KKM Novel 4, Post 1
I'm back! And I'm really kind of hooked on these, can you tell? But this is the last novel I have for now, so soon you will get a break. I will probably order another batch in the July-September timeframe, depending on how long my patience holds out. The prologues are becoming my favorite parts...
Prologue
Honestly, Shibuya!
Not that I wasn't grateful to you for helping me out with those two thugs, but I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I do not have "victim" written across my forehead.
That was the first time I've ever been stuck in such a situation, and I've never yet been robbed. And how in the world did you manage to come to the conclusion that grades are my one and only concern? Me, a model student? You don't know me at all, so please stop trying to pigeonhole me!
I admit, I look pretty unimpressive. But to train my body and spirit, I've been studying budo, and karate... by correspondence course.
But back on topic! Not even I myself know the answer to the question of who I am. I don't need to grasp at some label you've invented for me, especially not one you've just made up out of thin air.
Who knows who he or she really is, anyway? No one. Otherwise all those self-discovery books would never have made the best seller list.
And what if I were to turn the tables and ask you the same question, Shibuya? Who are you? Why were you born? Why do you live?
You're not actually thinking that over now, are you? I just finished telling you: No one can answer that question.
Introductory Fanservice
The first part of the novels is generally always the same. There's tons and tons of fanservice thrown in with Yuuri's explanation of our story so far. It's always good; I will illustrate from page 1.
Did I drown? Have I kicked the bucket? Is that why I can't breathe?!
"Your Majesty, please wake up."
Lord Weller was leaning over me. Despite the early hour, his face was not the least bit swollen, his hair was perfect, and his smile was as refreshing as always.
"You really shouldn't call me 'Your Majesty.'"
"Pardon me, it's the force of habit. But your alarm clock has rung three times already."
I glanced at my wristwatch; it was eight o'clock in the morning. It was also November 30, the first month of winter according to the local calendar. Since the days in this world were also divided into 24 hours, my watch never became noticeably off.
[Yuuri explains book 3 in two paragraphs.]
Conrad wiped his thumb over the corner of my eye as I tried to drag myself out of bed.
"Did you dream of that dolphin again?"
"Something like that."
[Yuuri briefly explains who he is. And by the way, Yuuri seems to be deathly afraid of dolphins -- even before his Sea World experience. Conrad seems to have caught onto that, there.]
"It's been four months now," I sighed. "Hey, wait a minute! No wonder I nearly suffocated! What is Wolfram doing in my bed?!"
I looked into the face of a sleeping angel. Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld had his arms and legs slung around me, and had thus sabotaged my beauty sleep. His body was wrapped in a frilly silk nightdress.
"This is going too far! My God, if Günter were to see this!" I ranted.
"You called for me, your Majesty?!" cried out Lord von Kleist, and hammered on the wooden bedroom door from the outside. I would assume his face was contorted with anxiety and impatience, and that his hair was wildly disheveled.
"Your Majesty, what is it, your Majesty?! Please open the door! Please open the door right now!"
Conrad, my caretaker and bodyguard in one, who I could count on always and anywhere, rolled the sleeping Wolfram onto his side. "I locked the door. Better safe than sorry," he grinned.
"That's very good. You are my savior."
I changed quickly into the jogging suit that had been specially made for me. It was green with two thick white stripes, and I could move around in it a lot more comfortably than in the official black garb of the king, which looked like a Japanese school uniform.
"I'm going for a run!" I shouted to Günter as I rushed quickly through the door and past him.
"What are you doing in his Majesty's bedroom?! And on top of that, in his bed?!" screeched Günter hysterically behind me.
As I saw to it that I got away from that room -- which was going to turn into a battlefield at any moment -- as soon as possible, I asked myself the same question: why did Wolfram have to set up camp in my room, of all places? Surely there was a guest room or two free in this giant palace.
And why the heck was he even still here in Blood Pledge Castle? His home base should have been the Bielefeld region. This castle with the creepy name was actually my kingly domain. Yes, it's true, Yuuri Shibuya, your everyday baseball boy, was named ruler of an entire empire before the age of 16.
[Yuuri explains some more, then complains that it's so cold outside it hurts to breathe and his eyes are watering.]
"Are you okay?" asked Conrad, who was jogging next to me. This was a question he asked me quite often.
"What do you mean? I'm fine."
[Yuuri explains some more, meets Nicola, and they all end up back at Yuuri's bedroom.]
"I want to know why you spent the night in his Majesty's chambers!" Günter clamored furiously.
"Yuuri proposed to me! It goes without saying that he would share his room with me."
Oh yeah? That's not how I see it.
"Engaged is not the same as married!" Günter countered. "What abysmal shamelessness, to spend the night together before the wedding!"
Wolfram ran his hand through his sleep-touseled hair. "Listen up everyone, the 150-year-old has spoken! That attitude is so outdated!"
Well, out of the mouth of an 82-year-old, that didn't seem particularly convincing. I held my tongue, since I had no desire to get stuck in between them. Demons generally lived very long lives and were about five times older than they looked.
Conrad, who also had no wish to get involved in their argument, shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Just because the boys spend the night in the same room, doesn't mean there needs to be such a riot over it," he murmured.
"Before you all get going again, I have a question," I grumbled. "Why isn't anyone bothered that we're both guys?!"
With one hand rubbing her round stomach, Nicola asked quietly, "But wait, you're together with Gwendal, right?"
"That was only a misunderstanding!" I moaned.
Günter and Wolfram gravely endorsed my statement. Only Conrad convulsed with barely repressed laughter.
Then Greta shows up. As far as I can tell, this is a turning point for Wolfram -- it's from here on that his suspicions of Yuuri cheating on him get the better of him, and he starts calling Yuuri "cheater" like he does in the anime. I'm a little concerned here; I found another translation of excerpts from a fan-made Chinese version online where there are whole paragraphs of Wolfram-oriented fanservice that are not in the German version at all. I'd say, in the German version Wolfram comes across as needier -- or just as needy, but a little more mature. Like, his brattiness is young adult brattiness rather than childish brattiness? Makes you think more. Anyway. Conrad saves Yuuri, Yuuri twists his ankle, Conrad takes off his shoe and feels for damage... then they go to see Giesela. Yay, Giesela! But I want to do it justice, so I'll stop here for tonight.
Next time, Giesela, Conrad explaining coming of age, and Anissina/Gwendal. :)
Prologue
Honestly, Shibuya!
Not that I wasn't grateful to you for helping me out with those two thugs, but I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I do not have "victim" written across my forehead.
That was the first time I've ever been stuck in such a situation, and I've never yet been robbed. And how in the world did you manage to come to the conclusion that grades are my one and only concern? Me, a model student? You don't know me at all, so please stop trying to pigeonhole me!
I admit, I look pretty unimpressive. But to train my body and spirit, I've been studying budo, and karate... by correspondence course.
But back on topic! Not even I myself know the answer to the question of who I am. I don't need to grasp at some label you've invented for me, especially not one you've just made up out of thin air.
Who knows who he or she really is, anyway? No one. Otherwise all those self-discovery books would never have made the best seller list.
And what if I were to turn the tables and ask you the same question, Shibuya? Who are you? Why were you born? Why do you live?
You're not actually thinking that over now, are you? I just finished telling you: No one can answer that question.
Introductory Fanservice
The first part of the novels is generally always the same. There's tons and tons of fanservice thrown in with Yuuri's explanation of our story so far. It's always good; I will illustrate from page 1.
Did I drown? Have I kicked the bucket? Is that why I can't breathe?!
"Your Majesty, please wake up."
Lord Weller was leaning over me. Despite the early hour, his face was not the least bit swollen, his hair was perfect, and his smile was as refreshing as always.
"You really shouldn't call me 'Your Majesty.'"
"Pardon me, it's the force of habit. But your alarm clock has rung three times already."
I glanced at my wristwatch; it was eight o'clock in the morning. It was also November 30, the first month of winter according to the local calendar. Since the days in this world were also divided into 24 hours, my watch never became noticeably off.
[Yuuri explains book 3 in two paragraphs.]
Conrad wiped his thumb over the corner of my eye as I tried to drag myself out of bed.
"Did you dream of that dolphin again?"
"Something like that."
[Yuuri briefly explains who he is. And by the way, Yuuri seems to be deathly afraid of dolphins -- even before his Sea World experience. Conrad seems to have caught onto that, there.]
"It's been four months now," I sighed. "Hey, wait a minute! No wonder I nearly suffocated! What is Wolfram doing in my bed?!"
I looked into the face of a sleeping angel. Lord Wolfram von Bielefeld had his arms and legs slung around me, and had thus sabotaged my beauty sleep. His body was wrapped in a frilly silk nightdress.
"This is going too far! My God, if Günter were to see this!" I ranted.
"You called for me, your Majesty?!" cried out Lord von Kleist, and hammered on the wooden bedroom door from the outside. I would assume his face was contorted with anxiety and impatience, and that his hair was wildly disheveled.
"Your Majesty, what is it, your Majesty?! Please open the door! Please open the door right now!"
Conrad, my caretaker and bodyguard in one, who I could count on always and anywhere, rolled the sleeping Wolfram onto his side. "I locked the door. Better safe than sorry," he grinned.
"That's very good. You are my savior."
I changed quickly into the jogging suit that had been specially made for me. It was green with two thick white stripes, and I could move around in it a lot more comfortably than in the official black garb of the king, which looked like a Japanese school uniform.
"I'm going for a run!" I shouted to Günter as I rushed quickly through the door and past him.
"What are you doing in his Majesty's bedroom?! And on top of that, in his bed?!" screeched Günter hysterically behind me.
As I saw to it that I got away from that room -- which was going to turn into a battlefield at any moment -- as soon as possible, I asked myself the same question: why did Wolfram have to set up camp in my room, of all places? Surely there was a guest room or two free in this giant palace.
And why the heck was he even still here in Blood Pledge Castle? His home base should have been the Bielefeld region. This castle with the creepy name was actually my kingly domain. Yes, it's true, Yuuri Shibuya, your everyday baseball boy, was named ruler of an entire empire before the age of 16.
[Yuuri explains some more, then complains that it's so cold outside it hurts to breathe and his eyes are watering.]
"Are you okay?" asked Conrad, who was jogging next to me. This was a question he asked me quite often.
"What do you mean? I'm fine."
[Yuuri explains some more, meets Nicola, and they all end up back at Yuuri's bedroom.]
"I want to know why you spent the night in his Majesty's chambers!" Günter clamored furiously.
"Yuuri proposed to me! It goes without saying that he would share his room with me."
Oh yeah? That's not how I see it.
"Engaged is not the same as married!" Günter countered. "What abysmal shamelessness, to spend the night together before the wedding!"
Wolfram ran his hand through his sleep-touseled hair. "Listen up everyone, the 150-year-old has spoken! That attitude is so outdated!"
Well, out of the mouth of an 82-year-old, that didn't seem particularly convincing. I held my tongue, since I had no desire to get stuck in between them. Demons generally lived very long lives and were about five times older than they looked.
Conrad, who also had no wish to get involved in their argument, shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Just because the boys spend the night in the same room, doesn't mean there needs to be such a riot over it," he murmured.
"Before you all get going again, I have a question," I grumbled. "Why isn't anyone bothered that we're both guys?!"
With one hand rubbing her round stomach, Nicola asked quietly, "But wait, you're together with Gwendal, right?"
"That was only a misunderstanding!" I moaned.
Günter and Wolfram gravely endorsed my statement. Only Conrad convulsed with barely repressed laughter.
Then Greta shows up. As far as I can tell, this is a turning point for Wolfram -- it's from here on that his suspicions of Yuuri cheating on him get the better of him, and he starts calling Yuuri "cheater" like he does in the anime. I'm a little concerned here; I found another translation of excerpts from a fan-made Chinese version online where there are whole paragraphs of Wolfram-oriented fanservice that are not in the German version at all. I'd say, in the German version Wolfram comes across as needier -- or just as needy, but a little more mature. Like, his brattiness is young adult brattiness rather than childish brattiness? Makes you think more. Anyway. Conrad saves Yuuri, Yuuri twists his ankle, Conrad takes off his shoe and feels for damage... then they go to see Giesela. Yay, Giesela! But I want to do it justice, so I'll stop here for tonight.
Next time, Giesela, Conrad explaining coming of age, and Anissina/Gwendal. :)