Ack, youāre right, thatās a good catch. Let me go move stuff. Now I have 6 stories to read, haha.
Okay, fixed the spreadsheet and the threads/polls, though the votes were wiped out. I think it was just my votes anyhow, so it should be fine. 
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Hi guys, quick update on my end: I intended to start reading last week, but I unintentionally ended up getting all four of my wisdom teeth pulled out last Tuesday, so Iāve been in recovery mode since. 
Same deal with the Drama CD; I listened to last weekās before the tooth extraction, so Iām caught up there, but it might take me a bit to get to this week. orz
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OMG! Ouch! Donāt worry about it. Just rest up and get well soon!
(Iām sending Kaito to tend to you, plus nurse Blackie! <3)
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OMG that sounds really painful! Get better soon please 
For the reading, Iām in the same boat as you: I am currently enjoying my travels so much that there has been almost no time for reading 
but to offset this I spoke and listened to Japanese almost 24/7 
I might take today off as well to fully recover from the exhaustion but will be on board again pretty soon!
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Great going @NicoleIsEnough. Iām happy for you getting to relax and enjoy your travels for a bit! ^>^ 
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Okay, finally! Iāve finally started! Ha, first it was my wisdom teeth, then Tears of the Kingdom had to go and come outā¦ Iāve been busy. XD Now I just need to catch up on the drama CD.
Anyway, I finished chapter 1 this morning. More of a warm-up chapter than anything; it gave me āitās been a while since my last book, so letās recap the atmosphere and whatās at stake hereā vibes more than anything else. One last chance for Leo to be sweet as well. 
Kaitoās expecting Vicente and Leo to feel betrayed and all that, but honestly Iāll be surprised if thereās any hard feelings from the two in regards to him. Vicente is well aware that Spain is #2 in Kaitoās heart, and probably knows that Kaitoās going to embrace any opportunity he has to be reunited with Geoffrey.
I can confirm that they never made it to breakfast; Kit met them as they were walking to go eat.
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Good to have that cleared up! 
(Iām way to lazy to get strolling back through chapters) Iāll reread the series in the future undoubtedly, but not while still reading it.
Also, Iām now firmly in pause mode as my job hunting is getting more intenseā¦or rather distracting! 
Iāve been waiting for news from several employers, but today I finally landed a shorter job over this summer. Thatās step 1. I also got another interview for a 1 year temp position in next week, so Iāll be focusing my energies on landing that hopefully. Itās all a bit of a blur and Iām fine with putting things on hiatus while waiting for you guys to catch up anyways. Still the listening club has suffered from my lack of focus. ^^; Apologies for that. But, knowing Iāll have work in June makes me more relaxed about stuff for sure. I should be able to manage to do some listening in this week I hope. Today, my thoughts are all over the place from having gotten that job. ^^ā
Back to F&B, I really liked the Kaito Leo interactions in this chapter as well.
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Iām glad to hear itās going well! Hopefully by the time youāre in a better position to read weāll have caught up (or gotten closer, at least); take all the time you need! My sisterās been doing her own summer job hunt, so I definitely understand the anxiety of not knowing if somethingās going to work out, interviewing, etc.
No worries~ Itās a quiet little group at the best of times, anyway.
Agreed! I wonder if Leo is aware of the depth of Vicenteās feelings for Kaito?
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I feel like his young age might not let him realize this just yet. ^>^ Though, surely he can see the plain affection?Though, affection is also given to him from Vincente, so the question is maybe if heās able to sense a difference in kind? 
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Finished chapter 2 last night! Man, that chapter felt really long; my Kindle says Iām already 25% of the way through the book after just two chapters, which doesnāt feel right.
Although on the other hand, so much happens here that Iām not too surprised. The escape plan finally kicks into high gear as Leo and Kaito are led to the town mayorās home where theyāre attacked by āthugsā, Raul ābravelyā defending them. So did I read this wrong, or did the mayor just get stabbed and was left lying there? Felt bad for the poor man; I doubt he wanted to be any part of this. Raul extracts another promise of cooperation from Kaito in exchange for not killing Leo, and Kaito finally gets to meet up with Geoffrey and Nigel and again. I gotta say, his reunion scene with Nigel was super cute; I canāt wait to read it from Nigelās perspective in the volume bonus. :3
And man, can I say that Raul continues to impress with his creepiness level? Outright admitting that he āexaminedā Kaito post-poisoning to look for evidence of sodomy so he could blackmail Vicente was pretty D: . Iām desperately hoping that 1) we get a POV from Vicente soon, and 2) Vicente stabs Raul.
I can see a couple of different options here. Maybe Raul was considering absconding with Kaito early, but the signal going up that Vicente was returning early caused him to reconsider and go with the original plan. Maybe heās concerned about any sort of scuffle in town drawing more attention than necessary, so heās waiting until everyoneās a bit farther away. Maybe heās got some sort of convoluted hostage situation in mind to force Kaito to the maximum to listen to his orders.
I get the impression so far that Raul is expecting our heroes to be heavily outnumbered, and/or not expecting a betrayal. So even if they do try to act, in theory it would be too late. Iām curious if our group will even get that far; Iām anticipating G&N turning the tables on Raul before they get to that point, considering they were going to try to sneak out with the gypsies.
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Ah, I remember thinking the same. It IS a really long chapter, but as you say, as lot is going down here.
I think I missed the part of Raul defending them from the thugs, maybe? Itās a blur now. But yeah, they just cut down the poor mayor and let him die basically. Ruthless! 
And, yeah, Raul is quite the character here; he knows how to play and manipulate others to his benefit and isnāt choosy about his methods in any way! ^^;
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Finished chapter 3; a nice Geoffrey POV. Our boys are going to be trapped in the back of a wagon for like two weeks, which gives them time to plan, I guess. Geoffrey is as shameless as usual; being stuck in a tiny moving vehicle with his love rival isnāt enough to stop the flirting, haha. āThis sign means I like you, this means I love you, and this one means I really REALLY love you.ā We get a nice scene with the sign language Sam taught them, which works out really well for communicating incognito here. Iām really just wondering how this is all going to work out; is Rick trustworthy? Will Vicente be able to catch up?
Started the next chapter and weāre back with Vicente, which is exciting. 
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I loved the sign language scene as well! ^>^
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Kaoto and Jeoffrey spoilers
The signs here is so easy that you instantly learn them: Kaitoās and Jeoffreyās morse code of love! <3
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Iām really curious about sign language of the time period now; the kind that Geoffrey described sounded pretty simplistic, considering the sign languages of today are full-fledged languages themselves. Iāll post here if I find anything interesting~
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I want to, but Iām frankly ok with something too unrealistic! I like this edge that Jeoffrey and Co haw Vincente! >:D
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Chapter 4 
Vicente POV as he arrives back at Pastrana. Thankfully heās already fully wary of Raul and pretty much puts everything he says into doubt, but our poor boy doesnāt have a lot of leads to follow. Looks like he may be able to meet up with Leo soon, though Leo isnāt going to know much himself.
Itās all so good. 
And it feels like there are way more illustrations than there were in previous books too. Random fact: the illustration for chapter 2 was, for some reason, one of the F&B illustrations picked to be represented on a clear card distributed at the publisherās last cafe event back in November. I have no idea why that particular illustration was chosen, but I was pretty shocked when I saw it here, haha.
Iām pretty impressed with Vicenteās self-reflection here; heās in a tough spot, loving Kaito so much, while representing pretty much everything thatās been oppressing Kaito for the last, like, four books. Makes me wonder what path heāll choose to take in the future. I have a feeling that heās going to have plenty of time to think about it as he chases Kaitoā¦
I wonder if Vicente will be able to have one last meeting with Kaito before Kaitoās able to (presumably) return to Englandā¦ I hope so.
At the rate this book is going, itās starting to look more and more like Kaitoās rescue might bleed over into volume 13. Unless we get a time skip or two, I suppose.
So I donāt have any real authoritative sources to link here yet, but from what I was able to find yesterday, I think ę¾å²”å ē is once again pretty accurate here. Sign language as a concept really only emerged in the 16th century, as before that it was believed that people who couldnāt speak couldnāt really think/learn. Monks were the ones to adapt the communication they saw between deaf people into a teachable system, albeit one that was pretty rough and sounded pretty similar to what was being used here: spelling things, with signs for commonly-used words.
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Chapter 5 finished off. Another long one, but it was a good one. Weāre still with Vicente; he successfully finds Leo, who appears to have been drugged (I wonder how common this wouldāve been back in the day; itās convenient narratively, at least). The gypsies have been rounded up, and the Duke of Pastranaās raring to have them all punished for the fire. Someone (Vicente? been a few days since I read this part) points out that the gypsies were somehow involved with Kaitoās kidnapping, i.e. fraternizing with Englishmen, which bumps their punishment up to āburn at the stakeā. Luka steps in and promises to answer their questions if the Duke will let the rest go. 
Vicente really shows his brutal side here; Luka answers a few questions, but it still holding back, which Vicente catches on to; the latter threatens the women and children if Luka wonāt open up, and Luka finally confesses the last tidbits he knows. Thereās not a huge amount, but just enough for Vicente to finally put together the pieces to peg Raul as the mastermind (actually mostly due to Raul outing himself, interestingly). He decides to trust in Alonsoās friendship and asks him for help in restraining Raul and having him lead Vicente to Kaito. Alonso points out that Raulās not likely to lead them the correct way, but Vicente tells him he can just drag Raul via horse until he feels like talking. 
Vicente confesses to Alonso about his loving Kaito, which bodes well for their future friendship, I think. Vicente would be good to have an ally, especially here, and Alonso seems like a great guy so far. Iām extremely excited to see how this is all going to play out.
I figured Vicente never really thought there was real danger; same as when Nigel and Kaito went to the Hoe: everyone falls into a sense of security after not seeing their main enemy for long enough, and you start to think, āwell, nothingās probably going to happenā. Which makes it extra devastating when it does. Of course, I wonder how Leoās going to take all this and growā¦
Totally agree! Alonso seems like a fun guy; kind of like a Geoffrey-lite, almost. Itās the hair I think Alonso was the one who really got Vicente thinking about his own feelings in the end, too.
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He sure did! O_O This is a really intense chapter I think, with how Vincente gets Alonso onboard, them overpowering Raul and puts him through real torture to make him comply to lead them to where Kaito is taken. Best part, is for sure, that Alonso and Vincente gets closer as friends. And that Leo is safe and sound. 
Still, things going well for Vincente, isnāt the same as things going well for Kaito & Co!
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Chapter 6 done. Man, I feel like I shouldāve been taking notes or something as I read; a ton happened. So taking an overhead view of things, we have these major events:
- Kaito talking with Geoffrey
- Kaito talking with Nigel
- Rickās cooperation
- Kaito finding out about G&Nās agreement
Kaito talking with Geoffrey: normally this would just be the usual flirting/talking, but interestingly Kaito rebels against Geoffrey here a bit, specifically in regards to Vicente. Geoffreyās his usual jealous self, to the point where he asks Kaito to toss the clothes Vicente gave him as soon as theyāre back onboard the Gloria. Kaito privately refuses, and pretty much just avoids the subject of Vicente as much as he can since he knows itāll set Geoffrey off.
Once Geoffrey leaves to go talk up Rick, Nigel comes over and chats. The interesting part here for Kaito is when theyāre headed back to the wagon, him hand-in-hand with Nigel, and Geoffrey doesnāt comment on it. Rickās agreed to help them, and Nigel takes a further opportunity to hug Kaito when he helps him up on the wagon, which intensely confuses the latter.
Eventually Kaitoās able to work out that G&N are vying for position of official ęäŗŗ, which Kaito is not appreciative of, haha. Let alone not being consulted in this, itās one more stress he really does not want to deal with on this journey.
Kaitoās pretty pro-Geoffrey here, for sure. He flat out says he like Nigel, but not like that. Child, donāt destroy all my hopes and dreams so quickly, please. : P Give our one-eyed mate a chance. Anyway, we close out with a coughing fit that knocks Kaito unconscious (less surprising when you consider he probably hasnāt eaten anything that day).
Man, as a Nigel fan I really, really hope he gets a chance to sway Kaitoās feelings, even if a little bit. I donāt want Nigel to be unhappy. D: Vicente is severely hampered by not being part of the main trio, so I canāt get my hopes too high, but dang it, Nigelās right there! Be bold! Iām hoping Kaitoās current over-the-top feelings for Geoffrey are more a product of stress + illness + thank god theyāve finally come to rescue me, and once things calm down heāll be able to say, āwow, Nigelās actually pretty hotā.
Lol, I just looked at the illustrations for this chapter. First of all, we get two. That never happens! That first one, man, Kaito is not looking thrilled about that kiss, haha.
Iām putting this entirely on his illness + stress. I can totally relate to this from certain points in my life where one or both of those things were overwhelming; stress especially just decimates my appetite.
I totally agree here. Kaito was, if nothing else, extremely honest about how much he loved Geoffrey to Vicente; Geoffrey needs to hear the fact that, to Kaito at least, Vicente is not the enemy of all mankind.
Aah, thank you for the save! I was wondering that myself.
Totally agree. Kaito needs to sit the two down and say, ālook, are you really going to be okay with this? You really shouldāve asked me first.ā From reading all of Nigelās POVs in the bonus stories, heās absolutely going to be devastated if Geoffreyās chosen, and I donāt see any easily healthy way for him to deal with that in the current situation. At the point weāre at now it just feels like setting Nigel up for failure.
Three, now that he knows about Vicenteās feelings. 
Anyway, I figure we readers just need to gently send vibes Kaitoās way. Everyoneās happy this way, right? Or at least, no oneās literally dying of heartbreak in the corner, haha.
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