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The first short story was not an easy read, it’s about rape and how isolated the victim could be at a time where women were easily blamed for what happened. From the ruthless police officer who interrogates her to her own father blaming her, Natsue is surrounded by people pointing at her, and the aftermath of the rape are as damaging than the act itself.

The short story not only exposes how society completely dismisses Natsue as a person to ensure a bright future to the two perpetrators, but it also mainly centred on Natsue herself, how she’s forced to go on with her life without any help or support. The story is not about vengeance, but really about trauma.

Ah yes… I remember most of the books I read via the MWJ Award didn’t give pronunciation for names… and it’s also the case for あるフィルムの背景 even though it’s a new edition. So annoying…

I can’t be bothered, I’ll do a character list but pronunciation might be wrong, or I’ll just drop the lists all together, they’re short stories anyway, so probably won’t be needed.

I’m realising that my three current books are all collections of short stories! This is quite rare, because I mostly read novels, so having one short stories collection out of three books happens, but never all three at the same time.

Two are collections by a single author and one is an anthology of different authors.

あるフィルムの背景

あるふぃるむのはいけい

법의 체면

beopui chemyeon

奇巧玩具店

qí qiǎo wán jù diàn

I chose my next Japanese book!
I said I wanted to go back to the 60s/70s, but I didn’t choose to read another book by Futari Okajima as planned originally. Instead, I chose a collection of short stories by Shoji Yuki, also one of my favourite authors.

I hadn’t planned on finishing the third short story today, but 白骨無聲 by 羅永昌 was impossible to put down. It was a really engrossing investigation led by a disillusioned reporter who is tasked with reviving an old case to serve political manoeuvres. But he decides to look for the truth behind the case, and it’s crazy how suspenseful the plot was, with a good mystery to start with and good twists until the end too.

But the short story also shines with its background, how it subtly integrates Hong Kong recent history into the plot, and shows how journalists have to deal both with their journal’s direction and their political ties, as well as dealing with their own moral choices when deciding to reveal the truth.

I really love the protagonist, 陳焱火. He is a really good detective, and his internal conflicts, his personality and experience make him a very complex and interesting character, especially for a short story.

The first short story was fantastic, it gives its name to the collection and displays a harsh critic of the judicial system in general, showing that sadly, uncovering the truth is not what the court and the judge are aiming at.
The plot was really good too, I found the short story very suspenseful, and the explanations about some aspects of the judiciary really well balanced and integrated into the plot.

I finished the AQ, it was so so great. I thought Act II was really good already, but the end was even better? So many revelations too! I wasn’t expecting to learn so much so early!! Cutscenes were so great too.

Yeah this is the best opening we had, I’m sure. There was not a single scene that felt filler, the plot was so suspenseful, it’s the first time I finish an AQ so quickly and I can’t wait for the next Acts to release.

I didn’t take much time to read today, so I only just started the first short story. Love the beginning!

I’m not sure I understood Alyosha’s kit completely, because from what I read, he doesn’t do much? Heals and taunt on burst and increase stellar superconduct damage by 20%? That’s about it? His healing scales with his Atk, but his own damage is buffed depending on his ER? And I have no idea how decent it is anyway… Oh well, I’m going to build him for IT first and then see if I want to max him later.

I finished an IT run I had started at the beginning of the month. Didn’t manage to get that last flower… but it was so close!!
Now I didn’t have Odette nor Alyosha, so I could give it another try during the week or next weekend. Odette is IT ready, even though she’s not fully built yet, but Alyosha is not… Just bringing Odette might be enough, especially since it’s SO artifact farming time right now, so I don’t know if I want to build Alyosha just yet. Oh and I can bring Lumine cryo too… If I find the time to do a new run, I’m sure getting full flowers won’t be a problem.

The only thing I did apart from playing Genshin’s AQ today is read the second story of the collection: 直到真相盛開 by 陌途. It was excellent, such a good mix of human drama and murder mystery. I initially thought the story will be mostly focused on family drama and be more of a journey towards acceptance and how to cope with suicide. But the short story surprised me with a really good murder mystery and a suspenseful investigation. Even if it was relatively short, I almost feel like I just finished a novel, like I spent more time with the characters than just 40 pages of e-reader. The author really managed to make me care for the characters right away while also offering an engrossing murder mystery.

I think I literally spent the whole Saturday playing Act II of the AQ… But it was so so great! I can’t believe we were in the middle of a closed circle murder mystery!! This was right up my alley, and the plot was so good too! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, I rarely get so engrossed in an AQ. The atmosphere was also great, I really liked how they used the picture and the effects added.

I haven’t finished yet, but at least I finished the big part. I don’t know how long it still is…

Oh and I just saw the thumbnail for the cutscene on the official channel… I can’t believe they managed to make a really good plot with a really good twist then decided to completely spoil it to all players (even the ones who stay away from social media as long as they’re doing the AQ) via their official channel. Why?!?? The patch’s been out for 10 days, it’s reasonable to think players still haven’t finished the story.

Finished Act I, it was so great!!
I’ll continue with Act II today too. With the constant rain there’s not much else to do anyway.