Feb 07, 2026

To:Jen_F

Yep it won’t be the comfortable forever retirement he worked so hard for, but it will give him a few years of peace to rediscover what he wants. maybe he simply opens a coffee shop or a flower shop somewhere…
Regardless, I hope you enjoy the final bits! your time with Kaho and Shuhei is ending, but this final moment is subtle, but it’s one of my favorite moments of Kaho’s. It shows just how far she’s come. It’s as much her speaking to her parents as it is to Shuhei. I’m not sure it’s how everyone expected things to go but I loved having her express herself and explain herself like this. thank you again for reading and commenting! I’m truly grateful and I hope you have enjoyed your time with our dear beautiful leads, ikebana’s beauty, and the wonders of Nikko.

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Feb 07, 2026

Exactly. that’s why I wrote these next couple of chapters. they both have to show how they’ve grown. Kaho has to show her herself, Shuhei, and parents that she is healing and can be a healthy, safe person. Shuhei has to reevaluate what he wants out of life, and restructure his plans. he has to prove to himself, Kaho, and her parents that he can be level headed, provide, and not fall back to those old ways. they’ve grown so much, but they need to step into it and acknowledge it fully, and start towards a new life.

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Feb 07, 2026

To:Jen_F

agreed. Reiji is a monster, but he’s not an idiot. so going after a high profile politician’s family would be foolish. and at the end of the day, in his own strange way, he does care for Shuhei and their history. plus he just got millions out of him, so that helps. for Shuhei, it is a pretty significant blow, because he lost like 85% of his savings. he can still have a comfortable life for several years, but it’s not the retirement he imagined. and it means he did all this for the last several years for nothing. but at least it led him to Kaho.

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Feb 07, 2026

To:Jen_F

They knew it would catch them eventually, but I think everyone expected it to just affect Shuhei. Poor Kaho was inevitably targeted as well though, but I liked how she scared off the attackers. it was also an important scene for her personally because it shows how drastically her relationship with cutting has evolved.

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Feb 07, 2026

To:Jen_F

Nikko is where their hearts and souls truly resonate, and it carries so much meaning for them, so I always wanted this scene to happen there.

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Feb 07, 2026

To:Jen_F

Exactly! It’s funny in real life, I love Tokyo. our best friends live there and we adore visiting. But in the context of this story, it’s almost its own form of antagonist for them. I truly loved writing that melancholy tranquility of Nikko’s mountains.

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Feb 07, 2026

To:Jen_F

yep he has struggled with this for a year now and it led him down a very dark spiral. Kaho saying he can forgive himself was her way of inviting him to think about it. I wanted this story to be realistic in that so many moments are resolutions towards issues, just progress. real progress and growth take years, decades, or lifetimes, so these snapshots are just capturing the hopeful shifts. and I agree, I wanted them to be fully humanly vulnerable and exposed together first before they were physically intimate, because i feel it makes it more romantic and passionate, and healthy that way.

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Feb 05, 2026

To:Jen_F

and I definitely wasn’t misty eyed writing these scenes. I truly adore both characters and Nikko so I was very happy to let them return together in such a different head space.

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Feb 05, 2026

To:Jen_F

as the saying goes, we are all fools in love. poor Kaho saw something out of context and it sent her mind spiraling.

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Feb 05, 2026

To:Jen_F

yep the dream has to end at some point. but I did like this chapter because not only did it give the club some more screen time, but it showed a very natural and organic growth of Kaho being more comfortable around people. even if Shuhei isn’t right there with her, she’s getting more okay with being around others. and she’s slowly seeing that some people do actually like her.

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Feb 04, 2026

To:Jen_F

I liked the idea that as much as they hate to admit it, there won’t be any cameras in Eden. once they get Kaho in, she actually would have some manner of privacy. and yep I wanted the spotlight aspect to have positive implications too, not just conflict. so the other Deaf girl celebrating Kaho was a small but important detail. it also is important for Kaho’s own journey to come more to peace with her of deafness.

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Feb 03, 2026

ok let’s fucking do this. I’m so excited to read this in its entirety.

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Feb 03, 2026

To:Lunarfly

agree. call this story a mountain rage for I only view peaks when I gaze upon it.

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Feb 03, 2026

Ok I can see your comments now about similarities in pacing and themes between this and Songstress.

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Feb 03, 2026

I’m intrigued by that dream conversation with the cat… maybe wildly off but is the cat the actual goddess?

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