Sorry Iāve really fallen behind with my Japanese reading, I want to do better with it this year so Iām trying to get back into it now. Iām planning on starting again soon but if I end up not making much progress donāt feel the need to wait for me. Iāll try and check in anyway though so you donāt get stuck with three posts in a row again.
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No worries! I know youāve been busy with school!
Sounds good! I think the announcement of a 25th volume has really lit a fire in me, so Iād like to get as up-to-date as I can before it releases, I think, just to have a fun goal to aim for. I donāt think itās likely Iāll actually be 100% caught up (especially if I keep reading the side stories in between main volumes), but Iāve wanted to kickstart my progress in the series again for a while now.
Chapter 6: I feel like this chapter best encapsulates my feelings on the Kazuya arc so far: Iām so glad we finally got a decent with Kaitoās entire family, but Iām ready to move on, to finally slip back in time. This chapter feels like an excuse for one last (? Unlikely) big feelings 
scene between the two boys, but honestly I didnāt think weāve really been getting anything new for a while now. Seems like Kaitoās acting skills have potentially leveled up, at least. Iām curious if Nigelās grandfather is going to assist in his escape after allā¦
Iām thinking this drawn-out drama between him and Kazuya has probably whatās been demotivating me to read; even after a break of a few months this doesnāt feel all that fresh, so Iāll be glad to move things along. Maybe itāll feel better paced for me in a future potential re-read if I donāt take as long of breaks, haha.
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Omg I didnāt know it was announced thatās so exciting! I was gettting a little bit worried we might get stuck at the 24th volume forever 
(also noticed the cake, happy birthday!)
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Thank you! 
Birthdays on Wednesdays are tough, but it was a good day. 
Right?! It was just announced this past December/late November, so the news is still super fresh. 
No clue on release date at the moment, but Iāll be sure to update everyone in the main home thread as soon as I know. 
Iām glad the author is doing well; last I heard years ago according to her Twitter she may have gotten a cancer diagnosis at the time, which is always worrying. 
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Interrupting my reading to once again marvel at @ekgās thoroughness in filling out the people/place mini-wiki in the OP. I thought I was finally gonna add something you overlooked with Papa Legba - Wikipedia, but dang, you were on top of it! (And now @pyororon gets to ponder how exactly that Wikipedia page is related to F&B. 
)
Edit: Chapter 7: Escape! Escape! Itās happening! Surely Kazuyaās going to be waiting at the Hoe; surely heās going to be there just in case the impossible happens. I really enjoyed this chapter; we return to action, to doing, and got some nice moments with Keisha and JP at the end. I teared up a bit at a few points. 
Kaito reminiscing on climbing up/down boarding ropes on the Gloria, him thinking of Nigel, him remembering a brief moment of time at El Escorial; perfect gathering of feeling.
The part where Keisha was telling him about Legba was approximately spooky and mysterious, I thought. 100% did not expect ę¾å²”å
ēās research to take her there.
I just canāt see how Kazuya will let Kaito go. Maybe he goes with him? For some reason I feel like he wonāt, but I donāt see any other way Kazuya would allow this, or at least follow in the future. Maybe he will, some books down the line?
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And done. Good lord; as always, her endings are never let up.
Chapter 8: wow, this was a ton to unpack. Kaito has a nice long conversation with JP on the helicopter ride to his house, then by car from there to Plymouth. JP gives Kaito a letter and a ribbon (Joanneās) to give to Nigel, and tells Kaito about his encounter with a fairy. Itās so interesting to see ę¾å²”å ē slowly but surely leaning more and more into the supernatural with this series; first the ććć«ćć¼, now the gnome that JP met, who gave him his eyes, the ability to sense wealth in the ground, and his shattered leg. It even ties together with the ććć«ćć¼ that was following Nigel and Kaito; was ę¾å²” planning all of this even then? Regardless of her plans, itās brilliant, and brings in the touch of fantasy that I adore with my books. Perhaps itās too fantasy for some, who, disregarding the whole time slip thing, are in it for the historical aspect, but Iām certainly not complaining.
Things go pretty smoothly, despite the police presence Kazuyaās brought down on Plymouth. Kaito meets a nice black man named Greg, who he gives Lilyās gold coin to in exchange for help, and then itās just Kaito, Kazuya, and Reevers in a showdown on the Hoe.
This sceneā¦went about as well as expected. Kazuya makes one final, desperate plea for Kaito to stay, even kissing him, but Kaitoās unmoved. Reevers standing there in the background wondering wtf was happening was hilarious. I find it really interesting that nothing was really resolved for Kazuya. I hope his ending line of Kaito being åŖćć, and definitely changing his mind and coming back one day, is more an indication of leaving an open end that ę¾å²” can capitalize on in the future, and not some sort of weird premonition of a mental breakdown on Kazuyaās part (which, sadly, I could totally see happening).
Speaking of mental breakdowns, Kazuyaās plan to pin Kaitoās āabductionā and year-long āimprisonmentā on JP was absolutely brutal, maybe the worst thing heās done throughout all this. I have to say, I appreciate that in a yandere. I really hope he comes back in some capacity in the future, probably finally getting tired of waiting and jumping into the time slip himself. Kaitoās conversation with JP about how willpower was the #1 requirement for opening the tunnel the second time onward and how it was Kazuyaās will that allowed Kaito to cross back over all felt really good together.
Chapter 9: short chapter, like is usual in her post epic-final-main chapters. Nigel and Kitās bargaining chip, leaking news of Walsinghamās son Thomasā debauchery, has suddenly died, leaving them in the lurch. (Thomas was some sort of relative to Walsingham in real life, as far as I can tell, though I donāt remember their exact relation. Thomas did not die prematurely, so this will be a å·®ē° if it turns out to be true.) The biggest question this left for me was the timeline: this reads like weāre picking up not long after the last time we saw them sometime in volume 16, but months have passed since then, at least in Kaitoās world. So either this just disrupts the timeline by jumping back, and ę¾å²”å ē is planning on making up the difference next book, or Geoffreyās already been in questioning for months. Iām leaning towards the former so far.
One more book and Iāll be caught up with @ekg. @pyororon: Iām planning on starting the next book soon; thereās another I want to read for my bingo board on Natively, but I know the dangers of not picking up a book in a timely manner, so Iām probably going to read a bit into the other one to get a head start, then start F&B 17. Hoping you can join me again soon, but no pressure if you canāt!
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Thanks, and Iād secretly love to get back to being involved in this convo, but for now, thatās simply not possible for now - just to let you all know - thatās my situation for now , with the emphasis being is that I AM THINKING ABOUT YOU ALL and I AM soooo HOPING THINGS WILL CHANGE in the coming months thatāll let me be more engage in purson. For now, I think sadly, this one message will be it for another time. Just bear with me, as Iām sorry and I love you all <3
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No apologies needed! Take your time and do what you need to do. Flesh&Blood and the rest of us will be here when you are!
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I really love you - and the rest of you to bits!!!
(not the least since job huntinig right now is bringing me down, but yeah, the fact that I got involved and had the fortune to meet you all on this F&B-thread will be precious to me forever more! No doubt about it! 
In any case, Iām still not reading, but just surviving life in general, so thatās my situation. Iāll let you know then I conqour reality and can do Japanese reading in the mean time. Love you alll! I really do! And miss our conversations so much!
I just donāt want you hoping for me to come back soon when that might not be it, but even half a year or more on the horizon. So, yeah, Iām posting this also you as a heads up of sorts that might or might now be changed if my life affords it!
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Ok took me way longer than I planned but I finally managed to finish volume 17. I had been very slowly reading a bit of it but last night I was able to sit down and read right to the end. I really need to work on my ability to balance more than one thing at a time but Iāve just about finished for the school year so I should be able to read more regularly from now on. I ended up describing the story to my roommates and they were like āHow could you leave off there?!ā so now I have to update them lol.
Some over the place thoughts (Spoilers for chapters 3-9)
The end of this arc! I enjoyed the return to modern day but I do have to say that the mental chess between Kazuya and Kaito going on for so long really stressed me out to read for some reason. And I knew Kazuya was going pretty yandere but omg he maxed out his stats in manipulation. I didnāt expect there to be more to how he got Kaito hospitalized. I thought he just lied to his family or the doctors or something, not going as far as stabbing himself in the hand and then saying that Kaito did it by accident when he tried to stop him.
Then Kaito finally manages to make his escape from the hospital with the help of Keisha and JP. We get a little bit more info on fairies and their relevance to the time tunnel through Kaitoās conversation with JP before he sets off for the Hoe to try and make his way back through the tunnel.
The fantasy stuff definitely wasnāt what I was expecting coming into the story but I donāt mind it, Iām glad it wasnāt just a one off with the ććć«ćć¼ and weāre slowly learning more about whatās going on.
This is what I was thinking the whole time too so I was surprised that Kaito was surprised he was waiting there.
Once he made it to the Hoe it seemed like things might be bad for a second with both Kazuya and detective Rivers waiting there. Kazuyaās lie that it was actually JP that kidnapped Kaito and he has stockholms syndrome from it made it seem like things were going to take a really bad turn. But it seemed like Kazuya hit a breaking point emotionally and wasnāt able to keep up the premise when push came to shove and he was faced with just how strong Kaitoās feelings are about going back to be with Geoffrey. I really liked the last line of that chapter, I think it was a good way to end off that arc.
Yeah I do wonder how things will turn out for him after this, I canāt really see him moving on and being a well adjusted individual after all of that.
The āWait whoās Geoffrey??ā 
I felt bad laughing during such an emotional scene but I couldnāt help it lol
It was really nice seeing Geoffrey and Nigel again at the end after so long (made longer by how long it took me to get to this point), although now it seems like the plans are going awry so getting Geoffrey out might not go so smoothly. I canāt wait to see how things are going to end up now that Kaito is back, I can already see myself crying when theyāre all reunited.
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Woohoo! 
Excited to see you again! Iām glad your roommates wanted to hear what was going to happen, too; let that peer pressure guide you, haha.
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