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I finally reach the end of the common route, and I am finally starting to genuinely ship Chitose/Yukina.
Content note: blood and death (but not involving anyone we like)
--
Chapter 4
We're off to Aizu with Shin and Chitose to check out the rumours that the guy in charge of Aizu is readying for war.
Shin steals Chitose's water and Chitose just grumbles and puts up with it. In general Shin teases Chitose a lot about being young and stupid.
Yukina: Chitose is strangely docile with Shin
Koto: Kazutake is unbeatable with strength, and Shin is unbeatable with words. They get along, and there's nothing Chitose can do when the two unbeatable opponents team up. But in his own way, Shin has a soft spot for Chitose.
Yukina: It seems more like trying to get a reaction to me...
Shin: I don't bully Chitose! He's like a little brother to me <3 Didn't we used to cover for you as a kid, Chitose?
Chitose: All I remember is you getting me into trouble and Kazutake beating me up. Don't pretend to be affectionate, it makes me sick.
Shin: If you say things like that I'll have to tell Kazutake :/
Chitose: NO HE'LL BEAT ME UP
Shin you're like...pushing 30. Grow up.
In Aizu, they see Kabukimono: "Eccentrics who live for nothing but fighting and merrymaking". Their gaudy costumes are a dark omen of war.
Yukina: So much construction and preparation for war D:
Chitose: It makes me nostalgic for my childhood ^_^ Satsuma was at war with Hideoyoshi until about 15 years ago, so the guys in my clan would take me up into the mountains to watch the battles :D
Yukina: People were dying! Humans are such savages.
Chitose: I'm not saying I LIKE war. And...they're maybe not all savages >.>
She apologises for offending him, and he apologises for offending HER and they mildly bicker until Chitose is all I'M IN THE WRONG AND THAT'S FINAL lol. I like how they're both well meaning but reckless dumbasses.
As they return home to report what they've seen, they're attacked by Evil Demon Yachiyo and a band of strangely strong human soldiers....who one by one collapse, vomit blood, and die. Yukina tries to comfort them in their dying moments, as they cry out wondering why this is happening :(
Back in Yase, Kazuya's connection to Ieyasu has been revealed and Chitose is furious.
Yukina: I'm horrified too but I'm sure he has his reasons. Maybe Ieyasu threatened him. Or Kazuya thinks of him the way I do the elders. I'm sure you have someone like that.
Chitose: Yeah, if those guys would die without my help I'd...UH. NEVER MIND.
We see the same Masonobu scene as before, with Yachiyo reporting about the buildup in Aizu, and pondering whether the super-soldier elixir might not kill demons the way it does humans.
Chapter 5
Kazuya has gone missing! Shin, Kazutake and Chitose all make vague excuses about needing to leave to go deal with "things". Yukina follows to Fushimi, and her hawk Gin-o leads her to...Chitose! IN A HUMAN DAIMYO'S MANSION!!
Chitose: Oh. Hi Yukina D:
Huge bald dude: Who's this, your wife? :D
Chitose and Yukina: NO. DEFINITELY NOT.
Huge bald dude: LET'S GET DRUNK TO CELEBRATE YOUR MARRIAGE!!
The man introduces himself as Yoshihiro Shimazu, saying "Chitose is like a son to me. Call me old man Yoshi". He kinda looks like a Dragon Ball Z character:
EDIT: Omg he's literally a Pokemon character.
House Shimazu rules Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga on the southernmost tip of Kyushu, the island at the bottom of Japan.
Chitose gets drunk and falls asleep on Yukina's lap, and she eventually gives up on moving him and asks Yoshi why Chitose would break the demon commandment not to be involved with humans.
Yoshi: I never heard of any such commandment. Chitose's clan are like family to us in House Shimazu. One of us was even raised in the demon village.
Me and Yukina: !!
Yukina feels betrayed, but Yoshi says Chitose had his reasons. PARALLELS.
And then...Kazuya and Ieyasu show up!
Kazuya, totally ignoring the fact that Chitose is lying in Yukina's lap: SO YOU HAD A HUMAN FRIEND THE WHOLE TIME YOU WERE LECTURING ME AND KAZUTAKE, HUH?
Chitose: >.>
Interestingly the walkthrough says NOT to stick up for him, I guess cos it invades his privacy.
Evil masked demon Yachiyo attacks!
"Focussing all my energy into my grip, he pulls it from its sheath".
ONE POV PER SENTENCE, THAT'S ALL I ASK
Chitose, slamming his literally flaming sword into the ground to make an earthquake: RAGING FLAME EARTH SLICE
This kinda feels like final fantasy fanfiction. They did actually make a Hakuoki fighting game, didn't they? I wonder how silly it is.
Chitose decides he doesn't need strategy or intel if he just hits hard and fast enough to keep Yachiyo too off balance to use his "invisible weapon" (thin metal wires). This actually works... until Yachiyo throws gun powder on him, which does not combine well with the whole flaming sword thing.
Yukina forces herself to keep calm and try to figure out how to guy's weapon works before attacking...and so is tied up before she can even attempt to strike.
Chitose puts out the fire on his clothes and figures out the "weapon" can be cut if you hit it right. He rescues Yukina with his sword not flaming. But then Tokugawa soldiers rescue Yachiyo. Is Yachiyo working with House Tokugawa?? (Spoiler: yes. Kinda)
Yukina reluctantly agrees to let Chitose stay and protect his human friends from any further attacks, and goes back to Yase. She doesn't tell the other demons about Chitose's human ties.
She feels bad about lying, and tries to reconcile her dark opinion of humans with the friendly, open Yoshi.
Chapter 6 is tiny and path independent, so I skipped right through it.
And now I believe I am on the Chitose path proper, so won't need to skip any more! Hooray!
Chapter 7
Yukina goes to check on Chitose and is stopped by a stranger-
-who immediately starts cheerfully rough-housing with Chitose.
It's Chitose's human bff Toyohisa Shimazu! He's Yoshi's nephew, and the ruler of a province. But he grew up in Chitose's village and they're like brothers.
Toyohisa: Wait, you're a demon? The demons in the village were all male, so I didn't think female demons existed!
HOW. DOES THIS SOCIETY. WORK.
A letter arrives saying that a vote has been taken to officially denounce Ieyasu, with Mitsunari (Kazutake's human associate) setting himself up as the leader of the anti-Ieyasu faction, and Mori (Shin's human associate) siding with him. War looms closer, and the Ten Demon Alliance are all getting dragged in.
Ieyasu promised safety for House Shimazu in his castle if things ever got bad. But once they go there it's a clear symbol of their alliance with House Tokugawa. So to begin with, Toyohisa just goes to gather recon on the castle with Chitose. Yukina says she'll come, despite them both getting all But You're A Girl.
Yukina: I am a chieftain before that and it is my duty to keep an eye on you. I can protect myself.
Toyohiusa: She says she can protect herself, and demons never lie!
Yukina: Thank you for sticking up for me!
Toyohisa: Hey, you're Chitose's wife, you're like a sister to me.
Yukina: I AM NOT. HIS WIFE.
Toyohisa: You're no fun. You'd be good together. Don't you find him attractive?
Yukina: I haven't thought about it.
Toyohisa: Then give it some thought! As a female demon, what do you think of him?
Yukina: He's courageous, and a great leader...so I suppose he'd be attractive to the average female demon.
Toyohisa: HEY CHITOSE, YUKINA THINKS YOU'RE HOT
Yukina: THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID
Chitose, blushing bright red: NOW IS NOT THE TIME
At Ieyasu's castle, despite the promise of safety they are refused entry and then attacked by Yachiyo and a band of berserkers (demon super soldiers) Toyohisa and Chitose fight together like a well oiled machine.
Yukina: Fellow demons, why are you helping the bandit who harmed Princess Yase?
Berserkers: GRRRR
Chitose: JUST FIGHT THEM
Chitose manages to wound Yachiyo...who throws off his disguise to reveal that he is...
...kinda cute! In a mean looking kinda way. Also wtf are those metal discs, and is that makeup or is his skin naturally green??
Yachiyo: I may have given her too much of the drug. I can use it much better now.
He gives it to the fallen berserkers, who rises back to their feet stronger than before.
Yukina wants to get this guy so bad, but can barely keep from being cut down by the berserkers. Luckily, a human army approaches, so Yachiyo retreats to the castle before he's seen.
Back at Yoshi's house, Yoshi explains about hearing of the supersoldier elixir in Korea. They find out that Mitsunari has taken Toyohisa's cousin hostage to keep them in line. Since House Shimazu can't take refuge in Ieyasu's castle as promised, and will lose family if they don't align with Mitsunari, Yoshi decides to switch alliances to Mitsunari.
He and Toyohisa also agree that Chitose should leave. This is a human war, and Chitose should not get involved. Chitose is distraught, but has no choice but to head back towards Yase with Yukina. This is what she wanted all along, but she doesn't like seeing him so gloomy.
Chitose: I'm going back.
He offers no defensive justifications, but just calmly explains his decision.
Yukina: You're cutting ties with the other demons? D:
Chitose: No. But I am a demon born in the land of Shimazu. I'm not going to turn my back when my comrades are fighting for the honour of Shimazu. Please protect the village in my place.
Yukina: I understand. But I'm coming with you.
Chitose: I don't want to put you in danger!
Yukina: Don't treat me different because I'm female.
Chitose: That's not why! It's because it's you!
Yukina: What?
Chitose, blushing: JUST. GO BACK. OK??
Awwwww.
But she refuses to be swayed, and he accepts it with grumpy affection.
EDIT: Like a dumbass I looked up Yoshi and Toyohisa on Wikipedia to see what they really looked like and so of course spoiled myself for Certain Upcoming Events. But I also got to see Yoshi's canon Pokemon so, not a total loss.
I finally reach the end of the common route, and I am finally starting to genuinely ship Chitose/Yukina.
Content note: blood and death (but not involving anyone we like)
--
Chapter 4
We're off to Aizu with Shin and Chitose to check out the rumours that the guy in charge of Aizu is readying for war.
Shin steals Chitose's water and Chitose just grumbles and puts up with it. In general Shin teases Chitose a lot about being young and stupid.
Yukina: Chitose is strangely docile with Shin
Koto: Kazutake is unbeatable with strength, and Shin is unbeatable with words. They get along, and there's nothing Chitose can do when the two unbeatable opponents team up. But in his own way, Shin has a soft spot for Chitose.
Yukina: It seems more like trying to get a reaction to me...
Shin: I don't bully Chitose! He's like a little brother to me <3 Didn't we used to cover for you as a kid, Chitose?
Chitose: All I remember is you getting me into trouble and Kazutake beating me up. Don't pretend to be affectionate, it makes me sick.
Shin: If you say things like that I'll have to tell Kazutake :/
Chitose: NO HE'LL BEAT ME UP
Shin you're like...pushing 30. Grow up.
In Aizu, they see Kabukimono: "Eccentrics who live for nothing but fighting and merrymaking". Their gaudy costumes are a dark omen of war.
Yukina: So much construction and preparation for war D:
Chitose: It makes me nostalgic for my childhood ^_^ Satsuma was at war with Hideoyoshi until about 15 years ago, so the guys in my clan would take me up into the mountains to watch the battles :D
Yukina: People were dying! Humans are such savages.
Chitose: I'm not saying I LIKE war. And...they're maybe not all savages >.>
She apologises for offending him, and he apologises for offending HER and they mildly bicker until Chitose is all I'M IN THE WRONG AND THAT'S FINAL lol. I like how they're both well meaning but reckless dumbasses.
As they return home to report what they've seen, they're attacked by Evil Demon Yachiyo and a band of strangely strong human soldiers....who one by one collapse, vomit blood, and die. Yukina tries to comfort them in their dying moments, as they cry out wondering why this is happening :(
Back in Yase, Kazuya's connection to Ieyasu has been revealed and Chitose is furious.
Yukina: I'm horrified too but I'm sure he has his reasons. Maybe Ieyasu threatened him. Or Kazuya thinks of him the way I do the elders. I'm sure you have someone like that.
Chitose: Yeah, if those guys would die without my help I'd...UH. NEVER MIND.
We see the same Masonobu scene as before, with Yachiyo reporting about the buildup in Aizu, and pondering whether the super-soldier elixir might not kill demons the way it does humans.
Chapter 5
Kazuya has gone missing! Shin, Kazutake and Chitose all make vague excuses about needing to leave to go deal with "things". Yukina follows to Fushimi, and her hawk Gin-o leads her to...Chitose! IN A HUMAN DAIMYO'S MANSION!!
Chitose: Oh. Hi Yukina D:
Huge bald dude: Who's this, your wife? :D
Chitose and Yukina: NO. DEFINITELY NOT.
Huge bald dude: LET'S GET DRUNK TO CELEBRATE YOUR MARRIAGE!!
The man introduces himself as Yoshihiro Shimazu, saying "Chitose is like a son to me. Call me old man Yoshi". He kinda looks like a Dragon Ball Z character:
EDIT: Omg he's literally a Pokemon character.
House Shimazu rules Satsuma, Osumi and Hyuga on the southernmost tip of Kyushu, the island at the bottom of Japan.
Chitose gets drunk and falls asleep on Yukina's lap, and she eventually gives up on moving him and asks Yoshi why Chitose would break the demon commandment not to be involved with humans.
Yoshi: I never heard of any such commandment. Chitose's clan are like family to us in House Shimazu. One of us was even raised in the demon village.
Me and Yukina: !!
Yukina feels betrayed, but Yoshi says Chitose had his reasons. PARALLELS.
And then...Kazuya and Ieyasu show up!
Kazuya, totally ignoring the fact that Chitose is lying in Yukina's lap: SO YOU HAD A HUMAN FRIEND THE WHOLE TIME YOU WERE LECTURING ME AND KAZUTAKE, HUH?
Chitose: >.>
Interestingly the walkthrough says NOT to stick up for him, I guess cos it invades his privacy.
Evil masked demon Yachiyo attacks!
"Focussing all my energy into my grip, he pulls it from its sheath".
ONE POV PER SENTENCE, THAT'S ALL I ASK
Chitose, slamming his literally flaming sword into the ground to make an earthquake: RAGING FLAME EARTH SLICE
This kinda feels like final fantasy fanfiction. They did actually make a Hakuoki fighting game, didn't they? I wonder how silly it is.
Chitose decides he doesn't need strategy or intel if he just hits hard and fast enough to keep Yachiyo too off balance to use his "invisible weapon" (thin metal wires). This actually works... until Yachiyo throws gun powder on him, which does not combine well with the whole flaming sword thing.
Yukina forces herself to keep calm and try to figure out how to guy's weapon works before attacking...and so is tied up before she can even attempt to strike.
Chitose puts out the fire on his clothes and figures out the "weapon" can be cut if you hit it right. He rescues Yukina with his sword not flaming. But then Tokugawa soldiers rescue Yachiyo. Is Yachiyo working with House Tokugawa?? (Spoiler: yes. Kinda)
Yukina reluctantly agrees to let Chitose stay and protect his human friends from any further attacks, and goes back to Yase. She doesn't tell the other demons about Chitose's human ties.
She feels bad about lying, and tries to reconcile her dark opinion of humans with the friendly, open Yoshi.
Chapter 6 is tiny and path independent, so I skipped right through it.
And now I believe I am on the Chitose path proper, so won't need to skip any more! Hooray!
Chapter 7
Yukina goes to check on Chitose and is stopped by a stranger-
-who immediately starts cheerfully rough-housing with Chitose.
It's Chitose's human bff Toyohisa Shimazu! He's Yoshi's nephew, and the ruler of a province. But he grew up in Chitose's village and they're like brothers.
Toyohisa: Wait, you're a demon? The demons in the village were all male, so I didn't think female demons existed!
HOW. DOES THIS SOCIETY. WORK.
A letter arrives saying that a vote has been taken to officially denounce Ieyasu, with Mitsunari (Kazutake's human associate) setting himself up as the leader of the anti-Ieyasu faction, and Mori (Shin's human associate) siding with him. War looms closer, and the Ten Demon Alliance are all getting dragged in.
Ieyasu promised safety for House Shimazu in his castle if things ever got bad. But once they go there it's a clear symbol of their alliance with House Tokugawa. So to begin with, Toyohisa just goes to gather recon on the castle with Chitose. Yukina says she'll come, despite them both getting all But You're A Girl.
Yukina: I am a chieftain before that and it is my duty to keep an eye on you. I can protect myself.
Toyohiusa: She says she can protect herself, and demons never lie!
Yukina: Thank you for sticking up for me!
Toyohisa: Hey, you're Chitose's wife, you're like a sister to me.
Yukina: I AM NOT. HIS WIFE.
Toyohisa: You're no fun. You'd be good together. Don't you find him attractive?
Yukina: I haven't thought about it.
Toyohisa: Then give it some thought! As a female demon, what do you think of him?
Yukina: He's courageous, and a great leader...so I suppose he'd be attractive to the average female demon.
Toyohisa: HEY CHITOSE, YUKINA THINKS YOU'RE HOT
Yukina: THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID
Chitose, blushing bright red: NOW IS NOT THE TIME
At Ieyasu's castle, despite the promise of safety they are refused entry and then attacked by Yachiyo and a band of berserkers (demon super soldiers) Toyohisa and Chitose fight together like a well oiled machine.
Yukina: Fellow demons, why are you helping the bandit who harmed Princess Yase?
Berserkers: GRRRR
Chitose: JUST FIGHT THEM
Chitose manages to wound Yachiyo...who throws off his disguise to reveal that he is...
...kinda cute! In a mean looking kinda way. Also wtf are those metal discs, and is that makeup or is his skin naturally green??
Yachiyo: I may have given her too much of the drug. I can use it much better now.
He gives it to the fallen berserkers, who rises back to their feet stronger than before.
Yukina wants to get this guy so bad, but can barely keep from being cut down by the berserkers. Luckily, a human army approaches, so Yachiyo retreats to the castle before he's seen.
Back at Yoshi's house, Yoshi explains about hearing of the supersoldier elixir in Korea. They find out that Mitsunari has taken Toyohisa's cousin hostage to keep them in line. Since House Shimazu can't take refuge in Ieyasu's castle as promised, and will lose family if they don't align with Mitsunari, Yoshi decides to switch alliances to Mitsunari.
He and Toyohisa also agree that Chitose should leave. This is a human war, and Chitose should not get involved. Chitose is distraught, but has no choice but to head back towards Yase with Yukina. This is what she wanted all along, but she doesn't like seeing him so gloomy.
Chitose: I'm going back.
He offers no defensive justifications, but just calmly explains his decision.
Yukina: You're cutting ties with the other demons? D:
Chitose: No. But I am a demon born in the land of Shimazu. I'm not going to turn my back when my comrades are fighting for the honour of Shimazu. Please protect the village in my place.
Yukina: I understand. But I'm coming with you.
Chitose: I don't want to put you in danger!
Yukina: Don't treat me different because I'm female.
Chitose: That's not why! It's because it's you!
Yukina: What?
Chitose, blushing: JUST. GO BACK. OK??
Awwwww.
But she refuses to be swayed, and he accepts it with grumpy affection.
EDIT: Like a dumbass I looked up Yoshi and Toyohisa on Wikipedia to see what they really looked like and so of course spoiled myself for Certain Upcoming Events. But I also got to see Yoshi's canon Pokemon so, not a total loss.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 12:52 pm (UTC)Seriously, every new piece of worldbuilding information this route gave me made it harder to understand. Maybe male and female demons who get married live separately and each raise their same-gender children? And that would be why everyone is like, oh, you must be married, when Yukina visits Chotose's clan, because even married people only visit each other's clans occasionally?
(Cut to: Kazama patiently explaining to Chizuru that of course she's not going to join his clan, that's not how these things work, her sons will be Kazamas but she and her daughters will be Yukimuras and eventually will go off on their own and I guess Yukimura will be a female-led clan now so Chizuru had better learn to dual-wield...)
But this can't really work because: who was Chizuru's mother? And why isn't Chizuru part of *her* clan? Or maybe Yukimura is a rare mixed-gender clan and Chizuru's mother was also a Yukimura?
Yes I am thinking about this too much.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 01:33 pm (UTC)I am thinking about it with you! And your explanation is the only one I can think of that fits the data, but it's also...pretty bizarre. It does explain how mostly-female clans can exist while female demons are a minority.
Kazama patiently explaining to Chizuru that of course she's not going to join his clan, that's not how these things work, her sons will be Kazamas but she and her daughters will be Yukimuras and eventually will go off on their own and I guess Yukimura will be a female-led clan now so Chizuru had better learn to dual-wield...
Oh gosh. What a picture.
Yukimura Clan has to be mixed gender since Kaoru and Chizuru were raised together. We know boys and girls aren't always raised together since Toyohisa didn't meet any female demons growing up.
Actually! There is one other explanation I can sort of make work, stolen from Phoenix Wright of all things(*): clans are not strictly gender segregated, but they're patrilineal or matrilineal (Yukina etc seem to have grown up with a fair amount of sexism, if less than some other clans, so they're not matriarchal) And since it's harder to inherit/have power etc in a clan that favours the other gender, demons generally gravitate to clans that favour their own gender. Couples that married for baby-making reasons alone tend to divide the kids by gender and only see each other rarely. But there's people who stay in the other sort of clan: they love their spouse too much to be parted, only one parent wanted raising responsibilities etc. The Elders are an example of this: they stayed in Yase to raise Yukina, while their sons ran their patrilineal clans. Since female demons are a minority, and the patrilineal clans are especially sexist (or at least the Kazama are haha) there's usually a few male demons in matrilineal clans, but may not be any female demons in any given patrilineal clan.
The Yukimura clan is patrilineal (based on my memory of how Kodo talks about things like marriage), but Chizuru and Kaoru's mother stayed with their dad and raised her daughter as a Yukimura. This makes Chizuru extra valuable: she's full blooded and high born, but has no ties to any matrilineal clan, so will more naturally join any husband's clan and not take any daughters away. Unless she decides not to because you're not the boss of her, Kazama.
(*)Phoenix Wright has a matriarchal Japanese clan where sons tend to be treated as extraneous and usually leave the clan for wider Japanese society. One woman's husband was happy to be married to her when she was clan leader since "husband of clan leader" was pretty cushy and powerful, but when she lost her position he left her and married a regular Japanese woman. I googled to see if Phoenix Wright and Hakuoki might be drawing on some real life matrilineal Japanese clans but couldn't find anything.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-21 02:24 am (UTC)The Elders are an example of this: they stayed in Yase to raise Yukina, while their sons ran their patrilineal clans.
I am still wondering how they got to Yase, especially given that it involved leaving their families (or just their sons?). I like the idea that they were concubines of the previous Princess Yase but I have no evidence for that.
I do like the idea that spouses can sometimes decide to stay in their partner's tribe out of love.
Unless she decides not to because you're not the boss of her, Kazama.
And he'd probably completely respect her agency in the most arrogant and condescending way possible. (::wants that fanfic::)
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 02:51 pm (UTC)On further investigation, I found two interesting but rather unauthoritative posts about possible matriarchal (or at least less straightforwardly patriarchal) social structures in historical Japan, which was slowly eroded during the rise of Confucianism and then actively rooted out in the Meiji era. But it lingers in the sort of Shinto-based folk religion and myths that also include demons/oni, so I can see matriarchy having associations with the sorts of things the demons stand for to the Hakuoki writers.
So, I'm not sure how much I trust the scholarship of these posts, especially given the prevalence of shoddy and biased scholarship about matriarchies in particular (I looked into them years ago for a story I was writing and my friends with history/anthropology backgrounds made a lot of tired sighs), but there may be some truth to them? Which in turn gives some useful ideas for understanding how demons are being imagined to view things.
https://imomus.livejournal.com/314171.html https://mmstudies.com/matriarchies/japan/
no subject
Date: 2019-07-19 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-20 12:27 pm (UTC)Oh, good point!
no subject
Date: 2019-07-21 10:21 pm (UTC)https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195104677.001.0001/acprof-9780195104677
I haven't read it in a few years but I believe it includes examples from Japan and countries nearby. It's very sober and avoids exaggerated claims but does have concrete examples of women's leadership in places you wouldn't think to look for it.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-28 01:44 pm (UTC)Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2019-08-12 01:32 pm (UTC)http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101654.html
So maybe the scene where Sanan serves tea to Chizuru really is supposed to signal some kind of gender role nonconformity? Hm.