Twin Moon Comments Thread

[Andromeda]

(Author Notes: Alright, this is my second story that I’ve talked about, for those of you that have read Advanced Response Machine: AESIR already. So here’s the thing. I’m writing Shift currently, you probably know that already. If you don’t know as said above I’ve writing a new story Advanced Response Machine: AESIR. This story and the other together represent new stories that I’ve interested in writing, pretty much equally. I know I can’t write both and still do Shift. So what’s going to happen is that I’m going to do write one before the other while I’m doing Shift. But since I can’t make my mind up, I want the readers, your, input on the matter. Which of these two stories makes you more excited and interested in seeing what happens next? Please let me know which you think I should do first.

Also you're welcome to comment in this thread. So please post here your thoughts and decision on which to do.

Follow this link to the other story - http://thefinalfantasy.net/forums/li...ine-aesir.html



This is going to be my take on the harem genre, but I’m not going to be doing something so simple as a harem story. I’m doing something that I’m pretty sure no one has attempted to do, if they have let me know. I’m making a mess. ^^; No actually, I’m doing a harem and reverse harem at the same time. It sounds crazy, but has that ever stopped me before? So what you should expect from this is both together with a main male and female character both surrounded by very attractive boys and girls. Is it shounen or shoujo? I haven’t a clue. If there’s a genre I’m probably going to be in it for this one pretty much. It is shounen, shoujo, harem, reverse harem, romance, comedy, action, drama, fantasy, sci-fi, yuri, yaoi, gender-bender and I’m just getting started.

Something else I want to note I’m tackling this story in a completely different manner than all of my other stories. This mainly means that my style for this story will be different. It’s still going to be very familiar, but with one major difference. You know those narration boxes in manga? I’m going to be including those for this story because I’m going to be doing a pseudo-first-third person mix. It’s still really going to be third person, but the main characters will talk to the reader as well, but only through those narration boxes. I’m still trying to settle on what’s going to work for it since it is technically a third dialogue type. I want it to be readily identifiable so I’m going with bold letters right now, but I’m afraid its going to be really distracting. It battle between making it readily identifiable without making it annoying or glaring as you read and distracting from the piece over all. If you have suggestions for ways to do it let me know.

The last thing will be just a heads up, but both main characters will be talking to the reader. Yeah, its going to be weird like that. But since the focus of the story is going be both of them and not simply one or the other I felt it was important that they were both the narrator. Which I am planning on using to comedic ends frequently. It’s going to be a crazy ride so stick with me and let’s see where things go!)


The stars of destiny are painted by the brush of fate. Since the beginning of time this has been the way it has always been done. But what happens when there are two brushes? What becomes of destiny when the direction is uncertain and lost? In such uncertain darkness what can possibly found?

The dense forest that hugged Mount Higashiyama in the afternoon air was thick with humidity. A long day was threatening rain with each passing minute. Clouds in the sky held darkening gray bottoms pretending to look innocent as they strolled across the land. Peaceful silence was remaining undisturbed through the green blanket. Only the infrequent chirping of birds broke the canopy.

Deeper in the forest, the mountain was beginning to break through the overgrown greenery, a distant scream was being shut out by the trees. The scream weaved through the trees hoping to be heard by someone that would save them. It was a desperate plea. One that went unanswered as it was dragged against its will further in to the abyss. Their fingers and clothes ran ragged attempting to break free from their towering abductor.

After the yelling had continued endlessly for nearly twenty minutes the kidnapper came to stop. It had gotten to the point where they could no longer take it and turned around yelling back. “Would you quit screaming, Mitsu! Ugh! I’m going deaf!”

“But we haven’t taken a break yet, Tsuki! I’m tired!” A haggard looking boy in a black high school uniform was bent over trying to catch his breath. Across from him was a girl where a navy blue high school uniform of the same school glaring crossly at the boy.

“That’s me Mitsuru Sakakibara. My kidnapper over there is—“

“I’m not a kidnapper! I’m Tsukiko Sakakibara.”

“We can’t be stopping, Mitsu!” Tsukiko grabbed on to Mitsuru arm once more and began pulling at him. He stumbled at first, but began to move on his own. The panting from his lips had only begun to slow by the time she resumed her urgency.

“People say she’s my twin.”

“It’s a joke, Mitsu. Honestly, we aren’t even close to being twins. I’m over thirty centimeters taller than you!”

Mitsuru had managed to finally catch up to her side despite all of the pulling she was doing. He was still having trouble breathing with the pace that she was setting for him. However, it became very clear with them side by side the significant difference in height between them. An arrow pointed off the length being nearly thirty centimeters. Tsukiko was very tall for a girl, but that also meant that Mitsuru was quite short for a boy as well.

“That’s an American foot for those that don’t know.”

“They know!”

A low rumble from above barely trickled down into the forest. The clouds that had been feinting innocence before were beginning to grow tired of their tricks. Those gray bottoms had become darkened and faint light could be seen jumping through the growing clouds. “We need to hurry! My life depends on this!”

Tsukiko broke into a full sprint that left Mitsuru a crumpled towel being held on to by her. All he could do was cry for mercy with tears streaming behind him. “I’m sorry, Tsuki! I knew and it’s all my fault! I’ll take your place for you!”

The grave tone in her voice spoke forward being blown into his face. “You can’t, Mitsu! I must do this myself!”

“…but, Tsuki…”

There was a long ill silence between them as Tsukiko skillfully navigated the forest avoiding exposed roots and changes in terrain. Ahead of her was a break in the forest revealing divine light. It was a light that would save them. She was just in time.

Her feet came to stop atop a shallow cliff that rose above the surrounding forest. The view it presented was a striking sight to behold. In the distance the sun was being shut out by the approaching storm carrying rays of divine light across the small town below.

“Beyond this forest is the town of Mashita, a rural community in the far northeast part of Japan. Tsuki and I had only known life to be that town and this mountain.”

“I made it barely! We have to hurry or it’ll still be too late!” There was a darkly serious expression on Tsukiko face as she stared at the landscape stretched out before her. At her side always dependable was Mitsuru holding an equal stern look on his face with his fists tightly shaking at his side. “Ready, Mitsu?”

“Ready, Tsuki!” A dark cast object was removed from Mitsuru’s pocket that shined like a blade as he approached Tsukiko. He had to keep his hand from shaking with the support of the other as it raised up above his head. It held in the air about to strike with her within his arm’s reach. “Let’s do this!”

“Right!” The determine eyes in Tsukiko knew what she had to do and accepted it. There was nothing else she could anymore. It was her fate and she had to accept it. She closed her eyes as Mitsuru’s arm was plunged down. The seconds passed slowly for her feeling the last breath escape her lips as she snapped her eyes back open. Her arm whipped out a large sketch book that she turned to a blank page. Next to her Mitsuru was already furiously putting pencil to his paper to capture the scene before it was lost.

“We had an assignment from our art class to draw something a week ago.”

“But I kept putting it off and off despite Mitsu nagging. So we had rush to get the work done today.”

He did not let his eyes leave the page as he was transferring the view. “You know we could have prevented this if you had just listened to me and stopped procrastinating, Tsuki.”

Tsukiko hand jerked for a moment hearing Mitsuru’s ‘I told you so’, but she kept drawing knowing the little time that they had. “I know!

“…and…”

“You know what day it is right?” he said not skipping a beat in his sketch.

Her hand slowed down when he mentioned it to her. “Yes, I know!”

“Today was our birthday. For the both of us we would be sixteen.”

“It was just another reason for their jokes. We have the same birthdays, know what the other is thinking and always together. I guess if it wasn’t for the height and gender we might be twins.”

Only a few minutes had passed on them before a drop of water wet Tsukiko’s paper. She tried to wipe it away only to have to fight another wet spot. “What’s going on?! Why is it raining?”

Mitsuru had already tucked away his sketch book under his uniform’s jacket. He could not hold back his look of disbelief from hearing that she had already forgotten about the rain. “You knew it was going to be raining, Tsuki…that’s why we were rushing.”

“What? No! But I’m not finished!” She quickly became flustered trying to find a way to protect it from the light rain that was quickly becoming a downpour.

“Let me, Tsuki,” said Mitsuru offering a hand to her. She immediately knew what he was meaning and gave it to him. He made it disappear under his jacket with his own. Mitsuru quickly began to look around starting to panic about a place out of the rain.

“This way, Mitsu!” Tsukiko said offering out her hand. She had found something that would keep them dry nearby. Tsukiko guided him back into the forest and around a steep face of the surfacing mountain. In front of them stood a tall and narrow cave adorned with countless seals and charms. The entrance was clear for them allowing them to get in just as thunder crackled outside. It had momentarily lit up the cave interior to reveal it to be a long narrow passage nearly completely covered in paper charms and seals like the entrance.

Seeing the interior made Mitsuru unsettled backing towards the entrance. He could not understand it, but there was a strong feeling that he was unwelcome. “M-Maybe…we should find another p-place, sis.”

Tsukiko glared over at him disappointed, but not surprised, by his fright. There was an uneasiness that she was feeling from the place as well, but she was not about to let it get to her. “Stop being so afraid, Mitsu! Besides we don’t have anywhere else to go…I how many times have I told you stop calling me sis! You’re too old for that!”

“Mitsu would always call me ‘sis’ when he got scared. Old habits, I guess. Since we were young we’ve always done everything together. Except, we aren’t children anymore…”

“But I really don’t like this cave, sis!” Mitsuru was so scared he was in tears pulling at his jacket with his teeth to try to keep his nerves. His legs were knocking together violently in fear. The noise that they were creating quickly got on her Tsukiko’s nerves.

Her hands lunged across the gap pinning him at his shoulders against the cave wall. She stared at him for a moment having paused in her determination after seeing him so closely. “Why don’t we try going further in, Mitsu. Maybe it’ll be safer…” Tsukiko tried to focus on giving him the courage to begin moving. The connection in their eyes gave him the strength to walk.

They slowly made their way at a cautious pace through the dark cave tunnel. Mitsuru insisted on holding Tsukiko hand so that they did not get lost. “Grandfather’s going to be upset with us.”

“It can’t be helped. Today was the last day we had for the assignment.”

“I said we should have done it a week ago!”

“But I had other things I needed to do!”

“But we’re missing our birthday! Grandfather was making his special curry for us.”

Both of their eyes glazed over for a moment thinking about their grandfather’s famous curry. He did not make it very often, but he always made sure to treat them to it for their birthday. Unfortunately, they were thinking about food and realize how long it had been since they had eaten last. It turned into depression and gloom in their faces. Tsukiko had quickly turned to face Mitsuru catching him by his jacket. “Why’d you have to bring that up, Mitsu?!”

The two sketch books slid out of his jacket hitting the cave floor. “I’m sorry, sis! I won’t mention it again!” Tsukiko’s low grumbling stomach caused her to release Mitsuru from her grasp. It allowed him to bend down and pick up the books to insert back under his jacket. When he went to stand the dim light from the cave suddenly went out as another presence was detected. Mitsuru looked up to Tsukiko trying find her in the darkness and hoping she was noticing. “Uh-um…sis?!”

Tsukiko was rubbing her stomach with her hand ignoring his initial calls. “What?!” she said snapping at him quickly before feeling as though someone had just walked over her grave. The feeling ran cold down her back unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her eyes glanced over to where the cave entrance should have been, but covered only in darkness. ‘What’s going on? What’s this terrible feeling?’

There was suddenly a long drawn out ringing of metal in the cave, echoing endlessly as a haunting tune. Caught eerily in the light shined the sharpened edge of a blade much longer than a knife, but too short for a sword. It was their signal to run.

“I can hardly remember what happened next, but we were followed by the presence deeper into the cave until it came to a dead end.”

“It’s following us, sis!”

“I know!” she said quickly not needing him to be stating the obvious. Her eyes darted around the opened chamber frantic for anything to defender herself with. The end of the cave had spilled out into a widened round room that appeared manmade. Papers still covered all of the walls feeling of great importance. Yet as far down the cave the room was lit by an unknown source. There were no candles or cracks in the rock to allow light in. It was completely sealed and still there was light. She could see, but it made little difference. Nothing could be found.

Tsukiko barely saw the blade move through the air in time to knock Mitsuru out of the way. She tripped over as she protected Mitsuru from the attack narrowly avoided it. However, they were both on the floor with nowhere left go and completely defenseless. ‘What do I do?! I can’t let it end like this!’

“It was at that moment we both felt something that we couldn’t explain.”

“Something was beckoning us. Calling silently.”

They turned their heads away from the blade that was threatening their lives and looked behind them. Resting in the ground crossed against each other was two sheathed katana. Neither of them knew why it seemed that the swords were calling to them, but they did not hesitate. They reached out their arms in a desperate wish to live. The moment their hands touched the sheath a blinding light enveloped the entire chamber beaming light out the entrance in the rain. They held on trying to pull at them as everything around them the shook violently. Then everything went black.

Chapter 1 – The Birthday Present

“I think while I was unconscious I dreamed…”

“…dreamed something was burning. What was it?”

Tsukiko was the first to wake up. Her hand rubbed her head trying to calm down the thumping in her head. ‘What happened? Am I alive?’ She looked around the chamber trying to see what had happened, but the room was empty as it had been before. Only the sourceless light illuminated the walls. Their attacker was gone. Tsukiko lifted up her other hand to find it holding the sheathed katana that she had grabbed before from the back of the chamber. ‘Well I’m not going question good fortune…’ She placed the sword back against the wall along with the one in Mitsuru’s hand. Neither of them was theirs to take, it was merely an act of self-preservation. “Thank you,” she said politely giving thanks to whomever they had belonged to.

“…ugh…What happened?” Mitsuru said slowly as he came around. He spun his head around side to side looking for Tsukiko finding her back by the wall. “What you doing?” He stood up dusting himself off and walked over next to her.

“I was just giving my thanks.”

“Oh, they protected us? Where’s my manners!” Mitsuru fell in line with her quickly apologizing and thanking them as well trying to catch up with Tsukiko. When they finished they agreed to keep it to themselves, everything worked out even if it was weird. There was no need to dwell on the matter. They picked up their sketch books and walked into the tunnel of the cave until they reached the entrance. In the time that had passed the rain had all passed with a thick layer of moisture on everything. However, the sun had already fallen down and evening was approaching.

Mitsuru screamed in panic with his hands at the sides of his head. “We’re so late! Grandfather’s going to kill us!”

“With everything that’s happened I forgot! Our birthday dinner! Come on, Mitsu!” Tsukiko grabbed him by his wrist and sped down the mountain and forest as quickly as she could. Mitsuru was left wailing behind her for dear life. He crashed in the side of the old shrine as Tsukiko went through the entrance.

The ruckus that the two made echoed through the shrine grounds turning an old man’s head. He was inside the old shrine’s small house that was built for the shrine keeper to live in while maintained the shrine. “Oh my…seems that they’re finally home.”

Both teenagers charged through the very small home and dropped themselves at his feet. They were shaking fearful and apologizing repeatedly for their tardiness. “We’re sorry, Grandfather!” said Tsukiko weakly.

“We were up at the mountain for an art assignment, Grandfather! I told Tsuki we should have gone sooner and then it started raining!”

“Mitsu!” exclaimed an enraged Tsukiko. She rose up from her prostrated position and grabbed Mitsuru by his uniform collar. “You aren’t supposed to tell him that!”

“I know, but I can’t lie to Grandfather when he’s looking at me like that!” (Mitsuru Vision) A demon’s eyes glared down at him with a commanding presence that required no words. It was a visual interrogation that broke him along with the towering stance and flaming background. (Reality) Their grandfather was holding a simple smile on his face trying not to become embarrassed by the actions of the children he watched.

“I don’t know where they get this cruel image of me,” he said softly to himself while letting them sort things out. “It’s almost insulting that they think I’m so scary.” After they had wrestled enough their g randfather stepped in grabbing the two of them and separated them on to their own spots. “That’s enough excitement for now, you two. You’re making a poor impression for our guest.”

“I’m sorry, Grandfather!” they both said in absolute terror and going back to prostrating themselves.

“Stop getting so scared or I’ll really give you a reason!”

“Yes!”

Mitsuru recovered to look up from his bent over position seeing a figure behind their grandfather. “Who’s that, Grandfather?”

The old man found his composure and raised his hand to clear his throat. He shifted his position to the side to reveal a young woman seated at the table on the floor politely sipping green tea. “As I was saying, we have a guest. She came to see the shrine.”

“Grandfather is the shrine keeper for the Hyobanshi Shrine.”

“So he gets a lot of visitors, usually during the day.”

“I’m sorry for disturbing you then. We’ll leave so you have privacy,” Tsukiko said standing up and beginning to pull Mitsuru along with her.

The woman placed her tea cup on the table softly and looked up at the two of them. “You can stay. I actually came to ask some questions about the Hyobanshi Shrine.”

“Questions?” Mitsuru said suddenly appearing on the opposite side of the table next to their grandfather. He was immediately drawn in by curiosity.

Tsukiko blinked and looked between her hand to the table trying to figure out how Mitsuru had gotten out of her hand. “Mitsu! It’s not polite!” She walked over to the table quickly pulling at his collar again.

“Tsuki! What’s wrong with you? She said it’s alright to stay.”

“Come on, Mitsu!” she said with even more insistence in her voice. There was urgency in her eyes that started to pull him away. However, before he was able to stand up there was a very loud grumble through the room that unhinged everyone. It sounded as though a demon was roaring out a battle cry. Everyone turned their heads like they were rusted socket accompanied by painful squeaks. Their eyes focused on Tsukiko, who was suddenly turning red in the face before collapsing to the table with her mouth hung open drooling.

“I forgot we haven’t had anything to eat yet!” He jumped up from his spot trying to save her from exhaustion. She began to pass out from hunger only making him panic even more. “Grandfather!”

Their grandfather was already moving towards the kitchen that was openly attached to the main room that they were in. “I’ll warm up the curry. Please only lightly entertain our guest.” He had a calm relax everyday tone in his voice as he went to work in the kitchen.

Tsukiko had recovered her body enough to sit back up joining Mitsuru at the table with the woman. Mitsuru tried to figure out the woman a little since it was unusual for someone visiting the shrine not to be interested in prayers, wishes, good luck or something else normal. She was wearing a blue turtleneck with jeans and a well-worn canvas bag set next to her. All with her medium brown shoulder length hair and straight cut bangs with bright green eyes made her out to seem completely normal, but there was a silent charm about there that he could not place. There was a child-like glow hiding underneath her mature exterior that gave her a mysterious alluring quality. Mitsuru was still feeling confused, but he quickly remembered his manners. “I’m sorry! I didn’t introduce myself! I’m Mitsuru Sakakibara, pleased to meet you!”

“I’m Tsukiko Sakakibara!”

“Oh! So you’re brother and sister then!” the woman said with a realization looking at the two of them. There was a pause when she tried to compare them (significant height difference).

“No! We aren’t!” Tsukiko said defensively having a vein on her head pop up in frustration.

“This happens a lot when we introduce ourselves, but it really gets on sis’ nerves when people mistake us for siblings.”

“We look nothing alike! It’d help if you stopped calling me ‘sis’ too!”

The woman leaned back from the table with a pensive expression. “Sakakibara? Why does that name sound familiar?” She zoned out for a moment paining herself trying to answer her question, but coming up empty. A minute later she realized that they were both staring at her with the expectation of her making introductions as well. “Right! Sorry about that I zone off pretty easily!” she said rubbing the back of her head looking embarrassed. “I’m Chie Okazaki, thank you for having me!”

“Miss Okazaki? You said you had questions about our shrine?” Mitsuru curiosity brought the conversation back to the original reason for the woman’s arrival.

“That’s right! I’m doing some investigation on ancient Japanese History and there’s some questions that I have about Hyobanshi Shrine that might help me.”

Tsukiko became interested as well being drawn into the conversation. “Investigation? You writing a book or something?”

“It’s research for my thesis.”

“You’re a college student?” asked Mitsuru making the connection quickly.

Chie nodded to the both of them as she lifted up the tea cup to drink again. “That’s correct.”

Tsukiko turned to look over at Mitsuru, who also faced her. She leaned over to him whispering softly. “She looks a little old for a college student.” Mitsuru could not help but nod in agreement to her, as he had been thinking the same thing.

The hand holding Chie’s tea cup tightened causing her finger to pierce the cup as the remaining tea dripped down. A glint shined from Chie’s eyes as her eyebrows fell down becoming ridged and angled in anger. Her proportions grew as she stretched across the table summoning fire and thunder behind her. “What did you two just say?” she carefully said glaring at them intently.

They were both speechless, but she pressed them for an answer forcing Mitsuru to speak. “We-ah-um-I…thought you were…older than a college student!”

“How old do you think I am?!” she bellowed to him crushing the tea cup in her hand as more veins popped up in anger.

Tsukiko pushed Mitsuru aside laughing trying to soften the mood. “H-He means a pretty young lady like yourself didn’t look like a college student to us.”

Chie’s hand released the pieces of the cup to the table and suddenly flipped on a shining smile for them. “Oh my! Thank you!” She pulled back to sit politely at the table as though nothing had happen. Their grandfather joined them immediately after serving curry and rice to everyone, her smile never changing. Mitsuru laid exhausted on the floor mats still trying to recover.

“Mother…father in heaven…I learned a very important lesson today…women are scary!”

“Never mention age you scatterbrain!”

The atmosphere began to settle out between Tsukiko and Mitsuru with Chie. Their grandfather was quietly sitting at the time keeping himself removed. However, Mitsuru chimed in to restart the conversation. “So Miss Okazaki…what’s your research about?”

Chie had been very quiet the entire time continuously eating. Her plate was already empty before either of the others were even half way done (hadn’t eaten in two days). She dropped her spoon on the plate before stretching. When she settled back to face them her expression was serious once more. “I’m trying to prove that demons use to roam ancient Japan.” The entire room became disbelievingly silent as they stared back at her blank eyes waiting for the punch line that never came. Chie was calmly sipping from her (new) tea cup as though she had said nothing strange.

It took a while for Mitsuru to regain enough of himself to function. ‘I can’t believe she said that with a straight face! But I think she’s serious!’ He looked over at Tsukiko trying to find what he could say to the woman, but found himself having trouble forming words. “Um-er-eh…Miss Okazaki?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you interested in our shrine?”

She finished drinking her tea and placed the cup on the table. “I believe that Hyobanshi Shrine holds a secret.”

Their grandfather broke from his non-participation to look over at the women. “Are you referring to the legend of the Demon’s Door?”

“Ah, so you do know the story, old man,” Chie said leaning over to him. A sparkle in her eye was starting to show as became eager.

“Demon’s Door, grandfather?” asked Mitsuru becoming curious himself. He had never heard their grandfather speak about it and yet this woman seemed to know. The title sounded a little frightening to him, but he wanted to know.

Their grandfather nodded to his audience as he began to recall the story. “Yes, it’s a very old tale passed through the town and shrine keepers. It’s more meant to entertain children, but it seems you’re interested.” He shifted his eyes momentarily over to Chie seeing almost child-like features starting to appear on her face. It made him close his eyes for a moment before resuming. “As the story goes, long ago demons would roam the earth passing freely between the demon realm and the human realm. They ravaged the land and spread fear in the people. Even the average demon was too much for a man to handle and they roamed in as many numbers as did the humans. There were a few warriors strong enough to battle the demons as equals, but even they were not enough to protect all of the villages across Japan. So the powerful priest Hyobanshi came up with a plan. He had great spiritual powers that surpassed the strength of the demons. Hyobanshi lured as many demons as he could to one location and there he slaughtered hundreds. It’s said by morning’s light the demons that lie dead stood equal in height to Mount Higashiyama. At this point Hyobanshi was exhausted from his battle, but was determined to fulfill his plan. Using his remaining spiritual power and the demon mountain, he fashioned a door made from demons. This door became a gateway between the two realms forcing the demons to only be able to enter the human realm from the gateway. His sacrifice limited the demons that could pass through as well strength of them bringing peace to all of Japan. The Hyobanshi Shrine is said to have sealed and housed the Demon’s Door, a feat that Hyobanshi himself was unable to do. That is the origin of this shrine, Mitsuru and Tsukiko.”

“Grandfather…why didn’t you ever tell us?” Tsukiko said, having returned to herself during the telling. She did not understand why he had kept it from them. The story felt very important.

“It wasn’t time yet, but I believe it is now.” He stood up from the table appearing to be fatigued from the story. Before he left the room he paused at the entrance. “Young miss, you’re welcome to stay here the night. It’s getting quite late out and it’s a long walk back to town.”

“You’re very kind! But I hate to impose on you!”

“Not all! Guests are always welcome. Mitsuru. Tsukiko. Please show our guest the visitor’s room.” Once he was finished he walked out of the room heading to his own to rest.

The two teenagers stared at each other for a moment before looking over at their new house guest for the evening. Neither of them were too certain about the woman, since she seemed to have completely believed every word from the tale that they were told. They knew it was just a story that never really happened, but Chie was trying to prove demons really existed. It left them a little uneasy about her. However, they were not going to question their grandfather’s decision and stood up together.

“The visitor’s room is in back,” Tsukiko said offering to lead the way. Chie nodded and walked with the two of them through the short hall. The house had only three bedrooms and the main room with the kitchen attached on. However, it was only meant to have two bedrooms. One was for the shrine keeper and family with the second being for any overnight guests. Their grandfather split his room up for them, so it was only half the size of the guest room.

Tsukiko opened the door for her before stepping aside. Chie paused at the doorway and turned to look at the two of them. “You call the old man your grandfather, but he’s not related to you is he?”

They both nodded to her silently before Mitsuru spoke up. “He adopted us when we lost our families.”

“We’ve been with him since we could remember. So to us he is our grandfather.”

“I see. Thank you for your hospitality.” Chie politely bowed to them before closing the door. They were still not certain what to make of her, but left to clean up after dinner. After clean up, the remainder of their homework had to be completed in the short time before they went to sleep.

In their room, they had only enough space for the two futons to be laid out. For them sleeping together in the same room was no stranger than sitting at the same table for dinner. It was a natural. However, with all of the excitement of the day it was difficult for them to sleep. The room was lightly lit by the moon as they stared at the ceiling together.

“Hey, sis…”

“Stop with the ‘sis’ already, Mitsu.”

“Sorry…”

She exhaled a long breath knowing that she had to ask what was on his mind or he would never get to sleep. “…What?”

“What do you think of Miss Okazaki?”

“She’s weird,” she said plainly not giving it much thought. The impression that the woman had given during dinner did not leave much room for hesitation.

“But don’t you think it’s sort of cool to be able to believe in something so strongly?”

“I guess, but it’s a little strange to be believing in demons.”

“But grandfather always said to look for the good in people.”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure that’s exactly what he meant when it comes to her.”

Mitsuru became silent after that trying to go to sleep. The thoughts that spun in his mind began to fade away and he was able to relax. He moved from dream to dream peacefully. However, one had come to him feeling strangely real. His body was floating in the air with nothing surrounding him, and then a voice called out to him. A voice of a young woman was speaking to him that was sweet and smooth like a song. “Who’s there?”

Materializing from the particles in the air the woman appeared to him. She had a mature adult look while still not being more than a few years older than him. Her long gray white hair floated in the air to tremendous length with an elegance only matched by her clothes. The young woman drew closer to Mitsuru reaching out her hands gently touching the sides of his face as her eyes stared deeply into his. “We finally meet at last!”

He could not help but blush a little with her being so close to him, but did not realize it. “Wh-What do you mean?”

“You’ll understand soon.” The woman pulled away as though she was being dragged by an unseen force.

Mitsuru flailed trying to reach out to her as he tripped over himself. “Who are you?!”

“It’s coming!” Suddenly, the entire void burst into flames completely engulfing the woman until she burned to ash. Mitsuru was forced to watch helpless in horror. A dark menacing voice reverberated around him drilling into his mind making it impossible for him to ignore. It felt like his heart was about to burst from beating so fast and his skin boiled from the heat. He was burning alive.

“No!!” they both shouted throwing themselves up from their bed covers. Sweat covered their faces. They stared at each other trying to recover their breath from the nightmare that they had apparently both experienced. It took them several moments to get their voices.

“Ever since we were young we’ve always had a fear of fire that we couldn’t explain.”

“There was something about that dream that felt too familiar as though connected to that fear.”

“Did you—“ Mitsuru began.

“See fire consume me?” finished Tsukiko. They were wide eyed trying to hold themselves together from the experience. Dreams had always been worse for them, but it had felt so real to them that they could not shake the feeling. It left them shaking. Even now they thought they could feel the flames licking them causing them to jerk in paranoid reaction.

It took a while for them catch a breath that they did not choke on. “Did you see the same woman I did?”

“I saw a man, but it seems that it was the same.”

They took a moment to settle themselves down and get their surroundings. The night was still wearing on in the dark house as they had to stand up. ‘It was so real,’ they thought walking around the room trying to calm down. Once they had relaxed enough to think straight they realized that there was something off. In both of their right hands was held the swords from the cave that they had pulled out. They yelped in surprise dropping the swords on the ground to take cover on the other side of the room.

“Didn’t we leave those in the cave, sis?”

“Y-Ye-yeah, I thought so.”

“Ouch! That hurt!” declared a man’s voice softly that came from neither of them. It left the two pale as a sheet as they watched one of the swords bounce and shift on the floor.

The other sword caught up quickly. “You can’t feel pain, dear!”

“Oh, that’s right! Old habits!” he said starting to laugh embarrassed at himself.

At this point the souls of Mitsuru and Tsukiko were nearly leaving their body when they were snapped back to life. They realized that the swords were moving and talking. So there was only one course of action left to them. They tossed Mitsuru’s bed covers on the two swords and hid under Tsukiko’s covers together shaking violently praying that it was all just a dream. Fear kept them from daring to look out from the covers, but the suspense was starting to get to them. Sweat was pouring down their faces and soaking their clothes with each second that passed by.

“Hey! This is where you went!” the male sword said suddenly appearing in their covers pretending it was a game.

Mitsuru and Tsukiko let out a deafening scream as they grabbed on to each other for support. They tried to kick the sword out of their covers, but the other appeared as well only terrifying them even more. The fear could not keep them in the room any longer and they fled their room. Their foot stomping and yelling should have been enough to wake up their grandfather, but when they arrived in his room, out of breath, he was still sleeping. “Grandfather! Evil swords are chasing us!” they said in unison standing over his futon.

There was a stirring sound from their Grandfather providing them a moment of relief. However, he leapt up throwing off the covers holding a bo in his hands and his eyes charged with the fire of a demon. “Back! Foul Demons!” He ran out a flurry of attacks with the bo at both of them making them retreat to the hall.

“S-Sis! I think Grandfather still asleep!”

“I know that already! Just run!” Tsukiko tried to start running, but found that she was losing traction with Mitsuru. The door to their grandfather’s room, which they had closed on their escape, exploded into pieces upon the assault of numerous flurries from the bo. They were barely able to dodge the debris as they dropped to all fours and fled down the hall.

“This is the reason why we’re so afraid of him.”

“Because we know that beast is hiding inside him only surfacing when he’s asleep.”

“But he refuses to believe us. No matter how many times we tell him.”

In the noise, Chie had woken up and opened the door. “What’s going on—“ She was met with the aftershock from the bo causing her robe, worn over her underwear, to be ripped to shreds. It left her collapsed on the floor trying to recover her dignity as the house became even noisier.

“Grandfather, please wake up!” Mitsuru cried as they were being chased around the perimeter of the house. Tsukiko had disappeared from his sight after exiting the house leaving him to flee alone praying to survive the night. Upon his eighth orbit an extended arm yanked him in a new direction giving their grandfather the slip, momentarily. “Please don’t hurt me!” he shouted, but the hand covered up his mouth to him from yelling. He was forced to turn around to discover that it was Tsukiko. “Sis!”

Tsukiko dropped her elbow on his head becoming irritated. “Stop with the ‘sis’!”

“But what’re going to do about grandfather? He seems even more tired than normal.”

“Yeah, he hasn’t woken up yet…” Tsukiko said starting to trail off in her words trying to think of a plan. Unfortunately, their plans usually involved hiding until it was safe. However, she did not think that was going to work for them.

“He must sense it,” a man voice said in a serious tone analyzing the situation.

“What?!” the two said startled once more by the arrival of the talking swords. They had nearly climbed the wall of the inner shrine that they were hiding in when they noticed the swords on the ground.

“If you keep running away we can’t—“ the woman began in a calming voice before she was cut off by them screaming.

Suddenly, their grandfather showed up at the entrance of the shrine casting a dark shadow over the room. It caused them to scream again even more violently. Then behind them the earth shook and the back half to shrine exploded into chunks of wood. A foul odor leaked into the remaining shrine followed by two yellow eyes. When they looked over to see what was breathing so hard that it was rattling the wood of the shrine they could not help but scream again. There was a massive brown-orange colored creature looking like an oni from classic Japanese Mythology.

The two teenagers kept turning their heads to the three different things that they were scared of no longer certain what terrified them the most. They faced each other and interlaced their hands together starting to pray for them to wake.

“What’s happening…”

“…to our life?!”

As they were about to faint from fear their grandfather charged forward. Thinking that he was going for them, they took cover on the floor trying to be hidden. When the sound of the bo pounding in the distance confirmed their safety they turned to look. Their grandfather was attacking the towering beast with all of his might, but it did not seem to be having any effect on it. In the last strike the bo snapped, falling away, as he was thrown through part of the shrine. “Grandfather!” shouted both of them.

The beast took a heavy step forward bringing its attention to them. They were too frozen in fear to move with their lives being threatened. A large club in its right hand rose up into the air speeding downward to crush them. Neither could watch further closing their eyes only to hear a resounding ringing around them. Cautiously looking, they saw that the two talking swords were blocking the club from hitting them. There was a bright glow coming from the swords beginning to surround the two of them providing a warm comforting sensation over them.

“Take hold of us!” the woman said.

Tsukiko and Mitsuru stared at each other with uncertainty. They were being talked to by a couple of ancient swords that they found in the back of a cave. Hesitation still was strong in their hearts.

“You must hurry!” the man said.

An explosion of light knocked back the monster having it collapse in the pile of debris that used to be the shrine. The swords floated closer to them within arm’s reach of them with the silent sound of asking to be taken. They stood up from the ground, still holding hands, staring at the swords. Behind them thumping and pounding from the monster starting to move again increased the urgency for a decision.

“Tsuki?”

“Mitsu?”

They nodded firmly to each other and stepped forward separating to face the swords. Each sword moved to the respective bearer as they reached out their hand to clasp the sword. The brown-orange beast stood up knocking away the debris ready to charge forward when a white light expanded over the entire area. It blinded the monster unable to move until the light faded. When it was allowed to see again there was two streaks of silhouettes that passed by it appearing behind it knelt. The creature turned its head in confusion towards the motion, but in a delayed act both of its arms were cleaved off causing its body to collapse to the ground.

The two shadowed figures finished sheathing their swords with a click and stood up. Moonlight danced across the field illuminating them in very elaborate clothes with layers of robes, decorative metal, hanging jewels and embedded jewels matching those of that appeared in the dream Tsukiko and Mitsuru had. However, it was not Tsukiko or Mitsuru standing in the ruins of the shrine, but the people from their dream. A young man, of gray white hair that fell to the shoulders and tied back with orange colored eyes, stood next to a young woman, also of gray white hair and orange eyes but her hair fell in length to the ground and rested in lengthy loops weaving through the grass.

‘What happened?’ Mitsuru said with his voice echoing in his mind, but not his lips. He tried to look around, but felt as though he was no longer in control of his body.

‘Why do I feel so weird?’ Tsukiko asked herself trying to speak.

There was a snap inside them feeling as though they were suddenly ejected into their own body. Mitsuru moved around no longer feel like he was numb all over. He could see the dead monster laying on the ground, but not remembering killing it. ‘Did we do that?’

Tsukiko turned to look over at Mitsuru, but leapt back in surprise. “Who are you?” she shouted to the person next to her.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Tsuki?” he said turning upon hearing her voice. However, he had the same reaction and leapt backwards in shock. “Who are you?!”

“It’s me, Tsukiko!”

“It’s me, Mitsuru!”

“Mitsu?”

“Tsuki?”

“It’s your voice, but why do you look like a woman?” Tsukiko said staring at a young woman that she had never seen before and trying to figure out if she should be confused or embarrassed.

“And you look like a man, sis!”

“What?” She had immediately pulled away fearing what she was seeing to have happened to her. Tsukiko quickly did the only thing she knew to check her body. She grabbed her chest looking for breasts that were not to be found, but rather a flat chest that felt a little muscular under all of the layers of clothes.

Mitsuru watched becoming a little embarrassed before he looked down at his own body unable to tell through all of the clothes if it was his or not. His hands nervously raised up needing to know for himself. He swallowed quickly starting to sweat again as his hands drew closer. It was almost in range when Tsukiko leapt the distance between them and grabbed both of his hands stopping him, a heavy streak of red flushing her face. “You’re a woman, Mitsu! Trust me!”

“But what’s going on?”

“I don’t know…perhaps something to do with the swords.”

“Correct!” the male voice said as the sword at Tsukiko’s side glowed in response.

“You two were infused with so much of our spiritual power that your bodies changed to the form that it’s used to,” the female voice said from Mitsuru’s waist.

“But why aren’t you switched?!” Tsukiko exclaimed as a plea.

“I don’t know!” the man said cheerfully as though it did not matter.

Tsukiko and Mitsuru shoulders could not take it anymore and fell as their clothes slipped a little in disbelief. However, before they could do anything more their bodies suddenly began to shine brightly. The light was brief and once gone their bodies had been returned to them. They ran their hands over their face and body really quick to check.

“Everything’s normal again!” Tsukiko declared with Mitsuru nodding in agreement.

“Aww, the fun’s already over,” the man said.

“What?! You’re still here?”

“We’re not going anywhere!” the woman gleefully said.

“What?!” they both shouted before going into depression from fearing that they were telling the truth. Their legs had soon gave out on them causing them to fall against each other sliding to the ground sinking further into depression from the thought of being haunted by talking swords.

“It’s not that bad!”

“That’s because you’re not the one being haunted and changing genders!” Tsukiko whined to the voice. She started to cry at her misfortune and almost joined by Mitsuru, but they were interrupted by a loud roar behind them. The armless monster was standing once again quickly running after them planning to crush them with its last breath. Mitsuru and Tsukiko were not able to react from the surprise and growing fear. They hugged each other too scared to do anything as it drew in reach of them.

At the last moment a shadow streaked across them slicing the monster across the chest. As the beast fell it vanished into dust leaving nothing behind but the wreckage it had caused. They blinked confused by what had just happened trying to understand it all.

Tsukiko looked over at the shadow as it stood up to face them. Covered in black apart from the face was a tall young man with deep piercing black eyes. His long legs and perfectly elongated figure with a face that made her suddenly feel warm. She could feel her heart painfully pounding in her chest for a reason that she could not explain with each step that he took towards her. The strange man that had just saved her was standing before her kneeling down with a stretched out hand. “Are you hurt?” ask the man with a gentle yet deep voice that only helped to make the entire image shine and sparkle the longer Tsukiko stared dumbfounded.

[Andromeda]

“U-Um…no…um…thanks,” she said meekly feeling strangely weak suddenly. Tsukiko took the hand offered to her standing up, almost not on her own, while Mitsuru continued to stare confused. She was left speechless in front of him. ‘Why is my heart pounding so fast?’

Mitsuru pushed himself up coming over to her aid, but left feeling useless next to the stranger. He turned his head over to the man wanting an answer. “Who are you?”

“My name is Katashi Higashiyama,” he said politely addressing Tsukiko only. “And I’m your true love.” While having a graceful appearance there seemed to be almost no emotion in his face when he spoke the words leaving the two to sweat in embarrassment for a moment before reacting.

“Wha-Wh-What?!”

Tsukiko was petrified in an instant not knowing how to react. Her mouth was hung agape while the man back off and stood back up to his full height, which was still shorter than Tsukiko (she was still about five centimeters taller). A weak sound would come from her statue features infrequently as Mitsuru was left stunned as well.

“Hey, what’s going on out here?” said Chie, having found her travel clothes to wear. The entire incident went completely oblivious to her.

“I didn’t have the courage to tell her the truth...”

“W-Well…you see—“

“What am I doing outside?” their grandfather said finally awaking up. When he stood up and looked around the shrine grounds his eyes widen in shock. “What happened to the shrine?!”

“G-Grandfather, I-I can explain…I think…” He looked over to Tsukiko hoping that she was normal and could save him from explaining it himself. However, she was still lost to the world. ‘What’s happening to my life?!’ he shouted in his mind as he looked to the night sky.

The morning came from the Hyobanshi Shrine area and its residents were already starting to get breakfast. Tsukiko and Mitsuru both had school and their grandfather was still very silent about his shrine. They were all sitting at the table eating rice for their breakfast. However, there was a look of frustration and confusion upon Tsukiko and Mitsuru. Sitting next to Tsukiko was the young man from the previous night, Katashi. He had insisted on sitting next to her. Chie, who did not seem to want to be out done by the newcomers, was seated next Mitsuru. Their grandfather was between them at the third side of the table with them all tightly occupying three sides of the table.

Mitsuru looked over to the woman having to ask. “How come you’re still? I thought you were leaving in the morning?”

“But I can’t leave now! My research has only begun and this place is so interesting!” she said glowing like a child.

“What?! B-But we only have one guest room!”

“Grandfather said he didn’t mind me staying as long as I wished!”

“As long as you wished?!” Mitsuru said in disbelief. “Why are you sitting next to me and why are you calling him Grandfather?!”

“Oh my…” said she turning away starting to look embarrassed leaving Mitsuru to sigh loudly.

“And you!” Tsukiko exclaimed poking the man with her chop sticks to keep him away from her. “Stop getting so close to me! I’m grateful you helped us, but why are you still here?!”

“Because I’m your true love,” he said once again with no emotion while still having a surprisingly charming face.

“Stop saying that! It’s so creepy!”

The spirits of the swords resting on the floor at the fourth side suddenly appeared faintly from the hilt in full human form. They both shifted a little and leaned in closely to their owners only making them even more depressed. All the while everyone else did not seem to pay it any mind, as though it was normal.

“What is happening to my normal life?!”

“Why are so many people living in our house now?!”

To be continued…

Omake Theater

“Hey! What’s this!” said Kichiro. He was one of four figures gathered around a small desk belonging to a meek and haggard looking person seated in an office chair. The long haired bespectacled person in the chair was the creator of the story.

“It’s the first chapter and we’re already being forgotten!” shouted Hisoka.

“I know this is a harem and we’re just the friends that get ignored!” Etsuko grumbled.

“But I thought you were changing things! You said we’re going to have larger parts in this series!” Kiyome said remembering.

“W-Well yes, you’re going to have important roles, but you’re their friends from school! And there weren’t any scenes at school in the first chapter!” the creator explained from his chair.

“I’m only here because you said you were going to be different from all of the other harem out there!” Kichiro glared.

“It is different! Look its shounen and shoujo together!” The creator showed pages from the first chapter to illustrate the point.

“But we’re the best friends of the main characters. Harem series always ignore us.” Hisoka said closing in.

“Yeah, we’re important to the story too! But we’re always seen from the sidelines as the cheerleaders!” Kiyome pined.

“H-Hey, I know! I’m changing that! I promise! Honest!”

“We better be in the next chapter!” Etsuko threatened.

“I’ll write it down right now! See!”

“We better be!”

“What’s wrong with you guys? I didn’t make you to have violent personalities! You’re supposed to be nice people!”

“That’s what happens when you’ve been let down too many times by series!”

“Why are you all becoming yandere types?!” The creator was suddenly glowing with strange pride in the usage of the word.

“What?!”

“Why do you look so proud when you used that?”

“I just learned the word while I was working on this! There’s so much about manga I still don’t know!”

“Should you really be so happy about that?”

“You’re the manga creator, right? Shouldn’t you already know terms like that?”

“We’re trusting our future to this weirdo?”

[Andromeda]

Alright so I've finally got the new chapter up for Twin Moon. As I said before I'm converting this original thread into the comments thread and re-posted the first chapter with edits along with the second chapter. So please direct all comments, reviews, suggestions and everything else to this thread.

I only made some minor changes to the original chapter. Most of them were just some additional physical descriptions that I had purposely left out on the first chapter. In a way you could have thought of the main character as your the reader with them being vague and unseen, but it is a story so that is not really going to seem very normal. The funny thing is that is a bit of a thing that harem based PC games do all of the time where the main character is rarely seen and never the face so you can pretend it is you.

The other changes I made to the chapter will probably go unnoticed unless you take a comparison to the two posts. As for the new chapter that I finally posted after like six months of hiatus, it had been in a prolonged period of development. I had been waiting on getting all of the characters finished up since the first chapter was only written with a couple of the characters actually done up since there rest were not required for the chapter. However I was not going to start on the story until I had the development completed. So with it done the story begins in earnest.

This chapter is half as long as the first chapter, but the first chapter was the opening set piece. It had a lot to do so it was going to be naturally longer. The rest of the chapters I am still completely uncertain about length. All I have decided for now is that I'm just going to write until I feel that the chapter is completed. So do expect them to be longer than Shift chapters, which if you think about the fact that Twin Moon is going to be written close to a monthly release and not a weekly release like Shift it makes sense. Monthly mangas tend to have more pages per chapter than their weekly counterparts.

This chapter does indeed introduce the four best friends of Mitsuru and Tsukiko as the omake theater promised. One of the girls doesn't get an introduction, but her name and presence is made. They will all be featured in the next chapter as well though since it will primarily be taking place at school still. I have to finish the friends introducions since I only really scratched the surface with them.

The chapter itself ends up being more about Tsukiko than anyone. Considering her personality she is the most resistent to what has happened. Mitsuru is definitely as well and will get his moment soon enough, but Tsukiko needed to get some of the steam released now so I can get her to be a little more relaxed and closer to her normal personality. Unfortunately, for her I don't think her other side will end up making a lot of appearances until more guys show up since she really doesn't like her situation.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

So much for last night, but here is the special surprise! I've finally completed chapter 3 for Twin Moon, even though I started more than a year ago. But anyway, the biggest delay on this has been not having the plot finalized. I also did not have the time present until recently and so I used my Christmas Break to get the work started. The plot is nearly 80% finalized with mostly only the final arc left a little sketchy.

This chapter finally gives the proper introduction to the friends that I wanted and failed at the last chapter. I'm still a little worried about Hisoka since his character type is a little bi-polar with his violent tendencies. But I have a character planned for him soon that will hopefully correct things with him. It is a little difficult to manage 4 characters in the short amount of time, but at the very least they are true to themselves.

Hisoka is a generally impassive person, but has a hair trigger for his taboo word. I actually tried to channel a little Edward Elric for his rant, but pretty sure I failed. But effort made at least, and it didn't really need to sound very good anyway, he's speaking intelligently at that point anyway. But I pretty much imagine him acting like Ed does when called short.

Etsuko was the other from the last chapter that did not really get clearly introduced. Considering I was pretty vague about her, this helps to clear a lot of things up. She is a strange character and I plan to have a lot of fun with her. I can picture her being great in visual jokes, because she's always making use of Tsukiko's height to hide behind and is surprisingly adapt at doing so.

Kichiro and Kiyome end up having similar personalities, but she is the more responsible one of the two. She causes troubles and mischief with a specific goal in mind to achieve what she needs done without actually doing it herself. Kichiro just likes to be entertained and keep things fun. So while they have similar attitudes, their motives are completely different. The funny thing was that I was really worried about Kiyome's scheming and what I was going to do about it, but it ended up writing itself once I got there. It was one of the reasons I delayed the chapter for so long.

Tsukiko ends up overpowering the narrative at times here even though it is designed to be more of a Mitsuru chapter. I think at the very least they are evenly balanced with maybe him having a little more time. I wanted it more for him since she had her previous chapter. They are equal characters of importance, so I can't let one outshine the other. But Tsukiko is aggressive and Mitsuru is passive, so it does make things a little difficult at times.

Anyway, since I've go the plot locked down and as well the characters I will actually start writing for this. My best guess is that it will be a monthly basis, but I'll do what I can. It is currently planned for about 100 chapters.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Hey look at this, another chapter in the same year. Well this is something special huh? I did say I would be more active about this since the plot and characters are done, mostly. This has been mostly written for a month, but things got in the way of me finishing it. Anyway, Chapter 4 is now up.

This chapter allows for the more permanent setting for the harems to take place in. As often noted, the shrine is a little too small and I have a lot of people that are going to be joining soon. So I needed a larger place. Plus it is a bit of a character itself as time goes on with the history and mysteries it contains.

The chapter did bug me for some of the tropes I ended up using. Not exactly thrilled about them and considered removing them the scenes. However, they were a good catalyst for everything. So I kept them. Plus I did get to use a bunch of fourth wall jokes and other quick jokes in succession. And yes, Chie gets drunk from eating too much food. It's going to be one of her quirks. She is always eating poorly on her digs and research, so homemade food makes her lose herself. It should be funny, so long as I don't do too many awful things to Mitsuru. Fortunately, I did get to show off his more stern side when the girls get out of hand.

A new character and, naturally, a new member of the harem will be introduced in the next chapter. So look forward to that when I am able to write. I plan to keep up a pace of a month or two a chapter. We'll see how I do.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

So much for keeping things up. The funny thing is that I started writing this back in February, but then things happened and I never had the time to finish it. Anyway, chapter 5 is now available. This chapter introduces a new character to the harem/reverse harem. Since this is a Tsukiko chapter, it means that I'm adding a man to her harem.

Tsukiko's already got Katashi and now she has Masanori in her harem. She'll be receiving the rest of her harem in following chapters. Just like Mitsuru will be getting the rest of his harem soon as well. A Mitsuru chapter is next. Anyway, Masanori was a lot of fun since he's got the whole hero of justice delusion going on. It works out even better since Tsukiko wants a normal, not weird life. So having very strange men around her only make her life less normal.

However, I was finally able to put in her the light that I wanted. Which was that she is actually a kind and helping person, she's just been stuck in craziness that she can't act like her normal self. So she is able to be nice to Masanori despite everything. It is a pretty light hearted chapter overall, but I do hint at some darker things behind Masanori. Which is just setup for things in the future for him.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Hey, check it out, I have a new chapter up. Pretty awesome huh? I've been working off and on chapter six for the last few months. I had more of a focus on the chapter in the last month because I got some things out of my. I wrote the first part during January, but then games came out and I got delayed. Overtime is starting again, so it was pretty much the only time I was going to be able to get this done.

Anyway, this chapter introduces yet another new character. Are you really that surprised though? I do have a harem and reverse harem to build and I've only couple a few characters in right now. I've still go more to go. Aiko is the new character for the chapter. Shie is a fun one and a difficult one to write for. Depending on my mood, she can flow really easily or stall me up. She is a pathological liar, so I needed to come up with lies for her and really bad, extreme ones at that. Part of her charm and humor is that she doesn't know how to lie well. She has practiced enough to be able to have a good poker face, but it doesn't do a lot of good when it's not a good lie.

I did start out with a little more of a cliche scene. I wanted to have a little fun with things and it worked out well with what was going on. It is a very standard scene, but still I had fun with it. I had a lot of fun with the opening scene. I continue to enjoy writing things for Kiyome, who is manipulative, but in a good way. She has a lot of mystery to her and keeps Tsukiko and Mitsuru running around at her pace.

The next chapter will be fun and we'll get back into more of the demon fighting aspect. Expect a new character to show up as well!

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

This is turning into a bad habit of mine. But at least I did it when I wanted to, which this weekend. Anyway, the new chapter of Twin Moon, Chapter 7 The Demon Slayer is up. It's shorter than past chapters, but length is totally up to how much I have to tell. There is nothing set about the length this time around. It is not character introduction, but less of one this time around, since it is a cliffhanger and you barely know anything about the guy, don't even know their name yet.

This is fun pair of chapters though since there is going to be a fair bit of interaction with the harem on both sides. Tsukiko got to talk with Masanori again and Katashi will be making his appearance in the next chapter. Even Mitsuru will be able to do some things next chapter in his usual fashion. This one is a little more focused on Tsukiko, though Mitsuru doesn't get sidelined like he normally does when it's a Tsukiko chapter. There is a reason for it which will make sense in the next chapter.

It is the first major threat for the characters though. So I could not have the fight end really quickly. This is going to require a lot of effort and you'll actually be getting more about the stranger in the next chapter. This one was more setup to the introduction. But I promise he'll be a lot of fun. And Masanori is still as entertaining as always to play with. Tsukiko seems to be able to handle him a little better.

The Omake was actually something of an honest remark. I didn't know what I wanted to do for it since I had an idea and then lost it. However, it actually worked out as a good commentary on the harem genre. So I ended up liking the way things go. Tsukiko really is an easy target for people.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Hey check it out, another chapter in only two weeks. Crazy talk huh? Yeah, I actually started writing this chapter the Sunday I finished the other chapter. So it just all worked out pretty well, plus I was highly motivated to write it. Now you can enjoy Chapter 8, the conclusion to the fight.

This chapter is back to being quite long. But it was actually important, since I did introduce another character. Akira's still a little bit of an unknown, but you know enough about him to get a sense of his character. However, since I immediately brought in Izumi after the fight, I needed the time to actually explain her. They end up being very mysterious characters with a lot of unknowns to them, more so than the other characters. They all have their share, but these two do a lot to keep their private lives private.

I did get to have some fun again with the rest of the cast. As the ending makes it clear, the cast and those in the mansion are growing. And I have not really got to use Chie in a while and Katashi was pretty much missing since his introduction. I got to have some fun with them and actually show more off with him fighting. I do play up to the tropes with ninja and samurai fighting techniques. I considered trying them in Japanese, but I knew anything I did would end up butchering things. They'll sound more impressive in Japanese, but the point still came across.

Izumi is going to be a fun one because of the way she hangs on Mitsuru. So I'm going to be taking advantage of that, but she is a long term play. It's going to be a lot of working with her piece by piece over a lot of chapters. So she'll actually pop up in a lot of chapters, but not as the main focus. It is going to be the only way I can realistically show her development, where the others will have bigger moments in more concentrated times.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

My annual Christmas vacation writing session has produced yet another chapter for Twin Moon, Chapter 9 is finished. While anything can happen, do I try to make certain I at least write over the week I have off from work. It's a good time do it. So now this chapter takes a break from the introductions. No new characters, it is just following up with the existing characters. All of them, in the mansion, do get touched upon. Naturally, the biggest focus is on Akira and Izumi the newest arrival.

The time spent is actually mostly eventually divided up between the two. Mitsuru is the focus more than Tsukiko, it's more of a Mitsu chapter afterall and Izumi is the bigger focus, but not without Akira. Akira actually makes some progress in his character. Tsukiko has actually managed to reach him a little. Which is important, because I can't have Akira being completely isolated from everyone. He needed to connect with Tsukiko and this chapter provided that. It is progress, which is bit of the theme of the chapter, everyone is making progress.

Izumi ends up being a regression and some progress. The thing about Izumi's character is that unlike the rest of the characters she has the longest development time. I have numerous small events planned for her that will actually bring her up to be an interacting member of the harem, but I have to reach that point with her. As a result of her long term plan, I have to start early on her. She will be receiving lots of small events during other character chapters. This is mostly an Izumi chapter and more the trigger/start line for her arc. It'll be a while before a full Izumi chapter pops up again, but she'll be getting a lot of attention in other character's chapters.

I progress Mitsu's character as well. A mostly fodder battle helped to push him forward in his development. The place where he finds his strength is important and a lot of what he does he does on the side from others. But he makes the point that they need to get better with their powers to survive. It does bring up some interesting details though in the conversation. I'm always dropping pieces of information.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Back to old habit again, chapter 10 is finally finished. The sad thing is that I had started it up a long time ago, but just failed to actually finish it. Though I'm doing pretty good these days on writing things up. So I might be trying to write more actively on it. I'm pretty sure I was able to knock this out in like a few hours. The only problem that I've had with writing this and Shift is that I would take a really long time on writing Shift that I didn't have the time for Twin Moon. But lately, barely issues, I can do Shift in about an hour and half or two hours depending on my mood. And all of the writing that I was doing this break managed to roughly go at that pace. So I might be able to keep up with Twin Moon and start writing it more actively. But we'll see.

So chapter 10 is back to introducing in new characters. They aren't introduced until the very end of the chapter and came from inside a demon at that. And with the things that I teased from the emotions that they were getting off him there is clearly some really bad stuff in his past. But none of these characters have really positive things in their history. They are all very broken characters as you'll learn. While you don't know his name yet, I can say as no real spoiler that the new character's name is Yuu. And he is the token young character in the harem. Though in this case he belongs to Tsukiko's harem. So no loli character for Mitsuru, sorry. I won't be matching point for point on the harems. Most of the harem will sit around their age range though.

I was really happy that I got to do more with Masanori and Akira. Masanori, like I said above, has a tragic history as well. Every character has a really bad past. And so I got to tease a little that here. Masanori is an endless ball of energy and positivity. So it hits really hard when you see him completely shut down. I have trouble saying that Masanori has the worst past, because I don't think that is accurate. There are some with even worst things that happen, but his ranks up there. And he masks all of it under that positivity and energy. It's how he able to keep moving otherwise he'd be weighed down too much to even move as you saw when it was triggered. If I can actually write on this more actively, I'll be able to start getting to touch on that.

Something that Mitsu went through in an early chapter and Tsuki seemingly had done even earlier, was acceptance. But Tsuki is significantly more resistant to all of than Mitsu. Though Mitsu did it for Tsuki, while Tsuki did it before of necessity before which it was it was sort of incomplete. However, I do hit at the fact that Mitsu has an arrangement with Hisako. It'll be an important matter that I'll fully explain in a later chapter. But I do have to touch on it in places. Since it is involved.

You can look forward to another new character in the next chapter. Which will finally conclude all of the harem introductions. The last harem character will finally be arriving. Or maybe has always be there. Anyway, afterward, chapter 12 I'll be doing the much talked about and promised first character chapter on one of the best friends. Yes, as promised, they have quite the extensive background and history. They don't have completely tragic backgrounds, but there are still plenty of trouble to be found. So the first will finally becoming. One that I needed to explain quickly as it were to help put them in a better light.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

So this is weird huh? Chapter 11 is already finished. I actually wrote it almost entirely on Sunday and well didn't have enough time to go over it until today. We'll see how well this goes, but I've been writing faster and more consistently lately. So my goal is try to actually write this every week now. I want to push on through Twin Moon. There's a lot of good stuff to come in the story and I want to actually get to that.

Chapter 11 as promise, finally ends all of the introductions. The last main character, Daishou is here now and staying at the mansion. As pointed out Tsukiko has a lot of guys in her harem hanging around the house. It just sort of which out like that when I was writing all of their stories. All of Mitsuru's have their own places pretty much and not until possibly later will they be coming over to the mansion to stay. It's unlikely. But Daishou is a strange and fun character. You don't get too much into his personality other than that he has no presence and has some strange power. But I'll be getting into him more in time.

This is a pretty non-action chapter, since Daishou doesn't require it and the rest is Yuu time. It's a pretty heavy Tsukiko chapter again since her harem was the focus. Yuu got a little bit resolved with her. So things are going to be a little better, but it is still going to be like a baby duckling. He's going to be following her everywhere that she lets him. Yuu is pretty adorable, he's got the sad and tragic past, but you just want to hug him and make him feel better.

Next up will be character development. There is going to be a lot of time spent on spending time with the characters. Like any good harem, the main characters Tsukiko and Mitsuru will be spending a lot of personal time with their harems. That'll be happening now. The demons will still be there and a focus, but I'm working on getting things to a pick before that happens. There are dozens of story lines I'm working with. The main plot is one that is going to be picked up and dropped regularly. And then there will be all of the stories for the character, every single one as an arc to cover. The first chapters about them will be casual and then dig deeper with each one.

If I can keep up with work on this, the hope will be that this will be finished in two years. It's only planned be a little over 100 chapters long. I'll see what I can do about AESIR. Though if I finished Twin Moon quickly, AESIR will speed up as well.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Now we have chapter 12 as well, one week later. Let's see if I can keep this up. It is going to be the goal to keep things going, but we'll see long it lasts. I have a bad habit of falling out on this when things get busy. Anything, this is the promised first chapter to focus on one of the friends. The friends all have their arc stories and just as deeply developed as everyone else, though they are a little less tragic in nature.

Hisoka starts out the group. His story is both long term and just the best one to start out. There is a lot of misconceptions about him and he has only really been seen as someone that gets violent off his taboo word being said. So seeing him completely different is a good thing and helps to start explain why it makes him mad. He is an athlete and really good one at that, but people only judge off appearances, so they just see him as a nerd. That part is an old story that shaped his personality, but he wants people see him as the tennis player and the tennis ace. Since people have trouble looking past all of that he gets upset.

Despite all of that, he does keep it a secret, especially from his friends. He is a private person and he has stopped trying to broadcast who he really is. He just wants to be left alone. But Mitsuru is really close with him and keeps him from being isolated as what would happen otherwise. All of the friends would likely be isolated if it were not for Mitsuru and Tsukiko. Kichiro and Kiyome might not seem that way, but due to their own personalities it is likely that they would be alone.

And yes, Hisoka has been included into Tsukiko's harem now. The friends are just as likely to be part of the harem as the actual ones setup for the harem. It is what makes this fun and different. Hisoka is a good change of pace since it is on him rather than Tsukiko noticing. And it will provide for some good conflict and comedy for Hisoka for a while. Entertainment is important after all.

With the more heavy focus on Tsukiko's harem. I'll be moving back into working on Mitsuru's harem in the coming chapters. It is hard thing to balance at times. I have a massive cast of primary characters to follow. The worst to work with is Izumi due to the setup I have to do for her character before I'm in a good position with her. But there is going to be a lot more character chapters coming up rather than demon or action ones.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Maybe I'm on to something. Chapter 13 is now available for reading. This is a Izumi focused chapter, so that means it is all about Mitsuru. Tsukiko had her chapter last, so I bounce back to him. It won't always be back and forth like that, but I try to keep things even and Tsukiko has had a lot of different things focused on her recently. So Mitsuru has needed some time. Though Izumi most of all needs time, as I said before she has a lot of work before she is finished to get be at the starting line.

Her being completely afraid of everyone and even Mitsuru at times makes it difficult to do stories with her. So she will get a lot of focus early on as Mitsuru works through her problems. It won't be a long time, but I will be making progress with her and I can get focused on her character and her story, rather than just getting her to open up. Though it will mean that more than the other girls, Izumi will be further progressed in opening up to Mitsuru. But he is putting all of his energy into working on her.

Beyond just her frightened state due to the demon attack, there is actually a deeper reason for everything going on with Izumi. So it might seem extreme or strange, but there is a lot of good reasons for the way she acts. It will unfortunately take a while to get to those reasons, but she is a really fun and interesting character. I look forward to the fun times I will have when she fully opens up to Mitsuru.

The good thing I have going is that now that I finished the introduces I'm able to start working on the characters. Hisoka's was the first big push on that. Izumi is more setup, but the up coming chapters will be focused on telling you more about each of the characters. Little by little, there will be some things that will come out about all of them. Barring some more comedic stories that have no harem development, for a while there is going to be a long stream of chapters that reveal small pieces about all of these characters. They all seem pretty cheerful characters over all, I'm going to be breaking that illusion soon. There are hints of it, but I did sadly end up making all of them really broken characters. I think the Grandfather is the most normal out of the whole bunch.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

A day late, but chapter 14 is here! The weekend was a little rough on time, so I didn't get this finished until late into Sunday. So I left it for today to post. This is the Chie focused chapter, as I said I would start working on the harem character. Chie has been in the background a lot since she was introduced first. So I wanted to get to her early.

Despite being a Chie chapter, I do take some time to get to her. Mitsuru has plenty of interruptions along the way to her. Aiko is another one that has been long ignored due to a number of factors. Though I sort of feel like ignored is a relative term since it feels longer than the reality as I've not been writing on these in a reliable fashion until now. But Aiko is a lot of fun, though a little hard to write for at times. I always have to come up with new lies. The plus side is that her character never uses the same the lie twice and always contradicts her other lies. So I don't really need to worry about them lining up

Ignoring the brief cameo by Akira, this was the first time I really got to dig in with Chie. There is actually more going in the chapter than I let on since it does require more context before I can point it out. And it's not something that Chie really is going to admit herself. But it is a good serious and meaningful chapter for Chie. Mitsuru is largely pointless in the chapter, he doesn't even get to be the one to play cheer up as his role should be. But Chie is a more mature character being an adult, so the way they will interact will be a little different. Doesn't stop Mitsuru from working his role as the harem master though and getting Chie a little closer.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Delayed, Chapter 15 finally arrives for your reading now! This chapter picks back up with Tsukiko as the focus this time. Mitsuru got a lot of time the last two chapters, so it is time to swing back to her and pick up some time with our stoic ninja Katashi. The cast has several mysterious characters, Katashi was the first one introduced and has been around for a while without any really attention. So this finally addresses that.

Katashi is a complicated person like most of the cast. But like with Izumi, he is a hard one to penetrate. He has a lot of defenses up to keep people out. The lack of emotions is more an effect of his past and training rather than a defense. But he is a contrary man that will be fun to explore for Tsukiko. She finds him frustrating, but once she actually starts to dig deeper into his past, she'll start to feel for him.

And I finally got to include the note about what's become of her male half's popularity, which became a talk of the class when he was first spotted. It did not take long for a fan club to crop up around Tsuneo's other half. She was never happy about the attention to being with and now it just is going to get multiplied. She will have more in the future that she'll have to deal with around the fan club. It'll be a good source of entertainment.

I finally ended that omake about the friends. I'm focusing finally on more one off scenes, probably about characters that aren't in the chapter. I had planned on making note that Chie and Daishou were gone from the house, not that anyone would notice Daishou's disappearance. But I moved it into the omake since I could have a little fun with it. So it is actually sort of tied into the story a little, even though it is just a joke scene making fun of his lack of presence again.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Same internet problems affected this as well, but I was able to still get it up in between bursts of connectivity. Chapter 16 is now up for reading! This is a Daishou chapter, though it does include pieces about other things as well. It is a good group chapter that puts a bunch of the cast together to play around, which naturally happens.

Daishou is one the mysteries of the cast of characters. He has no presence and has some odd traits not too unlike Mitsuru as I point out during the chapter. Though there is another important element that they add in this chapter that really starts to shape his character. It is actually extremely important to his personal story and his attitude will make sense once it is revealed.

That has been the fun thing with writing these first round chapters for the characters. They all have stories to be told. And I know what they are and I have their reveals all planned out. But I am still able to put down hints to them now and let them become something bring in the future. They are good little seeds that I'm planting. Even in the focus on Daishou, I touched on Chie a little as well.

One of the other things that I bring up is the use of magic. This will actual be really important for the future. So the guidelines I set down that differentiate things are good to have as some foreshadowing. It won't be clear right now why it's important, but it'll be seen in time.

And I finally got to get to the library. It's important for a number of different characters. But it was also just a fun little story to write. I could just let everyone be themselves and let them go wild. Tsukiko is always going to be the straightman and serious one in the group that jokes get bounced off. But they are needed.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Yeah, I failed to get this chapter finished last weekend. Things that I didn't plan on happened and so it is late. But I finished it now, chapter 17 is available for reading. This is a Masanori chapter, despite appearing on a glance at being a Mitsuru and Izumi chapter. But that was just setup for things down the road actually. This is another Tsukiko chapter, though after learning about her fan club, she's pretty ticked off.

Being that this is a Masanori chapter, I had a lot of fun as always writing the things for him. He is a really entertaining character and makes for pretty easy writing. He is over the top and huge on hero worship, which is the worst combo for Tsuki, but it seems to be growing on her. But the bigger thing for the chapter is the tease of something darker behind Masanori's motives. I've been hinting at something with him for a while. This is another setup for that.

A lot of these chapters right now will be a lot lighter fare and not too serious. They will focus on the building of the characters and letting their relationships grow together. Once their relationships have hit the needed threshold, that is when things will start changing. But for now it'll just be a little fun.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

It's been quite some time, but I finally was able to get around to writing another chapter. Chapter 18 is available for your reading enjoyment. This chapter puts the focus on Mitsuru and Akira. Akira the mysterious swordsman that completely hates Mitsuru for ruining his pride as a swordsman. So they make a rather fun pair. The delay on this chapter was mostly due to the fact that I got heavily into my other personal projects that weren't writing related and that took up all of my writing time that wasn't being used on Shift. I'm working on getting back into this and finding a balance between it all. Because the story is important to me.

This chapter is one that I've had thought up for a while. It has one of those very classic harem moments, but I handle it in a bit of a different way. It looks on the surface as it is the same treatment. But if you look at everything that happened. It is actually a fair bit different and the focus was on something else. The key harem factor remained completely unplayed out as you would expect. And I can confirm that Mitsuru took no offscreen face slaps or punches either.

The next few chapters will actually be running sort of back to back in that related events will pop up in them. As I don't leave things completely resolved at the end of the chapters. So you'll see carry over from chapter to chapter. Even with the major focus being on something else. That is something I am trying to carry through the story. There will be set ups and continuations of events after the main focus is wrapped up.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 19 is finally here, this one is very late as it was originally planned for release around Christmas. However, I got sick and worked on completing my novel all of which got in the way of it. Now that I'm finally free enough I was able to get this up. It was mostly end up because I wanted to do it as the same time as AESIR, since I didn't get finished with it until a week or so ago.

This chapter continues focusing on the support cast of characters, the friends. I have attention before to Hisoka, who had less known about him apart from his temper. Now this is focused on Etsuko, who is even more mysterious than Hisoka. I've hinted at some of the things going on with her in the past, but this is the first time really put it forward and making it the focus. While things aren't resolved immediately, like most things are going to be this early on, it does start putting things in place. The big note at the end should be something that is painfully obvious once it is realized and they'll be kicking themselves for not noticing sooner. This will produce another chapter for Etsuko soon.

The other part of the side is focused on Akira and Mitsuru getting things resolved in a better situation that Mitsuru feels comfortable with. The progress he makes with Akira is quite important since it does finally get her under the roof as him and starts bringing more of the cast together. Though since some of the characters do live in the city already, they won't all end up living in the mansion. Which will be a bit of a shift of normal circumstance when dealing with harems. But this isn't an ordinary harem story anyway.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Finally got around posting the new chapter. I actually ended up writing two chapters during the vacation, so I'll get the other up in a week. But for now, Chapter 20 is available! This moves to another character focused chapter, like how most of the early ones will be. Twin Moon is far more of an episodic construction, even though the characters will advance, grow and develop and there is a through line for the story. And I will be starting up some minor arcs where there's a big event that consumes several chapters. But for now, you'll get a lot of one off stories or comedic moments. This character story is about another one of the more unknown of Mitsuru's friend's the mysterious and playful Kichiro.

Kichiro naturally has a more complicated home life than he lets on. All of the characters have some complicated life out of their interactions with everyone. Though eventually those things will come out into the center. But for Kichiro, his shows a very different sort of side to his character than you've seen before. While at school, he's the least serious of the group and plays around a lot. He's a bit of a troublemaker and looks to just be enjoying life. While his home life is a complete opposite of that. I try to be both direct and subtle with things. I show his caring and thoughtful side without just stating. But I also put more of a head on it when it comes to the Grandfather. There's a lot of things happening in the family and they're against what he wants to do. It's the duty and family obligation aspect. And it has a big hand in several important events in his life. So while the chapter was not necessary the funniest, it really helped to put a good line on him.

Like with the others, they're all best friends so they joke and tease and rough house with each other. So I worry sometimes they are seen as being a little mean spirited. But I enjoy these chapters, because they help to put a light on the depth that they have. They are more going on and they care quite a bit for Mitsuru and Tsukiko.

I also use the chapter to tease a few things in the future. The bigger one of them is Mitsuru's emotional issues is a red flag for the next chapter. The rest are more subtle and have no meaning right now until I get to those moments at which point the context will show how their meaning is different.

Enjoy!