Not a detective

He sighed helplessly.

Tales of Zestiria is a JRPG game released by Bandai Namco in 2015, and is a 20th anniversary title in the Tales series.

Despite his refined and aloof demeanor, Akihisa Kazamatsuri is actually a hardcore gamer with a penchant for classic JRPGs. He buys and plays most of the latest AAA titles. However, his messy gaming habits, which are so unsightly, are mostly known only to his family, who often find him annoying, especially his wife and daughter.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Chizuko shook her head calmly. “That disc was broken to begin with. You broke it yourself, remember?”

Kazamatsuri Akihisa's expression froze; he seemed to realize what his daughter was about to say.

Chizuko continued, "When I was little, I vaguely remember you getting really angry, but it wasn't about work or anything else. You even broke your game disc in half, which was quite unusual, because you kept all the discs on your bookshelf very well, even the ones you didn't like. Yet you were so angry about this game. I was very curious at the time, and you told me this story—"

"The protagonist of the story is named Sorey, and the heroine is named Alyssa. Originally, it was just a very classic JRPG adventure story. Alyssa made a contract with Sorey to save her country and became the protagonist's partner. However, when the story was about a quarter of the way through, it was suddenly said that Alyssa's aptitude was too poor and that she was putting a great burden on the protagonist's body. So, in order not to cause trouble, Alyssa broke the contract with the protagonist and left the party under some pretext. Logically, at this point, the story should have gone to the point where the protagonist and his partners found Alyssa, overcame her psychological barriers, and reunited as teammates. But who would have thought that this departure was a real departure? In the subsequent story, when Alyssa reappeared, she only had a nod and a greeting. Even in the final battle, the protagonist group left without saying goodbye to Alyssa, which is quite confusing."

"After Alyssa left the team, the true heroine, Rose, appeared. Although the heroine's deception is a tired trope, it's not impossible to write. However, the male protagonist's companions not only didn't hesitate to replace her, but also expressed that Rose was very capable and wanted to invite her to join the team, saying that she wouldn't be a burden to the male protagonist like Alyssa did. One of the characters even uttered that famous line—"

"Those who can see the same things and hear the same things are true partners."

"So, Dad, you couldn't help getting angry. Does that mean someone who isn't capable or qualified doesn't deserve to be a friend? Even if the female lead's identity was taken away, does that mean she can't even be considered a companion? These are things you complained about to me yourself. In the story, Alyssa was constantly getting the short end of the stick, while Rose was showered with love and affection, and even slapped Alyssa later on..."

Chizuko's performance was so vivid that she even captured the tone of her father's complaints at the time. I never expected her memory to be so strong.

Soon, she changed the subject, staring intently at the evasive Feng Jizhao:

"Dad, these are your exact words back then. You clearly hated this kind of thing so much, so why are you making the same judgment now?"

"Is Asakawa-kun, who lacks inspiration, not a true Nakama? Since he can't see or hear yokai, is he destined to never be with me?"

Kazamatsuri Akihisa was forced to remain silent.

He hasn't forgotten the game; in fact, he still gets angry when he thinks about it now.

That was the famous "True Partners" incident, which was met with a lot of backlash from players like him. The producer was forced to resign, and it even gave rise to the prototype of the "leaving the party" light novel. The first "leaving the party" light novel, "Because I am not a true partner, I was expelled from the hero's party and wandered to the border to start a slow life," originated from this incident.

Kazamatsuri Akihisa was so angry at the time that he even had the urge to curse that Baba Hideo, but fortunately he managed to restrain himself.

He remained silent for a long time before finally letting out a heavy sigh:

"...A game is a game, and life is life, Chizuko."

It was a weak and feeble answer, even reeking of old age. He himself didn't know when he had become like this.

"That's why Dad is so bored."

Chizuko stood up.

"I will become the head priest of the Kazamatsuri Shrine, and I will become the greatest Onmyoji of modern times. I will not give up on this ideal, but I will not sacrifice anything for it. I will choose my own partners, and I will protect my own love. This has nothing to do with inspiration or any of that bullshit. The man I set my sights on, no one can take away from me—"

She strode out of the room with an air of haughtiness.

Kazamatsuri Akihisa stared at that familiar yet unfamiliar figure, and finally, helplessly rubbed his forehead and gave a bitter smile:

"Could it be that we're going to lose money on both of them...?"

...

Asakawa Riku was unaware of the argument that had taken place between the father and daughter on the mountain.

He simply rode his bicycle slowly back to the bustling Tokyo city center, where he saw the long-lost crowds and heat, and returned to his home.

I spent fifteen hours in the dream, plus a lot of time talking, which meant almost a whole day. When I got back, it was already the evening of the second day.

Fortunately, no one was waiting at Asakawa Riku's house, otherwise his parents might have thought he had disappeared.

He parked his bicycle and was about to take out his keys to open the door when he suddenly sensed something was wrong—

The lights are on.

From the windows inside the building, you can clearly see the lights on.

He left yesterday during the day; he couldn't have forgotten to turn off the lights. Could he be a thief? Did he sneak into the house when no one was home?

Asakawa Riku felt both worried and excited.

The worry stemmed from the fear of theft of savings, furniture, and other valuables left at home, while the excitement came from finally having a chance to vent some of his negative emotions.

In this society, opportunities to legally assault someone are rare. Asakawa Riku could sense that the people inside the house hadn't left yet...

He kept his presence to himself, silently pressing himself against the door. The sound of inserting the key might alert the thief, so he decided to use his internal energy to break the lock and open the door directly.

He cautiously peered into the entrance hall... Asakawa Riku looked more like a thief, but he couldn't wait to find that audacious fellow.

However, when he saw that figure from behind, he couldn't help but be stunned.

"……what?"

"Huh?" Yukie noticed the sound behind her, and turned around in surprise. She saw Asakawa Riku and smiled, "Ah, welcome back."

"This isn't something you should be saying... What are you doing here?"

Asakawa Riku was stunned. He even forgot to put his bag down because the girl in his house was the one with black hair and dressed as a shrine maiden.

Yukie... what's she doing here?

"Oh, I'm sorry for using the spare key under the flowerpot. Should I not have come in without permission? I just wanted to prepare some food for you so you could have a meal as soon as you got back."

Yukie covered her mouth. She was standing in the kitchen, wearing an apron over her shrine maiden dress, and holding a kitchen knife in one hand.

Do these two sisters both enjoy cooking for others?

“That’s not the point…” Asakawa Riku felt a bit awkward communicating with him, and he scratched his head: “I mean, why did you end up in my house?”

"Hmm...? Didn't Father say he had discussed it with you?" Yukie was also surprised. "He said you had agreed, because I need a transition period to get used to living in the outside world, and you happen to be my only friend of the same age besides my sister, so I can stay here for a while... That's what I heard, isn't that right..."

She looked very embarrassed and awkward. If it was a misunderstanding, then she had barged into someone else's house for no reason.

I see… Asakawa Riku couldn’t help but think of meddling in other people’s business. Kazamatsuri Akihisa was really going too far. He actually sent his daughter to the home of a teenage boy. Wasn’t he worried about the danger? While he was thinking, Yukie slowly walked over and got close to him.

She stood on tiptoe, getting very close, causing Asakawa Riku to involuntarily take a half-step back—

"I remember... what happened during the blizzard."

The girl whispered softly in my ear, as if begging for a chance to stay. A fresh fragrance wafted over, and I felt a cool, pleasant chill.

It's like an ice cream ball in a parfait.

Her watery eyes looked at Asakawa Riku, as if to say, "Is it not okay?"

Asakawa Riku sighed, put his backpack on the sofa, and asked:

"What are we eating today?"

Summer of the Snow Woman: About "Summer of the Snow Woman"

The chapter at noon today was a combined two-part chapter, and that concludes today's update.

I forgot to mention this. Oh well, let's talk about "The Summer of the Snow Woman" while we're at it.

Indeed, as everyone has said, this volume has many unsatisfactory aspects. Looking back, I myself feel it is not perfect, and I deeply reflect on and introspect here.

The main problem is that I want to write a "locked room mystery" story, but the "no one survives" pattern usually involves one victim after another, and the detective only starts to solve the problem at the end. If the protagonist forcibly interrupts the process, the structure will be incomplete. But if he doesn't interrupt, the protagonist will seem useless, watching the people around him being killed one by one.

This conflicts with the protagonist's character setting... and is also the root cause of why this volume was difficult to write.

My final solution was to use a "dream ending" to control the impact. It wasn't a great ending, but rather a "timely stop-loss."

Learning from past mistakes, the "locked room mystery" and "dream ending" scenarios will no longer occur.

As for the character's personality, I can only say that "bad women" are my type. Chizuko's character is an angelic woman hiding a cunning fox and a web-weaving spider. She can use and deceive, lie and hide. This is the character's underlying personality. If you really can't accept it, I can only express my regret. It may not be to your taste.

By the way, it's really impressive that someone was able to discover the foreshadowing that "the spider's nest is dangerous." I was originally planning to reveal it later.

Yukie's character design is currently quite basic, but it will be expanded and developed through subsequent storylines.

Some people call her a "white lotus," which isn't entirely wrong, but she is indeed an innocent victim in the incident. After all, in the established setting, the crime of split personality cannot be attributed to her, just as mentally ill people in reality are not sentenced. If you have blood on your hands, you can only atone for it yourself. She will also slowly embark on her own choices and her own path.

Another theory is that "the male protagonist's values ​​are controlled by his facial features, and he is biased towards Yukie."

I don't think that's the case. Analyzing Asakawa Riku's personality, he should be a kind person, or at least leaning towards "chaotic kindness". He will try his best to save the people around him and will also fight against evil. You could even say that he is a bit of a "saint". He will lend a helping hand to everyone in the Snow Mountain Villa, and even if he suspects someone, he will not blindly convict them.

Therefore, he did not immediately kill Yuki based on the "Yuki-onna's" physical characteristics, even though that should have been the theoretically optimal solution.

He has his own standards for judging good and evil, and his own understanding of morality and law. He possesses power but knows how to restrain himself, which might be a bit like Emiya Shirou.

Rather than calling him a "partner of justice," it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's an "easy-going person." That's why he took the initiative to sign a treaty of mutual benefit with Chizuko-senpai. Even when he was used for dream healing, he didn't fly into a rage. He just wanted to learn more about the truth of the supernatural world. As long as his wish was fulfilled, he wouldn't ask for anything more.

Of course, this doesn't align with the values ​​of modern online novels. If a normal male character is being used, he should start preparing to kill his entire family.

I wrote a very experimental protagonist and a very experimental story, so I can't expect everyone to like this type of story. I just hope that the readers who like it will continue reading, and that will satisfy me. The book's performance wasn't very good, but I want to continue writing my own things and continue to make them better.

That's enough chit-chat. Let's end "Summer of the Snow Woman" here. The autumn chapter, "Autumn of the Blue Lantern," will begin updating tomorrow. Please look forward to it.

Aoandon's Autumn: Chapter 1 Senior, Please Save Me

As Kazamatsuri Chizuko walked along the edge of the playground, she attracted the attention of the baseball team playing catch and the track and field team doing stretching exercises.

After summer vacation ended and the second semester began, the supernatural rumors about the "Detective Club" gradually faded from people's minds, and Chizuko's cute appearance naturally attracted more and more attention.

She was wearing a long-sleeved uniform and walked casually. Those who knew her might understand why, while those who didn't might think she was skipping around and being very lively.

Even when the weather gets hot, she doesn't seem to have changed out of her short-sleeved uniform, but that's normal for female high school students these days.

Some of the teenage boys blushed and stole glances, while others were not interested in her petite figure. In any case, Chizuko was a true campus celebrity.

However, he is still not as good as the other one.

Beside a pillar in front of the school building on the first floor stood a boy with his shirt buttoned up tightly. He looked helpless and flustered, with his hands raised high.

It's like performing a ritual from a certain country.

But looking at the situation around him, it's easy to understand why he did this. There were more than ten girls gathered around him, almost pressed against him.

They chattered noisily, accompanied by the laughter of a hot girl and flirtatious body language.

"Asakawa-san." Chizuko finally found her target and called out, "Is she showing off her harem date? She's really popular."

"Senior." Asakawa Riku maintained his posture of praising the sun, clearly to avoid touching other girls, standing there like a zombie: "Please save me."

"I'm going to take a picture and post it on Instagram. Please give me a thumbs up this way."

"You would never do such a thing."

"How did you know? That's terrifying!"

Chizuko is clearly just here to stir up trouble; she can't be trusted.

Asakawa Riku could only emphasize to the ladies, "Ladies, I have to go to my club activities. We can talk about anything else tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll take my leave."

He "swam" out of the group of girls, as nimbly as a fish. His steps and movements were barely visible before he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Hey...where did you go?"

"That's amazing, really."

"Ah, what a pity I didn't get their contact information—"

...

"Wouldn't it have been better if you had done this earlier?" Chizuko walked ahead, as if clearing a path for Asakawa Riku: "You're always late for club activities, this won't do."

"The president is right to reprimand me, but I have no choice."

Asakawa Riku cautiously observed the students in the corridor, worried that someone might suddenly jump out from somewhere and pester him.

Fortunately, these suspicious individuals were gathered together earlier, so things are alright for now.

This anomaly suddenly appeared at the start of the fall semester.

Asakawa Riku initially just wanted to return to normal school life, but he didn't expect that a lot of classmates would suddenly gather around him. Some of them were classmates from other classes he didn't recognize at all, and there were even seniors from the second and third years... He knew nothing about this and was even confused. Even when he asked his friend Haoji, he didn't know the answer... By the way, Haoji didn't freeze to death on the mountain.

Incidentally.

Most of the people who gathered around were girls, or more accurately, outgoing and sexy girls, but when Asakawa Riku asked them why, they didn't give a serious answer.

They would basically laugh and ask, "Uh...why?", then ask for his autograph and a photo, making them feel like celebrities.

But Asakawa Riku wasn't blinded by this sudden stroke of luck. He felt that these people were looking at him more like they were watching a monkey in a zoo, so when someone jokingly asked him to show off his muscles and demonstrate a one-handed push-up, he couldn't help but feel annoyed. Fortunately, Chizuko-senpai arrived just in time.

"I was angry, but all I wanted was to be a normal high school student. No one attacked me, so I couldn't just push them away..."

"Don't ordinary high school boys ever refuse girls?" Chizuko walked ahead, her expression obscured. "What if they asked you to date them?"

"Then I still have to refuse."

"Hum..."