Hi, so we had reached the 50th chapter, and I'm very proud! This may be my longest story so far, and I can't wait for reaching another milestone and actually finishing this story. As of now, It has over 125 chapter, with my goal being 150 ;-)
As per the suggestion, I decided to hold something special. So, take home-made popcorn, grab a relaxing drink, and let's enjoy this ride.
Let's start with a bit of history. I started to write this story back in middle school. It could be around 2005 or so. I have, unfortunately, lost the original file, and I only have pdf I converted for better reading on the mobile.
The original file had only 4130 words, including notes at the end about the MCs. The start was as you see in this version, but before I ended the second chapter, I went in a completely different way. The pacing was much faster as I planned it to be a short story. At most at 20 000 words (I'm watching you, English version XD).
All the characters you know from the start were there too. There were only slight changes in some of the names. All, except for Freya, are based on Japanese words. So if you put them into a translator, you should get more-or-less the meaning behind them ;-) And that reflects something about them as well.
Freya Inuhakka – Remained the same, including all of her features, but with a different reason for her scarred face (a bit more about it later). Her name comes from Norse goddess of Love, and Inuhakka means "Firedog or Burning dog" (I didn't save the meaning of their names at that time T_T).
Kagetsu Kamini – He also remained the same ^_^; His name means "Moon's shadow"
Rigaku Kamini – Used to be called Kótan. But I tend to use only the first letter in my notes (so R = Rigaku), and since two started on K, I changed this one. I actually may not like it, when the major characters share the same starting letter for some reason XD His name is based on wisdom.
Aiyoku Kamini – Here was a smaller change from Aijó. Both are connected with love, but Aiyoku has "lust" inside.
Aoi Ueno – Her name stayed the same. Also, only in her case, I use her surname :-D It stuck to me, and it kinda shows she isn't friendly with others much. Her name is basically "Blue" and "Top field".
Now to the past, I mentioned before. So, Freya had the same problems – the bad eyesight and hearing from the left side – but those were caused by a car accident with a truck on the crossing. Her parents died immediately, but she survived with scars.
At the same time, doctors discovered she had a tumor growing in vocal cords, so they had to remove it, rendering her mute. All of this would have happened two years before the "Notes 01". Freya also worked in a Coffee Shop as a waitress with an understanding boss.
This place employed people with disabilities, and many regular customers would also have some sort of disability. Rigaku would find her there by chance (and at that time having a part-time job was against the school rules, so she had to work far away from the school to not be discovered).
At that time, Rigaku and readers would learn about her accident from the boss, who tried to convince Rigaku to not report her in the school. It would end with Rigaku leaving, and the next day Freya would shove him the pear with a message "Take that stupid pear and get out of my life!".
Here is where I stopped in the Czech version. I'm not sure if I lost inspiration, or started to work on something different, but I'm glad I've never lost my original notes. (See the picture below - It's not everything.)
I'm sure you can't read a thing XD That's because this is in the Czech Language, my mother language, with occasional English words (it depends on what came to my mind first XD). This "raw script" included the draft of meeting Aiyoku and discovering Rigaku's children's book.
Kagetsu's arc was a lot different, but it inspired another "mini-arc" you will get later ;-) So I can't tell much.
A lot of people didn't appear, or they had a minimal role. I'm glad I managed to include Freya's father and Kamini's father. Nihil is a big add-on and reflects a bit my personal OC (that comes from another story I didn't finish at all -_- but I still have fond memories).
What I love is to include small Easter Eggs, but unlike NinRai, there isn't that many of them XD But, here is the list of those I remember.
Licked by ghostly tongue – This is inspired by Gastly from Pokemon and common "event" in ghost-hunting in anime where wet sponge would be used to make kids think ghost licked them. If you remember, many famous kids-friendly ghosts feature slimy tongue ;-)
Oh... crab. - This comes from Ice Age, where Sid said it. I found it really funny, so I use it :-) The same line is spoken by Kairo in NinRai.
Uh... meow? - Comes from Sonic the Hedgehog movie :-D It's a great scene.
Heaven on Earth – It's a shorter version of "Heaven is a place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle.
Tears keep falling – Inspired by lyrics from "Call On Me" by Starley (Ryan Riback Remix). Lyrics "When you can't stop the tears from falling down, down, down".
Where are my brothers? - It reminded me "Dude, where is my car" comedy movie :-)
Love Had Returned... - Here it refers to Aiyoku as "Ai" means love in Japan.
Over The HEdge – Refers to the movie of the same name from 2006 and expresses what happened with Ueno ;-)
Nothingness – References Nihil as his username is derived from "Nihilism".
Snooping Around – Another reference for Sonic, this time this is a quote of Dr. Eggman.
Jester – This is the type of Freya's plush toy, but the proper word is "Kašpárek", but English has no word for this type of character. Kašpárek is from the theater plays for kids. He is often wearing a similar outfit as jesters only in red, but he is clever, kind-hearted, and helps people.
Gigi – Is the name of our two pet rats we used to have.
Svíčková omáčka – A sauce made of vegetable, mostly carrot with dumplings and meat (the name can be derived from Real Sirloin Steak, a slice of meat that it's served with – if you are rich enough XD). Google translates offer Vegetable Sauce as alternative translation as well ;-)
I think this is all I can think of now XD Before I end this as this turned really long, I'll include small tidbits from my notes in LibreOffice. Before I go to sleep, I tend to have way too vivid visions, so I note them down really quickly.
I delete them after finishing the scene unless they are referring future scenes, so I can't post them here ;-) But have here notes for the fighting technique Kagetsu used in the brawl with punks :-)
It's called Half-Step Beng Quan, which means Smashing Fist, and it comes from Xing Yi Quan Kung Fu. I've learned about it from manga "Kenji" by Matsuda Ryuchi. I'm not an expert, I swear XD
Here are the notes in my mother language ;-)
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Half-step Beng Quan
postup – snizene centrum gravitace – povolene nohy, roztazene, leva ruka vepredu (otevrena dlan(, druha lehce zvednuta u pasu – vaha spis na prave noze
2) levou nohou dopredu – ruce v pest a pravou pres levou (jakoby do X) a jak prikroci s pravou k leve noze, tak vystrely pravou ruku jako sip a leva se pohne zpatky dozadu (ohnuta)
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Alright, let's end this here :-)
I hope you enjoyed a bit of history for this story and found some Easter Eggs you had no idea about :-) Feel free to ask me about this story, and I'll try to answer you the best way I can ;-)
Best Regards <3
PS. Please, excuse all the mistakes :-D
PS2. Here are three random notes from chapters 51-100 :-D In no particular order ;-)
1) Creeping Feeling
2) Brewing Storm
3) Knowing Oneself