Feb 10, 2026
To:Jen_F
This comment makes me so happy. and your comment in discord one day when you said to the effect that Star Falls felt like a warm blanket, that was incredibly kind as well. it’s funny I don’t know if you’ve read my other stuff or see the jokes on discord, but I usually have very sad, heavy, brutal stories. and I’d just written Destroyers, which is by far the heaviest and saddest I think. so this story was a detox for me and also a challenge to see if I could write the gentle slice of life stuff I really enjoy. I actually don’t even watch or read action or shonen stuff. so I set out to write something gentle but still mature and somewhat somber. a beautiful melancholy. so that was my goal, along with treating this like ikebana and just going for one draft. I feel several weaker points and there are certainly things I could adjust, but I think I’ll leave this as is, just as tribute to this lovely moment in time, and the pensive, gentle headspace I was in during January. it’s funny, I’ve never even been to Nikko, and I actually adore Tokyo, but this story really allowed me to create some incredible moments in those mountains. so I think the Nikko portions dwarf everything in so many ways. and yes I think Shuhei ended up having the more complex arc. Katina journey is so subtle and mostly internal, rooted in self love and acceptance. Shuhei had that as well, but also had the intense external factor of dear wretched Reiji and Eden. I really adored my time with our beautiful leads and I love your idea of slice of life for them. I like to dream they open a quiet coffee and/or flower shop in Nikko. I think if nothing else, I’d like to do a few short story vignettes of some pleasant scenarios. thank you again for the read and engagement, I truly cherished it.
