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petroniaFor a while now Mirage has been structured like this: short bit that sets up the issues --> long bit in which the issues are hashed out --> repeat. Like 5.5 and 9, 13-14 feel transitional, with the character development happening in parallel to and mirroring the plot instead of entangled with it. I'm not sure why it occupies two books, unless the evocation of Enoshima Island in the off-season ate up lots of page count.
Oh, wait, that andAgents Mulder and Scully Investigator Sakaki and Nikaidou Reiko poking their noses about and not being particularly helpful. XD
I still have to do the 10-12 summaries. In any case, what you need to know is that Naoe gets himself shot at the end of book 11, and is too spiritually weak to possess another body, so it's assumed he goes poof.[1] Kagetora goes completely raving nutters but is allowed neither to reduce the surrounding city to rubble (his first reaction) nor to lie down and die (his second reaction), because he has to go out and singlehandedly destroy a few clans in Yami Sengoku etc. etc. etc. So he does, but hypnotises himself into coping by telling himself it's All A Bad Dream: the next time he wakes up Naoe will be alive and well and smiling down at him from bedside. Such is the force of this idée fixe that when he does wake up, he fixates on the first person he sees as being "Naoe". Fuuma no Kotarou ends up with the short straw, and has leisure in which to regret his assiduity. Twenty-two months, to be precise.
Taking the inherent retardedness of the setup as a given, Kotarou is by no means the worst case scenario. It could have been Nagahide, or Yuzuru, or a random hospital nurse. Takaya would never miss Kotarou - up to this point he doesn't even think of him as an ally - but Hojo Ujiyasu charged Kotarou with following Kagetora's orders while trying to subvert him away from the Uesugi, so Kotarou is in practice his ninja. He can do the normal retainer stuff, like watch Takaya's back in a fight and chauffeur him around. [2] He has no sense of humour, which is a big plus, as it allows him to put up poker-faced with the delusions and assorted stupidity. There's a reason the nin in ninja means "endurance".
The problem is that he's not... very...
How to put it?
There's a scene in the chibi bunny Takaya doujinshi that goes something like this:
Takaya: Look, Naoe, it's a cute bunny rabbit! Isn't it fuzzy and nice?
Kotarou: Rabbit is very good roasted in a pan with herbs. Tasty and nutritious.
Takaya: O_O;;
Bunny: *sweatdrops and tries to wiggle out of Takaya's grasp*
While this specific conversation is fan-fictional and does not take place in canon, it is fairly indicative of the issue at hand.
If you portmanteaued Aoshi, Inui, and Keiki out of 12K, then made the result a bit slower on the uptake, you'll get someone with Kotarou's approximate EQ. Adding fuel to the fire, Kagetora of course expects "Naoe" to be able to read his mind, and throws sulk fits when this fails to happen ("I'm upset with you but I'm not going to tell you what you did because you should know what you did").
Then there's the fact that Kotarou doesn't actually, y'know, want to sleep with Takaya or anything.
Which is ENTIRELY NORMAL AND REASONABLE of him, I hasten to stress.
What's not normal or reasonable is that it takes him about two years to realise that this was an issue between Naoe and Takaya that needed proper handling. [3] I personally am famously clueless but I think I would have picked up on it after 48 hours.
Basically it's a comedy of errors. (I mean, at first it's funny in a horrific way, especially if you're emotionally invested in seeing Kagetora get his comeuppance. Then it gets all angsty.)![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ayatsujik and I expected Takaya to break down and resort to marker-pen diagrams à la Rukia.
What with all the neurosis and delusions Takaya starts losing control of his powers. He fights, his hand "slips", and he ends up exploding something that he didn't intend to explode. Sucks for anyone in the immediate environs.
In book 13 the Yashashuu investigate Enoshima Island due to mermaid sightings. [4] Long story short, it transpires that the Satomi clan has taken over a faceless mega-corporation and is trying to buy up the entire island under the guise of real-estate development, so they can build a "Gate to Hell" on it. Local leaders who protest die of convenient, quick-acting and mysterious illnesses. Takaya and Ayako poke about the Iwaya Grotto for clues, run into this dude Miura Yoshioki who's trying to sabotage the Satomi, blows are exchanged, Takaya loses control and sets off some falling rocks, Yoshioki escapes in the confusion. Takaya and Ayako stagger out of the cave, scratched up and shaken. Then this guy Kaizaki shows up with a posse of Satomi goons.
The reader knows from oh the prologue on that Naoe's still alive. [5] Kaizaki's appeared as well - it turns out later he's working for the Satomi as a living human who's their descendant - and it's understood there's something up with him. You're never actually told Kaizaki is Naoe [6], it just becomes INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS within the minute.
Kaizaki: Did you two go in the cave? Didn't you see the sign that says "Danger Falling Rocks Do Not Enter Cave"?
Ayako: No, sir, we did not go in the cave. We're just random tourists er.
Kaizaki: *ignores her, kneels down in front of Takaya who's sitting on the ground*
Ayako: ...
Kaizaki: You're hurt, did you fall down? *wipes blood away from a scratch on Takaya's cheek* You should get that disinfected.
Takaya: ...
Kaizaki: *takes off coat and wraps it around Takaya's shoulders* The sea wind is cold. Take care of yourself. *turns on his heel and walks off*
Ayako: ......What just happened? Hey, guy, are you going to leave this here? What do you want us to do with OH MY GOD IS THIS CASHMERE?
Takaya: *starts crying*
Ayako: O_O;; Kagetora? Are you okay? Hurt? Cold? Did the bad man traumatize you?
[sometime later, in the car]
Ayako: That was weird, yo! What was up with that guy? Who does that? I mean okay, if someone did that to a girl you'd be all "whoa there smooth operator", but you? He didn't even look at me! Seriously weird.
Takaya: *holds onto coat, stares out window*
Ayako: (...Oh sigh, he's done for.) Now now, Kagetora, don't take it to heart. Sometimes you just get strange men who hit on you, you know? I get it all the time. It's one of those things a girl has to learn to handle. The point is not to take it seriously. I know you're weak against older men and all but--
Takaya: WHAT?
Ayako: T_T Never mind.
Men's cashmere wool overcoat: 50,000-60,000 yen (according to Ayako, who shops in the best stores)
Making Kagetora wibble for a whole day: priceless
That is, after they get back to the hotel Takaya goes to his room, wraps the coat around himself and wibbles some more; none of it makes logical sense to his conscious mind but subconsciously he knows it was Naoe. He stops short of actually sticking his hand down his pants though. [7]
...Anyway, various plot things happen, the most important of which being that Irobe Katsunaga the Yashashuu Fifth Man re-appears and drags Chiaki into a secretive meeting with Hakkai the ex-Nokizaru ninja commander who'd been AWOL since - aw, crap, this is why I need to summarise 10-12. [8] The Satomi orderKaizaki you know what, I'm just going to call him Naoe, no use perpetuating the confusion - to capture Kagetora so they can turn him over to the Oda. (This is a fairly clever tactic as Kaizaki's a living human, i.e. they can't exactly exorcise him.) Naoe sets an ambush near the Iwaya Grotto and manages to knock Takaya out, a task made considerably easier by the way Takaya keeps losing his grip on his powers. Book 13 ends with him carrying Takaya away in his arms, on a motorboat.
Two chapters into book 14, Takaya wakes up handcuffed to a bed.
Actually, to be precise:
A few minutes later Satomi Yoshiyori (the son of the Satomi clan head) [9] strolls in and starts taunting Kagetora about the "Gate to Hell", which is supposed to bring all the resentful folks the Uesugi exorcised back to the land of the living, thus negating their powers. Much philosophically wangsty hay is made in the book of whether the Gate is real, and if so would Kagetora make like Orpheus and drag Naoe back from the land of the dead, but I'll save you the suspense. There's not really a Hell, it doesn't seem to fit Mirage's cosmology, the Gate's a magic tunnel to ferry Oda soldiers underground from Fuji-san to Enoshima in order to outflank the Takeda. Anyway, Yoshiyori starts hitting on Kagetora, because he gets off on molesting enemy prisoners or something. =_= Kagetora doesn't bother to give him the time of day. Upon which Naoe shows up, pulls chain of command and sends Yoshiyori packing.
Then he takes off his glasses, sits down on the edge of the bed and sort of... leans over Takaya.
Naoe: Those handcuffs seem rather painful. <3
Takaya: You could always take them off me. I'm just saying.
Naoe: Hmm? Oh, no, we can't have that. You're a dangerous individual even with your powers sealed off. I heard you melted through a reiki collar the other time, was it? Frankly, the more restrained you are the better. I could sit and watch you like this for ages. <3
Takaya: (WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LIFE? WHY ME?)
It transpires that Naoe poked Takaya with acupuncture needles - I'm not making this up - in order to temporarily screw with the flow of ki in his body so he can't use his powers. So they talk about that, then they talk about the Gate, then Naoe starts getting all nice on him and saying things like "You must be very tired. You should take this [10] as an opportunity to get some rest," which of course makes Takaya go Look you can stop doing that any time now seriously I DON'T APPRECIATE YOU MAKING ME DOKIDOKI YOU RANDOM ENEMY PERSON, and one way or the other they get onto the subject of Naoe and--
--No, really, they sit there (or lie, in Takaya's case) and have a conversation about Naoe. "My life sucks." "Oh, really? Tell me about it." "Well, there's this guy, see--" It's interesting from a third-party perspective, even, he talks about how it's impossible to trust the feelings of someone who has you up on an idealised pedestal, at the same time as it's impossible not to let your character be warped by the constant worship, like any celebrity idol... Kagetora was at a dead end after Naoe's betrayal thirty years ago, and thought that if he returned himself to a blank slate they might be able to find a different way, but it turned out even worse than before.
[fifteen minutes later]
Naoe: You know, I don't think he's actually lost interest in you. Call it a hunch. You're just... confused.
Takaya: How would you know?
Naoe: Just wait. I'll get the power and the followers, and become someone on the same level as you. Then I'll bring you back to reality.
Takaya is, understandably, even more confused by this, so Naoe covers his eyes and kisses him. That pretty much does it for Takaya, who starts shaking: he's not letting himself remember Naoe's death, but the barrier's wearing thin. Naoe has to give him a comforting hug and generally be raburabu to a twitch-inducing degree (as by now the reader is conditioned to expect the other shoe dropping).
When the narrative POV returns to Takaya in the next chapter he's having a sort of vision/dream about himself, grieving desperately for Naoe. Eventually he wakes up from this, still groggy and crying because Naoe isn't there. On the upside the handcuffs are gone; on the downside he's naked and sort of sticky. He can remember being made to swallow something bitter, mouth-to-mouth, then a blank.
...No, really. I went over this scene 2-3 times and waited to get a second opinion from Shi Lin, because one always blames one's own comprehension skills when something doesn't make sense in a fourth language. Damn you and your attempts at elliptical poesy, Kuwabara-sensei! Basically, it turns out that Naoe drugged Kagetora to bring down his mental barriers, so he can conduct a psychic probe and see what's really knocking about in that pretty little denial-riddled head of his. In what universe does a PSYCHIC probe involve taking off the clothes of all parties involved? I DON'T KNOW. FUSHIGI MYSTERY. In any case Takaya is completely out of it and remembers Naoe's death for the moment i.e. weepy and upset, so Naoe makes him close his eyes and... pretend Naoe's there, so to speak. Then he pets Takaya's hair and says comforting things and kisses him and holds him and umm gives him a blow job to make him feel better.
Takaya remembers nothing of all this the next morning. [11]
(You were maybe expecting otherwise?)
Of course Naoe has no intention of turning Kagetora over to the Oda, so he engineers his rescue by dropping off an envelope at the front desk of the Yashashuu's hotel containing the keys to Takaya's handcuffs and a card on which he printed the address. Upon which Takaya-tachi sally forth and, y'know, kick over the Satomi's sandbox and exorcise the whole sorry lot of them as per the usual.
At the end Chiaki blows up at Takaya, because Irobe and Hakkai charge him with not telling Kagetora that they're working separately under Kenshin's direct command i.e. Kagetora's being left out of the loop, and Chiaki's a bad liar. I've come to realise that most of Chiaki's blow-ups at Takaya come down to "It's all your fault for making me worry!"
And that's pretty much it.
Except for the part where Oda Nobunaga is a rock star à la Vampire Lestat.
Maybe I'll give that an entry on its own.
***
[1] The scene takes place according to a variant of Chekhov's Revolver Law oft cited by film noir and yakuza movies. To wit, if the (anti)hero is to be shot dead at the end it must be just as he's on the cusp of a momentous decision that allows him a glimpse of happiness and redemption, by a random secondary character that everyone forgot about. I first encountered this one in Rupert of Hentzau, and I didn't like it any better then.
[2] A black GTO, before you ask. No, I didn't just make that up. Also, for bonus points he carries protective spiritual beasts around in Pokemon balls.
[3] With tongs. Remote-controlled tongs.
[4] First pirates, then mermaids. If the next arc does not have Indians I will be bitterly disappointed.
[5] If it were an anime it would be one of those scenes where everyone is framed with their faces hidden in shadow, and the conversation takes place over a static shot of an ashtray, but it's obvious to you what's happening because you recognize the seiyuu too easily.
[6] Which he isn't, Naoe's just controlling him because he's psychically sensitive and easily attuned to mind-control waves. I kind of felt sorry once I realised there was an actual dude there who at the end of book 14 was going to wake up in his apartment wondering where the last three months of his life went.
[7] No, I'm not exaggerating. This is not readily apparent in the anime, because you're not riding around in the characters' heads and subject to their TMI, but this current lifetime is (I think) the first time Naoe ever made a physical move on Kagetora, and after the initial shock Takaya finds he rather likes it. >_> Then Naoe dies on him. Now he's nineteen and completely starved for physical contact.
[8] Oh, and Kotarou finally figures out note [7]. Although it was sort of like "Current data indicates the expression of physical desire for you is the appropriate reaction in this context. Confirm Y/N", so he may as well not have. Kotarou's skirting nervous breakdown as well, because he feels sorry for Kagetora but isn't used to having squishy emotions like compassion. They give him Out Of Cheese errors.
[9] I keep picturing Satomi Yoshiyori as that guy Ryouma demolished at tennis in the very first episode of Tenipuri, and then his dad appeared later in the anime and turned out to be an even more annoying arse - you know the guy I mean? This entire scene was like that, except with Kagetora in Ryouma's role of Bored And Unimpressed. And no tennis.
[10] i.e. enforced inactivity due to being handcuffed to the bed.
[11] As Shi Lin pointed out, the ethical considerations don't even register on the first pass, because hey it's to give him love, right? It's only a while afterward that I was like, "Lethargy, loss of inhibition, memory loss.......... is it just me or did that stuff BEHAVE AWFULLY LIKE ROOFIES?"
Oh, wait, that and
I still have to do the 10-12 summaries. In any case, what you need to know is that Naoe gets himself shot at the end of book 11, and is too spiritually weak to possess another body, so it's assumed he goes poof.[1] Kagetora goes completely raving nutters but is allowed neither to reduce the surrounding city to rubble (his first reaction) nor to lie down and die (his second reaction), because he has to go out and singlehandedly destroy a few clans in Yami Sengoku etc. etc. etc. So he does, but hypnotises himself into coping by telling himself it's All A Bad Dream: the next time he wakes up Naoe will be alive and well and smiling down at him from bedside. Such is the force of this idée fixe that when he does wake up, he fixates on the first person he sees as being "Naoe". Fuuma no Kotarou ends up with the short straw, and has leisure in which to regret his assiduity. Twenty-two months, to be precise.
Taking the inherent retardedness of the setup as a given, Kotarou is by no means the worst case scenario. It could have been Nagahide, or Yuzuru, or a random hospital nurse. Takaya would never miss Kotarou - up to this point he doesn't even think of him as an ally - but Hojo Ujiyasu charged Kotarou with following Kagetora's orders while trying to subvert him away from the Uesugi, so Kotarou is in practice his ninja. He can do the normal retainer stuff, like watch Takaya's back in a fight and chauffeur him around. [2] He has no sense of humour, which is a big plus, as it allows him to put up poker-faced with the delusions and assorted stupidity. There's a reason the nin in ninja means "endurance".
The problem is that he's not... very...
How to put it?
There's a scene in the chibi bunny Takaya doujinshi that goes something like this:
Takaya: Look, Naoe, it's a cute bunny rabbit! Isn't it fuzzy and nice?
Kotarou: Rabbit is very good roasted in a pan with herbs. Tasty and nutritious.
Takaya: O_O;;
Bunny: *sweatdrops and tries to wiggle out of Takaya's grasp*
While this specific conversation is fan-fictional and does not take place in canon, it is fairly indicative of the issue at hand.
If you portmanteaued Aoshi, Inui, and Keiki out of 12K, then made the result a bit slower on the uptake, you'll get someone with Kotarou's approximate EQ. Adding fuel to the fire, Kagetora of course expects "Naoe" to be able to read his mind, and throws sulk fits when this fails to happen ("I'm upset with you but I'm not going to tell you what you did because you should know what you did").
Then there's the fact that Kotarou doesn't actually, y'know, want to sleep with Takaya or anything.
Which is ENTIRELY NORMAL AND REASONABLE of him, I hasten to stress.
What's not normal or reasonable is that it takes him about two years to realise that this was an issue between Naoe and Takaya that needed proper handling. [3] I personally am famously clueless but I think I would have picked up on it after 48 hours.
Basically it's a comedy of errors. (I mean, at first it's funny in a horrific way, especially if you're emotionally invested in seeing Kagetora get his comeuppance. Then it gets all angsty.)
ayatsujik and I expected Takaya to break down and resort to marker-pen diagrams à la Rukia. What with all the neurosis and delusions Takaya starts losing control of his powers. He fights, his hand "slips", and he ends up exploding something that he didn't intend to explode. Sucks for anyone in the immediate environs.
In book 13 the Yashashuu investigate Enoshima Island due to mermaid sightings. [4] Long story short, it transpires that the Satomi clan has taken over a faceless mega-corporation and is trying to buy up the entire island under the guise of real-estate development, so they can build a "Gate to Hell" on it. Local leaders who protest die of convenient, quick-acting and mysterious illnesses. Takaya and Ayako poke about the Iwaya Grotto for clues, run into this dude Miura Yoshioki who's trying to sabotage the Satomi, blows are exchanged, Takaya loses control and sets off some falling rocks, Yoshioki escapes in the confusion. Takaya and Ayako stagger out of the cave, scratched up and shaken. Then this guy Kaizaki shows up with a posse of Satomi goons.
The reader knows from oh the prologue on that Naoe's still alive. [5] Kaizaki's appeared as well - it turns out later he's working for the Satomi as a living human who's their descendant - and it's understood there's something up with him. You're never actually told Kaizaki is Naoe [6], it just becomes INCREDIBLY OBVIOUS within the minute.
Kaizaki: Did you two go in the cave? Didn't you see the sign that says "Danger Falling Rocks Do Not Enter Cave"?
Ayako: No, sir, we did not go in the cave. We're just random tourists er.
Kaizaki: *ignores her, kneels down in front of Takaya who's sitting on the ground*
Ayako: ...
Kaizaki: You're hurt, did you fall down? *wipes blood away from a scratch on Takaya's cheek* You should get that disinfected.
Takaya: ...
Kaizaki: *takes off coat and wraps it around Takaya's shoulders* The sea wind is cold. Take care of yourself. *turns on his heel and walks off*
Ayako: ......What just happened? Hey, guy, are you going to leave this here? What do you want us to do with OH MY GOD IS THIS CASHMERE?
Takaya: *starts crying*
Ayako: O_O;; Kagetora? Are you okay? Hurt? Cold? Did the bad man traumatize you?
[sometime later, in the car]
Ayako: That was weird, yo! What was up with that guy? Who does that? I mean okay, if someone did that to a girl you'd be all "whoa there smooth operator", but you? He didn't even look at me! Seriously weird.
Takaya: *holds onto coat, stares out window*
Ayako: (...Oh sigh, he's done for.) Now now, Kagetora, don't take it to heart. Sometimes you just get strange men who hit on you, you know? I get it all the time. It's one of those things a girl has to learn to handle. The point is not to take it seriously. I know you're weak against older men and all but--
Takaya: WHAT?
Ayako: T_T Never mind.
Men's cashmere wool overcoat: 50,000-60,000 yen (according to Ayako, who shops in the best stores)
Making Kagetora wibble for a whole day: priceless
That is, after they get back to the hotel Takaya goes to his room, wraps the coat around himself and wibbles some more; none of it makes logical sense to his conscious mind but subconsciously he knows it was Naoe. He stops short of actually sticking his hand down his pants though. [7]
...Anyway, various plot things happen, the most important of which being that Irobe Katsunaga the Yashashuu Fifth Man re-appears and drags Chiaki into a secretive meeting with Hakkai the ex-Nokizaru ninja commander who'd been AWOL since - aw, crap, this is why I need to summarise 10-12. [8] The Satomi order
Two chapters into book 14, Takaya wakes up handcuffed to a bed.
Actually, to be precise:
- He's in what looks like someone's bedroom. The curtains are thick and he can't tell if it's night or day.
- His clothes and belongings are on the side table.
- He's wearing a bathrobe.
- He can't use his powers.
- He's handcuffed to the bed.
A few minutes later Satomi Yoshiyori (the son of the Satomi clan head) [9] strolls in and starts taunting Kagetora about the "Gate to Hell", which is supposed to bring all the resentful folks the Uesugi exorcised back to the land of the living, thus negating their powers. Much philosophically wangsty hay is made in the book of whether the Gate is real, and if so would Kagetora make like Orpheus and drag Naoe back from the land of the dead, but I'll save you the suspense. There's not really a Hell, it doesn't seem to fit Mirage's cosmology, the Gate's a magic tunnel to ferry Oda soldiers underground from Fuji-san to Enoshima in order to outflank the Takeda. Anyway, Yoshiyori starts hitting on Kagetora, because he gets off on molesting enemy prisoners or something. =_= Kagetora doesn't bother to give him the time of day. Upon which Naoe shows up, pulls chain of command and sends Yoshiyori packing.
Then he takes off his glasses, sits down on the edge of the bed and sort of... leans over Takaya.
Naoe: Those handcuffs seem rather painful. <3
Takaya: You could always take them off me. I'm just saying.
Naoe: Hmm? Oh, no, we can't have that. You're a dangerous individual even with your powers sealed off. I heard you melted through a reiki collar the other time, was it? Frankly, the more restrained you are the better. I could sit and watch you like this for ages. <3
Takaya: (WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY LIFE? WHY ME?)
It transpires that Naoe poked Takaya with acupuncture needles - I'm not making this up - in order to temporarily screw with the flow of ki in his body so he can't use his powers. So they talk about that, then they talk about the Gate, then Naoe starts getting all nice on him and saying things like "You must be very tired. You should take this [10] as an opportunity to get some rest," which of course makes Takaya go Look you can stop doing that any time now seriously I DON'T APPRECIATE YOU MAKING ME DOKIDOKI YOU RANDOM ENEMY PERSON, and one way or the other they get onto the subject of Naoe and--
--No, really, they sit there (or lie, in Takaya's case) and have a conversation about Naoe. "My life sucks." "Oh, really? Tell me about it." "Well, there's this guy, see--" It's interesting from a third-party perspective, even, he talks about how it's impossible to trust the feelings of someone who has you up on an idealised pedestal, at the same time as it's impossible not to let your character be warped by the constant worship, like any celebrity idol... Kagetora was at a dead end after Naoe's betrayal thirty years ago, and thought that if he returned himself to a blank slate they might be able to find a different way, but it turned out even worse than before.
[fifteen minutes later]
Naoe: You know, I don't think he's actually lost interest in you. Call it a hunch. You're just... confused.
Takaya: How would you know?
Naoe: Just wait. I'll get the power and the followers, and become someone on the same level as you. Then I'll bring you back to reality.
Takaya is, understandably, even more confused by this, so Naoe covers his eyes and kisses him. That pretty much does it for Takaya, who starts shaking: he's not letting himself remember Naoe's death, but the barrier's wearing thin. Naoe has to give him a comforting hug and generally be raburabu to a twitch-inducing degree (as by now the reader is conditioned to expect the other shoe dropping).
When the narrative POV returns to Takaya in the next chapter he's having a sort of vision/dream about himself, grieving desperately for Naoe. Eventually he wakes up from this, still groggy and crying because Naoe isn't there. On the upside the handcuffs are gone; on the downside he's naked and sort of sticky. He can remember being made to swallow something bitter, mouth-to-mouth, then a blank.
...No, really. I went over this scene 2-3 times and waited to get a second opinion from Shi Lin, because one always blames one's own comprehension skills when something doesn't make sense in a fourth language. Damn you and your attempts at elliptical poesy, Kuwabara-sensei! Basically, it turns out that Naoe drugged Kagetora to bring down his mental barriers, so he can conduct a psychic probe and see what's really knocking about in that pretty little denial-riddled head of his. In what universe does a PSYCHIC probe involve taking off the clothes of all parties involved? I DON'T KNOW. FUSHIGI MYSTERY. In any case Takaya is completely out of it and remembers Naoe's death for the moment i.e. weepy and upset, so Naoe makes him close his eyes and... pretend Naoe's there, so to speak. Then he pets Takaya's hair and says comforting things and kisses him and holds him and umm gives him a blow job to make him feel better.
Takaya remembers nothing of all this the next morning. [11]
(You were maybe expecting otherwise?)
Of course Naoe has no intention of turning Kagetora over to the Oda, so he engineers his rescue by dropping off an envelope at the front desk of the Yashashuu's hotel containing the keys to Takaya's handcuffs and a card on which he printed the address. Upon which Takaya-tachi sally forth and, y'know, kick over the Satomi's sandbox and exorcise the whole sorry lot of them as per the usual.
At the end Chiaki blows up at Takaya, because Irobe and Hakkai charge him with not telling Kagetora that they're working separately under Kenshin's direct command i.e. Kagetora's being left out of the loop, and Chiaki's a bad liar. I've come to realise that most of Chiaki's blow-ups at Takaya come down to "It's all your fault for making me worry!"
And that's pretty much it.
Except for the part where Oda Nobunaga is a rock star à la Vampire Lestat.
Maybe I'll give that an entry on its own.
***
[1] The scene takes place according to a variant of Chekhov's Revolver Law oft cited by film noir and yakuza movies. To wit, if the (anti)hero is to be shot dead at the end it must be just as he's on the cusp of a momentous decision that allows him a glimpse of happiness and redemption, by a random secondary character that everyone forgot about. I first encountered this one in Rupert of Hentzau, and I didn't like it any better then.
[2] A black GTO, before you ask. No, I didn't just make that up. Also, for bonus points he carries protective spiritual beasts around in Pokemon balls.
[3] With tongs. Remote-controlled tongs.
[4] First pirates, then mermaids. If the next arc does not have Indians I will be bitterly disappointed.
[5] If it were an anime it would be one of those scenes where everyone is framed with their faces hidden in shadow, and the conversation takes place over a static shot of an ashtray, but it's obvious to you what's happening because you recognize the seiyuu too easily.
[6] Which he isn't, Naoe's just controlling him because he's psychically sensitive and easily attuned to mind-control waves. I kind of felt sorry once I realised there was an actual dude there who at the end of book 14 was going to wake up in his apartment wondering where the last three months of his life went.
[7] No, I'm not exaggerating. This is not readily apparent in the anime, because you're not riding around in the characters' heads and subject to their TMI, but this current lifetime is (I think) the first time Naoe ever made a physical move on Kagetora, and after the initial shock Takaya finds he rather likes it. >_> Then Naoe dies on him. Now he's nineteen and completely starved for physical contact.
[8] Oh, and Kotarou finally figures out note [7]. Although it was sort of like "Current data indicates the expression of physical desire for you is the appropriate reaction in this context. Confirm Y/N", so he may as well not have. Kotarou's skirting nervous breakdown as well, because he feels sorry for Kagetora but isn't used to having squishy emotions like compassion. They give him Out Of Cheese errors.
[9] I keep picturing Satomi Yoshiyori as that guy Ryouma demolished at tennis in the very first episode of Tenipuri, and then his dad appeared later in the anime and turned out to be an even more annoying arse - you know the guy I mean? This entire scene was like that, except with Kagetora in Ryouma's role of Bored And Unimpressed. And no tennis.
[10] i.e. enforced inactivity due to being handcuffed to the bed.
[11] As Shi Lin pointed out, the ethical considerations don't even register on the first pass, because hey it's to give him love, right? It's only a while afterward that I was like, "Lethargy, loss of inhibition, memory loss.......... is it just me or did that stuff BEHAVE AWFULLY LIKE ROOFIES?"
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*brain breaks*
Date: 2005-04-10 06:32 am (UTC)WTFF?!
Re: *brain breaks*
Date: 2005-04-10 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 07:25 am (UTC)Ayako: ......What just happened? Hey, guy, are you going to leave this here? What do you want us to do with OH MY GOD IS THIS CASHMERE?
*dies*
Then he pets Takaya's hair and says comforting things and kisses him and holds him and umm gives him a blow job to make him feel better.
Wait. What? Really? *can't tell if you're joking or not* XD
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Date: 2005-04-10 02:19 pm (UTC)To be more precise, her summs complement the novels at least by my reading of both. I'd call 'em edamame to Kuwabara's beer. XD <3 (though boy it's hard to beat the actual pot she mixes in her brew.)
Also, Sabina J00 NEEDS TO MAKE NOBUNAGA FICPOD. :0
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Date: 2005-04-10 02:52 pm (UTC)(and the Karin no Oukoku arc is four books long? oh help.)
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Date: 2005-04-10 10:40 pm (UTC)...A subtly flavoured accompaniment? XD
(The idea is SCARY. It's like trying to make a Lestat ficpod, only Japan/1994 and not America/1984.)
re comments: haha I know but it's impossible to discuss Wadatsumi without summarizing the plot. And Karin is five books, not four. >D
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Date: 2005-04-10 09:38 pm (UTC)Funnily enough that was my reaction as well. :0
Writing this without snarkery was an impossible task but I should've attempted it anyway, because now people can't tell if I'm serious or not when pretty much up there is verbatim including Ayako's dorktastic comments. XD
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Date: 2005-04-10 08:16 am (UTC)I remember scouring the net for more information about this damn series when the DVDs first came out and being sorely dissapointed because the only thing I could find was a summary of about 15 novels in a page of text.
So, yay! And it's great because it's like reading about someone who is watching a trainwreck.
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Date: 2005-04-10 10:45 pm (UTC)So True
Date: 2007-04-13 04:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 10:01 am (UTC)0_____O but but ?!!?? I thought that sex scenes wasn't before volume 20 something ?
So kaizaki, he doesn't know is Naoe , does he ?
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Date: 2005-04-10 10:43 pm (UTC)...Hey, don't look at me, I didn't write this. XD
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Date: 2005-04-10 10:35 am (UTC)Oh, and Hi, btw! I really appreciate your summaries, keep em coming!^^
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Date: 2005-04-10 11:17 pm (UTC)I feel so sorry for Kotarou. The craziness is catching.
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Date: 2005-04-10 03:22 pm (UTC)Re: the talk about Naoe. So Takaya at last confesses to Naoe (unwittingly) without saying the actual three words that he loves him? I hope this is something Naoe remembers, at least, to give him hope when he comes back, even if Takaya can't remember it. If only Takaya could... wouldn't this be considered "losing" to Naoe, since he is so obviously off his rocker about it? That's got to give Naoe some sense of satisfaction, along with the, ah, more physical pleasures of this book. ^^; Sounds like a great scene, in any case. Can't wait to read it!!
Sarah ^^
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Date: 2005-04-10 11:16 pm (UTC)At this point his feelings are a bit complex - he feels guilty for dying on Kagetora, if you can believe it, at the same time as he's determined to pursue whatever it is he's currently pursuing, and not just trot along at Kagetora's heels anymore. My general sense is that getting killed has improved his perspective on life. XD
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Date: 2005-04-11 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 04:42 pm (UTC)Dammit I need some animated Naoe x Ougi smex-ness. .T_T
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Date: 2005-04-10 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-10 11:37 pm (UTC)So like uh, has Ougi told Naoe he loves him yet? Do they have some sort of understanding as far as their relationship goes? All I know is that they finally get it on in the 20th novel, but what about before then? .;_;
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Date: 2005-04-10 07:20 pm (UTC)Cashmere coat. ;_; I'd feel sorry for Takaya/Kagetora but uh. you know. XD
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Date: 2005-04-10 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-11 09:14 am (UTC)The Out Of Cheese errors did it for me. You reign.
...oh, and I hope you feel better. Hate to think you dragged yourself out of bed cos the crack was so bad you had to spread it. ^_^
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Date: 2007-02-24 05:27 am (UTC)I think that was my favorite part of the summary...for whatever reason. No really, that was hysterical and I shall be in eternal gratitude to you for posting this and writing it/reading the novels which seem more then rather cracktastic at this point. I feel sorry for Kotarou too...I think I'd have to hit Takaya with a blunt object after only a day of his crap. Great work and thanks again ^-^
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Date: 2007-02-24 03:48 pm (UTC)Ayako: No, sir, we did not go in the cave. We're just random tourists er.
Kaizaki: *ignores her, kneels down in front of Takaya who's sitting on the ground*
Ayako: ...
Kaizaki: You're hurt, did you fall down? *wipes blood away from a scratch on Takaya's cheek* You should get that disinfected.
Takaya: ...
Kaizaki: *takes off coat and wraps it around Takaya's shoulders* The sea wind is cold. Take care of yourself. *turns on his heel and walks off*
Ayako: ......What just happened? Hey, guy, are you going to leave this here? What do you want us to do with OH MY GOD IS THIS CASHMERE?
Takaya: *starts crying*
Ayako: O_O;; Kagetora? Are you okay? Hurt? Cold? Did the bad man traumatize you?
*snorts green tea down wrong tube*
I am currently LMAO. Thank you so much for the summary (found my way here from