I'm participating in Honeyfeed's current writing contest with a new short novel. Chapters are posted every Wednesday evening US time, and it will total around 50,000 words.
Humans have settled a million worlds, all led by the Council of Humankind. On Fobo 2, society is beginning to crumble under a mysterious rise in violence, and the council has sent one of their historian mages to stop the violence before it can spread to other planets.
Ashtin Blackford is hardly a model mage. He's young, impulsive, obsessive, and uses what little magic he commands for frivolous purposes—such as growing a pair of cat ears atop his head. Despite these flaws, he is fiercely loyal to the council, and that is what the council needs most in this crisis.
Alongside the similarly-loyal Dr. Flay Shreburn, a spellbreaker with an intense interest in magic, Ashtin is sent to the epicenter of violent crime, Settlement 266, to investigate whether rogue mages are pulling the strings. Danger lurks around every corner, and behind it all lies a secret that the council does not share with even its most trusted mages.
Read moreIn this inaugural blog post, I discuss the evolution of the web and what Serial Experiments Lain has to say about its potential future.
Read moreA new short story section has been added to the site, which takes place long after the events of Meipouchou. This story is more sexually explicit and trashy than my usual works. Future stories will be more similar to Meipouchou.
Read I Just Wanted to Focus On My Studies, but Now I’m Trapped in a Love-Hate Triangle With a Tsundere Ojou-Sama and My Sadistic, Princelike Dorm Mate (Neither of Whom Are My Sister)This is the final chapter of the Neo Akihabara Meipouchou trilogy. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with it to the end.
Read Book 3, Chapter 35“We need to quickly determine if these allegations are true. If they aren’t, we may be witnessing the start of a covert invasion under the color of the heiwa treaty.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 34“If they’re koko, I’ll find them,” Noriko growled.
Read Book 3, Chapter 33“Easy for you to say,” Hideharu complained. “Futari tomo are protected by your meido.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 32“Sena-sama’s my tomodachi too,” Yuuki huffed.
“Really, since when?” Sena asked.
“Hidoi!” Yuuki exclaimed in jest.
Read Book 3, Chapter 31“Demo, the demands of hierarchy always warp shakai over time until it is as cruel and oppressive as it had been before.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 30“Emi-san!” Koharu shouted, breaking through Élisabeth’s illusions. “Nigete!”
“Doko e?” Emi stammered, but she couldn’t hear Koharu’s answer as Élisabeth began to reassert control.
Read Book 3, Chapter 29“Doko did you get a baka thing like that?” Aina asked, genuinely shocked at the turn of events.
Read Book 3, Chapter 28This post details the schedule for the remaining chapters and my future plans.
Read More“Okaerinyasaimase, goshujin-sama!” Aina was greeted by the high-pitched voices of two nekomimi waitresses as she pulled open the door to the café.
Read Book 3, Chapter 27“No nation can keep naisho from watashi,” Élisabeth boasted.
Read Book 3, Chapter 26“All signatories to the treaty, the Federation included, have agreed that sekai heiwa would be impossible if it were subordinate to national sovereignty.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 25“We should devote ourselves to heiwa, harmony, and cleaning. Sore wa shin meidou.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 24“Not like that,” Yuuki promised her. “I admire your strength, and I want to become tsuyoi like you, but that’s it. I swear.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 23“It’s not foolish,” the other meido said. “Shakai is more likely to tolerate us if they have a positive view of us. We’ll be in danger if the keisatsu or the guntai decide to back the goshujin again.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 22“He was never the most popular politician,” Aina observed, “but he was the defense minister. Perhaps that didn’t mean as much after the sensou ended.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 21“Without a pressing need for political unity, the goshujin became obsolete,” Aina summarized.
Read Book 3, Chapter 20Omedetou tanjoubi to me, Aina thought bitterly to herself as she donned her environmental suit.
Read Book 3, Chapter 19“Still,” Nanami continued, “it’s not often I have the opportunity to talk with someone like myself. Tell me, Fumiko-san, docchi do you like more? Otoko or onna?”
Read Book 3, Chapter 18“Shinpai shinaide,” Aina said. “I have a keikaku for that.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 17“You have to wakaru,” Élisabeth said, “I’m no longer the daughter you knew.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 16“Ii,” Nanami smiled. “Tetsuo-sama, would you do me the honor of allowing me to eliminate them?”
Read Book 3, Chapter 15“Yorokobe, shoujo!” they shouted in unison. “Teki-bu wa kitaaaaaaaa!”
Read Book 3, Chapter 14“Jya, if you know everything, nani’s the point of it all?” Élisabeth asked. “If it’s not serving God, delivering seigi, or fighting for survival, naze are we koko?”
Read Book 3, Chapter 13“That’s creepy,” Risa shuddered. “You don’t see me as a ningen. I’m just a bag of flesh that you feel compelled to protect. I’m just another of your unhealthy obsessions.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 12“Because it’s easier if they’re warui hito,” Aina answered quietly. “It’s easier if I can hate them.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 11“Let’s go back in,” Sora suggested, still riding high on adrenaline. “We can beat that majo and save minna.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 10Rage exploded across Aina’s face. “Dou iu imi ka?” she demanded.
Read Book 3, Chapter 9“I don’t need to see it,” Élisabeth said. “I only need to know it’s happening. It may not be pretty, but it’s seigi.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 8“Gibu, gibu, gibu!” Élisabeth shouted as loud as she could, but Koharu ignored her and continued singing.
Read Book 3, Chapter 7“Naze are you doing this?” Aina asked as she unstrapped her duster from her apron.
Read Book 3, Chapter 6“I’ll accept your shoubu,” Aina told her, “but this is between you and watashi. No bystanders.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 5“She is a bakemono though,” Fumiko said quietly, but with conviction.
Read Book 3, Chapter 4“Chigau,” Aina stated. “I don’t try to do what’s moral, I try to do what must be done. Sometimes they’re the same thing, but sometimes they’re the opposite.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 3“Iie,” Fumiko shook her head. “I can’t. You’re—You’re a bakemono.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 2“Mada mada,” Ryoko growled. “I can still win.”
Read Book 3, Chapter 1“Sou, her,” Ryoko spat. “Everything started going wrong once she entered the picture.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 42“I suppose they’ll be putting you to work hunting down mahou shoujo. Can you handle that?”
Read Book 2, Chapter 41“Nani do you hope to accomplish by doing that?” Koharu asked coldly.
“Seigi!” Élisabeth bellowed, lifting her sword above her head. Her voice reverberated throughout the entire facility.
Read Book 2, Chapter 40“Mattaku,” Jin sighed. “I was hoping to learn something new about you.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 39“Yahari,” Chikako chuckled. The chuckle grew into laughter, with tears flowing from the corners of her eyes. “Yahari, meido no mei wa unmei no mei. You took everything from me, my best tomodachi, my ticket out, and now, even my life. Soshite, you didn’t even mean to do most of it. It’s your unmei, just as much as mine, that lead us here. If we had never met that day, Karen-san and Akira-sama would still be alive, and I would be the undisputed housekeeper of this mansion.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 38“Sake wa jinrui no tomo da zo,” Akira shot back playfully.
“Hai, hai,” Chikako sighed. “You can’t abandon a tomodachi.” She had heard Akira make the same reference hundreds of times, and at this point, she suspected he was repeating it just to get a reaction out of her. “Oh, but please tell me what the alcohol thinks.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 37“I’m doing it for my country,” Hideaki said, collecting himself. “It’s all been for this country—anime no tame ni—even the gynoids.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 36This post contains minor spoilers for Book 2, Chapter 35.
Read MoreIn this chapter, Jin explains the ending to After War Gundam X.
Read Book 2, Chapter 35“Gomen father, I did not know, and I said those mean things just now. I am judgemental, in addition to my other sins. I am sorry for these and all the sins of my past life.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 34He knew this victory was due more to luck than his own planning, but that didn’t sour it a bit. Not even Chikako’s complaining was going to spoil his mood.
Read Book 2, Chapter 33“We’re the same kind of monster, Mme Aina.”
“Nani kind of bakemono would that be?”
Read Book 2, Chapter 32Ah, Naomi-san ka? I was expecting this call.
Read Book 2, Chapter 31“Don’t give up,” Kiyoshi encouraged Jin. “Don’t let your soul get weighed down by Chikyuu’s gravity.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 30Given what was happening yesterday in the capital, I debated not posting a chapter today, but things seem to have settled for now, so Book 2, Chapter 29 is up.
Read Book 2, Chapter 29“Lots of people think that making a contract with a mahou shoujo is something mahou, but it’s the same as any other contract.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 28Iie! Don’t breathe! Breathing is for ningen, and you’re a machine, a satsujin machine.
Read Book 2, Chapter 27You would have them become the atarashii jinrui, but they may not want that.
Read Book 2, Chapter 26Violence begets violence. Attempting to reduce violence with violence is illogical.
It is, agreed Aina, but it’s also genjitsu.
Read Book 2, Chapter 25“Ikue-san, gomen for what happened before, but I was a kodomo. We both came here to defend this machi, and we shouldn’t let our past get in the way of that.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 24“Nandato?!” almost every cabinet minister shouted.
Read Book 2, Chapter 23“Flattery aside, you’re right. We can’t continue to put all our tamago in the geoengineering basket.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 22“Iie, I’m going to bakuhatsu.” The words were coming easier now. “Use the kekkai to contain it.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 21Tsuyoku naritai. Aina banished the thought as soon as it entered her mind. For her, that desire was off limits.
Read Book 2, Chapter 20Content warning: This chapter contains explicit language, homophobia, and attempted genocide carried out by fascists.
Read Book 2, Chapter 19“So what if you can save Chikyuu? It will only allow hito to continue to be cruel to each other. It’s all just empty motion anyway, so you might as well have some fun while you still can and then end it.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 18“More coffee, goshujin-sama?” Aina asked, her voice still sounding a little stuffy. Akira had just finished breakfast and was reviewing the reports of the previous night’s battle. Naomi stood in the corner of the room, ostensibly to guard Akira from any threats.
“Iie, sanykuu,” Akira replied with a chuckle. He couldn’t help himself, both Aina’s voice and the large mask protecting her face were just too funny.
Read Book 2, Chapter 17“I’m supposed to believe that? You? You’re smart. There’s no way you didn’t know. I was right about you. You’re not a ningen, you’re a bakemono.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 16“Are you suggesting I’m not a ningen?”
Read Book 2, Chapter 15“It wasn’t just that,” Otome mumbled. “I thought you were strong and noble. I idolized you. It was a dai shokku to find out what kind of person you really were.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 14“That’s frightening,” Chikako frowned. “No known weapon can pierce the GINZUISHOU. If… Iie, ima is not the jikan.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 13“Shouganai. What matters now is my mirai, not my past.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 12“It’s not funny,” Akira scolded her. “This is serious.”
“Forgive me, but this ‘country’ continues its descent into insanity. How could I not find it funny? First kami and now this? Just how far are you willing to go in your devotion to anime? You’ll destroy yourselves if you’re not careful.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 11"Mondai caused by mahou shoujo should be dealt with by mahou shoujo."
Read Book 2, Chapter 8That’s not what I mean. I don’t like the idea of mahou soldiers.”
“You’d better get used to it. Frankly, I’m surprised it took them this long. If they do turn against us, I’m making it your job to do something about them.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 7“Mme Aina, how unexpected. Come to finish me off?” Naomi asked with a wry smile. Aina just shrugged in response. “Good answer. Would you like to join me for tea then?”
Read Book 2, Chapter 6“I just saw genjitsu,” Aina whispered without turning to face Sena. “Zenbu.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 5Smiling, Jin pulled a pair of sunglasses from her pocket and placed them on her face.
“I came here to laugh at you.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 4“That’s one way of looking at it. Another is that there are other values that individuals are optimizing for. Yabou, yoku, jiyuu, pride, ai, and many others.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 3“Sugoi! A real meido!” Ruri exclaimed, grabbing Aina’s hand and shaking it. “She even has a gynoid in tow. You weren’t kidding coz, this is the real deal.”
Read Book 2, Chapter 2“If this keeps up, the meido will always be right and the goshujin will always be wrong, and then what kind of sekai would we live in?”
Read Book 2, Chapter 1The final chapter of book 1 is now available. The first chapter of book 2 will be posted on Thursday.
Read Chapter 47This post contains spoilers for chapter 36 and later.
Read More“Nani the hell, Aina-san?! That’s not how feelings work. Look, just calm down. Let’s go back, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Read Chapter 47As a courtesy warning, this chapter contains a depiction of su*cide and repeated uses of the word r*pe.
Read Chapter 46As a courtesy warning, this chapter contains a description of sexual harassment.
Read Chapter 45“Don’t blame yourself. This was my unmei.”
Read Chapter 44As a courtesy warning, this chapter contains more brutal depictions of violence than have been present in the book so far.
Read Chapter 43Otome did as she was told, and at the same time, a collective squeal echoed across the courtyard, coming from the younger meido. Aina looked in their direction to find that they were whispering amongst each other and pointing at her. When they noticed her looking, they let out another squeal.
“Kyaaa〜”
Read Chapter 42“Iza jinjou ni,” she shouted loud enough to get the attention of all in the vicinity, and Aina couldn’t help but notice that she had no trouble pronouncing those Japanese words. Naomi looked first to Otome, then to Mari, and then up to the veranda, where the four goshujin raised their glasses to signal their approval. She swung her hand to the ground. “Shobu.”
Read Chapter 41The world seemed to spin for Aina as she hit the ground.
Read Chapter 40“Doko’s Sena-chan?” Aina followed up.
“Okaasan says iie, so you want to go ask otousan?” Kazue queried. “Gomen, she won’t be coming to your rescue.”
Read Chapter 38Heat coursed through Aina’s body as Fumiko leaned in to deepen their kiss. Although Aina felt her chest tighten, she didn’t resist as Fumiko gently pressed her down onto the blanket. The heat was coming in waves now, throbbing from her core, outward towards her extremities. It was a very, very comfortable feeling, but there was always a dull pain in the background, a burning which could not be extinguished, but which heightened the pleasure even more.
That pain was desire.
Read Chapter 37“Chotto matte, you one of them gynoids? First time I’ve seen one in person.”
“I am,” Sena confirmed. “This is my first time seeing a goldfish scooping stall operator in person as well.”
“You’ve got a sense of humor!” the man laughed. “Didn’t expect that.”
“I like this hito,” observed Sena. “He laughed at my joke.”
Read Chapter 36“Masa-sama was right,” Sena joked, using Karin’s public alias, “we really cannot take you anywhere.”
Read Chapter 35“Impressive,” Aina whistled.
“Nani is?” Kazue asked.
“I didn’t know gynoids could delude themselves to such a degree. To hear Sena-chan tell it, that’s a distinctively ningen trait.”
Read Chapter 34“Oh, Mme Aina!” Naomi wailed, “Take me to a world I have known not these last 120 years! To a world of passion which must be kept secret from Mme Chikako.”
Read Chapter 33“If you would tell me where that neko is, I wouldn’t have to search for her,” Mari retorted.
Read Chapter 32“You are all useless. Cheap, disposable assassins. Walking corpses, the lot of you.” Naomi spat.
Read Chapter 31Ma, ii ka, Aina thought. If negotiations go south, maybe they’ll let me be the one to kill her.
Read Chapter 30“Even the goshujin have to obey some laws,” he said hesitantly, “otherwise shakai would collapse.”
Read Chapter 29Mimi was purring by this point, and before she realized it, she had curled up on the floor next to Aina, and was resting her head on Aina’s leg. Momo, obviously jealous, thrust her head in Aina’s face, and soon there were two nekomimi resting their heads on Aina’s lap, purring contentedly as she pet them.
Read Chapter 28“That still sounds like a lot of quid pro quo favors.”
“Hai,” Aina agreed. “Like I said: friendship.”
Read Chapter 27Aina turned her head towards the voices to spot a young man aiming a cell phone camera at her, and another grabbing his arm. She didn’t particularly mind if they took her picture, but Naomi had taught her to be wary of anything aimed in her direction, so she glared at them.
“Oh, tsundere!” The two men squealed before running off, tripping over each other.
Read Chapter 26Being a work about fandom, it was inevitable that elements from various anime would creep into Meipouchou. After all, fan works are a large part of fandom, especially when it comes to anime and its doujinshi scene. With the amount of time and effort that fans put into things like cosplay, it only makes sense that, with the resources of a small government, anime fans would, for example, recreate working versions of their favorite mecha, but does their appearance in Meipouchou make it fanfiction?
Read MoreJin moved towards the remaining labor, intending to push it away from the mansion, but her heavily-armored Samson was too slow. There was no way she was going to make it on time. The construction labor leveled its flamethrower.
Read Chapter 25“Gomen, Naomi-sama. Kochira wa Kotori-chan. She… We used to play together. In my parents’ lab.”
“I suppose that’s one way of putting it,” Kotori chuckled.
Read Chapter 24“I’m going to disassemble you desu wa,” Mari announced loudly, pulling out Sena’s shoulder blade and tossing it in a different direction. “If Aina-san can crawl across the ground and reassemble you with her mouth by tomorrow night, I might not destroy your electronic brain.”
Read Chapter 23“Omae!” Mimi roared, grabbing Aina by the shoulders and slamming her against the wall. “Don’t look down on us just because we’re nekomimi. Aren’t we your tomodachi?”
Read Chapter 22Without looking in Sena’s direction, Hiroko swung her mop to parry Sena’s sword. She had used the sound of Sena’s footfalls to time her approach and was very familiar with how gynoids were programmed to fight. Although she knew Sena would adapt eventually, her first few strikes would be the same as any other gynoid’s, and could be countered without looking.
Read Chapter 21“How else could I possibly feel about you? You were the worst of my bullies. At least the other kids left me alone after a while, but you never missed a chance to torment me.”
“I only did it because I liked you, Aina-san.”
“Cut the tsundere crap.”
Read Chapter 20“Look, I’m as big an anime fan as anyone,” Hideaki said. “Bigger than most of the goshujin caste. Demo, I think it’s idiotic that, rather than creating a shakai where people are free to enjoy anime, we’re creating a shakai that attempts to emulate it, as if all anime existed in a consistent universe.
Read Chapter 19“Bakana,” Chikako scoffed. “Anything of worth from protoculture arts would have been incorporated into meidou centuries ago.”
Read Chapter 18Chikako stood in the doorway, looking aghast. “Was that wushu?!”
“H—hai,” Aina admitted.
“Nani do you think Naomi-sama would do to you if she found out?” Chikako shouted.
Read Chapter 17“Normally we wouldn’t even bother with this kind of training,” Naomi said, “but the number of witches has risen sharply in the last few years.”
“Witches?” asked one of the meido.
“Mahou shoujo,” Chikako translated.
Read Chapter 16This post contains minor spoilers for Chapter 14. It's also more personal than other notes have been. This notes section isn't a personal blog, but it covers all aspects of writing and publishing Meipouchou, and writing is often a personal process. Because I am remaining anonymous, I won't get too personal.
Read More“Go to Jigoku,” Tsukasa scoffed. She walked past them towards the door to the courtyard.
“You will be punished if you try to leave,” Sena asserted. “Deserters are subjected to torture and death.”
Read Chapter 15A small section has been added to the end of Chapter 10. It was always supposed to be there, but a bug in my HTML export script removed it.
Read Chapter 10"No wonder Naomi-sama called it narcissistic," Aina commented. Chikako made a face that looked like she had just swallowed a live rat, but Akira laughed it off.
Read Chapter 14In this chapter, Naomi and R. Sena discuss free will and compare biological brains to electronic brains.
Read Chapter 13In this chapter, R. Sena wields an odachi.
Read Chapter 12Some meido even say that the mei in meido is the mei in unmei.”
Read Chapter 11“Wakatta,” Sena said. “There is an old gynoid expression, ‘No one is ever happy to hear an alarm bell.’”
Read Chapter 10“Damare!” Akira roared. “You think you can just come into my study, obliquely criticize my job performance, and tell me that anime is cartoons without any consequences? I’ve been nothing but polite, but apparently you mistook it for weakness. Well, let me remind you who’s the goshujin and who’s the meido.”
Read Chapter 9This is the obligatory public bath chapter.
Read Chapter 8When I first started writing fiction, I read a piece of advice that the optimal chapter length is around 2000 words, so I outlined the first book with the goal of keeping chapters to that length. As a result, the first book ended up being 48 chapters long, meaning the final chapter of book one will be posted on September 29th, 2020. I hope to begin posting the second book on the next Thursday, October 1st. I believe this should be achievable. The second book needs only some minor story revisions before another editing pass.
Read MoreThis chapter introduces the mansion's catgirls.
Read Chapter 7In this chapter, Aina makes her first friend, learns to clean shoes, and is introduced to the mansion's social hierarchy.
Read Chapter 6Now that the first five chapters of Meipouchou have been released, I'd like to comment on the choice of Japanese words used in the books. Most characters in the story substitute certain English words for Japanese words. The words used are mostly words that are often repeated in anime or left untranslated in fan-translated anime and manga. But even though Meipouchou is a story aimed at a niche audience who might have some familiarity with these words, I didn't want to make reading it difficult for those who didn't.
Read More“Oh ho ho ho ho!” Mari laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. “Didn’t you pay attention in history class? The French protoculture may have been romantic, but it was still just protoculture: They had no concept of moe!"
The first five chapters of Neo Akihabara Meipouchou Book 1: ~The MURDEROUS MAIDENS Did Gather in THE CITY~ have been posted. Chapters 6 and 7 will be posted next week, on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. Please look forward to them!
Read Chapter 1