“Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you.”

It was a lukewarm, sluggish Tuesday afternoon. The kind where chins rest heavy on elbows, and eyes gaze dreamily out the expanding window toward puffy, white clouds that resemble rabbits one moment and deer the next. Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby drifted lazily from the stereo speakers on my writing desk. A rustle of a whey yellow caught the corner of my eye. I turned and found my best friend leaning over me, one arm gripping the back of my chair, while the other held onto her sun hat, which rested quietly against her leg. Her head was bent slightly in amused concentration.

“What are you listening to?” she said.

“A song,” I said.

“What song is that?” she said.

“Coney Island Baby, I said.

“Never heard of it,” she said.

“Not many people do,” I said.

“But remember the princess who lived on the hill
Who loved you even though she knew you was wrong
And right now she just might come shining through
and the –

– Glory of love, glory of love
glory of love, just might come through”

I expected her interest to immediately shrivel and for her to leave, but she didn’t. I hesitated, thinking she would yank me up by the arm and twirl me away like Lien and Hai in The Vertical Ray of the Sun, but she didn’t. We just quietly bend our ears. I yawned and rested my chin in hand once again, ready to stir up visions in the clouds. Clouds that looked like rabbits one day, deer another.

In the windowpane, as if dissolved into the animal-mold clouds, was her tender, white reflection.

The song ended, the phone rang somewhere, she dissolved into the living room, and I remembered that it was time to queue in the releases. You’d be lucky to know where the title of this post comes from. Remember: It’s the original author’s first name. Do not forget. Google it. It will come in handy in time for reading.

I wouldn’t have known of this beautiful story if not for Rahxephon and my love of all things mecha when I was a teenager. Thank you, otaku boyfriend, thank you. Today made me remember the fragility of time and of this compassionate love story.

It’s already fall, but it still feels like summer.

– & (and) v2, ch.8: Okay, I have to say, this is totally NSFW. But finally, an adult romance portrayed with all the clumsiness, awkwardness, and vulnerability without being gratuitous or just plain stupid smut (where limbs are bent in all sorts of weird positions)! Still, it sure gave me and Lilanar a WTH?!@#$*%! moment, and I’m sure you won’t escape punishment either.

– Ane no Kekkon v1, ch.5: I felt my heart squeeze over the exchange Maki and Yori had in the library. Quite a stark contrast from the first chapter, where one had to suspend a little belief at the circumstances momentarily. I think this is going to get even uglier. It’s that broiling, anxious feeling you get from watching a trapeze artist fly off the pedestal board toward a swinging trapeze bar.
***NOTE: A slight hiccup during Quality Control. This chapter is actually missing a page. Unintentionally, of course. We’ll re-post this chapter with all the pages intact shortly.

– Torch Song Ecology v1, ch.2: Only the second chapter, and I feel already that the Ikuemi Ryo trademark has lived up to its reputation once again. Of course, the general atmosphere is dark and seething, reminiscent of Kiyoku Yawaku’s later chapters but a very, very different tone from her recent shoujo, Principal. I’m not sure how she’s able to gravitate between these two series without being a little bipolar.