And so… we're here. One year to the day since the upload of the first chapter of Across the Kaleidoscope or as it's original name, Crossroads of Fates. I was initially planning to upload the last part of the Ryuki Arc but I didn't manage to finish it in time. It is about halfway done though so with any luck, it's gonna be out by next week.
But back to the main topic at hand, one whole year has passed. I'm not gonna be too sappy since I want to reserve the main festivities for when I finish Part 1 but damn, one whole year. 29 chapters, 332k words, and a bunch of other stuff that came from this project of mine. Wow.
This story has its ups and down along with its own shares of troubles. I went from weekly upload to about once a month (which is still not too bad considering both the chapters length and how I became rather busy IRL). Still, this fic had kept my attention on it for much longer than any other fic I've done so far. And it will most likely still keep my attention for far longer since I'm not even halfway done with it yet. There are still the Phase 2 Heisei Riders planned in the second half as well as some Reiwa Riders arcs I'm planning such as Saber's True Story (name pending).
As I said, I don't want to talk too much since I want to reserve some stuff for the upcoming ending of Part 1 of this story— which should be in roughly 10 chapters including Ryuki P4. So instead, for the one year anniversary, I'm just gonna mention some stuff that I was initially planning but either got changed or scrapped for one reason or another.
Firstly, Tetsuya and Ryoko were supposed to have a bigger presence in the story than just being those two guys sticking with Ritsuka in this story. From the earlier chapters, you can see them being more important to Ritsuka but I've gently been pushing them to the side since I've added Ciel. In fact, the second Kiva Arc wasn't planned at all and I made that quick detour to satisfy my new ship. At least I took the chance to build on the bigger story of the fic.
In any case, I've done my best to keep them relevant and made some pretty big foreshadowing for where I'm going to take them in the previous arc. When am I going to pay that foreshadowing off? I'm sure you guys have an idea. Although what I planned to do with them after that might not go over so well.
Next, Ciel herself. As you guys already know, she wasn't planned to be a major character past the initial Kiva Arc. There wasn't any sort of major romance planned for Part 1, only some very minor hints here and there like with Kiva World's Ciel. Maybe something with Hakunon if/when she reappears in the fic again. That also meant that the actual romantic interest I planned for Part 2 of the fic (although it wasn't actually called Part 2 at the time) was scrapped and instead got reworked into something else. I've already mentioned it in-story and it's gonna be important sooner or later.
Coming from the rework to add Ciel in, Nanaya Shiki was also not part of the initial plan of this fic. I'm not gonna go into too much detail since he has yet to do anything major but I can say the role he and a certain other character I'm planning to add as a main character in Part 2 will be an important one… hopefully.
…Yeah, I think you guys can guess who the next Protag-Rider will be from what I just said.
Anyway, final thing; the actual backstory and plot of Across the Kaleidoscope. The whole thing got reshuffled and reworked so many times over the course of the last year. Ciel was just one of the many many changes I've made. I can't go into too much detail since I've not actually gone too deep into the backstory of the fic but what I can say was that Kozaki Touma was a product of the rewritten backstory. And since his appearance in the story is so major, I can't go rewriting what happened before the story again. Or can I?
All I can say about that is that the pretty simple backstory before Ritsuka awoke in the first World had morphed to something insane and complex (but not necessarily good).
And that's it for now. Now then, time for all of you guys' input. What was your favourite chapter/arc/plot point/whatever from this story so far? What did you dislike? Do you like what I've been doing with AtK and where it's now at?
And finally, where do you think I'm taking this story to? What do you think I'm planning to do? Is there anything you want to see more of in the future?
Finally x2, thank you all for sticking with me and this story for the last year. I appreciate you all and hope you continue to stick with me till the end of Across the Kaleidoscope.
See you all next time!