CHAPTER FOUR
Shirou was rudely awoken on an early Saturday morning by the blaring sound of a car trying (and succeeding) to catch his attention from beyond the gate.
Sitting up rather suddenly, his vision was blurry for a moment before it cleared up as he clumsily clambered out of bed, feeling the sheets slide off of his bare chest. Hurriedly, he pulled on a pair of pants and a short-sleeve shirt, jogging out of the room, down the hall (if he could even call it that) and out the door to the front gates, unlocking and opening them. In the back of his mind, Shirou sincerely hoped Hajime hadn't woken up to such a loud and harsh sound.
As soon as he took a few steps out, the poor male was tackled to the ground by a familiar woman with considerably shorter stature, and equally yet not equally short brown hair. But if you squint, you'd see a few white strands.
Shirou felt his head hit the pavement, miraculously not breaking anything, but entering a slight daze from the sudden impact.
"Shirou, you bastard! You adopted a child without telling me first!" He didn't even get the opportunity to respond, his collar being jerked forward as the woman shook him. "Why didn't you let me know?! You know I've always wanted to see grandkids!"
He wanted to tell the woman that Hajime wasn't a grandchild to anyone. She was his legal guardian, not his mother. If there was a fine line between the two, he wasn't sure, but he honestly couldn't be bothered to think about that at the moment, not with that very woman nearly pushing him into a coma.
Shirou stopped taking in her angry exclamations very quickly, trying to regather his composure (not an easy feat, mind you, being shaken back and forth so hard that you could feel your brain hitting the inside walls of your head doesn't help much), but found his efforts unsuccessful. The woman realized what she was doing to him not a moment too soon, but several moments too late, his dizziness heavily affecting him.
"Fujimura, good to see you," the woman heard someone call to her, and looked up, meeting a pair of familiar blue eyes.
"No need to be so formal, Taiga's fine," she grinned, getting off of the dazed man on the floor and leaving him there as she walked over to Rin. Said Magus shot Shirou a pitying glance before focusing on the new guest. "How've you been? It's been ages since I last saw you!"
"Ages is pushing it," Rin smiled. "I've been well, from what I heard you were shocked to hear Shirou ended up adopting a girl. I had the same reaction at first, but if you're worried about her, no need. He's doing a good job, surprisingly."
The English teacher let out a relieved sigh. "I don't know the brat but at least she isn't dead."
Rin snorted. "I doubt Shirou would let her touch anything remotely dangerous, much less get into a situation where death is a possibility. You don't give him enough credit. She's a nice kid." Taiga nodded in understanding, before the two women heard a soft groan of pain and annoyed muttering. "Are you okay down there?" Rin approached him.
"Peachy," he said sarcastically, obviously still in some levels of dizziness and pain. "Taking a fall with a woman hitting you at full force and being shaken countless times is no big deal, my head definitely isn't throbbing right now." She was tempted to roll her eyes but she didn't.
"Well, never mind that," Rin held out a hand which he took gratefully and she helped him up. "Hajime woke up a moment ago, she's still in your room."
At the mention of his daughter's name, his back straightened. Shirou took one of Taiga's two suitcases (she would be staying for not too long but, he noted, it seemed she saw no harm in bringing too much), and sped-walked towards the house, leaving the two women behind without even glancing back. Taiga stared after him with a raised brow and Rin just sighed, crossing her arms. "See? He isn't going to let her get into anything."
"I see what you meant," Taiga snickered. This was going to be fun.
Shirou had already unlocked the door, leaving it ajar just a little so the two ladies could enter while he put the suitcase aside, striding off to go find Hajime. Just as Rin had said, he found the young girl in their room, kicking her legs back and forth. She had been staring into space before looking up at him, startled by the door opening rather suddenly, before smiling. "G'morning Daddy!" she greeted in her mother tongue.
He gave her a smile as well, much brighter and happier than her own, glad to see her in the morning. "Morning, kiddo," he responded, his accent still shining ever-so-slightly.
"What was the loud scary noise?" He should have expected that.
"It was a car - do you remember what cars are?" Shirou asked patiently, giving her a kiss on the forehead before going to the wardrobe to get her something to wear.
"Uh-huh! The four-wheeled things with windows and chairs and lights!" Hajime sounded so proud of herself for reciting the description.
"Every car can make a honking sound if the person who's driving wants to, the scary noise was a car outside honking," he explained and she giggled. Honking was such a strange word to use.
"Why was the car honking?" Shirou helped her take off her pyjamas and pull on a light blue yukata.
"Remember I told you Auntie Fuji's coming?" Hajime nodded eagerly. "That was Fuji's car – she just arrived and she wanted me to know she's here." His daughter's expression lit up with realization and understanding, suddenly giddy.
"Is she nice?" Her father chuckled nervously.
"Well…I suppose." Hajime gave him a frown. "She's a bit excitable, but yes she can be nice." Her expression changed to one of relief. Shirou patted her head as he finished putting her hair into a ponytail. "Let's go meet her," he beckoned her after him and she hopped off the bed, running over to him.
The man waited until the sound of her footsteps were just beside him before he walked with her to the front of the home where the two women were waiting. Just like a good handful of mornings ago, Hajime was once again nervously hiding behind Shirou's leg, brown eyes blinking owlishly at the newcomer.
Taiga, noticing her only after asking where the girl was and Shirou's struggle to get Hajime to show herself, became very excited, almost glowing, resulting in the resident father raising a singular silvery brow. He didn't realize she'd be this enthusiastic about meeting his daughter.
"You must be Hajime!" Taiga strode over with a shining aura, crouching down to the child's eye level, who shrunk back a bit in response. "I'm Taiga Fujimura, your dad's guardian!"
Hajime stared at her in confusion before tugging on her dad's shirt, looking up at him and asking him something in a language Taiga didn't understand (oh, right, she caught herself, it was probably Korean), then looked back to the light brown haired woman and nodded, looking a little more at ease.
"Nice to meet you," were the girl's simple and sincere words, and Taiga internally squealed. Usually she hated children because they were loud and unreasonable but it seemed she'd grown softer over the years. Or maybe it was because this girl was her ward's adopted daughter.
"Gosh, you're so cute," she cooed, petting Hajime's head softly and the girl seemed content with the gesture. "How did someone like Shirou get his hands on someone like you?" Taiga pinched the child's cheek fondly, extracting a whine.
"You two have much too little faith in me," Shirou jokingly sighed and Taiga shot him a pouting look.
"I have complete and total faith in you, what're you going on about?"
"What you just said isn't helping your case!"
Rin sighed and stepped forward, nudging Taiga out of the way and gently pulling Hajime over to the table. "You guys are impossible, let's just eat already, Shirou, Hajime and I just woke up, plus I doubt Fujimura – "
"Taiga," the English teacher corrected.
" – Taiga," Rin adjusted, "isn't at least a bit hungry."
Shirou was silent for a moment before sighing in defeat, shooting his daughter a smile before walking into the kitchen to fix breakfast. Taiga, in a more calmed state, studied his form, then moved her focus to Hajime and crawled over, having still been crouching on the floor. "Hajime, do you like playing games?"
"Uh-huh," the girl bobbed her head up and down. "I like puzzles the most!"
This seemed to pique Rin's interest. "What kinds of puzzles?"
"Uhm…" Hajime thought long and hard, the two women assumed it was to recall what the names were in Japanese. "Puzzles that make you think a lot! Ones that mess around the words and colors and make it really confusing!"
"Ah, mind and strategy games," Rin supplied and the girl repeated it softly under her breath to memorize it. "What do you like about them?"
"Playing games that don't make you think are boring! Being someone else is boring too! So games that make you think really, really hard are the best! You learn more!" Hajime explained firmly, brows creased, determined to get her point across. "Learning is good for people because you know more about the world!" Taiga was amused by the girl's obvious effort to try to remember the words as she spoke.
"You're a smart kid," she grinned. "I can see why Shirou likes you so much!" The girl lit up at this. "So, what's your favorite game?"
"Me and Daddy play a game called Clue a lot," Hajime replied, the English word coming off her tongue so fluidly, Taiga briefly wondered if Shirou had been teaching her how to say that specifically for a while.
"That's an old game," Rin noted aloud and Hajime tilted her head. "The game is very, very, very old, from long before your Daddy and even Fujimura were kids like you." The girl made a prolonged "ah" sound in understanding. "I'm surprised your Daddy even knows about it."
The sound of footsteps leaving the kitchen brought the girls' attention to Shirou, walking out with a few plates of breakfast. "I'm not that uncultured, Rin," he gave her a look but she just shrugged it off.
Taiga sniggered but Hajime looked around, confused, not understanding the word Shirou had spoken. Had something funny happened? Her father noticed her state of confusion and briefly explained to her in Korean.
Breakfast, unlike when Rin had first encountered the father and daughter duo, was cheery and full of life. The perks of having such a child-like (childish, really, and yes, there is a difference) family friend, she supposed. Hajime and Taiga seemed to be on the same page on everything. She watched with a slight sense of nostalgia as Shirou and Taiga began bickering over something she had said about him that was, quoting Shirou, "totally untrue." It much reminded her of the moments she shared with the two during the Fifth Holy Grail War, with his and her Servants.
But Rin shook it off before the thought of the latter two could place her in another sour mood. She studied Shirou carefully, hearing but not quite listening to what they were saying as he huffed at his legal guardian, who reprimanded him, all the while Hajime helplessly looked between the two of them, completely and utterly lost. This time, however, unlike all the other times the two had bickered, Shirou seemed genuinely saddened. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing she was.
After all, Rin wasn't the one who had been affected by that War the most. If anyone, it was him.
She was snapped from her thoughts when Shirou announced he was going to go teach Hajime more Japanese, taking his dishes to the kitchen before leaving, Hajime in tow. And thusly, she and Taiga were left alone, the older woman sighing at the male, murmuring things under her breath.
Rin hesitated. "Fuji – I mean Taiga," she quickly corrected herself, "did you notice?"
The woman's expression got noticeably more serious. "I did."
The Magus' eyes trailed to the glass of water she was holding. "…I hope they're going to be okay." Taiga made a sound of agreement.
Shirou definitely couldn't say he was feeling great. And no, this had nothing to do with the moment of physical abuse he had suffered at the hands of the light brown haired woman. This was the emotional kind of miserable.
Usually he would fondly recall the petty arguments he held with Taiga, remembering how his Servant would always butt in and defend him, a fist raised at the English teacher as a threat, prepared to fight if the situation called. He would try to step in before she made a mess, and during Rin's stays, Archer would watch calmly before standing and placing a hand on the other Servant's shoulder, sharing a silent conversation before she stopped, apologized, and regained her composure.
He'd never understood why this happened and he had a sinking feeling of jealousy in the pit of his stomach. That is, he had that feeling until the War was coming to a close. Shirou understood it all now, the bond the two had held that neither he nor Rin had known about. It was for the Masters' own good the two did not reveal it. Whenever Shirou looked at Hajime, he would play out the scenario in his mind that his Servant had stayed with him, that she could raise Hajime with him.
But of course he knew this wasn't possible, he couldn't make that imaginary life a truth. Besides, he'd already lost too much, the thought that she could have died during World War Three nearly killed him every time it crossed his mind. The suffering he made himself go through every day by thinking of those he had lost was something he did voluntarily. The least he could do for those whose names would likely never be heard again.
He couldn't count off how many he had lost. His blood parents, the people who had lived on his side of Fuyuki City that he had for so long desired to have saved, his adoptive father, his Servant, his comrades in the military, to name a few. Though, there were a few who stood out.
Naturally the first two that popped into his mind were the aforementioned; his adoptive father and his Servant. However, another one would always pop up soon after. His friend, his best friend, his brother, his partner in battle. Shirou couldn't bear to think of him for long, the end the man had suffered was far worse than anything he had seen, far worse than he deserved.
The man was cold, stoic, his golden eyes that resembled his own had always shone with life and purpose, with rage and hope. For the sake of the moment, he recalled the man's face. Dark skin, buzz cut white hair, stern and strong features. Though the image didn't last for long, it was soon replaced by the image of that very man covered in blood, holes riddling his body. Without realizing, Shirou's hands twitched, his eyes almost closing to keep himself from losing his composure. Not with his daughter standing so close to him.
He could nearly feel the weight of the man's body on his own all over again, the blood soaking their uniforms, the man's sad yet happy chuckle, thanking him for being alive. No, he didn't want to be the one have been saved. It should have been Shirou who had died that day, it should have been Shirou who left first. If his friend had survived, Shirou was sure he would have gone and found Hajime as well.
The man reached to his left shoulder, clenching it softly as he stared at the floor, absently sitting down before taking out some of Hajime's Japanese practice books. To some extent, Shirou regretted joining the Military Forces to help in the war, but at the same time if he hadn't, would he have saved Hajime?
The answer was a blunt "no," he realized this, and that made him grateful to be alive. Not to mention his best friend would have failed his mission, his sole mission, his sole reason for existence, his Servant would have been disappointed in him, Rin and all his friends and family would have been devastated. His friend had nobody. Nobody but Shirou himself. That man came from no family, no friends, no origin story, just a goal. He had never drawn close to anyone in their Special Ops group, but it wouldn't have mattered anyways. By the time the Battle of Pyongyang had been upon them, the final battle of World War Three, almost all of the members of the Magi Special Ops group had been killed one way or another.
By then it was just Shirou, his best friend, and two others.
He brought his attention back to his daughter, opening to the thirteenth page, studying the hiragana covering the page. Oh well, he needed to take his mind off of this for a bit, it would be for the best that he not be so down around his daughter who still had so much to learn.
Taiga revealed not too much later that she was going to kick back and live with Shirou and Hajime from then on, making the former sigh and the latter hug her happily. It seemed that was the reason she had brought so much with her in the beginning.
Hajime was, naturally, sad to see "Auntie Rin" go, but the woman promised she'd visit as much as she could. Before she left, Rin made sure to share a few words with Shirou about something he refused to explain to his daughter, much to her dismay.
Time passed, and Hajime was soon speaking enough Japanese to get around in daily life, getting a congratulatory gift of a book from Shirou and new English lessons from Taiga. Though she seemed a bit bummed at first, hearing she'd be getting lessons on another language as well, but she quickly got over it. She'd never been one to hate it, after all. She began to head out more and more, and though she did get strange looks from those she passed, she seemed to be enjoying it.
Shirou did honestly do his best to explain Magic Circuits to her, but she wasn't picking up quickly. It would take a lot of effort, he realized with a sigh as he watched her stare intently at the underside of her forearm. He had said to, for now, think of them as veins (as inaccurate as that may be, in its own way), and that resulted in her concentrating on all the blood-carrying vessels in her body. It wasn't going to get her anywhere – maybe he should have asked Rin for help while he could.
He opened his eyes. No, he couldn't give up this easily, that would be the most damning experience he could go through if he did. Giving up on helping his daughter wasn't a thing he would let himself do. It was for the best she knew about Magecraft and how to use it. Though he himself was a third-rate Magus, with Projection as his strongest point (a type of Magecraft often conceived as relatively useless), he knew that if he tried enough early on he might be able to help her get further than he had.
Shirou wasn't sure exactly how he was to go about this but he'd just see what he could do in the moment while he tried.
He hoped this would work, that she would be able to have the upper hand in whatever situation she entered. Naturally, he would never know until they were actually in such a situation, but he wasn't going to let her get into one, not on his watch.
The holiday season came quicker than anticipated, various such days surrounding the Emiya household. Chanukah, Christmas, Winter Solstice, New Year's, any other holidays he didn't know of. He didn't celebrate Chanukah, and he'd long since stopped celebrating Christmas after he entered the battlefield. The Winter Solstice never stood out to him much, but New Year's was something he could get into the holiday vibe for.
Hajime didn't know what to celebrate because she didn't know much, and though she naturally liked the idea of getting presents for Christmas, she'd rather only celebrate what her father wanted to celebrate. So, she was excited for the day before and the day of the New Year.
Shirou fondly recalled the moment when he told Hajime that his birthday had already passed, and she huffed and puffed at him, clearly disappointed. He didn't tell her that he didn't know his actual birthdate. It was simply the one Kiritsugu, his adoptive father, had given him. Specifically, November seventeenth, 1987. He didn't know if this was his actual birthdate but he'd gone with it for so long it'd be a shame to drop it. According to that date in time, he was currently thirty-eight. Not a bad age to be a father, he nodded at himself.
Hajime had made some progress in her Magecraft, and he soon realized (and berated himself for not doing so before) that, like him, she had not a lot of Magic Circuits. It was an obvious conclusion to make, that she either did not come from a Magus family, or it was a very short lineage until her, but even then he doubted a Magus family wouldn't have been noticed by the North Korean government and been taken in to be used in some way. So, it was much more likely her parents weren't Magus and she just happened to have just enough potential to do some basic Magecraft like he knew; Projection, Tracing, whatever you prefer to call it (though the latter was a higher level of the former). His Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, was an exception among exceptions because of his irregular Elemental Affinity. It shouldn't be very possible for many Magus to use, much less achieve, so he doubted she'd be able to get to such a level.
Not that he didn't have faith in her, he had plenty, he just didn't want to push her to achieve things he wasn't even sure if she had the capacity to do yet.
Where she was now, she could vaguely create the outline of various smaller and simpler objects. A good start, he supposed, but she still had ways to go.
But he digressed – back to the holiday season. Shirou soon found himself going to various stalls in a festival, the only time of the year the youths found it necessary to respect the Japanese culture, and go about with yukata, going to see the fireworks and other such things. And as a result, here he was, easy to spot in the crowd, standing far above the average height, with silvery white hair and tanned skin. Not to mention, he was pulling a small girl along with him, whose hair color and skin tone drastically differed from his.
They cheerily exchanged conversation as Shirou pulled his daughter along, happiness evident in his expression. The festival wasn't as big and colorful as it was when Shirou was younger, seeing as the ones who upheld the traditions happily, the older generations, had slowly died out or moved away.
Although New Year's Eve was supposed to be an upbeat and celebratory event, Shirou couldn't help but feel sorrow in the back of his mind. He used to spend this day with his Special Ops group reminiscing about the lives they had before, the dreams that had been crushed, the new and old hopes for the future. It was the only uplifting thing they had the time to do over the past eight years. Otherwise it was being on edge, making sure everything was in order, taking care of any jobs the rest of the military couldn't do. They were a squad of Magi after all, they were banded together to carry out missions the rest couldn't do.
He silently mourned his comrades as Hajime pulled him to watch the mochi being pounded, fascination gleaming in her eyes.
Shirou brushed it off. He needed to stop thinking about these things, it wouldn't bring him any good. It only placed him in a sourer mood, and today wasn't the day for that.
"Hajime, you haven't had mochi before have you?"
Her forehead rested against his chest, even breaths spreading across the clothed surface. He gazed down at her, not intently, but with some unreadable emotion. The man's fingers ran over her hair with such gentleness it seemed he was afraid she would shatter and break in his arms if he didn't. She wasn't quite asleep yet, he knew, but he should try to soothe her. The woman he loved so dearly, the woman he had not seen in what was likely to be centuries, though she didn't know.
"Go to sleep," his attention was brought to her when her soft voice reached his ears. The woman peered up at him with tired but kind eyes, and he sighed through his nose. "You may not need rest, but trust me it helps sometimes."
Her fingertips brushed over his cheek before she returned to her previous position, body close to his. He was warm.
"…if you so wish," was his simple reply, a content air surrounding the both of them. However, she knew him too well to fall for it.
"If you want to tell me something, please, just tell me," she whispered, almost sounding hurt. His heart almost broke right then and there, to see her like this wasn't good for his health. He obsessed over her too much, it was going to be the end of him.
"I don't want to worry you, ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, you already have so much to worry about. I would only be wasting your time." His words were the stubborn truth, the truth about him that she loved yet hated so much. What universe would they have to be in for such a thing to be a burden to her?
"░░░░░░, you are mistaken." The man knew this was the response he would receive. "If you're keeping your worries from me, you'll only make things so much worse for us. I appreciate your concern, but this won't get us anywhere." She gave him a pleading look. "Please tell me if something is bothering you."
He wanted so badly to resist, to tell her everything was fine, but he knew that when she reached this point, he always caved at some point.
"At the end of this War…" he paused to maintain his composure, drawing a concerned frown out of the woman. He rarely lost his composure. "At the end of this War, I will not be able to see you again. The others already know of my existence, though they have never seen me, and I fear what the future holds for you because of me will be anything but good."
An understandable fear, she realized, but it likely wasn't anything she couldn't handle. "Don't worry yourself, ░░░░░░, everything will be taken care of when the moment comes. For now, let's worry about the more immediate future, alright?"
They studied each other carefully for a moment before he smiled softly. "Thank you, ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, you really have no idea how much this really means to me."
"Perhaps not, but let's just pretend I do for now," she said with a joking tone, tucking her head below his chin again. "Let's get some rest. That is most important at the moment."
He chuckled lightly and adjusted himself so they were a bit more comfortable, rubbing her shoulder fondly, lulling her to sleep after a few moments. She must have been more tired than she had let on if she passed out that quickly, he noted.
The man let his form relax, and his eyes close. The chilly evening air didn't mean much to him, not as long as she was beside him.
Hajime wasn't sure what she wanted to do now, cry or smile. School sounded scary to her, scary and bad and mean, because there were so many kids and her father kept warning her. If he was worried, something bad might happen. However, she had no choice in the matter, she knew, so here she stood in front of her new school, in her uniform (which she had stuck her tongue out at first but no time was wasted to let her know she would have to wear it often from that day on), and her bag. Shirou had made sure to walk her to school, get her all ready, but now that she was here, Hajime wasn't feeling all that confident.
She hadn't been feeling confident before, either, but now that she was actually there, she was about ten times worse off than a moment ago.
But, as mentioned, she knew she had no choice, so off she went to her first day.
"How was your first week of school?" Rin had come to visit again, taking advantage of her short time off to pass on by the Emiya household.
Hajime didn't respond at first, simply rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, before looking up at her. Rin had gotten used to the tired Hajime by now; the girl became rather…aloof? She wasn't sure what the right word was. "It was okay. The other kids were nice to me but one of them said he couldn't talk to me because his daddy told him he couldn't talk to people from Korea."
The Magus internally clasped her hands together, silently thankful Shirou wasn't in the room in that specific moment, or he'd be calling the principal about this. Already she was facing discrimination and prejudice. Hajime was Korean, after all, and while Rin was well aware not all Koreans were bad people, it had become a widespread stereotype in Japan for any new Koreans there were probably North Koreans who needed to find a new home.
Which was true to some extent, but Hajime wasn't someone who deserved such treatment this early in her life. Some hated all Koreans, because they were idiots who didn't think twice about who they were labelling as someone to be avoided. Some hated select Koreans, understandably (Kim Jong-Un would be a perfect example of someone most of the peoples in Japan tended to dislike in general). Some didn't hate them at all.
"Miss Rin, why do people hate Koreans so much? Did we do something wrong?" The woman hesitated at this.
"Well…to fully answer your question I'll have to give you a fuller explanation of what happened about eight years ago," Hajime nodded in response, willing to hear her out. "Korea was originally two countries, North Korea and South Korea. South Korea and North Korea were very different in perspectives, the South was, in a sense, similar to Japan in that it wasn't as controlling as North Korea.
"North Korea was infamous for its leader at the time, Kim Jong-Un, whose family and he had in effect brainwashed the North Korean citizens into believing that they were gods or superior beings of some sort." The girl frowned. That sounded horrible. "In 2017, Kim Jong-Un decided to fire missiles at America, and that resulted in America declaring war and starting to fight against North Korea, other countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada joined in for reasons that aren't being disclosed. It's been a common belief during and since the war that because North Koreans were brainwashed to believe certain things, that they need help, which would be true if they knew what they were supposed to believe.
"However there are some who believe that all Koreans are insane, people who are toxic to society. And that boy's father must have been one of these people." Rin studied Hajime as she thought over the information she had just been given.
After a moment, the girl concluded that "people are stupid."
Rin almost snorted at the bluntness of the statement but made no visibly amused response. "You could put it that way, yeah." She just hoped Hajime wasn't going to start hating the Japanese just because of these small displays of racism. Not all people were as bad as they seemed from this. Then Rin paused in her thoughts.
That statement wasn't true when she mulled over it again. It was far from the truth. She'd have to help make sure Hajime wasn't swayed to believe all people could be so foolish as to believe such ridiculous beliefs.
A/N:
DEAR LORD I HAVEN'T UPDATED THIS IN AGES, I'M SO SORRY!
I'm here pulling excuses out of my ass about school, extracurriculars, and all that but you don't have to believe me.
Now, a note to the readers on Quotev (I'm publishing this in three places: AO3, Quotev and this website), you probably know about this story and its series predecessor, Dark Angel. In all honesty, and in my opinion when I reread it last summer, that thing was just a cringe bomb waiting to go off. And if you know that one and have read it, you're probably wondering "how on Earth is this story related to Dark Angel?" since I labelled this book as a rewrite. Fair question, dear reader, and here is your answer.
Like it says in the description of this story, this is book one of four. If you're looking for the content you saw in Dark Angel, you're going to be waiting for a long while, because, spoiler alert, the content in that story isn't going to appear for a while. Sorry if that disappoints anyone.
On another note, as the horrible author I am, I'm finding it incredibly dull and boring to write out Hajime's entire childhood when not all of it is important. As you may have noticed (and as a result of this boredom), I will be skipping around quite a bit because I'm much too eager to get to the main plot, and that excitement will probably be my ruin as I mess everything up by rushing through it by accident.
Oh well, if I screw up and you don't like it and want to correct it feel free to talk to me about it. Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged, be harsh if you want, as long as I get something helpful out of it it's fine. Once we get to the main part I really hope you guys will like it, it makes me kind of nervous just thinking about it. Ah well we'll see when we actually get there and not in my imagination.
A bit off topic, but it can take me a decent amount of time to find inspiration to write chapters. Not in the way that I have to come up with things, I already have that taken care of, it's a matter of how inspired and/or motivated I am to write in the first place. If I'm not inspired it's going to be real half-assed and I don't want to post that because it's bad content, and you all don't deserve that sort of writing, just an explanation for the few-month-long hiatus.
Most of the time that inspiration comes from listening to music (i.e. music from Panic! At The Disco, Indochine, Stromae, The Fixx, MONSTA X, DAY6, a cappella arrangements, etc.), so I welcome anything you guys might want to recommend, I'll gladly look into it.
Also, let me know if you want me to answer reviews left on the story for more fleshed out answers (and if you disabled PMs and I can't reply to the question you asked).
Happy seriously belated Chanukah, Merry Christmas (Eve, depending on where you are), Happy Early Kwanzaa, Happy New Year, whatever else I might have missed, and with that, peace out.