child, Natsuki doesn’t fit in with her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut, who talks to her. He tells her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. One summer, on vacation with her family and her cousin Yuu in her grandparents’ ramshackle wooden house in the mountains of Nagano, Natsuki decides that she must be an alien, which would explain why she can’t seem to fit in like everyone else. Later, as a grown woman, living a quiet life with her asexual husband, Natsuki is still pursued by dark shadows from her childhood, and decides to flee the “baby factory” of society for good, searching for answers about the vast and frightening mysteries of the universe—answers only Natsuki has the power to uncover.

Brutes by Dizz Tate

In Falls Landing, Florida—a place built of theme parks, swampy lakes, and scorched bougainvillea flowers—something sinister lurks in the deep. A gang of thirteen-year-old girls obsessively orbit around the local preacher's daughter, Sammy. She is mesmerizing, older, and in love with Eddie. But suddenly, Sammy goes missing. Where is she? Watching from a distance, they edge ever closer to discovering a dark secret about their fame-hungry town and the cruel cost of a ticket out. What they see will continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Convenience Store Woman

Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,” she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction—many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual—and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action

Breasts & Eggs by Meiko Kawakami

On a sweltering summer day, Makiko travels from Osaka to Tokyo, where her sister Natsu lives. She is in the company of her daughter, Midoriko, who has lately grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with adolescence. The story of these three women reunited in a working-class neighborhood of Tokyo is told through the gaze of Natsu—thirty years old, an aspiring writer, haunted by hardships endured in her youth. Over the course of their few days together in the capital, Midoriko’s silence will prove a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and family secrets

Luster by Raven Lelani

Edie is stumbling her way through her twenties―sharing a subpar apartment in Bushwick, clocking in and out of her admin job, making a series of inappropriate sexual choices. She is also haltingly, fitfully giving heat and air to the art that simmers inside her. And then she meets Eric, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including an autopsist wife who has agreed to an open marriage―with rules. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscapes of contemporary sexual manners and racial politics weren’t hard enough, Edie finds herself unemployed and invited into Eric’s home―though not by Eric. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter. Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows.

The Moth Diaries

At an exclusive girls’ boarding school, a sixteen-year-old girl records her most intimate thoughts in a diary. The object of her growing obsession is her roommate, Lucy Blake, and Lucy’s friendship with their new and disturbing classmate. Ernessa is an enigmatic, moody presence with pale skin and hypnotic eyes. Around her swirl dark rumors, suspicions, and secrets as well as a series of ominous disasters. As fear spreads through the school and Lucy isn’t Lucy anymore, fantasy and reality mingle until what is true and what is dreamed bleed together into a waking nightmare that evokes with gothic menace the anxieties, lusts, and fears of adolescence. And at the center of the diary is the question that haunts all who read it: Is Ernessa really a vampire? Or has the narrator trapped herself in the fevered world of her own imagining?

Their Eyes Were Watchung God by Zora Neale Hurston

Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person—no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.

#coquette #coquette aesthetic #bunnyburrow

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 50: Radiance -While waiting for the next wormhole, Shingen and Katsuko enjoy domestic fluff, birthday cake, and snowboarding… but an old video leads to an unsettling discovery.

Shingen x OC; Kenshin x MC (Mai)

Previous Chapter: Here

Logline - Disguised as a boy, Katsuko finds herself working for Shingen, but her dangerous masquerade becomes difficult to sustain when she falls for the man with a fatal secret.

With ten weeks until the next wormhole opened, modern Japan ended up being kind of a vacation for Shingen and I. Rather than join Sasuke in Kyoto, we elected to stay in Nagano since it was more or less home turf for both of us. Thanks to Aki’s generosity (I considered it an employee bonus and figured I had earned every penny – especially since he hadn’t ever paid me an actual salary), I had more than enough money to rent a decent furnished apartment for a few months.

Before the winter kicked in, we rented a motorcycle several times and toured through the countryside, riding down to the Yamanashi Prefecture, formerly Kai. After some discussion, we elected not to visit the Tsutsujigasaki historic site – it would be too strange and jarring. “When we go to Tsutusjigasaki Castle,” he told me, “it will be as it was, so I can introduce you to its people.”

In return, I showed him all of my old kid haunts – not that there were that many – and my favorite places to hike and climb. And of course, Shingen being Shingen, we created our own tour of Teahouses and bakeries around the city.

Sasuke came up from Kyoto every other week, mostly to hang out, but also to report what was going on with the wormhole and his investigation into the mystery of Aki. The latter was unfortunately stalled due to his parents having taken a sabbatical trip through China – they’d rented their house out to a businessman from India.

On my own, I was doing similar research on my old mentor, but to no one’s surprise, he kept an extremely low internet footprint. Nothing like putting your primary residence 450 years in the past to help you stay off the grid. Similarly, though I haunted the library and archive sites, I was unable to find a lead on “Hikosane.” If he had done something important during his lifetime, it wasn’t in the historical record.

The first weekend in December, Sasuke came up and took Shingen out for a man-bonding afternoon. That was how Sasuke described it. I described it as “get him out of the house so I can bake him a birthday cake.” The birthday meal itself, I would trust to delivery, but I wanted to at least make him something sweet.

Cooking and baking were not activities I had done a much of after my mother died, but prior to that, I’d been the primary cook, not just for meals but also desserts. I had gone through a phase where I baked the most decadent things I could find, hoping to tempt her to – Ah… maybe that was why I wasn’t a huge fan of sweets now? I jotted that down in a notebook my therapist was having me keep. I had decided to see a therapist for my claustrophobia and nightmares. They were never as bad when I was with Shingen, but I felt it wasn’t his job to deal with my mental health – I needed to take responsibility for that. Obviously, there wasn’t a lot I could accomplish before we headed back through the wormhole in the Spring (I told my therapist I was moving to Vancouver) but I hoped to at least have the tools I needed to keep moving forward.

I checked the temperature of the cake layers that were cooling on wire racks. Online, I’d found what looked like (per the number of stars the recipe had) an extremely decadent recipe for chocolate and strawberry cake. While I might never win any cake decorating contests, I was confident the cake would at least taste good. Just as I finished mixing up the buttercream frosting, Shingen and Sasuke came through the door, stomping snow off their boots.

“Sorry to bring him back early – the snow’s getting fairly deep.” Sasuke hates driving in snow. For that matter, Shingen’s not terribly fond of being a passenger when Sasuke is driving, so I ought to have expected an early return.

“No worries.” I’d been listening to the weather reports. Deep snow tonight meant this weekend I could finally take them snowboarding – an excursion that we’d planned for as soon as the weather cooperated.

“What’s all this?” Shingen eyed the cake and the bowl of frosting with the intent interest of a sugar fiend who’d been held hostage in a health spa for a decade. “If it tastes as good as it smells, then I’d say we’ve gotten back right on time.”

“I hope that wasn’t supposed to be a surprise.” Sasuke headed to the coffee machine that we kept out just for him, as neither Shingen nor I had ever developed a taste for it (though Shingen did have a fondness for those fancy caramel mocha lattes they sold at the chain coffee shop – go figure).

“No, it was to prevent… that.” Shingen had grabbed the bowl of frosting and a spoon. I took the bowl away. “That goes on the cake,” I said. He gave me an adorable little boy frown. I leaned closer and said to him quietly. “If there’s any leftover after that, we can have it later… I’ll take the role of the cake.”

Shingen had been stealthily reaching the spoon for a raid on the frosting, but upon hearing that hastily aborted the mission. I ran my finger along the edge of the bowl, scooping up a small amount of frosting on it, and held it out to him. “Will this hold you for a while?”

He sucked my finger into his mouth and licked away the frosting. “For dessert, yes. For you, my sweet Devil, not even close.” He backed me into the counter and dipped me into a kiss. He tasted of chocolate and snow and promises.

“Not a full wall, so I suppose that’s a half-kabedon,” Sasuke toasted us with his mug of coffee.

“Only the Russian judge will care.” I scooted out from under Shingen’s arms, then handed him my phone. “This cake will not frost itself. Why don’t you guys pick a place and order dinner. In this weather it could take a while to get here.”

Shingen opened up the restaurant delivery app. “Any preferences?”

“Your birthday, you pick. Just order something vegetarian for me.” I began putting the crumb coat of frosting onto the cake and pretended not to notice when Shingen stole another taste.

Sasuke rescued the cake from becoming a “naked cake” by taking Shingen into the other room to watch TV – they were working their way through the original Star Trek. I’m not sure Shingen was all that into the show, but it was fun to watch Sasuke watch it. Apparently, he and Gene Rodenberry had incompatible views on the science of space travel. Already I could hear him grumbling that spaceships didn’t need to ‘bank’ in zero gravity.

While I lost myself in the soothing rhythm of cake frosting (given the number of tiktok and youtube videos of people frosting cakes, I wasn’t the only person to appreciate the ASMR quality of cake decorating), I let my gaze wander from where I could see Shingen and Sasuke joking around in front of the tv set, to the window, where the late afternoon snow was lightly brushing against the window.

Respite.

There was that word again. Away from the stress and danger of the Sengoku, Shingen and I were cocooning in this little apartment, learning how to be together without distraction. Once we got back, we’d both have our battles to fight. I was determined to find Aki and demand an explanation, while Shingen was making plans to try to wrest Kai from Nobunaga. But until then, it was nice to have this comfort of daily living together, in order to strengthen what we’d need to face these challenges, both as individuals, and as ‘us.’

Later, after we’d finished dinner and a good portion of the birthday cake, the sugar crash hit, and we all sprawled lazily on the couch, good naturedly debating what to watch, without making any real effort to actually make a decision.

“Are you going to finish that?” Shingen indicated the remainder of the slice of cake that I hadn’t managed to eat.

Oof. Even if I thought I could move (too full), or wanted to move (too comfortable under Shingen’s arm) I didn’t want it. I’d made the cake to his tastes, not mine. “It’s about eighty percent frosting – go ahead. I’ve never liked that much sugar.”

He reached for it, then paused. “Except for the sweets from the Teahouse in Kasugayama – you liked those.”

I made a show of looking innocently at the ceiling and folding my hands penitently while Sasuke snickered quietly from his end of the couch.

Here came the forehead flick. “Really, Devil?”

“I never actually said I liked them. I simply didn’t correct your assumption that I did.” I resisted the urge to rub spot he’d just flicked. No need to encourage him.

“What am I going to do with her?” Shingen addressed Sasuke, who looked like he wanted to yeet out of the conversation completely. “She happily lies to me, steals my clothes” (oh yeah, I was wearing his shirt again), “-falls out of trees-”   

“Alright, enough about that.” I gestured to Sasuke’s tablet, which was currently wirelessly connected to our TV. “Sasuke, go to youtube.” I gave him the address of the old youtube page that Toshiie and I had put up when we were still teenagers. Hopefully after so many years, it was still there. “We’re going to settle this tree thing once and for all.”

Sasuke did that ninja typing thing again. “Password?”

“Tony_Stark1610.”

“Ironman? Really Katsuko, you need better privacy settings than that.” He brought up the page. The freerunning videos were at the top, but we were going to go further back than that.

“Shut it, Spidey I was fourteen when I created this page.” No one would have been looking for it in any case.

He sighed. “At least you didn’t use your pets’ name or your birthday.”

“Sixteen ten is her birthday,” Shingen offered.

Also, Tony Stark had been the name of my cat, but I was not going to bring that up to Sasuke. “I’ll change the password later.” I directed him to the oldest video on the page.

It had been the last time I’d ever competed in artistic gymnastics – a small local competition. My mother, who normally was my biggest supporter had been having a bad week and that morning hadn’t left her bed. Toshiie had filmed the event so she could see it later. As far as I knew, she’d never watched. I’d quit soon after that – I’d only been doing it for her to begin with, and I didn’t have the funds -or the talent - to move up to an elite level. Not that that mattered now. What was on the video would likely look more impressive than it actually was.

Shingen and Sasuke watched my fourteen-year-old self tumble and flip across the balance beam. “There will be no more talk of me falling out of trees.”

“Can you teach me some of that? It would come in handy for a moderately awesome ninja.” Sasuke had a faraway look in his eyes. Likely imagining surprising Yuki or Kenshin with new tricks.

“Ah, now I understand what you meant about training as a performer from a young age.” Shingen watched teen Katsuko slide into a full split then dismount the beam with a flourish. “Are you still that flexible, Devil?”

Nobody with breasts and hips is that flexible. I was about to reply to that one with a forehead flick of my own, when the next video began. “I had no idea he posted this – Sasuke click stop.”

It was the freerunning video from the day of the wormhole – just seeing the view of the building that I was about to ascend brought back the feelings of restlessness and anxiety from that year.

“What’s wrong?” As usual, Shingen was tuned into my emotions and he picked up my hand and held it comfortingly.

“The day we got swept into the Sengoku, Toshiie filmed this. I was just surprised that he’d had time to put it on the page.” Discovering this was like time-traveling to my younger self in an archival wormhole.

“May I watch? I’d like to get a sense of the weather conditions that day – it’s a rare opportunity to have this type of data for analysis.” Sasuke had instantly become alert, ready to flip into Weird Science Mode.

“Um, if we play this, I need to warn you in advance – I was a lot more of a daredevil back then, and my brother and I fought about what I did here.” Which was why I was surprised he’d uploaded it. Maybe to try to talk me out of taking risks.

“So noted.” Shingen didn’t actually promise not to get upset, but Sasuke had already pressed start. I resisted the urge to watch Shingen, especially when I almost fell off a three-story building, but I could feel his tension at that point, and… what was that? “Wait, Sasuke, can you play that back?”

“I really don’t want to see you almost die again.” Yeah, Shingen sounded upset and his hand was almost squeezing mine too hard.

“Don’t watch me – look beyond that… left side of the roof.” Something had distracted me that day – that was why I had nearly fallen to begin with. “There.”

“I see it!” Sasuke paused the video and pinch zoomed. “What the hell is that?”

There had been someone else on the roof – a blurry, foggy figure who then vanished into the horizon almost as if they’d unzipped the sky and climbed in. “Now I am creeped out.” There wasn’t any way to tell who – or what – that had been. “Sasuke..?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He zoomed in some more, but that just added to the blur. “Permission to send a copy of this to myself?”

It might have been Aki.

It might have been Iekane.

It might have been someone completely unknown to us.

Who the hell were these people?

In any case, tracking down and confronting Aki suddenly became a lot more important.

The snowboarding expedition was a mixed success. Sasuke’s Ninja training had come in handy, and after a few basic pointers, he had left to try out his skills on an intermediate course… or more accurately, he’d wanted to further bond with a cute tourist he’d met on the ski lift.

Shingen was athletic, but this was one of the places his height was a disadvantage. With his higher center of gravity, he’d had some trouble getting into his knees. Eventually though, he’d picked it up, and soon was swooping down the training hill. He did fall a couple more times after that, but since both times he’d managed to take me down with him, I figured those had been on purpose.

After a couple hours, he noticed I was eyeing one of the half-pipes. “If you want to do that, I’m ready for a break.”

Hm. It had been seven (or, was it eight – I was never sure how to count the unknown amount of time I’d been stuck in the wormhole) years. Could I still manage it? But with Shingen voluntarily encouraging my daredevil tendencies – why not? I gave him a quick kiss. “See you at the bottom of the hill.

In no time at all, I’d dropped in and traversed the pipe. I’d kept it simple, without trying any of the tricks I used to do, aside from simple 180 turns at the top of each wall. But the rush was still there, and I zipped to the bottom with a whoop. Flying. Me and the sky. But the bigger rush? Seeing Shingen waiting for me at the base of the hill, smiling as he watched me skid to a stop.

“I once called you a moon goddess,” he said as I disengaged from the board. “I was wrong. You’re pure sunshine – made for daylight – the most radiant being I’ve ever seen.”

I smiled up at him and took his hand. “You keep that up and you’re going to melt all the snow.”

“What time are we meeting Sasuke?” he asked, while we were waiting to return our rented equipment.

“We’re not.” I pulled a hotel key card out of my pocket. I’d already packed some luggage for both of us in order to keep this a surprise. “Sasuke took an uber back to the apartment.” Or possibly he was furthering his acquaintance with the tourist he’d met earlier. “You and I are going to that hotel over there,” I pointed to the resort attached to the snow park. “Where we can celebrate your birthday by soaking in a private hot spring.”

Later, under the clear star filled sky, Shingen lowered himself with a sigh into steaming hot water. He leaned back against the natural rock formation and gazed out on the view of Mount Kosha. “This was a good idea you had.”

“I do have them, occasionally.” The combination of the snow kissed air and the hot water felt wonderful on my skin and ok- slightly – aching muscles. “I am a little sore after that… are you?”

“Given that I am close to five hundred years old, yes. These bones aren’t what they used to be.” In opposition to his statement, he swiftly pulled me onto his lap.

“I think you’re in great shape… for your age.” I ran my hands over his chest muscles.

“I fell a little bit in love with you the moment you said that. You had this challenging glint in your eyes.” He put his finger under my chin and drew my face up to his. “Yes, just like now. You hung onto that basket of pastry and acted like an insubordinate recruit.”

“In my defense, you had just set me up to be killed – hey!” Shingen removed my wet tankini top and tossed it aside. My nipples immediately tightened in the cold air. “That is not a place I want to have icicles dripping from.”

“Can’t have that.” He fastened his lips to my breast and warmed it with his mouth and tongue. “Hold still, Devil. I want to see if I can put the same look on your face that you had when you were zipping across the half-pipe.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him closer to me. “You do, Shingen. You might not always be looking my way when it’s there, but… you do.”

@bestbryn

#TBT12lies #throwback thursday #twelve lies i told shingen takeda #ikemen sengoku #fanfic #ikesen shingen #ikesen fanfic #ikesen sasuke #sasuke sarutobi

[xxgrimripp3rxx]

That Long Summer.

A diabolik lovers x reader fic

On a bright and sunny morning, June 3, 2004, my parents chauffeured me to the airport with the windows rolled down, embracing the glorious weather. It was a scorching eighty-five degrees, and the sun showed off its radiant powers, not a single cloud daring to steal the spotlight.

In the mystical land of Japan, there existed a village called Kiso in the Nagano region. The weather there was warm but not oppressively so. Ah, the memories of my childhood vacations spent there with a random family, back when I was just a wee lad of 5 to 8 years old!

Little did I know that Kiso would become my summer sanctuary while my parents embarked on a grand adventure with their boss. It was like being banished to a high society summer camp, but without the s'mores and ghost stories.

"Y/n," my father called out, snapping me back to reality. "Are you even paying attention?"

I blinked a few times, trying to shake off my daydreaming. "Uh, sorry, I think I zoned out for a sec." He let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. "Kid, getting lost in your thoughts is all fun and games until it lands you in hot water. Listen up, these people we're sending you to hang out with are fancy-schmancy. Treat them with respect, mind your manners, and try not to accidentally insult their delicate sensibilities. Got it?"

I let out an exaggerated sigh and shrugged my shoulders. "Well, I can't make any promises, pops." I replied with a weary tone.

He grumbled in response and handed me my trusty carry-on bag. Meanwhile, my mother finished up her business with the receptionist. "Looks like you're all set, kiddo," she said, turning to me with a warm hug. "Please, please, behave yourself. I don't want to hear any complaints from those boys, okay?" She ruffled my hair and held my face in her hands, making me feel like a hapless puppy. I swatted her away, trying to salvage what little dignity I had left. "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

And just like that, they left me at the gate, disappearing into the sea of travelers in search of their own adventure. Boarding had already begun, and I watched them fade into the distance.

Embarking on a day flight to Japan, I spent a good 40 minutes searching for the person who was supposed to pick me up. Finally, I laid eyes on a man in a dress shirt and dress pants. His hair was a dark, plum-like shade, and his reddish eyes behind glasses gave him an air of mystery. He stood there, arms crossed, with a scowl that could rival the grumpiest cat.

"Hey... Reiji, right?" I managed to say between gasps for air. He huffed and gave a curt nod. "You kept me waiting for a solid 41 minutes, you know?" I looked at him, wide-eyed. "Oops, sorry! I had to track down my luggage."

He huffed again, as if he had mastered the art of huffing. Then, he spun around on his heel and started marching towards the exit. I scrambled to keep up with his brisk pace.

Soon enough, we found ourselves inside a swanky limo, the epitome of luxury. The only problem? The leather seats were a terrible match for the scorching heat outside.

As the limo began to glide forward, I attempted to admire the scenery passing by. However, I couldn't shake the feeling that he was staring daggers at the side of my face. I glanced back, only to catch him scoffing.

"You know," he started, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "It's rude to ignore others." He crossed one leg over the other, looking like a grumpy king on his throne.

"I'm sorry... I mean, I'm not the best at..." I began, but he swiftly raised his hand, signaling for me to zip it. I squinted my eyes at him, a mix of annoyance and curiosity. "Well, excuse me for not being a master of social etiquette," I mumbled under my breath, turning my gaze back to the window. What a long, strange trip this was going to be...

#diabolik lovers #diabolik lovers memes #diabolik lovers scenarios #diabolik lovers art #diabolik lovers aesthetic #diabolik lovers au #diabolik lovers stage play #diabolik lovers reiji #diabolik #diabolik brothers #diabolik lovers kanato #diabolik lover #diabolik lovers headcanons

[jokertrap-ran]

[スタオケ] La Corda d'Oro Starlight Orchestra Main Story Chapter 1-7 Translation

*Starlight Orchestra Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Main story tag will be #Main Starlight

Ginga: Mmhm. Looking good. You guys are getting better!

Kazuma: You are all practicing out here today?

⊳ Choice: Ask him about what he thinks of the performance

Kazuma: You’ve got guts. Or maybe you have too much confidence.

⊳ Choice: Don’t ask him about what he thinks of the performance

Kazuma: Why are you so fidgety? If you’ve got something to say, then out with it.

Kazuma: Frankly speaking, your performance is absolutely hopeless.

Kazama: Your tunes are all out of sync with each other; so much that it hurts to hear. I can’t believe that all of you are so bold to be performing out in the open so brazenly.

Kazuma: You’re far from perfecting anything. In fact, I don’t so much as see a prospect in any of you.

Tomoharu: Are you okay, senpai? Stand strong.

Ginga: Jesus. Did you come here just to say such ill-thought words? You’re only going to wear yourself out at this rate. C’mon~ you ought to relax a little.

Kazuma: Unfortunately, I’m not as free as a certain someone here who can afford that luxury.

Kazuma: I only came here to confirm something with all of you.

Kazuma: Have any of you had a mock performance rehearsal in the Auditorium? I assume none of you had.

Kazuma: I’ve booked a slot at 4.30 PM, so you should all go check it out.

Kazuma: I’m simply carrying out my duties as Starlight Orchestra’s Stage Master.

Kazuma: Although, I suppose I’ll just have to weather this role for another half a month before I’m rid of these duties.

Kazuma: The chairman hates wasting his effort and resources more than anything else, after all.

Kazuma: And that’s all I came here to say. Period. Now, if you’ll excuse me.

Ginga: He has turned into quite the frightening force with way too much to say… or rather, he has become a hundred times mouthier than before…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Tomoharu: Whoa… Now that I’m really looking at it, the Auditorium’s pretty big. I haven’t been here since the day of the entrance ceremony…

Sakuya: Let’s go to the 2nd floor. I don’t want to face whatever shade the Orchestra Club has to throw at us if we accidentally disturb them.

Tomoharu: Huh, they’re amazing… So this is the Orchestra Club…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Hayate: Horns! Kakizaki, your timing is late!

Kakizaki: N-Noted!

Hayate: Clarinets! You can stand out a little more compared to the others.

Hayate: And, Viola! Kabayama, your bow work is getting increasingly rougher. How many times do I have to repeat this?

Kabeyama: ……

Ginga: Sheesh… The Orchestra Club must have it hard, considering their demon commander.

Hayate: Let’s start again. The last 8 bars.

Hayate: Yes, this is so much better than before. Now, from the beginning!

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Hatate: …Well, the only thing I’ll give him credit for is his pride.

Ginga: You mean, Ryuzaki? He was a member of last year’s Starlight Orchestra.

Ginga: He did get invited to join Glanz back when the Starlight Orchestra was destroyed.

Sakuya: Huh? Then, why…

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Hayate: I refuse.

Hayate: It might be a good offer and all, but I cannot forgive someone like you, who can destroy other Orchestras without batting an eye.

Hayate: I am not so far gone that I am willing to betray my friends just so that I can play alongside you.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Ginga: Or so, he said. And that’s how he swiftly and curtly rejected their invitation~ It created a big hoo-ha back then, but you gotta give a man his credit~

Tomoharu: Ohh? That does sound like something he’d do…

Ginga: What, you knew about him?

Tomoharu: We were in the same Junior Orchestra when we were both kids.

Tomoharu: It was an Orchestra formed by kids from various places during summer vacation, and we were headed to Nagano for a training camp.

Sakuya: If you’d done something like that in the past, then… What was that performance earlier?

Tomoharu: Haha. Well, I haven’t taken up a Cello ever since I got here.

Tomoharu: But it’s all water under the bridge now, isn’t it? I’m already getting my muscle memory back.

Tomoharu: Still, he hasn’t changed at all… He used to be just as unfair, and just as hated by others, in the past. He was super-duper scary too.

Tomoharu: I’m sure things will take an interesting turn if he joins the Starlight Orchestra.

⊳ Choice: You’re right.

Tomoharu: I know, right? I knew you’d agree.

Sakuya: I can’t help but feel like that’ll only be sowing the seeds of disaster…

⊳ Choice: I doubt that’ll happen.

Sakuya: Obviously, it won’t happen. He hasn’t got the time to spare playing along with “general ed make-believe”.

Tomoharu: Well, maybe not now…

Ginga: …Oh? It’s about time for our turn. Alright, now’s our time to rehearse!

Sakuya: Let’s get on with it so that we can all get home.

☆ ━━━━━━━ ∘◦♬Main Starlight♬◦∘ ━━━━━━━ ☆

Previous Part: (Chapter 1-6) Next Part: (Chapter 1-8)

#金色のコルダ スターライトオーケストラ #スタオケ #Starlight Orchestra #otome #Translations #Kiniro no Corda #La Corda d'Oro Starlight Orchestra #Main Starlight

[dancingkirby]

FANFIC: YUGIOH GX RAREPAIR WEEK DAY 4

PROMPT: Home

TITLE: Home Strife

SHIP: Tigershipping (Taniya x Misawa)

RATING: T   WORD COUNT: 5902

SUMMARY: Misawa introduces Taniya and their two small children to his family.  This does not go well.  Later, the two of them discuss where things stand in their relationship, which goes better.

NOTES: This, like all of my submissions for this event, is a queued post since I will be on vacation during the actual Rarepair Week; I plan to post on Ao3 when I return home at the end of the month.  Takes place about a year and a half post-canon.  Some headcanons about Misawa’s family were inspired by discussions on the Schoolyard Crew Discord server, particularly from user Seal Child.

Rated for non-explicit sexual references, a bit of cursing, and references to past underage sex.

Misawa sat in the driver’s seat of the parked rental car, head bowed over the steering wheel, as he took his eighteenth deep breath in thirteen minutes in an attempt to brace himself to fulfill his duties.  “Okay.  I’m ready to get out of the car now.”  At Taniya’s skeptical look, he added, “For real this time.  See, I have my hand on the door handle now…and now I’m pulling the handle…and now the door is open.”  He finally undid his seatbelt and got out of his seat, making a little triumphant pose.  His wife applauded. 

“So this is where you grew up,” she said after getting out of her own seat.  The two of them looked at the nondescript suburban house across the street.  As of yet, none of the inhabitants appeared to have noticed their arrival.

“Yes.  Not very impressive, is it?”  Their words were becoming little puffs of condensed vapor in the chilly December air; it was only a couple degrees above freezing.  “Are you sure you don’t want to wear a sweater or something?”

Taniya turned to look at him sharply.  “Are you embarrassed by the way I dress?” 

“On the contrary.  I love the way you dress,” he assured her.  “It’s only that winters in Nagano can get pretty cold.  Plus, my mom is…well…my mom.”  He looked away as he said that last part; he and his mother had never been close even in the best of times. 

She scoffed.  “If your mom is offended by what I wear, then that’s her problem, not ours.  As for the weather, I used to deal with forty-below as a kid.  This is nothing.  As long as the girls have coats, I’ll be fine.”

Right on cue, a loud shriek rose from the backseat.  Taniya muttered, “Speaking of which, better check on them before they start a nuclear war.”  She opened the door closest to them and exclaimed, “Anna!  Don’t pinch your sister!”

“But she bit me!” Anna protested.  Taniya glanced back at Misawa, and the two of them exchanged a Look: Those two never make anything easy, do they?

The Amazoness leaned back into the car.  “Okay, honey, let me check.  Nope, skin’s not broken; we should be good to go.  Misawacchi, you help Anna out.  I’ll go around the other side and get Sasha and the bag.”

Anna’s face was still a thundercloud as Misawa undid the straps on her car seat.  (This process required most of his strength as well as a fair deal of dexterity; he supposed this was good in case of a car crash, but it was extremely annoying all other times.)   She was sporting that little frown which Taniya had always insisted looked exactly like his when he was annoyed; he’d long since decided that he’d just take her word for it.

 “Papa, I don’t like.  Itchy.”  She gestured at the dress she was wearing. 

“Yes, I know you’re used to not wearing much at home.  But don’t you want to look pretty for your grandma?” he offered. 

“No.” 

Loud laughter from Taniya.  “That’s my girl!  Okay, I think I’ve got everything, so let’s…Ow!  Shit.”  Apparently, she’d stood up too quickly and banged her head on the doorframe.

“You all right?”  Misawa asked, shifting Anna to one arm.  “Here, I’ll take Sasha.”  Unlike Anna, their younger daughter appeared to have already forgotten about their fight, and was sucking on her hand while babbling to herself, wide blue eyes taking in their surroundings.  Taniya was rubbing the top of her head and wincing, although she said, “It’s okay.  I’ve had worse.”  When the pain had ebbed enough, she began rifling through the bag. 

“Okay…diapers…check.  Changes of clothes…check.  Towels…check.  Anna’s doll and Sasha’s teething rings…check for both.  Yep, everything’s in here.  Let’s roll.”

As Misawa headed across the street after checking for cars, he actually began to feel somewhat optimistic about this visit.  He thought about how lucky he was, to be married to the strongest and most beautiful woman in the world, have two equally beautiful daughters who were the best children in the world (even when they were raising hell), and to be working his dream job and have earned the respect of all of his coworkers.  And he wasn’t even out of his teens yet.  Had someone told him four years ago–or even two years ago, when he was still trying to adjust to the revelation that he was a father–that this would give him the happiness he’d long sought, he would’ve thought that person was crazy.  Nevertheless, it did make him happy.  He could only hope that Mother would see things the same way. 

When they reached the house, he realized that there was now a pair of eyes peeping out at them from between the curtains.  He walked up to the door, took another deep breath, and rang the bell.  He heard footsteps from inside the house, and after a few seconds the door was opened by his youngest sister.  The instant she got a good look at his face, she froze in her tracks.

“Hi, Cho,” he said softly.  He began to think that maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to drop by unannounced after being absent for more than three years.  Perhaps she didn’t remember him?  “It’s me.  Daichi.”

Cho continued to wordlessly stare at him for several seconds.  Then, she did something both unexpected and disconcerting.  She started screaming. 

“A GHOST!  A GHOST!”

What?

Naturally, all the noise made Anna and Sasha start to wail as well.  Misawa had to try to simultaneously calm them and keep Cho from completely losing it.  Taniya had tried to approach, but this had only led Cho to yell at her to “stay away from me!” After what couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds, yet felt like much longer, they heard a scolding voice coming from within the house. 

“Cho, what is all this racket about?!  I have finals to grade and…”  Their mother had walked into the entry room in a huff, only to stop short herself when she saw Misawa. 

“…Daichi?” she asked hesitantly, voice wavering in a way that he hadn’t heard since that one time he’d broken his arm while playing baseball when he was six. 

He inclined his head.  “Mother.”  He became even more confused than he already was, if such a thing was possible, as he saw the formidable Misawa Naomi’s eyes fill with tears and her mouth wobble. 

“It’s you!  It’s really you!” she cried out hoarsely.  He barely had time to set Anna on the ground and pass Sasha back to Taniya before his mother launched himself at her and clung on tightly, her body shaking with sobs. 

This was extremely uncharacteristic behavior for her.  When was the last time she’d hugged him at all?  He wasn’t certain.  She wasn’t the type to show much physical affection; in fact, no one in the family was.  Had she really missed him that badly? All he could do was attempt to return Mother’s embrace as best he could.   Eventually, she composed herself and stepped back again, scrubbing at her eyes. 

“This is my wife, Taniya,” Misawa remembered to say; she appeared to have been touched by his reunion with Mother, and was dabbing at her own eyes with one of the towels from the diaper bag.  “Taniya, this is my mother.”

“Great to meet you, Mrs. M!” Taniya exclaimed, flashing that dazzling smile of hers which still made Misawa weak in the knees every single time he saw it.  “Misawacchi’s told me so much about you!” She diplomatically refrained from saying that quite a bit of what he’d told her had been unfavorable.  He wasn’t sure if Mother suspected that anyway, or if she was simply reacting to a diminutive of their family name being dropped in such a casual way (in all honesty, he was so used to it that it scarcely registered as anything weird anymore), but she stiffened slightly. 

“Welcome to our home, Taniya,” she said, outwardly graciously, although Misawa noted that there was no hug for her.  “And are these my grandchildren?”

Taniya nodded.  “The bigger one’s Anna, and the baby is Alexandra.  Although we call her ‘Sasha’ most of the time.  Easier to pronounce in Japanese.”

“Well, I never thought I’d be a grandmother before I was fifty,” Mother sighed.  However, not even she could resist the allure of new progeny.  “What precious little things!  Anna looks just like you did at that age, Daichi…except for the darker complexion and hair, of course.  And Sasha is such a little beauty, with those eyes.” 

“Can you say hi to Grandma, Anna?” Misawa asked while picking her back up.  Anna could not…or would not, more likely.  Sasha, on the other hand, gave Mother a smile without being prompted.  To be honest, people always tended to gravitate towards her rather than her solemn older sister even at this early stage, and Misawa and Taniya had already shared concerns with each other that this would become an issue as the girls grew up. 

At any rate, Mother said, “I apologize.  It was very rude of me to have you stay out in this cold weather for such a long time.  Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable.  Cho, you go call your father and Asami and tell them to come home immediately, and to pick up Ayame from calligraphy club.  I’ll make some tea.”

Cho, who still looked quite uncertain about this series of events, scurried off.  Taniya attempted to say, “Oh, don’t trouble yourself, we’re fine…”

“Nonsense,” Mother cut in briskly.  “I think some tea is what we all need.  Myself included.”

They all shuffled into the entrance hall, taking off their outdoor shoes.  Misawa noted that the huge poster of the Periodic Table was still in its usual pride of place on the wall.  When that was done, and they headed to the main living room, he was a little embarrassed to note that what appeared to be a sort of makeshift shrine had been set up in the corner.  Dozens of photos of him had been crammed onto a side table–all of his school photos from first to ninth grade, the one of him and Grandpa on a fishing trip when he’d been about twelve, another picture of him as a toddler on a family trip to the Grand Canyon, and even a photo from winter break of his first year at Duel Academia, when it had snowed and he’d taken Ayame and Cho out sledding. 

“Mother, you really didn’t need to do this,” he said sheepishly.  “I was always going to come back sooner or later.”

Mother stared him down, ultimately saying, “Do you not understand, Daichi?  For almost two and a half years, we thought you were dead.”  Her voice sounded on the verge of breaking again, and she hastily turned away.

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While Mother was making the tea, Misawa sat quietly on the couch in his family’s Westernized living room, trying to process those last words she’d said to him.  Was it really the case that no one had told his family that he was alive?  Chronos-sensei, Judai, Sho, Zweinstein…not one of them had said a thing?  Then again, it wasn’t exactly like he’d specifically requested that they say something.  He supposed that he’d assumed that no one would notice that he was gone…just like in school. 

He felt someone touch his hand, and looked over to see Taniya gazing at him sympathetically. 

“You doing okay?” she asked. 

“I…yes.  It just caught me by surprise, that’s all,” he replied.  His wife took his hand in hers, giving it a little squeeze. 

“Well, I’m here if I need you,” she said stoutly.  “And Anna will help keep you company, too.”  She gestured at their oldest daughter, who was attempting to climb onto the couch to sit on his  lap.  He assisted by giving her a little boost. 

Just then, Mother came in with the drinks: matcha for the adults, a bottle of royal milk tea for Cho, and a sippy cup for Anna, which Mother indicated contained orange juice.  Shortly thereafter, Cho returned from her phone calls. 

“Asami said she’s on her way and will get Ayame,” she reported.  “And Dad wouldn’t answer the phone.” 

Mother rolled her eyes.  “Probably in a meeting.  We’ll try again later.  In the meantime, you have some explaining to do, Daichi.”

He tried his best.  It wasn’t clear that his mother and sister understood too much of what he’d said, though eventually they seemed to comprehend that he’d chosen to stay in an alternate world with no easy way of making contact for a while. 

“I see,” said Mother, picking up her cup and taking a sip.  “And you mentioned that you wanted to stay behind with Taniya…how exactly did you two meet?”  Thankfully, the two of them had anticipated that question, and had come up with an answer that was basically the truth, albeit omitting some major facts. 

“We got acquainted briefly at school, and then happened to run into each other later when we got transported to the same dimension,” he said, attempting to keep it simple.  Alas, Mother still wasn’t satisfied. 

“And how old are your children?” she pressed. 

Taniya, either not sensing all of the hidden meaning behind that question or (more likely, in Misawa’s opinion) simply trying to maintain a pleasant conversation , answered, “Anna will be three in March, and Sasha is seven and a half months.  They’re really growing, aren’t they?  Oi!  Sasha, stop chewing on my arm.  Teething ring, please, Misawacchi?”

He dutifully reached into their bag, took one out, and handed it over.  Sasha began to gnaw on it at a furious pace, so he took out another one just in case.  “We have to buy these about ten at a time because she goes through them so fast,” he explained.  To be honest, the wooden ones that Taniya whittled in Dark World were a lot more durable, but for now they just had to make do with the plastic ones for sale in this dimension.

She added, “Yes, this is a new experience to us.  Anna has the ears, but she never grew fangs.  It means that breastfeeding is never boring; I can tell you that much!” Although Misawa laughed a little along with her, Mother evidently did not share his appreciation for Taniya’s sometimes earthy sense of humor. 

“Fangs…?” she asked faintly. 

“Oh yeah, I have two forms: human and tiger.  Did we forget to mention that?  You know what…here, take Sasha, Misawa.  I can show you right now.”

“That might not be the best idea right now,” he murmured. 

Cho pouted.  “Aww.  I wanted to see that!”  This was the first time she’d spoken directly to one of them since her ghost freakout. 

“Later, perhaps, Cho,” Mother admonished.  Then, partly to herself, “She can turn into a tiger.  How is that a thing?”

Misawa cleared his throat, going into full-on scientist mode.  “We’re not entirely certain.  Our working hypothesis is that the first time she managed the transformation, it made permanent changes to her DNA.  I knew a guy at school who had something similar happen.”

“Ooh, does that mean you’re a hanyou?  Like Inuyasha?” Cho asked, looking more eager still. 

“Cho!  How many times have I told you that you’re not allowed to read that manga until you’re in high school?!  It’s not appropriate for children!” Mother snapped.  Taniya, meanwhile, looked lost. 

“Inu-what?” she asked.  Misawa attempted, as best he could, to whisper a summary of the story’s plot, with which he wasn’t terribly familiar with himself, into Taniya’s ear in about ten seconds. 

“Oh!  Okay.  Then I guess I am kind of a hanyou,” she said. 

“Neat,” Cho breathed.  Well, at least someone in this house liked Taniya, although Cho still wasn’t making eye contact with him. 

They continued their conversation for a while.  Just as Misawa had predicted, Sasha chewed through her ring in a matter of minutes and started on the spare.  Anna got bored of sitting still, and began pacing the living room with her doll in one hand and the empty sippy cup in the other.  Every so often, she made an attempt to wriggle out of her dress, and one of them would have to go stop her.  They were careful to leave her to her own devices otherwise, since they’d long since learned that she was much less likely to have a meltdown if allowed to move around a bit.  Cho, meanwhile, wanted to learn every detail about life in the other dimension.  She was thrilled when Taniya remarked that she had the spirit of an Amazoness. 

“Mom?  I wanna go be an Amazoness with her,” she stated.

Mother rubbed her temples.  “Finish school, and then we’ll talk.” 

Misawa and Mother also had a conversation about his research; he told her about all the progress he’d made with interdimensional travel.  She appeared pleased with his achievements, but she was holding something back and he knew it.  However, he momentarily forgot about this when a large, long-haired cat entered the room and made a little chirp of surprise.  The next thing he knew, the animal ran to him at top speed and leaped onto the couch, landing heavily in his lap.

“Captain Fluffball?” he said in amazement.  “I didn’t know you were still alive.”  The cat clung onto him for dear life and purred so hard that his entire body vibrated.  He felt prickling at the corners of his eyes.  Was this going to be what made him cry, and not any reunions with human family members?  Captain Fluffball had been with the family since he was a few months old and Misawa was four, and had always been more his pet than anyone else’s.  During his school years, this cat had seemed like his only friend in the entire world at times. 

“Yes, he’s almost fifteen now,” Mother commented.  “His kidneys aren’t doing great anymore, but I guess he was waiting for you when we’d all given up hope.”  Always amiable, Captain Fluffball was gracious enough to give Taniya’s hand a quick sniff, which was remarkable since house cats didn’t usually like her.  Anna came back to the couch, leaning in curiously to take a better look at the cat and pat his head.  Misawa cautioned her to be gentle, since Fluffball was very old.  Luckily, Anna was. 

After a while, they heard Asami’s car park in front of the house.  Two people got out of it and began sprinting towards the front door.  Misawa, feeling a little reluctant, carefully set Captain Fluffball to one side so he could greet his other two sisters.  He noted that, while Ayame hugged him right away, his older sister hung back.  He chanced a look at her face, and…yes, she was angry at him.  Very much so.  Yikes. 

She managed to control it for a while as everyone shifted around to make room for the newcomers.  Anna had decided that Ayame was lap-worthy, which both Misawa and Taniya assured the ten-year-old was the highest of honors.  They told the story of the alternate dimensions once again, and then did a bit more polite chatting.  But the more Taniya talked, the more glacial Mother acted towards her.  She was well-known in Dark World for her socializing and storytelling skills, and they moved in the highest social circles thanks to that.  However, Misawa began to suspect that the exact qualities which made her so popular there–her infectious laugh, sweeping hand gestures, and tendency to share off-color anecdotes–were working against her in this case.  Finally, Mother said something to Ayame and Cho about going to show Anna their toys.  Then, in English, she added, “Daichi.  We have to talk.”

Whatever it was, he knew it wasn’t going to be good, but decided he should get it over with.  He shot an apologetic glance at Taniya and followed Mother into the kitchen.  She did not mince words, showing the bluntness of her American heritage and continuing to speak in English. 

“That woman is bad news, Daichi.  You need to leave her as soon as possible.”

He was momentarily dumbstruck.  Of course, it had been obvious that she didn’t approve of Taniya, he had not been prepared for such an extreme statement. 

“You would have me abandon my wife and children?” he asked coldly when he recovered his voice. 

Mother shook her head emphatically.  “I’d never ask that of you, so far as the children are concerned!  What do you take me for?  I am certain that the courts would grant custody of them to you once they hear the full story.”

“What full story?” He raised an eyebrow.  “I love her, she loves me, and we both love our daughters.  That’s the only story there is.  I thought you would have had more sympathy for our unique set of circumstances, given that you were born in America and dropped everything to move to Japan after you married Father.”

“No.  Don’t you dare try that, Misawa Daichi.  You know exactly what I mean.  Did you think I couldn’t figure out the math for myself?  It may not be my specialty as it is yours, but I can still do simple mental calculations.  Anna was conceived when you were fifteen.  I had always wondered why you were so out of sorts that summer, and now I know.”

He didn’t have a ready retort for that, as much as he hated to admit it.  That incident had hurt him, although not in the way that Mother seemed to think.  Eventually, he muttered, “That was a misunderstanding.  Nothing like it has happened since.

“For one thing,” he continued, his voice steadier now.  “You don’t know what she’s been through in her life.  For another, you don’t know her.  You’ve never seen her fearlessly lead troops into battle on horseback.  You’ve never accompanied her on hunting trips, whether she’s in tiger form or a human using her bow and arrows.  She’s equally good at both. And you haven’t heard her voice when she sings lullabies to the girls at night.  She’d die for them, if need be, or kill for them.  Or both.  Why can’t you learn to look beyond first impressions as I did; see things from my perspective?”

“And why can’t you ever see anything from anyone’s perspective other than your own, Daichi?” Asami asked.  She walked into the kitchen before Mother could say anything further.  Her face tight with rage, and all attempts at restraint were gone.  She shouted, “Our family was torn apart by this.  We mourned for you.  You stayed in your room all that summer, then didn’t come home for winter break, and finally stopped contacting us altogether; of course we were going to assume the worst!  Cho was only six then, and thought the world of you; she suffered from night terrors for months after.  Mother and Father separated for several months.  Grandpa was absolutely heartbroken.  Did you know that he had a massive stroke last year?  And guess who had to help Obaachan take care of him?  Me!    And now you just come back like nothing happened, and tell us that no, you weren’t actually dead, you were just having fun in some other reality with the woman who took advantage of you?  And you expected all of us to just welcome you back with open arms after all you put us through?  What?  The fuck?  IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”

She burst into angry tears and ran into Mother’s arms.  Misawa knew that what he should be doing was apologizing and then keeping quiet, but he was through being quiet.  His sister’s rant had brought longstanding resentments to re-emerge from the depths of his psyche. 

“Maybe, just maybe, my problem is that I didn’t think anyone would notice that I was missing!” he returned, trying and failing to keep from raising his voice as well.  “Neither Mother nor Father ever cared about anything I said or did except when it was some sort of academic achievement, and even then it wasn’t usually that big of a deal because you’d already done it, Asami!  And when my elementary school did psychological testing and diagnosed me with multiple issues, Mother, you didn’t want me to get any treatment because you thought I was ‘too smart’ for anything to be the matter.  Small wonder, then, that I chose to stay with someone who sees me for who I am!”

Why had he ever thought that this was a good idea?  He was standing there, one hand propping himself against the doorframe and the other clenched so hard that his fingernails were digging into his palm.  Mother was furious at him while simultaneously trying to comfort Asami; deep down, a voice whispered to him that none of this had been his sister’s fault, and he shouldn’t have taken his grievances out on her.  Nothing about this situation could possibly get any worse, he assumed…and then he heard a sound behind him and turned to see that Taniya had been standing there for an unknown length of time.  A tearful Sasha was in one of her arms, and the other was firmly planted on her hip.  She had the unique ability of making herself seem even taller than her actual 188 centimeters, and certainly appeared that way now.  Even Misawa, who knew every one of those centimeters intimately, felt intimidated by her in a way that he hadn’t been in years.  The entire argument had been in English, so at least she wouldn’t know exactly what they’d been arguing about…but she was far from stupid, and would have figured out the general idea. 

“Taniya…” he tried.  She made a motion for him to be quiet. 

“I can tell when I’m not wanted somewhere,” she said, voice cold yet almost eerily calm.  “And all the noise isn’t good for the kids.  I’m going to walk them back to the hotel.”  She had not, as of yet, managed to obtain a driver’s license. 

“Taniya, no, that’s almost three miles, and it’s cold out and going to get dark any minute.  I’ll drive you.”

She gave a mirthless laugh.  “Are you saying I can’t take care of myself, Daichi?”  Ouch.  She only used his given name when he was in deep trouble. 

“Of course not,” he said, attempting to follow her example and keep a level voice.  “It’s the children I was thinking about.  Please let me drive you back for their sake, at least.”  He supposed that it did help his case that he was being completely honest; she could smell bullshit from a mile away. 

“All right, then,” she conceded, obviously eager to both avoid further fighting and get out of here.  They went back to the living room went through the laborious process of gathering up the girls and their stuff.  This turned out to involve getting Anna redressed in the clothes that she’d finally shed in the commotion, making sure coats and hats were on and stayed on, and improvising a last-minute diaper change in an empty dresser drawer.  Misawa did pause long enough to hug both his younger sisters and apologize to them before he left, as well as give Captain Fluffball a goodbye pat.  No matter how poorly this had gone, he had to remember that they were all blameless.

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The drive back to the hotel was completely quiet; both Anna and Sasha had gotten so tired out that they fell asleep when the trip was lengthened due to rush hour traffic.  As soon as they got back to their room, Misawa volunteered to go get something for dinner.  His wife had no objections.  By the time he got back, balancing several bags from the nearest convenience store, the girls were both awake and hungry.  Anna in particular had a healthy appetite, but neither of her parents could do much more than pick at their food.  Then, it was time to get the children bathed and ready for bed, both parents attempting to keep things reasonably cheerful.  Finally, Anna was asleep in her cot and Sasha zonked out in a travel crib, and they could put off this conversation no longer.  Taniya took it upon herself to start the talking. 

“If you’re worried about my feelings being hurt, then don’t be,” she said abruptly as she sat in front of a mirror, undoing her hair in preparation for bed.  “I couldn’t care less whether people approve of me or not, and I could tell that you were trying to defend me.  I still think I should know what they were so angry about, though.” She reached for the hairbrush, but Misawa put a gentle hand over hers. 

“Allow me,” he offered, and when she nodded, stood behind her and started carefully working through her tresses.  Her hair went almost down to her knees when it was out of its ponytail, and he’d quickly learned that she always appreciated assistance with the arduous task of caring for it.  While doing this, he relayed his entire altercation with Mother and Asami, as best as he could recall.  Taniya didn’t like it when he skipped over things, whether it was him “forgetting” to sweep the corners of a room or omitting details from a verbal report such as this. 

When he was done, she let out a sigh; whether it was from contemplation, or simply because she was enjoying having her hair worked on, he didn’t know for sure.  “They do have some points.  You shouldn’t have left your family hanging like that.  It wasn’t your fault that you got sucked into the alternate dimension, but you should’ve figured out a way to send word to them as soon as you could.”

“You’re right.  I still don’t want anything to do with my parents right now…but I shouldn’t have hurt my grandparents and sisters like that.”  Setting the brush down momentarily, he took a deep breath.  “What do you think I could possibly do to make it up to them?  I was already planning on writing an apology letter to Asami, and I’ll have to call my grandparents when it’s convenient in California time.  Maybe I should take Ayame and Cho out for ice cream one afternoon?  And there’s Christmas and New Year coming up…should I get gifts?  And if so, to whom and how many?  I don’t even know if I’ll be allowed in the house again, or how Father will react.”

“You’re overthinking things again, Misawacchi,” Taniya pointed out.  “Start brushing again; it’ll give you something else to focus on.”

“Sorry,” he whispered.  He picked up where he had left off, finding that it was easier to hold the sections of hair in his hand while he worked on them so they didn’t get caught on something.  “You still didn’t say what you thought, though.”

Taniya exhaled slowly through her nose as she pondered this.  “I think…don’t worry about doing a bunch of big, extravagant things.  Just be there for them.  Show interest in their lives, and try to keep in touch when we’re in Dark World.  No one was really there for me, when I was growing up, and it seems like you had similar issues.  You don’t want your sisters–or your daughters, for that matter–to suffer like we did, right?”

“I don’t.”  As gifted as he was at understanding the most complex of equations and formulas, he often struggled with figuring out how people’s thoughts (including his own) worked.  Taniya had always had a knack for explaining this in a way that he could understand.  He worked for a few more minutes in silence before announcing, “All right, I’m done with the brushing.  What would you like for me to do now?”

“Just put in a braid so it doesn’t get all tangled while I’m sleeping, okay?  Thanks.”

He did so.  The sight of how the light gleamed in her hair, the feel of it in his hands, was admittedly doing things to him…things that he really shouldn’t be thinking about since their kids were in the same room as them. 

“And they got some things right about me, too,” she remarked.  “It’s not fair for me to put all the blame on you when I’ve had my fair share of fuckups.  I should never have gone after someone so young.  I wanted a husband, someone to father my children, and I sincerely thought I could find someone emotionally mature enough to handle that at a high school.  And then I rejected you for acting like the kid you were.  Sometimes I just want to go back in time three and a half years and slap myself.”

“Do you regret it, then?  Our relationship?” Misawa had to know.  He had completed the braid, which was nearly as thick as his wrist, and tied a large scrunchie at the top and a smaller elastic tie around the end to keep it from coming undone. 

“I’d never regret the way it is now,” Taniya replied thoughtfully.  “I love you, of course, and we make some really great kids.  Still, I regret how I went about it.  I was in such a rush; felt like my back was against a wall.  Now I think, if the spirits were always going to give us Anna, then they would’ve eventually done so even if it was later on.  What about you?”

He considered.  If he were being completely honest, he couldn’t actually recall too much of what had happened from the aftermath of their first encounter to his big breakthrough at the end of his second (and final, as it turned out) year.  However, it wasn’t exactly like he wanted to recall it in detail; from the memories he did have, he surmised that that year or so had basically been one giant nervous breakdown.  How much of that might have been inevitable, would have happened even if the two of them had never met, he was uncertain. 

She’d given him a choice once, during their first days together in Dark World.  If being a parent was more than he’d signed up for, she told him, he could set off on his own and there would be no hard feelings on her part, but she couldn’t guarantee that they’d ever meet again.  His other option would be to stay, and she made it clear that she’d expect him to be in it for the long haul if he chose that.   Taniya had given him a month to make his decision, and while he’d admittedly briefly considered leaving, in the end he’d chosen to stay.  And he’d never regretted it.

“I think…similarly,” he finally said.  “If we had a do-over, knowing what we do now, would we have done things differently?  Probably.  But somehow, things turned out right for us in the end anyway.”

Taniya stood up and stretched, giving him another brilliant smile.  “That’s a great way of thinking about it.  Well, should we go to bed now?”

She meant for sleeping, he told himself sternly.  Out loud, he answered, “Sounds like a plan.”

They drifted off in a spooning position, unsure whether or not they’d be woken up by one of the kids in the middle of the night, yet secure in the moment.

#GXRarePairsWeek #day 4 #fanfic #tigershipping #misawa daichi #bastion misawa #taniya #tania #queue post

[ondeckhq]

updated mwf/mwm? are there any current events going on as well? also ( sorry for so many questions ) is there a certain type of character people want to see on the yacht or a type of personality that would spark interest outside of already wanted connections?

hey non! no worries about the load of questions. we appreciate it! in terms of the mwf/mwm, i posed this to our members and the wishlist consists of:

mwf: mamamoo esp. solar & hwasa, haru, yui aragaki, minami hamabe, ren ishikawa, mei nagano, angela may, asuka kawazu, chaelin lee, kim jennie, lalisa, chaeyoung, ahn sohee, bae doona, cho miyeon, choi bitna, choi haneul, jeon somin & jiwoo, kim ahran, HYUNA, kim hyojung. mwm: seventeen (will pay) esp. joshua, junhui and jeonghan, peat wasuthorn chaijindar, vachirawit chivaaree, yosuke sugino, jun shison, hiroshi abe, masaki okada, kentaro sakaguchi, keisuke watanabe, taehyung kim, baekho & ren, jackson wang (PLS), ten, park seojoon, kim soohyun, lee dohyun, woodz, LEE JOON, lee dongwook.

current events - the ic date is sometime in june so there is a pride event currently happening which has posed some very fun kissing booth plots, parties and ofc ✨ drama ✨ and the next event lined up will be the bi-weekly plot development which decides what happens next, i.e. arriving safely at sokcho dock.

personality ideas below

newlyweds or just-divorced! this is a perfect vacation for those who are just finding their feet with each other or having lost touch with one another and boarding for a summer of self-discovery.

a kleptomaniac maid - or just one who steals for the hell of it.

another drag queen entertainer! or drag king?

we have a band on deck called bizarre so it might be fun to get some super fans on board who may have got more than they bargained for with vip access!

it would be nice to see a personality who is on the yacht for the sole purpose of uploading tiktoks and capturing moments to entice those who aren't on the yacht to arrive. there are lots of sticky situations they could get into and we think it could be a good/active plot bunny.

there is a fame-rising f1 driver on board, superfans or other f1 driver friends/celebs would be welcomed.

the person who created the anonymous gossip group chat, ig.

a spy who is using the yacht to escape a mission gone wrong, or on the contrary is on the yacht for a mission.

a total himbo. pls. eye candy!

someone with chaotic good energy pleeeeeeeeease.

#discord krp #krp #oc krp #appless krp #krphq #ondeckhq: asked

[thedalatribune]

© Paolo Dala

Demon Slayer World: The Togakushi Shrine

The 5 Shrines Trail Hike in Mt. Togakushi (Nagano, Japan) is one of my best hikes ever... Unfortunately, my cousin and I weren’t able to complete the 5-Shrines Trail Hike. We were still far from the end of the hike and it was night time already and we didn’t have headlamps. It was December and it was already very cold. Some parts of the trail were covered with snow and my shoes were not for suited for ice. I was sliding through. And to top it all, there were "Beware of Bears" sign everywhere and we were literally the only people in the whole mountain.

We made the decision to turn back because [the most important rule of mountaineering is]: Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory... It was just too risky to continue.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this place so much. It's both creepy and peaceful at the same time. I was both scared and clam at the same time. Mixed emotions. Haha... I have plans on going back and completing this trail, hopefully the on my next Japan vacation...

You're welcome to join me. I'm kidding. I don't hike with people I don't. LOL. I hike with people I'm comfortable with. I mean if I don't like at sea level, I won't like you at a higher altitude. Haha.

...by the way, I just found out from IG Reels that 5 Shrines Trail inspired one of the places in Demon Slayer, the anime. I don't watch that, so I don't really know this is exactly in Demon Slayer. Just a postscript for all you Demon Slayer fans out there.

#5 Shrines Trail Hike #Adventure Photography #Hike #Mountain #Mt. Togakushi #Giant Cedar Trees #Trees #Forest #Demon Slayer #People #Adventure #Togakushi #Nagano #Japan

[travelersrhapsody]

5 best countries to visit during chilly winter

The winter period is characterized by freezing weather, blowing winds, and snow-capped sceneries, which makes it the perfect season for travelers in search of new destinations. There are some interesting countries around the world that are worth visiting, whether you want to escape the cold winter or enjoy winter season activities. Therefore, the following five countries are for you to consider when traveling in the winter season.

Japan

Winter turns Japan into an enchanted fairytale land when it finally shows up. Snow is associated with beauty and it truly makes famous sites such as Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hokkaido unforgettable. The Sapporo Snow Festival will leave you in awe with its exquisite and detailed ice sculptures. The natural hot springs, also known as “onsen” are part of a Japanese tradition that offers a good way to stay warm and relaxed by all that snow. Also, it is the time for winter sports lovers as they explore the high-quality skiing places at Nagano and Japanese Alps.

Switzerland

Many travellers view Switzerland as a winter wonderland and it’s easy to grasp why. Winter activities in the Swiss Alps comprise of snow boarding, skiing and ice skating. Under white blanket such charming town as Zermatt, St. Moric, and Interlaken seem to be more beautiful. Comforting foods like Switzerland’s famed chocolate, cheese, and fondue are a good way to reward yourself at the end of the day’s outdoor activities.

Iceland

Although Iceland is one of the most beautiful countries all year round, it’s even more majestic and charming during winter season. One can see the Northern lights, or the Aurora Borealis, during clear skies at nightfall during winter. You can spend your time discovering ice caves, unwind at the famous Blue Lagoon spa, and marvel at frozen waterfalls. You can have a peaceful time in Iceland’s tranquil winter landscape since winter comes with less crowd.

Morroco

Morrocco makes a great option for an incredible winter trip. Exploring these places is not problematic due to nice winter temperatures which can be found in Marrakech and Fez cities. Explore the busy souk, experience the beautiful Moorish architecture, and take pleasure in delectable Moroccan delicacies. Snow sporting and trekking is possible in the Atlas mountains during winters. Lastly, the Sahara is also cooler during winter and thus an enticing place for those looking for a desert experience.

Morroco is an attractive destination for cruise travel as well. Cruises offer you opportunity to see Morocco itself as well as nearby Spanish islands for an unforgettable adventure. Cruising to Morroco can be a great vacation for couples. You can even wear cruise t-shirts for couples and look amazing.

New Zealand

New Zealand experiences summer as the Northern Hemisphere suffers cold during this period. This therefore means that New Zealand is one of the best escapes to go by someone who wants to get away during a cold winter. Discover pristine beaches, shady woods, and renowned firths without being overwhelmed by tourist crowd. The country’s different landscapes will take you from the steamy geotherms of Rotorua through the splendid beaches of Abel Tasman National Park.

Summary

Winter travel is the perfect time to explore some of the most stunning places on earth. From Japan's snow-capped mountains to Switzerland's winter sports, Iceland's natural wonders, New Zealand's sunny paradise, and Morocco's cultural charm, there's something for everyone to enjoy. So grab your travel bag and get ready to make memories in the middle of winter!

[tokyotravelbureau]

Top Japan vacation packages from Delhi

Are you looking for the perfect Japan vacation package from Delhi? Tokyo Travel Bureau can help you plan your dream trip. We offer a wide range of packages to suit all budgets and interests, including:

Classic Japan: This 7-day package includes visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. You'll see the highlights of these iconic cities, such as the Tokyo Tower, the Kiyomizu-Dera Temple, and the Osaka Castle.

Cultural Japan: This 10-day package takes you to some of Japan's most important cultural destinations, such as Nara, Kyoto, and Hiroshima. You'll learn about Japanese history and culture, and experience traditional Japanese arts and crafts.

Adventure Japan: This 8-day package is for the active traveler. You'll go hiking in the Japanese Alps, skiing in Nagano, and surfing in Okinawa.

We also offer custom-made packages to fit your specific needs. Our experienced travel consultants can help you create a package that includes everything you want to see and do in Japan.

To book your Japan vacation package from Delhi, contact Tokyo Travel Bureau today. We'll help you plan the perfect trip for you.

Call to action:

Contact Tokyo Travel Bureau today to book your Japan vacation package from Delhi!

#best travel agency for japan trip #best japan tour for seniors #japan vacation packages #family trip to japan #japan tour packages

[longliverockback]

Zappa Vol I The London Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Kent Nagano 1983 Barking Pumpkin ————————————————— Tracks: 1. Sad Jane 2. Pedro’s Dowry (Large Orchestra Version) 3. Envelopes 4. Mo ‘n Herb’s Vacation    a. First Movement    b. Second Movement    c. Third Movement —————————————————

Ed Mann

Kent Nagano

David Ocker

Chad Wackerman

Frank Zappa

* Long Live Rock Archive

#FrankZappa #Ed Mann #Kent Nagano #David Ocker #Chad Wackerman #London Symphony Orchestra #Zappa Vol I #LP #Classical #1983

[staynozawa]

Discovering Nozawa Onsen’s Hidden Gems: Adventures and Snowboard Lessons

Planning your Nozawa holidays?

Why do so many tourists adore Nozawa Onsen in Japan for their vacations? I conducted a scientific study with participants who had vacationed in Nozawa Onsen, and the results are astounding! The study participants were chosen at random from the comments they made after working with reputable businesses, lodgings, and organizations offering highly rated Nozawa Onsen snowboarding lessons.

The respondents indicated that they would make repeat visits to Nozawa Onsen simply because the destination is both fun and affordable. One may find a little bit of everything in Nozawa Onsen, from a wide variety of snow-heavy ski slopes to a plethora of natural hot springs within the hamlet, according to respondents who had taken the ski lessons for which the place is renowned.

Even if you can't ski, visiting the winter wonderland of Nozawa Onsen as your vacation location will still provide you with plenty of thrills, as demonstrated by the findings mentioned above.

You'll be amazed to learn that Nozawa has successfully preserved its authentically Japanese charm by retaining its winding roadways and traditional onsens to provide an amazing tourist-friendly ambiance.

Nozawa Onsen ski lessons and exceptional adventures

There are three hidden gems that you can build the adventures of your Nazawa holidays around: world-class ski slopes, traditional Japanese onsens, and authentic Japanese culture and cuisine.

For those who have never been to Nozawa Onsen, the location is a tiny mountain village in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan. Great slopes, onsen, or hot springs, amiable locals, and stunning scenery are some of the village's best-known features. Over 50% of the territory surrounding the settlement is forested because it is located within Kogen National Park.

World-class ski slopes

For those interested in geography and skiing, the village is located in a region with a range of altitudes, from 300 meters in the north at Akashi to 1,650 meters at Mt. Kenashi-yama, which is renowned for skiing and snowboarding and has more than 50 kilometers of trails, including gentle running slopes for those just starting out as well as difficult trails and jumps for more experienced skiers and snowboarders.

Many skiers and snowboarders like Nozawa Onsen's infrastructure for skiing and snowboarding because the routes start at a height of 1,685 meters and the ski resort has 297 hectares of skiing terrain. Because of this, many skiers and snowboarders choose Nozawa holidays that incorporate the renowned Nozawa Onsen ski lessons as part of their vacation adventures.

Nozawa Onsen is a treasure trove of adventure for ski and snowboard lessons since it features a terrain park for people who desire more than simply a journey down the mountain, complete with jumps, rails, boxes, and an empty meter pipe.

Traditional onsens

Nozawa Onsen village has over 30 distinct natural hot springs that supply mineral water to 13 free public baths. Also prevalent in the region are ryokans and ski resorts. Your Nozawa vacation journey will be more enjoyable if you visit more than one of these traditional onsens because each of the public baths has a unique mineral spring source with unique qualities.

Authentic Japanese culture and cuisine

The onsen culture of Japan is centered in Nozawa Onsen. Holidays in Nozawa are most appreciated when your schedule is set up so that you can immerse yourself in the onsen culture after a day of skiing or snowboarding.

In addition to the public baths or onsens and the traditional Japanese inns or ryokans, the winding main street in the village is filled with shops, restaurants, bars, and street vendors selling various local delicacies like those made from a vegetable similar to spinach known as Nozawa-na.

By visiting a museum, where you may discover the past of the adventures offered to tourists in Nozawa Onsen, you can also experience the real Japanese culture in Nozawa Onsen.

Need help discovering the hidden adventure gems in Nozawa Onsen?

You may need the assistance of service providers like Staynozawa to help you find and integrate Nozawa Onsen's many hidden adventures and options for Nozawa ski lessons as part of your vacation package of activities. 

Even though Nozawa ski lessons are renowned for helping beginners pick up the sport quickly, not all instructors may have the ability and persistence to work with you. That is why working with a service provider who has helped learners make quick progress is helpful. 

For more information on working with Staynozawa for your Nozawa holidays, call them at [phone] or email them at [email protected].

[kuschelkissen]

Tag 9 People You Want To Get To Know Better

I was tagged by @fuyuteki and I'll try my best! I don't think I even know 9 people here (that I would call mutuals, so... if you follow me, consider yourself tagged?)

Three Ships:

Ok, uhm. 3 ships from my current fandom (Detective Conan)? AkAm, HagiMatsu, Nagano Throuple

First Ever Ship:

Dude. Oh my god. No idea. The first ship I had was probably before I even knew about the concept of shipping. (Like when I was 6 or 7 or so and I wasn't sure if Gummi Bears Grammi was the partner of Gruffi or Zummi 😅 I guess that counts as shipping?)

But I think... my first ever actual ship, where I was like "yes, these two characters are/should be in a relationship", were 2 side characters from the very first Pokémon movie (you remember those other 3 trainers? yeah, 2 of these. I don't think they even had names in the movie, I think I just read about their names in a magazine and I still don't know if they were actually their names or just made up by the author 😅 I just googled and apparently the names are official (Corey and Neesha) AND they appeared in another movie?? which I fear I'll have to check out now)

ANYWAY, these two characters:

Last Song:

Odd Chap & Emma Lea – Fire (Freshly Squeezed Music) (I've been listening to this "Spooky Swing" mixes on Youtube for the last 3 months or so, and I love the good mood these give to me (Fire is at about minute 53)

Last Movie:

Jurassic World Dominion (I don't care if it's trash, I love my dinosaurs, don't judge me)

Currently Reading:

Does fanfic count 🥲 I haven't read anything beyond fanfic and doujinshi in ages... Last thing I read was part one of the Moonless trilogy by Marie Howalt (We Lost The Moon), it's a pretty cool SciFi story.

Currently watching:

Rewatching X Files with my gf and realising I don't remember ANYTHING

Currently consuming:

Nothing, but I ate self-made pizza a few hours ago, does that count?

Currently Craving:

A vacation. An idea on how to go on with my HagiMatsu fic. Motivation to draw. Or work on my dolls.

Oh you mean something I could maybe technically have? Salted Caramel Chocolate. But I ate all of it the other day and didn't buy a new one.

#personal #Youtube

[necoqavreeno]

. 日曜日に東京へ帰還. 松本での善光寺と浅間温泉. 蓼科周辺の霧ヶ峰や車山へドライブ＆ハイキング(ホント軽めの). ギリギリまで長野を堪能してきました. Returned to Tokyo on Sunday. Zenkoji temple and Asama onsen in Matsumoto. Driving and hiking (really light) to Kirigamine and Kurumayama around Tateshina. I enjoyed Nagano until the last minute. . 写真は前後バラバラです. ごめんなさい. 霧ヶ峰、車山は360°霧のパノラマ！ 数十秒だけ霧の切れ間もあったり. それもそれで楽しんだ夏休みでした. The pictures are not the same before and after. Sorry. Foggy panorama of Kurumayama and Kirigamine! There was a break in the fog for a few dozens of seconds. It was a fun summer vacation. . . #flower #natural #botanical #freshflower #travel #hotsprings #nagano #kirigamineplateau #kurumayamashrine #zenkojitemple #ナチュラル #ボタニカル #生花 #旅行 #温泉 #枇杷の湯 #長野 #霧ヶ峰 #車山神社 #善光寺 #花のある暮らし #植物のある暮らし  #東京 #中野 #江古田 #花屋 #フラワーショップ #flowershop #necoqavreeno #ネコカヴ��ーノ (長野県茅野市 蓼科高原) https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch4O919uG7I/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#flower #natural #botanical #freshflower #travel #hotsprings #nagano #kirigamineplateau #kurumayamashrine #zenkojitemple #ナチュラル #ボタニカル #生花 #旅行 #温泉 #枇杷の湯 #長野 #霧ヶ峰 #車山神社 #善光寺 #花のある暮らし #植物のある暮らし #東京 #中野 #江古田 #花屋 #フラワーショップ #flowershop #necoqavreeno #ネコカヴリーノ

[jetsettermac]

golden week: toyama & tateyama-kurobe alpine route

april 29-may 2, 2022

>> tateyama-kurobe alpine route photos <<

>> toyama photos <<

>> see all golden week 2022 posts <<

i’ve always really loved seeing mountains. i couldn’t tell you why, just that when there’s a snowcapped peak in sight i can’t stop staring at it! that’s one of the reasons why going to toyama was at the top of the list for me. toyama is one of several prefectures in an area known as the roof of japan, because the northern japanese alps are located around there.

the one thing i’ve been yammering on about for YEARS has been the tateyama-kurobe alpine route. i feel like not a lot of people outside japan and outside the mountaineering world really know about it. i certainly didn’t know about it when i first arrived in japan. but once i learned about it i realized i really really wanted to do it. this golden week trip involves several places and activities, but it’s really about this: tateyama-kurobe alpine route.

i went into this trip wanting to go almost all the way through. the route is a series of various transportations linked up to take you up a 3,000m+ mountain and through it to the other side, into nagano. by going through this route you can see a lot of natural beauty. at bijodaira you can see beautiful forests and 1,000+ year old cedar trees. at midagahara you can walk around alpine wetlands and see various types of flowers and an ancient caldera. at murodo you can walk the snow wall, with snow on either side packed up to 20m, or go hiking. you can keep going to kurobe dam, which i think is the highest altitude dam in japan. it’s a lot of beautiful scenery and natural wonders to experience.

however i really messed up because i didn’t realize you could buy advanced tickets for the various types of transportation you need to get up the mountain, and by the time i did realize it, all of the tickets were gone. i did manage to find that they were selling extra tickets and i snatched some up, but there were a few days of depressed wallowing lol. 

anyway i got to toyama by train because i hate flying, and i wanted to appreciate japan’s scenery as much as i could. the first day of my vacation was dedicated to travel and settling in.

the second day in toyama i woke up at 4am and headed to tateyama by train for about an hour. it was crowded with people even at that time of day. my bus up tateyama was at 7am and it was pretty scary. i’m not a big fan of heights. but the scenery was beautiful. we drove through a beech forest and the bus slowed down for important places like the biggest cedar tree. as we climbed up higher the snow got higher and everything was sparkly and white and beautiful, and we ended up above the clouds which meant the sky was clear and sunny. it was kind of perfect. i hung out in murodo for a while and walked along the snow trail, and then it was time to walk the snow wall route, or yuki-no-otani. the snow that day was 18m high, or about 65 feet. people were there to take photos of you at the highest point, which was really cool. there’s just something about seeing super tall snow that i can’t describe?? i took the walk back via panorama road, which is basically just a trampled down snow trail on the edge of the mountain. didn’t realize how much of a climb it was because it certainly didn’t look like one, but my fitbit says i climbed 56 flights of stairs LOL.

my original plan had been to go on past murodo and see kurobe dam, but when i finished with the yuki-no-otani i felt satisfied and ended up going back down the mountain. this time i was able to get normal tickets instead of the special extra tickets, so i got to experience the cable car at bijodaira too, which was scary and cool. 

by the time i got back to toyama it was about 2:30pm, so i took a short rest and then explored a little bit of the area -- castle ruins park and some shops and a bit more of the station and what it has to offer. 

my third day in toyama i visited a shrine to get my goshuin and then took a day trip to nagano. it poured rain, so i didn’t do much other than that. i did manage to try toyama black ramen though, which was interesting! not my cup of tea, but it wasn’t bad. it looks super salty because it’s a dark soy sauce broth, but it’s really pretty light.

overall i had a really nice time in toyama. it was one of the coolest thing i’ve done in japan, and actually i’m thinking about coming back in summer next year as a sort of last hurrah before going home. tateyama-kurobe alpine route is beautiful in the snow, but they say experiencing it in summer is even better because you can more freely walk around and the plants are thriving and stuff. so maybe! 

#mac.txt #mac.photo #jetsettermac #gw22 #toyama #tateyama-kurobe alpine route #tateyama #murodo #snow wall #yuki no otani #bijodaira #toyama castle ruins park #hie jinja #toyama black ramen #apr22 #may22