Akamatsuverse Contract Labor

ThreadWeaver

Beware of Dog. Cat not trustworthy either.
Lord Raine said:
It could be interesting politics, if you ever intended to have other old martial arts clans involve themselves in the plot.
Now THAT would be an interesting way to get Motoko back: Her honor debt to the Urashima is to be Keitaro's bodyguard 24/7. I'm sure the police ladies wouldn't be too happy about it, but I could see it as more meddling by the old bat to try to get more ladies hooked up with her grandson. Just a few words from Hina to the Aoyama and I'm sure they'd jump at a chance to clear Motoko, even if the poor girl did have to listen to wild threesome sex in the next room to do it.
 

Lord Raine

Well-Known Member
To elaborate on something, 'murim' is a korean term that refers to a concept that is most simply defined as "the world of martial arts." It crops up frequently in certain series, and is a near omnipresent concept in all manga and manhwa that deal with martial arts. The basic gist of it is that the martial arts community is insular and self-contained. They have their own feuds, alliances, and boundary lines, and as a point of honor, they keep those lines and relationships separate from the rest of the world, who are as a whole unaware of the existence of those relationships and connections. Thus, the serious martial arts world exists in a kind of underground, or Martial Arts World, that functions beneath the surface of the normal one. It has it's own traditions, rules, expectations, and etiquette, which can potentially run parallel to the real world, or it might run at an opposite grain entirely, depending on the story.

To call it a masquerade would not be entirely correct, because a masquerade is typically maintained at great pain and expense. Murim, by contrast, is maintained more or less solely by the discretion of the martial artists, who do not openly flaunt their powers unless strictly necessary, do not intervene in non-murim affairs, and do not openly advertise themselves. They keep their dealings in back alleys, private dojos, and behind closed doors. Though certain series, like The Breaker, can turn it into a full blown masquerade for the sake of drama. Often this is some necessary bleedover, because in high powered series like Veritas and The Breaker, a serious fight between martial artists has the potential to bring down buildings and tear a street apart, so public ignorance would have to be maintained through actual conspiracy, and not just discretion.

The Breaker refers to Murim directly and by using that term specifically, but it exists in Ranma, History's Strongest Disciple, Change 123, Veritas, Tenjo Tenge, and many other martial art series.

Given the way this particular setting of Love Hina is structured, Murim already exists here. All of the signs are there. Clans are wealthy, old, and have a kind of political power that the common person would be totally ignorant of, but individuals in positions of power (like politicians or, in this specific case, Police Commissioners) are aware of and respect intensely. Because of his connections, Keitaro was able to do and get away with things that a normal person never could (like owning a gun in Japan, starting an international incident and brushing it off, ect). The interactions between Keitaro and Tsuruko clearly show a self-contained culture of expectations, etiquette, and rules that someone who was not raised in one of the families would struggle to follow and understand, and the clans themselves seem to behave more like small, autonomous, militant states than families.

All of these are symptoms of a murim, which, as I've said, already seems to exist here. It just hasn't been explicitly mentioned by anyone directly.

tl;dr, my point is that, while you certainly don't have to do or acknowledge any of this, one possible point to consider for future plot is the idea that the Triad or other criminal elements that were present at Ronapur seek retribution against Keitaro for what he did, and the murim, as a whole, opposes that. Even clans that might traditionally oppose or have feuds with the Urashima could support Keitaro in this, because they exist in murim, the Martial Arts World, and don't want any interference from the criminal world, which would be seen as impinging upon murim's territory. They would support Keitaro as a matter of principle, which could lead to interesting plot developments, as well as physical and political conflict down the line.

As ThreadWeaver mentioned, one possible route it could go is the Aoyama deciding to give Motoko one last chance at redemption by assigning her as a personal bodyguard to Keitaro, thereby placing her back at the inn and providing suitable fodder for drama and humor in the process.

By the same token, it would also provide an extremely easy way to slip in further cameos from other series (if you so desired), and would provide the perfect excuse for the occasional action sequence as Keitaro is forced to fend off attacks from the Yakuza and foreign criminal elements.

Again, you don't have to use any of this, but I just felt that it was worth mentioning as something to possibly consider.


[EDIT]

Also, for the sake of completion, I should probably mention that Street Fighter is implied to exist in a murim context as well, albeit one that is not trying terribly hard to hide. It's a bit fantastical though, and much like Ranma 1/2 and a few other series, doesn't seem to concern itself too much with the details of the world that surrounds it, as it's entirely too busy having fun with bright colors and ridiculous fights. You see murim crop up more strongly in series that make a serious stab at having super martial arts exist alongside the normal world. Ninja Gaiden, Veritas, History's Strongest Disciple, and Change 123 are all good examples that convey murim to various degress (Ninja Gaiden being unique in that it has murim coincidentally existing alongside a World of Darkness style masquerade of the supernatural). And The Breaker, of course, has murim play a central role in the entire plot of the series.
 

GreydonCreed

Well-Known Member
The slaver group is a splinter faction of one of the main groups in Roanapur (not the 14K triad); the head of it will be an OC.

And while it would be interesting to see a storyline where all the martial arts families circled their wagon to protect the heir of one of the families, I'm sorry to say it won't happen in this story. Keep in mind that at this time in this story, the Aoyama are at least reluctant allies with the Urashima. They are not really willing or able to back them up in a war against a criminal group. If something where to happen Keitaro would not want to involve anyone else just on general principle. The only help he would have is Haruka, Kanako... and Granny Hina. ^_^

Also, keep in mind that the martial arts families only have traditional weapons at most. If a Roanapur criminal group were to come to Japan, they would be heavily armed with firearms - they would be nowhere near fair nor even.

I could give an explanation as to why the bad guys didn't chase Keitaro all the way to Japan, but it would contain spoilers to later events. Lets just say the short version is that there would be no profit or advantage to it, since the slaver group no longer exists.

And Motoko would very probably have an aneurism if she had to hear *two* girls being very perverted with the manager. :yay:
 

Lord Raine

Well-Known Member
If a Roanapur criminal group were to come to Japan, they would be heavily armed with firearms - they would be nowhere near fair nor even.
Seeing how both Ryu Hayabusa style ninjas and Naruto style ninjas canonically exist, and Love Hina martial arts is fantastical enough that it qualifies as full-blown Wuxia, I'd have to disagree with you on that. Mr. Chang might be a seriously dangerous opponent, but I'd send a God's Cry Acolyte up against a thug with an assault rifle any day.
 

GreydonCreed

Well-Known Member
I'll agree with you on the matter of what I call Ki level martial arts (fighters that can use ki to do what is effectively superhuman acts and/or energy attacks) being able to win against regular fighters armed with guns. However, there are not that many Ki level fighters out there, at least compared to armed thugs.

My personal theory is that Shenhua and Revy are at the very least chi level fighters (use internal chi for strength, agility, and speed), although I think it's unconscious on Revy's part. Mr. Chang probably isn't one of them, as he is not really superhuman in his gunfighting skills. We only really saw him do gun fu when trying to get away from the Vampire Twins ambush. Chang is very skilled and accurate, but Revy is very agile and fearless, and that brings her close to Chang's level.
 

Lord Raine

Well-Known Member
However, there are not that many Ki level fighters out there, at least compared to armed thugs.
You're nerfing the ki levels in Love Hina for this? Because everybody and their dog could do it in canon. The most frequent (and logical) explanation for Keitaro's immortality (besides being an immortal) was that he was a natural ki prodigy that never received training.


If you don't want to run with the murim angle, that's your call. I happen to really like it, and agree with ThreadWeaver that it would be an entertaining way to reintroduce Motoko, but if you think you've got something better planned, though, that's certainly fine. We can wait and judge what you do have when it happens. I just happen to like that particular line of thought because it gives you a free license for actions scenes whenever you want, and is a literal drama machine. Plus, Motoko has to be near Keitaro when his girls are near Keitaro, which would be an entirely new dimension of awkward harem comedy.
 

Chuckg

Well-Known Member
Yeah. I mean, seriously, if we have Love Hina then we're canonically in the same world as Negima. So where does this 'no superpowers' rule come from? There are blatant superpowers on this world, they're just hidden!

Also, if we have Negima, we have for-real vampires. Creepy twins retcon ho! :)

Hell, 'natural ki-adept' explains some of the crap Revy pulls. :)
 

ThreadWeaver

Beware of Dog. Cat not trustworthy either.
GreydonCreed said:
And Motoko would very probably have an aneurism if she had to hear *two* girls being very perverted with the manager.á? :yay:
Exactly.

Could you imagine the horror on Motoko's face when she realizes that women can be just as perverted, if not moreso than the males she assigns that quality to? It's a paradigm shift, without a clutch, that's so large that she's liable to leave the transmission laying on the ground, so to speak. It could be... liberating... to her as well after she gets over the shock, which I'm sure wouldn't be for a while.

But, I look forward to however this story goes.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
ThreadWeaver said:
GreydonCreed said:
And Motoko would very probably have an aneurism if she had to hear *two* girls being very perverted with the manager.áá :yay:
Exactly.

Could you imagine the horror on Motoko's face when she realizes that women can be just as perverted, if not moreso than the males she assigns that quality to? It's a paradigm shift, without a clutch, that's so large that she's liable to leave the transmission laying on the ground, so to speak. It could be... liberating... to her as well after she gets over the shock, which I'm sure wouldn't be for a while.

But, I look forward to however this story goes.
I have a probelm though, with a Motoko that is still dangerous or still had her attitudes and beliefs in the presence of even female pervertedness...

Natsumi and Miyuki may be cops, and Natsumi superhuman (which could well be ki usageage at least in this story, since we knw she is aware of it)... However, I have my doubts on her being able to take out Motoko before damage could be done.

We *know* Keitaro could take her, and likely Kanako and Haruka... but anyone else that would likely be present?

With attitudes in place, the only solution I see is Tsuruko being present at least at first as a personal watchdog... considering all she has done so far, she has a vested interest in Motoko recovering.
 

Chuckg

Well-Known Member
Ultimately, if Motoko is to be 'redeemed', she must face a situation where the only thing that can prevent her from lashing out wrongly is herself, and meet that challenge.

Because if she can't ever learn how to control her violent impulses, if she must always be externally restrained from assaulting people given a specific trigger event, then dammit, the woman needs to be committed to a psych ward.

So yeah. Make this her test of fire; she has to stand there and listen to Keitaro getting his freak on with two freaky girls and all three are blatantly having the time of their lives, while she finds that standing there and not lashing out like an angry child is the hardest thing she's ever done, but that she can do it.
 

ThreadWeaver

Beware of Dog. Cat not trustworthy either.
PCHeintz72 said:
I have a probelm though, with a Motoko that is still dangerous or still had her attitudes and beliefs in the presence of even female pervertedness...á?

Natsumi and Miyuki may be cops, and Natsumi superhuman (which could well be ki usageage at least in this story, since we knw she is aware of it)...á However, I have my doubts on her being able to take out Motoko before damage could be done.

We *know* Keitaro could take her, and likely Kanako and Haruka...á? but anyone else that would likely be present?

With attitudes in place, the only solution I see is Tsuruko being present at least at first as a personal watchdog...á considering all she has done so far, she has a vested interest in Motoko recovering.
I can see what you're saying, but I don't think Motoko is capable of seeing perversion in women or even consciously believe they can be perverted. I think even her novels she sees as a twisted form of pure "true love" than having perverted content. Yes, it's hypocritical, but she's rather hypocritical. She'd literally have to have her nose rubbed in the pile of proverbial poo before she'd realize it exists.

I also believe, key word "believe", that in this story, by now Motoko realizes that she's done horribly wrong. Even her family, the ones she sees as the guiding light in her life have turned their back on her due to her actions. She can't, unless he really needs some time in the aforementioned psych ward, possibly think that she was innocent in all this, even if her conscious mind won't let her accept the fact that she is guilty.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
ThreadWeaver said:
PCHeintz72 said:
I have a probelm though, with a Motoko that is still dangerous or still had her attitudes and beliefs in the presence of even female pervertedness...áá

Natsumi and Miyuki may be cops, and Natsumi superhuman (which could well be ki usageage at least in this story, since we knw she is aware of it)...á However, I have my doubts on her being able to take out Motoko before damage could be done.

We *know* Keitaro could take her, and likely Kanako and Haruka...áá but anyone else that would likely be present?

With attitudes in place, the only solution I see is Tsuruko being present at least at first as a personal watchdog...á considering all she has done so far, she has a vested interest in Motoko recovering.
I can see what you're saying, but I don't think Motoko is capable of seeing perversion in women or even consciously believe they can be perverted. I think even her novels she sees as a twisted form of pure "true love" than having perverted content. Yes, it's hypocritical, but she's rather hypocritical. She'd literally have to have her nose rubbed in the pile of proverbial poo before she'd realize it exists.

I also believe, key word "believe", that in this story, by now Motoko realizes that she's done horribly wrong. Even her family, the ones she sees as the guiding light in her life have turned their back on her due to her actions. She can't, unless he really needs some time in the aforementioned psych ward, possibly think that she was innocent in all this, even if her conscious mind won't let her accept the fact that she is guilty.
Even if correct, she might well revert to type and blame it on Keitaro in the moment, possibly as something along the lines of corrupting or influencing or blackmailing those girls...

In any case, I'm not convinced it has been long enough or that she really has suddenly improved... that she fully understands just *why* she was so wrong. Keitaro had hoped her own family, by taking her back in, would be able to give her a good working over (mentally, argumentally, and belief wise). That all was blown out of water by their actual actions, Tsuruko notwithstanding.

She feels the effects of the punishment for doing wrong, but has it really sunk in *why* she was punished. I keep thinking back to just how strong a conviction she felt in her statements when confronted by the present Urashima with her sister watching on. Even after loosing she was not originally going to uphold her side and actually leave.

I do *not* believe there is a quick solution to her issue, even if exposing her to all this would help.


Do note were all this going on ther would be *other* problems, like Kanako.
 

ThreadWeaver

Beware of Dog. Cat not trustworthy either.
PCHeintz72 said:
Even if correct, she might well revert to type and blame it on Keitaro in the moment, possibly as something along the lines of corrupting or influencing or blackmailing those girls...

In any case, I'm not convinced it has been long enough or that she really has suddenly improved...? that she fully understands just *why* she was so wrong.? Keitaro had hoped her own family, by taking her back in, would be able to give her a good working over (mentally, argumentally, and belief wise).? That all was blown out of water by their actual actions, Tsuruko notwithstanding.

She feels the effects of the punishment for doing wrong, but has it really sunk in *why* she was punished.? I keep thinking back to just how strong a conviction she felt in her statements when confronted by the present Urashima with her sister watching on.? Even after loosing she was not originally going to uphold her side and actually leave.

I do *not* believe there is a quick solution to her issue, even if exposing her to all this would help.


Do note were all this going on ther would be *other* problems, like Kanako.
That is true...

Hrmmm...

That could even be worked in to help her, I suppose. Imagine her charging in and finding a pair of angry--due to their nookie being interrupted-- naked women with their pistols aimed at her head and a very put out Keitaro... Depending, as you said, how much she's actually self reflected, that might be a pretty potent wake up call too. Just tossing out possibilities.

I suppose worst case scenario she might even pull a Kuno here. "What kind of sorcery is this, Urashima? Controlling minds of women to stick up for you? And to think I was almost drawn in..."
 
Lord Raine said:
If a Roanapur criminal group were to come to Japan, they would be heavily armed with firearms - they would be nowhere near fair nor even.
Seeing how both Ryu Hayabusa style ninjas and Naruto style ninjas canonically exist, and Love Hina martial arts is fantastical enough that it qualifies as full-blown Wuxia, I'd have to disagree with you on that. Mr. Chang might be a seriously dangerous opponent, but I'd send a God's Cry Acolyte up against a thug with an assault rifle any day.
Hotel Moscow and snipers, fellow poster. Snipers will take care of any badasses just like they took care of the Twins.
 

Lord Raine

Well-Known Member
Darth nylon545 said:
Lord Raine said:
If a Roanapur criminal group were to come to Japan, they would be heavily armed with firearms - they would be nowhere near fair nor even.
Seeing how both Ryu Hayabusa style ninjas and Naruto style ninjas canonically exist, and Love Hina martial arts is fantastical enough that it qualifies as full-blown Wuxia, I'd have to disagree with you on that. Mr. Chang might be a seriously dangerous opponent, but I'd send a God's Cry Acolyte up against a thug with an assault rifle any day.
Hotel Moscow and snipers, fellow poster. Snipers will take care of any badasses just like they took care of the Twins.
I don't think you're grasping the idea here. The only kind of guns that are worth shit against a ki martial artist of this level is the kind of gun that is also being wielded by a ki user.

Jack Rakan can rewrite reality just by willing it, and is so unbelievably tough that it took a physical god just throw an attack that he called "decently damaging." Negi can benchpress officebuildings. Kade has the combined skillset of a Naruto ninja and a Ninja Gaiden ninja, and that's just through pure training and skill, nothing else. Keitaro literally had a hundred ton object fall on him, and it only broke his leg.

And you think a sniper is going to do shit-all.

That's actually kind of funny.
 

marthf1

Well-Known Member
Hmm, would there be any effective difference between sniping & artillery? Because your specific examples are closer to the latter. Naturally, the concept that such weapons can save the training & skill necessary to do damage isn't particularly applicable, but I'm just wonder how you think those two fit together. I was going to ask about Mana, but she's under ki users, right?
 

Ura Mamoru

Well-Known Member
marthf1 said:
Hmm, would there be any effective difference between sniping & artillery? Because your specific examples are closer to the latter. Naturally, the concept that such weapons can save the training & skill necessary to do damage isn't particularly applicable, but I'm just wonder how you think those two fit together. I was going to ask about Mana, but she's under ki users, right?
Mana uses magic bullets, and I think stores her stuff in a hyperspace armoury (I forget the exact terms used when she made use of it). I do not recall her making use of ki though.

I'm don't remember if she used either mana or ki in the Mahora Tournament when she was flinging coins at Ku Fei.
 

Lord Raine

Well-Known Member
I was going to ask about Mana, but she's under ki users, right?
She's also under 'demon.' As in a literal, no-shit demon.

Mana is so far beyond anything in Black Lagoon that she could walk into Ronapur and pick a fight with literally every single character in the series. She would win. I doubt she would even get hurt doing it. She's not just a gunslinger who uses ki. She is a gunslinger who uses ki and isn't even human.

Mana has lategame Negima power levels, which is directly infringing on Disgaea levels of strength.
 
Lord Raine said:
Darth nylon545 said:
Lord Raine said:
If a Roanapur criminal group were to come to Japan, they would be heavily armed with firearms - they would be nowhere near fair nor even.
Seeing how both Ryu Hayabusa style ninjas and Naruto style ninjas canonically exist, and Love Hina martial arts is fantastical enough that it qualifies as full-blown Wuxia, I'd have to disagree with you on that. Mr. Chang might be a seriously dangerous opponent, but I'd send a God's Cry Acolyte up against a thug with an assault rifle any day.
Hotel Moscow and snipers, fellow poster. Snipers will take care of any badasses just like they took care of the Twins.
I don't think you're grasping the idea here. The only kind of guns that are worth shit against a ki martial artist of this level is the kind of gun that is also being wielded by a ki user.

Jack Rakan can rewrite reality just by willing it, and is so unbelievably tough that it took a physical god just throw an attack that he called "decently damaging." Negi can benchpress officebuildings. Kade has the combined skillset of a Naruto ninja and a Ninja Gaiden ninja, and that's just through pure training and skill, nothing else. Keitaro literally had a hundred ton object fall on him, and it only broke his leg.

And you think a sniper is going to do shit-all.

That's actually kind of funny.
Woah, So Love Hina has some Negi, Naruto style Ninjas. Okay yeah, mass rape of snipers or hell military in general. Though how the hell can the world for that matter ignore the fact that Japan has these armyCrusing people walking around casually or is it because of a masquerade. I can't see how its a masquerade though seeing as two female police officers know about ki usage.

edit: Ah I see. Just read the rest of the thread. This 'murim' idea makes sense. Still its a shame you guys are beating up on poor Roanapur like this :p .
 

zeebee1

Well-Known Member
Mid series Mana still lost to mid series Ku Fei. She only had late series power at the end of the series.
 

Lord Raine

Well-Known Member
zeebee1 said:
Mid series Mana still lost to mid series Ku Fei. She only had late series power at the end of the series.
Yeah, but she never had a training arc, so we can only assume that she was holding back. Which makes sense, given the circumstances.
 

GreydonCreed

Well-Known Member
The preliminary first part of Ch 32. Enjoy! :lol:

See A/N at the end.


Metro Tokyo Railways
en route to Hinata City
Early December
late afternoon
(three months after story start)


Goddamn it. Goddamn it. Goddamnit goddamnit goddamnit. Keitaro was standing with an arm hooked around a vertical handhold rail support, his eyes looking out at the passing landscape but not focused on anything in particular as he thought to himself.

Keitaro was not an angry person. Anyone who spent any amount of time around him realized this in fairly short order. But while the young ronin was normally in a good or at worse serious mood, there were times that his blood began to boil. Ironically enough, it was not usually when someone was causing him problems or distress, but when someone else was being hurt, all bets were off.

He had not gotten angry when Kanako was taken by that bosozoku gang; things had happened too fast for Keitaro to get more than scared for his sister. But when Sarah had been taken by those Thai pirates and he did not know if Seta was going to survive his wounds, it was as though something ugly awoke in his chest, something that he wanted no one else to see.

Goddamnit goddamnit goddamnit.

Duty, Honor, Family. Those were three words that Keitaro did his best to live by. People would consider KeitaroÆs dedication to maintaining his honor, and by extension keeping his promises to be admirable. However, when they were told that the main reason he was attempting to enter Todai was because of a promise made when he was five years old to a girl the same age whose neither face nor name he could remember so that they could reunite and live happily ever after, people tended to look at him a little weird. That was nothing compared to the reactions he had gotten from Gaz and Yuri when they had heard about the promise. Even though the other two security contractors had been among some of the most admirable men he had ever met, they had trouble wrapping their minds around the idea that a promise made before he had even entered school could affect his life so.

Keitaro was proud of the values that he guided his life. Those values and the support he had received from his family were what made him the man he was today. And when there were circumstances that affected his life due to obligations, he could pass it off as duty; he did not have to be happy about it, such as when Granny Hina made him the manager of the Hinata-sou, he just had do what was required. He could understand the necessity for what she did. But what he had just found out now was enough to make his temper to rise.

Goddamnit, Granny.

He had never had anything resembling a romantic relationship when he was younger. Most of his time was spent either in his studies, learning and practicing martial arts, or passing time with his family. This was not to say that he was not attracted to the fairer sex; Keitaro was as much an admirer of the female form as the next adolescent male. It was his lack of experience in talking with girls his age, and an unfortunate tendency to be clumsy and either spill stuff or fall on them made his few attempts at dating fail so epically. It was not something he had been overly worried about, since he figured that when the time came, either he would reunite with his promise girl or he would find someone else to get involved with.

Natsumi and Miyuki were the first girls that he had ever gotten intimate with, Kyoko stealing his first kiss notwithstanding. Physical pleasures aside, the thing that had made him the most proud had been that they had decided they wanted to be with himà two girls were willing to share him! It sounded like something out of some ecchi doujin, and not something that would happen in real life.

Keitaro had been more than a little hesitant to get involved with the girls again due to that disbelief once he came back from Thailand and took over as manager of the Hinata-sou. Surely they could find someone better than him, a failed ronin with blood on his hands.

But just when he could feel the heat of their embraces, could taste the passion in their kisses, they dropped the bomb on him that instantly cooled all the passion that had been boiling in his blood. GrannyÆs goddamned offer.

He knew that Natsumi and Miyuki were not after him because of the offer. Or at least, he was reasonably sure that they were not after him for money. While the Urashima family was known for being a noble samurai family, and for having partial interests in various businesses and properties, they were not zaibatsu level rich. What did concern him was if they were after him so they could have children. They were both in their late twenties, and even though the prejudice against older females was not as it was before, becoming a strawberry cake girl, someone that was older than twenty five yet not married yet, was still something they had to contend with. Natsumi was not someone he could see as desperate to have children, given her tomboyish personality, but Miyukià Keitaro had seen a glimpse of sadness in her eyes when the subject had come up on the bridge. She was someone that he could definitely see wanting to have a child, but as much as Keitaro wanted to make the dark haired girl happy, he did not think he was anywhere near ready to become a father. Never mind the fact that he was running the Sou and studying to enter Todai, he wanted to be a part of his childrenÆs lives; just giving a child his family name and money for support was nowhere near what he wanted to have with his family.

Familyà Gods in heaven, how was Kanako going to take this? She was not a blood relation, but her attraction was more than a little worrying to him, especially since their sibling relationship was the only thing that he could use to stave off any form of romantic relationship with her. But Kanako was not letting any little thing like being his adopted sister get in the way of her feelings. And given the causal way that Japanese people looked upon physical relationships between family members that were against the law in many other countries, it was a surprise that he was able to hold off as long as he had. Kanako was a very attractive girl to be sure, with her slender but curvy body, even with the suppression of most of her emotions, but Keitaro would not help but think back of the little five year girl he had first met, all long black hair and tears streaming down her face, whimpering in the thoes of nightmares when she first came to the Urashima house. It was only when his nine year old self had taken her into his arms in a hug and promised to always protect her that she would calm down.

But now things had gotten both better and worse with Kanako. Better in that she had more of a life, with many different interests to occupy her. Worse, as in she was even more attracted to him and not shy in showing it to him. The only saving grace was that it only happened when the two were alone, or Haruka was there at most. But having his romantically obsessive little sister hear that Granny gave the OK for him to have children with two other women? Keitaro was reasonably sure that Kanako would not kill him in his sleep, but he was not sure the same could be said about Natsumi and Miyuki. The brown haired girl was strong enough and had enough martial arts training to defend herself in case the younger Urashima attacked her, but Miyuki did not. If the dark haired police woman had enough warning so that she could draw her custom pepper spray/taser combo gun she had a chance, but Kanako was nothing if not stealthy, as Motoko learned to her dismay.

Motoko. That was someone he had not thought about recently. Kanako had checked up on her, and the newly short haired girl had apparently found a new place to live, a room at a boarding house that was decent enough. However, she apparently need more money on which to live, since she was looking for part time work that she could do when she was not in school, but with no luck so far.

Keitaro sighed as he looked around and saw that the train was about to reach his station. He was feeling calmer now, but he was still worried about Kanako and her reaction. If worse came to worse, he could just break off his relationship with the two police girls. As much as he wanted to be with them again, he did not want to bring down the massive levels of pain that Kanako could unleash when she was on a full tear.

Natsumi and Miyukià He could see that they wanted to be with him, even more so than he wanted to be with them. They had not been happy to hear him tell them that he needed to think about things after they told him about GrannyÆs offer, but he had promised that he would call them a few days and tell them what he thought about the whole affair but for now he needed to think about it. The sad and anxious looks on the two girlsÆ faces when he walked away from the bridge was nothing like the eager happiness that had been then when they had first gotten together, but as much as he wanted to make the girls happy, he had to straight things out in his mind first, to go over GrannyÆs offer.

GrannyÆs offer.

Granny.

It was all GrannyÆs fault, wasnÆt it? Keitaro could see where she was coming from in making the offer, but apparently she did not care so much about the havoc it would cause in the family. He was reasonably sure his parents would not be too happy, Haruka would not really care, but Kanako would be like having a half empty barrel of gasoline being hit with a tracer round; an epic explosion, followed by lots of flames and destruction.

This was all GrannyÆs fault. First leaving him in charge of the Hinata-sou with no warning so she could go on her world tour, then dropping this in his lap. She would totally deserve having all this dropped on her lap again.

There was a thought, was it? Blame Granny. Tell Kanako that Granny had made an offer to the two girls to have his children with the Urashima name, leave their names out of it, and have her go off on the interfering old woman. It was not like Kanako could track her down and beat the crap out of her. Even if she could find her, Hina was so far above KanakoÆs level she would probably drop her in three movesà and more than likely only two.

Keitaro smiled thinly to himself as he stepped off the train onto the platform. While his problems where nowhere near over, he now had a viable plan in how to initially deal with them.

-----

Since I know how popular my flashback scenes are, I wanted to ask you guys...

Should I do a flashback of Granny making her offer to Natsumi and Miyuki? Should I do a scene where Keitaro reacts to the girls tell him about Granny's offer? Or should I just leave things the way they are in this chapter segment?
 

rukia8492

Well-Known Member
i fucking knew it.

she pulled almost the same shit my grandmother pulled on me.
 

EagleCeres

Well-Known Member
Christmas Cake, not Strawberry

As much as I love Miyuki and Natsumi, more flashbacks so soon/often will give the readers mood whiplash.

Posibly might work as to dig into the ways Granny wants/needs to meddle in Kei's life. Alternatively to see Miyuki and Natsumi's motivations and eventual decision to accept the old crow's offer.
 

ThreadWeaver

Beware of Dog. Cat not trustworthy either.
I don't think anything will really be gained from a flashback that can't be put in later as part of the story in tidbits of back-reference.

Granny's motivation can be laid out later, allusions to it becoming part of the suspense of the story. The girls' motivations for letting him know can also be related later, and Keitaro can find strength from the fact that they were willing to be honest with him upfront, instead of just keeping it secret until the little crying squirts exited the chutes, so to speak.
 
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