"Flesh&Blood" Vol. 13 - Pirate Series Reading Club 🏮‍☠ â›”

“Flesh&Blood” series home thread

Welcome to the “Flesh&Blood” Vol. 13 Reading Club!

Back to Vol. 12
Forward to Vol. 14

Participants

  • I am planning to read this book
  • I am currently reading this book
  • I have finished this book
  • I am taking a break and will return
  • I have dropped the book and will not return
  • I don’t plan to read this book

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Please update your status accordingly whenever it changes.

Chapters

Chapter eBook % Physical
Chapter 1 3 % p. 7
Chapter 2 10 % p. 28
Chapter 3 18 % p. 48
Chapter 4 25 % p. 67
Chapter 5 33 % p. 85
Chapter 6 41 % p. 107
Chapter 7 51 % p. 131
Chapter 8 62 % p. 161
Chapter 9 70 % p. 181
Chapter 10 78 % p. 200
Chapter 11 84 % p. 217
Chapter 12 94 % p. 243
あべがき 99 % p. 256-257

Discussion Rules

Discussing anything is fine, be it about language questions, about the contents or about real historic events! Please state clearly which chapter (or roughly which percentage) you’re referring to, and please hide spoilers. Also, don’t forget the forum etiquette, of course.

Buying the Book

If you’re planning to buy the book on Bookwalker or Amazon and if you’re outside of Japan, you will need a VPN to buy them. Afterwards, you can download it to the app without the need for a VPN. I think you cannot read it in the browser without VPN, though.

Vol. 13 on Bookwalker
Vol. 13 on Amazon

Vocab sheet

Artwork from volume 13

Full color Extras

Spoiler warning!

Vol 13, ch 1, p 17

Vol 13, ch 3, p 53

Vol 13, ch 5, p 89

Vol 13, ch 7, p 143

Vol 13, ch 8, p 169

Vol 13, ch 10, p 207

Vol 13, ch 11, p 219

Vol 13, ch 12, p 249

Historical Figures, Events and Places

The book mentions a lot of real (as far as we know :sweat_smile:) historical figures and events. Here are some information resources on them. (Please be aware that if you want to go in 100% blind, these lists will contain some spoilers for you)

Please add Chapter, Page, if possible, when something is mentioned in the story.

Historical Figures and Groups

Caesar, Julius (Ch 4, p 73) Julius Caesar - Wikipedia
Celts (Ch 4, p 73) Celts - Wikipedia
Earl of Arundel (Ch 2, p 29 ch 2) Earl of Arundel - Wikipedia
Gaels (Ch 4, p 73) Gaels - Wikipedia
Huguenots (Ch 9, p 187) Huguenots - Wikipedia

The Royal Diagram

Places and Rivers

Arundel Castle Arundel Castle - Wikipedia
Buckland Abbey (Ch 6, p 120) Buckland Abbey | Devon | National Trust
Stratford-upon-Avon (Ch 6, p 119) Avon Shakespeare's Stratford | Royal Shakespeare Company + Shakespeare’s Birthplace

Historical Events, Things etc

Tristan and Isolde (Ch 3, p 58-59) Tristan and Iseult - Wikipedia
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Ch 6, p 113) The Hound of the Baskervilles - Wikipedia

Historical, geographical and other inaccuracies

“black irish” (Ch 4) Irish people - Wikipedia or Who were the Black Irish, and what is their story?

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Chapter 1 thoughts

spoilers ahead!
Kaito really needs to learn how to speak the truth. He’s been lying for over a year now to those closest to him. Continuing now, it’s about to break him I fear. There is not cushioning for something like this. Just out with it Kaito! You can do it! (my internal monologue as I’m reading this ^^; ) I also get frustrated by half-assed social interactions like this. Well, we’re clearly in for some more of this since Kaito just won’t say what’s wrong
.

If I’m going to be completely honest, I don’t think most men would allow this type of constant c-blocking from a partner. I mean, it’s just mean. Sure, your needs are your own and both need to be for something to happen. But, man, for over a year Kaito’s been dangling normal relationship closeness and sex in front of Jeoffrey, without reciprocating his needs as a partner. That’s just not ok. ^^; Poor Jeoffrey is again having to postpone his need and wishes from his partner. :cry

I do think Kaito’s waffling about this, says something not great about him. You need to take the bitter pill here/tear the plaster off in one go, that’s the best way to respect Jeoffrey’s feelings – because he really deserves to know the truth about this. :C

And, I also think Kaito is waffling about regarding Nigel. You can’t allow someone to continue to treat you as their love-interest if you have no wish to reciprocate those feelings, as a respect for the other, you need make clear that you won’t do so in the future either, to allow that person to begin their healing process. This is just prolonging Nigel’s suffering for convenience. :sweat:

Also, seriously Kaito, I know you’re bored, but working with food while having turbercolosis? Never mind worrying about spending the night in the same bed as Jeoffrey, how would some flimsy cloth protect the crew from your disease if you cook for them. :facep it’s all so wishy-washy! ^^; But, tbh, I now wonder why Kaito didn’t immediately try to help out in the kitchens since he didn’t know how to climb the riggings and adjust sails etc. Surely, that’s way more useful. XD Next up: kaito’s umi no cook no tabi no hanashi! (though, it seems his tendencies for day-dreaming makes that a tough road to travel! XD )

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Chapter 2 thoughts

Things have settled down a bit and they’re making their way back to Plymouth. Doing so is not without problems however, as Walshingham must be aware of Jeoffrey’s rescue expedition, and he might wanna take Kaito in for questioning and lock him up for safe-keeping after. :grimacing: That must be avoided at all costs! :triumph: So, Jeoffrey and Kit plan a diversion: putting Kaito and Kit (whose relationship to Walshingham isn’t the best right now ^^;) in a row boat, while the rest of them move up the Themes) :rowing_man: :sailboat:

Major spoilers again
Well, that’s only the beginning of it, as Jeoffrey will need to keep Kaito’s existence hidden from now on. It relies on Walshingham not getting news from Spain about Kaito having been taken back, as Jeoffrey will lie about failing with his rescue attempt. Jeoffrey gives some reasons why news might not get outside of Spain, but Jeoffrey is also banking on the upcoming war-efforts helping keep Walshingham and the court busy. There’s a lot that could not work out in this plan, as Kit points out. But, unknown to both of them, part of those loose ends actually are not much of an issue, as the reader knows! :eyes: Kaito lied about Raul attacking him and fleeing, so he’s still in Vincente’s custody and going to jail most certainly? As for Vincente, he willingly let Kaito go, so it’s not likely he’ll try to get him back on his own anymore. At most, he’ll return as part of the Armada later on, but he’s assuming Kaito will die soon. :sob:

Jeoffrey and Kit both sense something odd about how Kaito made his way back to them though. :eyes: It boils down to Vincente having had other options, but letting Kaito somehow go to protect him. That just doesn’t make any sense. In other words, Kaito’s lies are catching up to him! :sweat: They conclude that Kaito is indeed withholding the truth from them, though that might not be outright lying (sadly, that’s what he’s been doing all along, but yeah, white lies are also lies ^^; Still, with how week Kaito is at the moment, Jeoffrey intends to let him come forward on his own it seems. Good man, still trusting in your love! :heart: :face_holding_back_tears:

Well, Kaito hasn’t yet decided to tell the truth and that’s that. :woman_facepalming: He’s one, stubborn boy!

Also that final :question: is a bit


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Chapter 3 thoughts

Kaito and Kit are making their way to the shore. There’s a pretty interesting conversation about lies here, which hits close to home for Kaito. ^^ It’s a nice quiet moment between these two that hasn’t really been taking a lot on their own.

I wonder about this saying Kaito brings up: :thinking: ă‚Šă‚œăƒąăƒ›ă‚Šăƒ™ăƒł - uso mo houben? as in æ–čäŸż? ほうăčん - Jisho.org

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I happen to be with a Japanese person right now, and they said yes, the kanji is correct, and the meaning is that sometimes it’s even necessary to lie.

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Chapter 4 thoughts

I really like Ewan’s character. He brings such a positive vibe to this story! ^>^

Kaito’s thoughts again turn to Kazuya and what if he would arrive on the Hoe just like himself. Though, he really needs to stop that from happening and so start to try to piece together all he knows about how the timeslip happened, noticing the difference in time between his and Kazuya’s time: progress! :man_scientist:

There’s some talking about Gaels with Kit who shares what he knows abut language and traditions, like celebrated festivals. This feels like some important clues as to the mystery around Kaito’s timeslip! :eyes: Ngl, I didn’t fully parse what went down with all the time-stuff, but figure it doesn’t matter much if I get it or not. :sweat_smile:

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Chapter 5 thoughts

Back to Gloria, where just as Jeoffrey expected, they’re immediately upon ancoring in the bay, they greeted by the Warden on orders from Walshingham. Turns out they’re more than ready demonstrate their ability to act the role of depressed/disappointed sailors having failed a mission! I liked the chapter art for this one. ^^

lol, i just now realized that the Warden is actually called Tomas Ward ^^; but I still think he IS the port warden, isn’t he?

Anyway, they manage to be quite convincing, and then use misdirection to get Ward to focus less on Kaito, but instead the ship model they brought back, so solid intel about the armada. Then the rest of the crew joins in to hammed home the sense of loss they’re feeling. Poor Kaito!!! :sob: he finally leaves, when told the other spies might no longer wanna report back to Walshingham with Raul facing serious punishment.

Apparently, rumors starts to go around Plymouth after this, which I guess helps. Though it puts Jeoffrey in a bad light! I was hoping for a return of Lily and she’s even meeting them at the harbour! ^>^ Also, we get her last name now! Lily Fromm! (if Jisho’s name translation skills works) It seems they’ve gotten quite close, Sam having helped with the sign language and she having caring for Blackie among other things. But, Jeoffrey can’t be open about what’s going on even so. :frowning_with_open_mouth: Though, it feels like she’s onto them! :eyes:

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Chapter 6 thoughts

Well, their plan of misdirection seems to have worked out! Finally, Kaito can visit Jeoffrey’s (now finally built) mansion. And it’s to eat Joan’s delicious food to boot. I’ve been worrying about him refusing to eat, time and time again. Here, at least he eats normally. :relieved: Also, Kaito’s sweet-tooth confirmed! :3

p 109
I’m like super pleased with myself, for being able to read 曓る realizing it’s just a version of éœ§ă‚‹! :sob: Progress!!! :tada: 霧 - Jisho.org

Anyway, this chapter is allowing us to land for a bit. We get a bit more of Kaito saying stuff he shouldn’t now about (like mentioning lions! :lion: XD).

p 112
Also, it’s finally revealed what Nigel’s dog’s name means! It’s a shocker! (total click-bait! XD ) it means dog! :rofl: dog name discourse ahead! Kuu or Cuu ? is described as an old word meaning dog. It took some googling and clicking but I think it’s from Proto-indo-european, see hundur - Wiktionary. I think it would have made much more sense to name the dog “Hund”, since that would be the Norse word for it. The language roots for proto-indo-european seems highly unlikely that people would know anything about, ^^; (Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/áž±wáč“ - Wiktionary). But, I guess, as Nicole suggested, it sounds like Kuu (eat) so maybe that’s why it was really chosen? XD

Also, Kaito really needs to be up and open about what he feels and doesn’t feel at this point. Letting Nigel stew in the thought that maybe he still has a chance is just plain cruel. There needs to be some hard talk between them, when he explicitly push Nigel to move on and let him go! it’s certainly not enough what he’s doing right now.

On that note, there’s been building pressure all around from Kaito’s lies piling up.:sweat_smile: And it doesn’t take long before the night turn to situations where Kaito will need to face the inevitable questions about what’s going on with him. :eyes: dun dun dun

There’s some exploration of the second floor and then Kaito and Jeoffrey get to their room(s) for the night. :eyes: Ngl, I was impressed with the thoughtfulness of giving Kaito a space of his own and ways to just be alone if he needs to. ^^ Jeoffrey really is an attentive lover I feel in this instance. Also, this chat reads pretty much like a proposal to me! :heartbeat: :gift_heart: :cupid: :joy: Ngl, I felt moved to read about the chessboard Rufus had made for Kaito! <3 :face_holding_back_tears: I feel like he’s a real softie on the inside, that man! XD

Jeoffrey has even installed a bath much like the one Lily had at the inn. Kaito keeps waffling as to the elephant in the room and just don’t want to come out and say it, breaking the fragile sense of happiness and peace. ^^; Kaito likes to torment himself and the reader a bit longer, and on that note, the chapter ends. Get a grip Kaito! :man_facepalming:

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Chapter 7 thoughts

Time to get clean and maybe for Kaito to come clean? :eyes: :bathtub: We get another bath scene with Jeoffrey doing the bathing and Kaito pretending he can’t take baths with a cold. But, really his flimsy excuse of mask-wearing to make sure nothing happens before they’re safe, is all but gone. :sweat: I feel like Kaito is giving off so many conflicting signals that it’s quite understandable if Jeoffrey is getting fed up now. (well, not like that’s actually going to happen for real, but, yeah, Kaito sure knows how to kill any romantic vibes that may flourish. >_>

But, as much as Kaito doesn’t wanna say what’s wrong, his body has other ideas about things and so he’s having another coughing fit. Kaito’s not doing himself any favors by blaming Jeoffrey for asking too many questions about his increasingly strange behavior. Most lovers would feel dejected by their lover refusing to let you touch them, kiss them etc. It’s just painful to read, imo. :pensive: Just out with it already, Kaito! Turns out, it’s blood that’s coming out first. And only then, does Kaito fess up the truth.

That’s one lie confessed to, we’ll see about all the others. ^^; But, it feels like at least some of the weight has been lifted off Kaito’s shoulders now. If his time with Jeoffrey is limited, surely, they need to spend it open about themselves to make the most of it? :face_holding_back_tears: Even if it means first going through what went down with Vincente at the end as well and how painful that was, it’s for the best that it’s now out in the open. :face_holding_back_tears:

Well, this was a very sad chapter. My heart is bleeding for these two. I’m looking forward to Lily getting back into the story though. :slight_smile:

Chapter 8, thoughts

Lily is quick to catch onto Kaito’s need to talk to her alone. And so she chase out everyone else. XD I love the chapter art of her! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: She’s just great support really. In the end, it’s decided that Kaito is to go into quarantine, much thanks to Lily pushing this as necessary. Jeoffrey and Kaito will still be able to hang out, but this is all too sad. :C

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Chapter 9, thoughts

Well, Kaito is now living in quarantine and there isn’t much to be done. He seems to be living like a king though. XD And he’s certainly not alone. Apparently, they just open the windows for a bit to make it safer for Nigel and Jeoffrey to visit. :slight_smile:

But, Lily has her eyes set on Nigel, feeling he’s being a bit
like maybe he’s emotionally compromised ^^; because of the situation and she’s not sure what he’s willing to do around Kaito. :sweat_smile: Kaito thinks it might be related to Nigel’s loss of his mother.

Kaito and Lily also talk about all they now know about the timeslip-mechanics (sounds like a band name! XD), speculating that Kazuya might have the wrong day and thus nothing will happen eve if he were to visit the Hoe. All things considered, this was a very light-spirited chapter. I must stay I liked it a lot! ^^

Chapter 10 thoughts

I was not expecting the change of POV here, but we’re back in Spain! :astonished: And here we learn that Toledo managed to escape. It seems Vincente and Alonso are still friends though, which makes me happy. ^>^ And, while I didn’t like Raul as such, I kind of like the idea that he’s out there causing mischief still. :joy: I’m glad Vincente came away pretty lightly for his failure having Kaito and Toledo escape. But loosing his ship is a big blow for sure! :eyes: Then again, he was to sail under Sidonia in the upcoming war as his navigator, so perhaps, not as big a deal for the time being? :thinking:

Interestingly, not only Raul disappeared, but also Jan Griffith. :eyes: I guess, Jan has good reason not to stick around after handing over intel about the armada, as well as helping create ships that are wobbly and unstable. :joy:

I love how Alonso saw right through Vincente’s reasoning for letting Kaito go. ^^’ he knows exactly what Vincente gained by doing so :smiling_face:

These chapters are short!

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Chapter 11 thoughts

Major spoilers ahead
Back to Kaito’s POV! Well, first felt more like Nigel’s POV, tbf. ^^; He’s again visiting Kaito, playing chess with him, when Kaito gets another coughing fit, this one bad. :grimacing: Beautiful chapter art even if it’s so sad. :sob:

Nigel is not happy about how things are going, especially not about Kaito insisting on having Lily tending to him rather than a professional doctor. He just doesn’t understand that there is no cure for tuberculosis, not to mention, between the 2 of them, they know more about medical science than anyone else in this era (anatomy isn’t even discovered yet). :C Jeoffrey, fully understands their plight however and so wants Kaito’s wish to simply be respected here.

I wonder if you could get ginger in England back then? :thinking:

After Lily returns with something for Kaito’s throat, though it’s just herbal stuff with no real effect, I guess it might ease things a bit, they chat for a bit about Nigel’s outburst. But also, the talk turns to the idea of getting Kaito back to his own time, where Streptomycin exist! :eyes: It’s Lily that brings up the idea. Good woman! <3 There’s been some foreshadowing before for sure, but how that might work out, is still a mystery! Not to mention, Kaito doesn’t wish to leave Jeoffrey behind. :sob:

Tough decisions are clearly coming up. Later that night, Kaito again finds himself dreaming about Kazuya, being on the Hoe as the detective finds him. Kazuya is convinced he’s got the timing right and that he’ll be able to make his own timeslip happen! O_O Lol, he’s like one of those evil masterminds that have to confess his plot to Detective Levis! XD Who obviously finds this all to interesting a conversation. ^^ Then the fairy ring really does appear! Before Kaito can do anything about it, Kazuya has made his way through!

Kaito wakes up with the burning need to get to Kazuya on the Hoe. He decides to simply sneak out the back, when Jeoffrey finds him. When is this boy ever going to learn that sneaking around and hiding the truth isn’t helping his case? ^^; Well, ruckus gets Lily on the scene suddenly Kaito has a supporter as to why he needs to go check on things. Jeoffrey is way too understanding here, I guess, he just gets that Kaito’s sense of urgency is real and so wants to be supportive? In any case, Kaito and Lily is off on horseback!

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Chapter 12 thoughts

Well, Jeoffrey is understandably perplexed by Kaito’s sudden demand: just what’s going on with that hill anyways. He’s also starting to see that it was a lie the first time Kaito went back there also, with Nigel, but what really is his reason eludes him. It wouldn’t sit well with me, knowing that your love is keeping important truths from you, while somehow having shared that secret with a much more shallow acquaintance like Lily. Kaito, get wise and show some concern for Jeoffrey’s feelings sometimes. :sweat: No wonder he’s feeling so insecure and like Kaito might leave him. :cry: As it stands, Jeoffrey feels like he has to confront Kaito to get to the truth, much like in the bath, since Kaito refuse to stop lying on his own.

In any case, Jeoffrey, Kaito and Lily make their way to the Hoe. And after much drama, don’t find Kazuya stranded there. Obviously, this whole episode can’t go unexplained. Lily tries to cover for Kaito, saying he might be running a fever, by why she allowed him to go outside doesn’t make sense then. And their respective lies doesn’t match up either, Jeoffrey is defo onto them both now for lying to him, even as he doesn’t understand about what!

More beautiful chapter art, even though it’s sad. :face_holding_back_tears:

Well, that was the end of this book, on a mild cliff-hanger. More like, there is so much unresolved tension going on now that it’s hard to not hope for that bubble to burst! XD

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Okay-dokey, it’s time I started F&B13~ I got through chapter 1 this morning; seems things are still pretty stressful for Kaito, even though he’s finally back onboard the Gloria. Kaito’s decided that sleeping in the lumber room is probably safest health-wise, and Geoffrey is having a hard time accepting the fact that he’s finally got Kaito back but isn’t able to spend time with him the way he would like. In particular it seems like Geoffrey’s sleep is suffering again.

Nigel continues with his pursuit, but Kaito’s not really swayed by it. :frowning: Poor Kaito feels more awkward than anything about it; he mentions needing to sit down with Nigel and tell him it won’t work out, which is probably for the best. I’m sure Nigel wouldn’t want to be led on, and the sooner everyone can be on the same page the better.

We unexpectedly get a bit of insight into Kaito’s mother, ć‹æ”; at this point Kaito’s matured enough and able to put enough distance between him and his former living situation to be able to examine his relationship with his mother in a more objective light. I appreciated that his mother isn’t going to just remain some goblin in his past. Makes me wonder if it’ll become relevant again with Kazuya attempting to contact Kaito


Right? Hahaha, I was thinking the same thing. Do you really think you should be handling food, Kaito?

I wonder how explosive their return to Plymouth is going to be. :sweat: Kaito’s got a lot on his chest, and none of it’s going to be fun to hear for anyone


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Well, I couldn’t help myself and work’s been thankfully slow, so I went ahead and read through chapter 2 as well. Kit and Geoffrey are discussing their plans about what to do when they return home to Plymouth; Geoffrey doesn’t want to hand Kaito over to Walsingham, so he plans on hiding Kaito and telling Walsingham he died. They also discuss their misgivings about what Kaito said when he “got away from” Vicente; ultimately they both agree that Kaito’s still hiding something, but Geoffrey doesn’t want to push him.

Geoffrey gets to chat with Kaito a bit; Kaito brings up Geoffrey’s missing key to his sea chest, and Geoffrey says they used a copy that Nigel had on him. I thought it was a little odd that Kaito didn’t mention he’d lost Geoffrey’s set of keys, and Geoffrey didn’t tell him they found them, though. The chapter ends with Geoffrey wondering to himself if Kaito’s really 100% his. Man, I’m ready for some discussion about all these secrets myself; the air definitely needs to be cleared.

Ominous, right?

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And chapter 3. What can I say, these chapters are short. Kaito and Kit set off on the plan to pretend Kaito didn’t make it back from Spain and get to chat a bit in the meantime. To be honest, I had a bit of trouble following their talk about lies and their acceptability; I’m not sure if I’m just losing steam or if the conversation was indeed harder. Kit at least did talk to Kaito about having a talk with Nigel so he didn’t keep leading the poor guy on, and he seemed to be fishing for information about what happened at the end back at Spain as well.

I’ve been making notes about all the references I’ve come across; I need to go back and add those before too long.

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lol my own comment for chapter 3 was super short. But, reading it now I do remember liking having Kit and Kaito on their own for a bit - because they’ve rarely been talking among themselves like this. I also think talking to Kit would help Kaito decide course of action moving forward from there, being an outside party so to speak. And Kit’s life as an informant for Walshingham means he knows all about lying and living with lies. Kaito, in comparison, is new to the experience of having to keep so much hidden from people around him. :thinking:

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That’s a good thought; Kit’s going to be able to offer a perspective that G/N (probably) wouldn’t be able to. I may need to revisit that section and see if a night’s sleep clears anything up for me; it seemed like a really interesting conversation.

I finished chapter 4. More Kaito and Kit talking, which was pretty nice. The boat decides to have a picnic as they wait for night to fall, and Kaito thinks about the last time he had a picnic, which was with Kazuya. He gets pretty nostalgic for the old days, and his thoughts turn to trying to figure out the timing for when Kazuya’s aiming to cross over. This leads into quite a bit of academic discussion with Kit, first about the Gaels in general, then talking about their calendar. Kaito finally broaches the subject of fairies, which the whole boat cracks up about. Kit doesn’t know much about it. All he knows is that on the last day of the Gaelic calendar, October 31, the barrier between our world and the faeries’ world disappears.

It was pretty interesting when Kaito noticed the time differences in his dreams: it’s apparently been about seven months since he landed in Plymouth, but eight for Kazuya. Kaito wonders if he’s somehow having dreams of Kazuya’s future, which is really interesting. I’m not sure how 束ćȡ慈生 could use that from a story perspective, though
 I figured the time stream’s just not the same, hence the temporal difference, but I guess we’ll see.

We also learn a little bit about Nigel’s family and name meaning in Gaelic (the name’s origin can mean “knight” or “protector”, which is neat). Apparently, his mother’s side of the family has some Irish blood in them. Also interesting is the fact that his maternal grandmother is mentioned; I don’t believe you read this @ekg, but in èȘ“い, the story printed in the first Flesh&Blood doujinshi, Nigel mentions that his grandmother would warn his mother not to play alone on the Hoe, since faeries would kidnap her, and so Nigel’s never liked coming to the Hoe alone. Could just be the standard “don’t misbehave child” warning, but very interesting given the context here. I wonder if Kaito will be able to chat with Nigel about this? :eyes:

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i didn’t know that bit! :eyes: Super interesting. I love that headcannon. it would nicely fit into the sort of warning you give to children, but specifically for this scenario! ^>^ :fairy:

Yeah, the convo between Kaito and Kit here seems significant as there is more explaining of what’s going on with Kaito’s dreams.

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Phew, this book is too good. I don’t know if my reading leveled up recently or what, but it’s just easy to say “one more chapter” and not feel strained. Also makes it harder to stop, unfortunately(?). Read chapters five and six this morning; I would read more, but I’m pretty sure I need to actually do some work today. :cry:

Anyway, chapter five sees Geoffrey and co. carrying out their plan to trick Lord Ward/Wald/Walsingham’s messenger, which they pull off with aplomb. So much so that Hugh actually gets caught up in it all and begins the cry, haha. Seems ă‚Šă‚©ăƒŒăƒ‰ leaves not only convinced, but rather panicked about the danger of Raul being questioned by the Spanish king now that Vicente knows he’s an English spy. Lily shows up at the docks to ask after Kaito, which was really sweet. In the book 束ćČĄ wrote that as the owner of a brothel normally she wouldn’t be allowed to walk around town; I wonder if that’s true? Anyhow, it seems Geoffrey still harbors a grudge against her for her part in Kaito’s kidnapping, despite her help in Sam teaching them sign language and her looking after Blackie. I’m looking forward to Kaito meeting her again and putting her mind at ease. :3

Hard agree; unshaven, drunken, angry Geoffrey was a good choice imo, haha.

In chapter six, Kaito, Geoffrey, Kit, and Joe are all gathered at Geoffrey’s manor, and Kaito gets to experience the flavor phenomenon that is Joe’s cooking, haha. Things end on a bit of an iffy note, though; this being Geoffrey’s house, Nigel’s well aware of what kind of activities Geoffrey would like, and Kaito’s not really helping things. Please, just talk to Nigel and air it all out, Kaito. Nigel gets a ton of POV time in the short stories, so I know exactly what’s going through his head, and it’s too painful. :cry: Ugh, you need to take action soon or something, Nigel, please. On that note, I had a question about something Kaito thinks to himself about Nigel; it’s just before he and Geoffrey leave the table:

ïŒˆăƒŠă‚€ă‚žă‚§ăƒ«ă‚’ć‚·ă€ă‘ăŸăăȘă„ăŁăŠæ€ăŁăŠă‚‹ă€‚ăă‚ŒăŻć˜˜ă˜ă‚ƒăȘă„ă€‚ă§ă‚‚ă€æœŹćœ“ăŻćœŒă«ć†·ăŸăă™ă‚‹ă“ăšă§ă€è‡Șćˆ†ăŒć«Œă‚ă‚Œă‚‹ăźăŒèŸ›ă„ă ă‘ă˜ă‚ƒă€‚ă€‚ă€‚ïŒ‰

I don’t think I was following that second sentence there. Immediately after that Kaito reprimands himself for thinking like that and toying with Nigel’s emotions. Is he saying that he’s more afraid of essentially losing Nigel’s friendship/being disliked by Nigel if he comes out and says he’s not interested in him?

On a lighter note, we find out a bit more about ă‚ŻăƒŒâ€™s name; apparently it’s an old word for “dog”. Joe’s apparently one of those people, haha. Even Kaito comments on it. I wonder what word Joe’s referring to, though. I’ll have to do some research if I can remember


Anyhow, Kaito goes to see the bedroom Geoffrey set aside for him, right next to Geoffrey’s own, and it’s very nice. In particular, Rufus carved Kaito a chess set as thanks for the money he gave to Rufus and the other sailors to use for their marriages. Geoffrey and Kaito go to take a bath, and the ending of this chapter is dedicated to Kaito’s inner turmoil in whether to tell Geoffrey the TB news or not. Man, this next chapter is going to be so awkward, aaaagh. :sweat:

Whoah, thanks for doing all that research already! Yeah, I totally agree, Kuu (or however Joe spells it in-book) just does not seem like the obvious thing to name the dog if he’s going for “old English word”. :rofl: I would’ve though Hund or something as well a better name.

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I would assume it could be more about her being socially shunned? So, not being “allowed” might not be the right word? :thinking:

Yeah, something to that effect. My attempt at a translation: “It’s no lie that I don’t want to hurt Nigel. But, actually, it would be too painful for me to become hated by him after giving him the cold shoulder.”

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