🔆 光の帝国 👑 Week 3

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Welcome to :bright_button: 光の帝国 :crown: week 3

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Week Start Date Chapter Percentage 文庫 pages
Week 3 Aug 22 all of オセロ・ゲーム and 手紙 40% 79-118
Week 4 Aug 29 all of 光の帝国 53% 119-152
Week 5 Sept 5 all of 歴史の時間 and 草取り 67% 153-192
Week 6 Sept 12 read until sentence ending in ５分間を」ちょうだい。 82% 193-233
Week 7 Sept 19 finish 黒い塔 and 国道を降りて 96% 233-272

Discussion Rules

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  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
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Holy moly. オセロ・ゲーム sure didn’t tell me what kind of story it would be. The name is kinda clever after reading it though. But man, this story went off the charts with how crazy it got o_O. Was a little bit creepy to read in some parts to be honest…

It isn’t one of my favorite stories, but I seem to vibe with the authors writing style very much. It seems I can read nearly anything and don’t feel bored by it. This story certainly left a big impression.

The beginning of the story is a little slow and feels kinda mundane, then we get the first elevator scene where she fights of an あれ. That scene already felt kinda eerie. Especially her reaction after, how shook she was, and her behavior after getting home were totally relatable. I kinda chuckled a little when she managed to drown a whole bottle of wine even though she was so exhausted XD.

And then the second encounter with あれ in the form of a big STRAWBERRY, that exploded all over and crawled back to form the milk ladies head again. Like WTF am I even reading…

Many things left unanswered in this story. Who does the number belong to? Can they really get her husband back in some way?. What actually happens if you get turned?
One thing is for sure. I don’t want to have anything to do with their powers. If you can call that powers anyway.

Will update after reading 手紙 again. Having a blast so far reading the book. Thank you very much for nominating it @pocketcat

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The 手紙 story is hard for me to rate.

First off a fair warning to anyone that is still reading the book. It felt a good bit harder to read compared to the other stories. Not necessarily because of the contents of the story but simply because of word choices. It felt (without having measured it) like I needed to look up roughly double the normal amount of words. On the positive side I learned another pronoun with 小生. I thought I would be done with pronouns by now :frowning:

It’s also the first story that has a direct if not too important connection to a previous story

It was interesting how the 住職 got more and more sucked into investigating this strange ツル先生 figure. And it all started by the father of our 達磨山 protagonist, because he inquired about the 常野. Apparently, if we can trust the various writings and witness testimonies, it seems like 鶴先生 is immortal. Way cooler power to have compared to the last story XD.

Since the 住職 seemed to have gone to the 達磨山 on his own and also saw some kind of visions (they seem different to the ones in the other stories?) we can lay the theory to rest that 2 people are necessary for the effects of the mountain to work.
Coming back to what he saw: once his granny congratulating him on his wife, and once the 鶴先生 in question. Would it have been just the 先生 it could have been that he will meet him in the future. But his grandmother is already dead. So I’m not actually sure what he has seen there? Any guesses?

The story being told in the form of letters was okay, though I would have preferred to also read the answers of 倉田 who is the addressee of all letters.

I have many more thoughts swirling through my brain at the moment, but it’s kinda hard to get my thoughts into coherent sentences. Therefore, this is it from my side for now.
Given the other readers reaction to the previous stories I estimate this one getting some good feedback and discussion. Can’t wait for others opinions and impressions :smiley:

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手紙"

Ooh, that makes me wonder if this is maybe his son checking his father’s old belongings for information on 常野. Feels very possible now! I hadn’t made the connection before that this was in fact the mountain father.