Another sketch I did of Koyomi in Black Rose form, I'd say it does a good job capturing the 'dark author' vibe. In hindsight, her quill-sword could be bigger, and her white hairstreak is a bit hard to make out. The bookcase is undetailed, but it's not the focus here and is more there for scene setting and height comparison
We currently have a tie between going to see Miyako or Emi. In the meantime though, here's a sketch of Emi, since Miyako already has art (if shared with Koyomi):
[X] Go check on Emi, she's the closest and has contact already established.
For all the time she'd been spending with her, Koyomi still had zero leads on where Miyako would be, let alone if she was even called 'Miyako' in this world. So she settled on contacting this version of Emi instead, which was due anyway as the two were apparently collaborators here.
To think her teenage dream had come true here, Koyomi was now a mangaka. No, the other Koyomi, dream, alternate reality, whichever, is a mangaka, I'm just stuck here, Koyomi reminded herself. And while being a mangaka was what she'd wanted back then, everything she'd since learned about the manga industry, especially from Emi herself, made her wonder if the dream was really a nightmare. Who knows? Not knowing any artists and only being capable of stick figures myself may've saved me, she thought, but had to admit the novel industry was hardly sunshine and rainbows either. And I guess scripting manga means my other self can't work on her prose, just dialogue and thoughts, so there's always downsides.
She easily found Emi's number on her phone, which incidentally was a bright shiny new model unlike the cracked one she'd been forced to buy back in her world. Her automatic suspicion was that Yumemi had picked it out for her. Emi's voice, not surprisingly sounding muffled even though the phone's speakers worked fine, then came on with, "Oh, Arisugawa-sama! I-I wasn't expecting a call, but thank you."
You still call me Arisugawa-sama even though we're collaborating? Koyomi instantly thought. Also, who thanks anyone for calling at an unexpected time?
Before Koyomi had the chance to say anything to Emi though, Yumemi stepped right up to earshot and asked, "Why are you even bothering with her right now? She sent you the art for your issue this week, I don't see any further reason to put up with her constant apologising for her existence."
A deep seething consumed Koyomi on hearing that. But she showed a remarkable restraint, if tinged with spittle, as she said, "Well, maybe I just want to politely tell her that I got her art?" Like a decent human being. Hearing that Frost Generation was apparently on a weekly schedule just made it worse.
She turned away from Yumemi and back at her phone, desperately hoping Emi hadn't heard any of that, and said, "Hello Daimon, your art came through just fine," she presumed, having not actually seen it, "I also wanted to check that you were okay, that pumping out all this art for me isn't wearing you down. Mind if I turn the video chat on to check?" She kept quiet that her asking this was because she predicted Emi, as in her world, would lie about being fine out of not wanting to be a burden.
"You do? I mean, of course I can show you," Emi said, turning the screen on at her end. Seeing her hands made Koyomi wince. For while they may still have been flesh and blood here, the veins popping out and angles they were bent at showed this world had been barely kinder to them.
Koyomi had seen on the drafts that Emi had only been credited for Frost Generation's art, though she knew she could also write, at least in her reality. Someone with the talent to write not getting to do so instinctively filled Koyomi with bile, yet on seeing Emi's hands… perhaps it was best right now that she just did art. And even just art was taking its toll.
Looking closer at the screen, Koyomi also saw that Emi was in some sort of booth, a tiny bed, laptop, and a pile of manga scattered around. The cautious conclusion was that Emi was just here to read, but Koyomi couldn't help but suspect that Emi's precarity had led her to stay here. She was about to ask 'Daimon, tell me, is this were you're living?' but stopped. She knew she couldn't offer her anywhere better, as she couldn't see Yumemi letting her crash at their place at all.
"Daimon, before anything else, I insist that you get your hands looked at," Koyomi ultimately spoke up, cutting through all the thoughts swarming around in her head.
"What? No, I can't, if I do the next issue won't make the deadline!" Emi gasped.
"Next issue? You only just finished this issue," Koyomi said, gritting her teeth. She notably said 'you' instead of 'we', but not that this world's Emi knew that. "And if you don't get your hands fixed, soon enough there won't be any more issues. As for deadlines, well the publishers can go blame themselves, they're the bastards who set them in the first place. What's important is you."
A trembling Emi took a deep breath, then managed to say, "Look, if my hands stop working, I-I'm sure you can… always find another artist. You don't need someone like me, I'm not that… special."
Her being so apologetic made Koyomi start to fume, at least her world's Emi took the initiative to do something about her hands. But she then clamed herself, however slowly it took, and told Emi, "You're part of the team. I don't want to replace you, but you have to go take care of yourself first. Hire more assistants if we can." Also, shouldn't my alternate self have already told you this? It was this world's Koyomi whose schedule she was cutting into after all, not her own. Then again, if her alternate self hadn't done anything about Emi's hands, then as far as this Koyomi was concerned, she had it coming. If that's the case, do they even deserve to be called my alternate self at all? Though who knows how she could've turned out with this much more exposure to Yumemi.
Emi strained to say this, but went, "Thank you, Arisugawa-sama. I'll, I'll get them looked at." That made Koyomi smile in return, with the call ending soon after. Leaving her with Yumemi's piercing glare.
"Did I hear right?" Yumemi stated, her rage not fire but sheer ice, "You are willing to sabotage your deadline, and your whole job with it, over some wrist pains any artist gets? Koyomi, are you aware you're risking both our livelihoods on a whim? For an artist who told you she's fine with being replaced?"
Any artist gets? To the point where they get their hands roboticised? Koyomi thought seething at her. But on the surface, she shrugged and said smoothly, "So? Just get a job yourself, start pulling your weight already." Like Prime Minister, heh.
"Did I hear right, 'pulling my weight'?" Yumemi said. For a second she was about to raise her voice, but she instead kept it controlled as she hissed, "Koyomi, I give everything for this relationship. I've dedicated my life to looking after you and maintaining your home. In return, when I say you're pushing both of us into precarity, you listen. And know what you owe me."
"Yumemi," Koyomi began, all sorts of chills down her spine. She almost referred to her less personally as 'Hoshizora'. "It's a manga, not a novel. You've got Daimon to thank just as much as me for the food on our table and the roof over our heads. So by your own logic, don't you owe her?" she asked.
"If you say so," was all Yumemi said to that. At least it was a better response than Koyomi expected.
Huh, couldn't get control over the military in this world, so you settled for controlling one person's life instead, is that it? Koyomi thought.
That she'd thought of this world's own Koyomi while talking to Emi then sparked another thought. While she was here, had the other Koyomi waken up in her world? Without her powers, prone to yet more exploitation by a more powerful Yumemi? What would Miyako be thinking, or Asahi, or G-d forbid Hayato? Or Blue Lotus?
Of course, that was all assuming that this world wasn't a dream or illusion. She'd already gone over how Padma, the only multiversal Hanazakari, hadn't even met her, while a Hanazakari with dream powers most certainly had. Then again, she'd also gone over how this world felt too historically detailed to just be a dream, unless Yumemi had been working some serious overtime on it. There were the Padma and White Egret Pathragadan clans, but why would they single her out?
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Maybe she really should tell someone she wasn't 'their' Koyomi, as hard as it could be to convince anybody. She wasn't one to tolerate deceit, here or anywhere else:
[ ] Just tell Yumemi. Either she already knew, or would quickly discern that someone's awry anyway.
[ ] Tell Emi. It'd be hard on her, but she couldn't stand to leave her of all people out of the loop.
[ ] Find someone else and tell them.
- [ ] Miyako
- [ ] Asahi
- [ ] Palmira
- [ ] Maimi
- [ ] Hibiki, if she and Emi still had connections.
- [ ] Her parents. Well, what's family for?
- [ ] Someone deranged enough to believe her, Kurara even.
- [ ] Some multiverse study lab or whoever looked into these things.
- [ ] Write-in
[ ] Nobody. If Padma or Pathragada were behind this, she'd wait for them to explain themselves.
[ ] Write-in
[X] Just tell Yumemi. Either she already knew, or would quickly discern that something's awry anyway.
"Yumemi," Koyomi tried to begin, but then cut herself off with a groan. I know I might as well tell her, but I also know I'm gonna regret doing so, she thought. "Yumemi, there's something you need to know, it's just-"
"Well, whatever it is now, out with it," Yumemi said, hand on her hip.
"It's just that there's no way you'll believe me unless I show you in," Koyomi said. It'd worry me more if you could be convinced that I'm not your Koyomi with mere words, she thought again. "But we'll have to go somewhere private first… hard as that may be to find in Tokyo."
Those urgent words just made Yumemi giggle, which only added to Koyomi's scowl. "A secret? Alright then," Yumemi said smiling at her, "You know I'm always down for a little personal time with you. Let's head back to our apartment, that should be private enough."
"Huh, from your tone, I thought you were about to suggest we head to a love hotel," Koyomi muttered.
That remark got her a freezing glare back from Yumemi. "Just what do you take me for?" she hissed. Koyomi dropped that whole thread there, better for her mind to stay focused on breaking the news anyway.
Well, until Yumemi threw in another tangent. "You have indeed been more worked up than usual today, perhaps we could do with a vacation?" she then asked. "Ah yes, how about Israel? Hmhm, don't say I never think of you."
If the IDF here are anything like they are in my world, absolutely not, Koyomi thought. That did get Koyomi thinking that she hadn't been on vacation in a while, beyond that day trip to Tokyo Summerland. She'd flown down for the Sydney Writers' Festival, but that was for business, not pleasure. She'd been to Poland once to honour her grandmother, not that she'd found out much about any relatives there. And as for Israel, her one and only visit was at a conference for Jewish Hanazakari, before she lost interest in ever going back. And of course, her world's Yumemi had called her 'self-hating' over it. You're a shiksa, how would you know?
"You're worried about money yet you say we should go on vacation?" Koyomi ended up asking.
"Really, do you have to take everything seriously?" Yumemi asked back with a sigh. "Given how negative your fiction is, you could at least afford to smile a little in real life."
'Real life?' Yeah, about that… "What can I say, critics don't give serious writing awards to Bunnies and Flowers or whatever," Koyomi in reaction smirked back. "Besides, I cracked that joke about the love hotel a few seconds back, and you hated me for it."
They walked the rest of the way back in silence after that, but Koyomi wasn't done being lost in thought. I can't believe it; we actually sound like an old married couple. Granted, that's what we are in this… reality, but I never thought I'd have a conversation like this with Yumemi since, since we were clueless teenagers. In my world, she would've threated to sic RUNE agents on me or send me to a Malebolge by now. A wave of giddiness washed over Koyomi for the first time in, well, forever.
That giddiness didn't last long though, as upon re-entering the apartment block, the first thing Koyomi saw was the stairs completely covered in ice. The second thing was a shadowy figure atop those stairs. "Stay back," she immediately told Yumemi, then hissed, "Seems like I may have to show you too soon." Blue Lotus is already here, he's behind this?
"What are you babbling about?" Yumemi said as she pushed right past her, then gasped. "The whole building, it's a wreck! The place could fall apart any second! What- just what happened while we were out?"
"Hold on, you're talking about the ice everywhere?" Koyomi asked, thinking it'd be the first thing Yumemi, or anyone, would mention.
"Ice? Koyomi, are you toying with me, if not seeing things? There's no ice here," Yumemi said, glaring at her.
Are you in on this? No, she can't be, even Yumemi wouldn't work with any Frostfarer that wasn't firmly chained up, Koyomi thought. "Follow me, but stay strictly behind," she told her, as she then dragged Yumemi all the way up the stairs towards that shadowy figure… only for that figure to right down from above onto her.
As a pinned Koyomi struggled to break free from under their feet, she was nearly struck silent as she looked up. "You're… no, there's no way," she gasped as her eyes' met a Frostfarer's, but not Blue Lotus'. No, this abominable Frost Rook was from years back, a beast who'd massacred legions on the very battlefield of Shin Sekigahara.
"I'll say. You're that Daimon woman, aren't you?" Yumemi, for some reason, said to the Frost Rook. "I always knew you were nothing but a parasite upon my Koyomi," she seethed.
Stomaching being 'her' Koyomi and hearing Emi be called a parasite, Koyomi could only wonder how Yumemi in any world could ever mistake a Frost Rook for Emi. Then whoever this stranger was had to admit, in a tone that sounded little like a Frost Rook, "Is my power really that telltale?"
Learning that this could all be some illusion made Koyomi show Yumemi her secret. Proclaiming "Henshin!", Koyomi sprang out from under this stranger, then just by pointing her sword at them, surrounded them in an avalanche of shadows. As Yumemi's turned grew a ghostly pale, Koyomi muttered to her, "Yeah. And this isn't even half of it."
Being swarmed in darkness however only sent this stranger cackling. "Checkmate, Bad Seed! Darkness is one of our most primal fears, ergo I couldn't be any more in my element!" she howled, then lunged forward with a blood red blade of her own, sending Koyomi and Yumemi crashing down the stairs.
As Koyomi struggled to get back on her feet again, she snarled, "Drop the disguise, O Purified, I know you're playing with me."
"Might as well, now I've already learned what you fear," this stranger said, as Koyomi finally got to see her for who she was. A tan-skinned woman with bleach white hair, her Hanazakari Regalia was like a cross between a mortician's suit and a jester's costume, alternating between sickly purple and dark crimson. Long ribbons flowed down that slithered like snakes. "If you know your horticulture, you would've already figured I'm Rhododendron in Full Bloom," her creepy-crawly voice skittered out.
"Did she say, 'in Full Bloom'? No, I must be dreaming," Yumemi said, a little too fittingly, upon pushing Koyomi off her. "That's what your characters call themselves in Frost Generation. Wait, that explains it," she calmed down for a second, "This must be some crazed fan, that's all. Well, a crazed fan that can cast illusions, I suppose."
Koyomi snarled, how could Yumemi be so in denial? "Yumemi, did you not see me transform too? This is far more than some crazed fan," she hissed. She then pointed her quill-sword right at Rhododendron and demanded to know, "Alright, what are you Purified planning? How did you even create a world like this?"
"Me, a Purified? Already you insult me," Rhododendron said back. "I'm no foaming-from-the-mouth cultist. Kamizono just so generously funds my research that I simply can't refuse her."
"Of course, makes sense a cult leader would want to control people through knowing their fears," Koyomi muttered, knowing fear played at least a part in Rhododendron's Cultivar. "And you, Rhododendron, already sound worse than Freesia. She has the excuse of believing what Kamizono spews, while you sound like know she's full of shit, yet still happily do her dirty work anyway."
Rhododendron flinched at that, but shook it off and said, "Quite the bold proclamation, given we've only just met. And" she then sounded like she swallowed something nasty, "do not compare to that Kurara. I've no patience for little girls, except of course when they're screaming, ahem, so I have negative for grown women who still act like them."
"At least Freesia was actually there at Shin Sekigahara," Koyomi ventured.
That sent Rhododendron twitching again. "Don't flatter yourself and her, you wouldn't have lasted a day in India back then.
As for your assertion that Kamizono and I are the masterminds here, oh if only. I'm as trapped in this world as you are," she said, not that Koyomi was so ready to believe that. "However, I do know the Hanazakari responsible, who in South Asia doesn't know her? I'll make you deal, how about we get back to our own world quicker by teaming up to find her? Oh, Kamizono won't stand for me allying with a Bad Seed, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her."
It just seemed insane to Koyomi that this Rhododendron would even make such an offer. "First things first, Yumemi has the right to know what this even all is," she said.
"Oh right, the Brigadier's counterpart. Hah, if only I could learn what the real Brigadier fears," Rhododendron said. "I'm sure it'd be more interesting than just the Frost Fair again. Such a boring answer, Bad Seed."
"Wait, Brigadier? Ahem, well Koyomi, let's hear what this all is," Yumemi narrowed her eyes at her.
"…I'm not your Koyomi," were the words Koyomi settled on. "I'm the Arisugawa Koyomi of another world, where the Hanazakari aren't fiction at all. Now you see why I had to show you my powers, words alone would've never convinced you. And no, I've got no idea where your world's Koyomi is. Oh, and Rhododendron here's employed by a cult in that world, one that tried to kill me."
She braced for Yumemi to say something like 'Your words wouldn't convince me? You don't trust I trust you?' but thankfully she said nothing like that. Just an "I see," was all that surfaced from Yumemi, but the look on her face alone told Koyomi those words were but the tip of the iceberg.
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As for Rhododendron's sudden offer of allyship:
[ ] Koyomi accepted. Like it or not, she was their only lead on finding who was really responsible for all this, and she was hardly typical of the Purified. Plus, telling her no could just make her attack them again.
[ ] Koyomi refused. No way was she teaming up with anyone who worked for Kamizono, especially anyone who was fully aware of how awful she was yet didn't care.
[ ] Koyomi asked a few more questions first, before she could accept.
[ ] Koyomi asked a few more questions first, but planned to tell her no anyway.
[ ] Koyomi asked Yumemi what she thought, out of courtesy at least.
[ ] Write-in
I wanted to redesign Koyomi's transformed self from my previous pictures of her, as I was concerned that she didn't really look Magical Girl-y enough. I recently got done watching of all Magic Knight Rayearth, and you can see the influence with the armour. Actually, I made the crystals hexagons instead of spheres to not make them too Rayearth-y
