Midori na Silhouette

Transfer Student Shana-chan

“And today we have a new student transferring into our class,” said the teacher. “Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

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At long last, I have acquired my Figma Shana Flame Hair Ver. ^^

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I sat on the lowest platform on Survivor’s Watch that night. Just below and ahead of me was the Fallen Arc of Apocalypse, a graveyard for the millions of lives that were lost in an instant. Both of these monuments were built by the survivors of Apocalypse, to serve as a reminder of the dreadful incident that happened six years ago.

Though these monuments were built for that purpose, there was rarely anyone who would come. But on this silent night, a lone girl stood amongst the graves.

It has been a long time since I last saw this girl. Six years ago, to be exact. Now that she’s made another appearance, I began to wonder what would happen this time.

As I pushed that thought away, she teleported to a platform above me.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” She said to me.

In reply, I merely nodded my head silently.

“How’ve you been?” She asked.

“Busy,” I said, “gathering information about you hasn’t been easy. Where have you been all these years?”

“I’ve been to… places.” She said, adding something of a giggle and snicker.

I said nothing, and jumped onto her platform. For a moment, neither of us said anything, and just stood on even ground.

Breaking the silence, she said, “I’ve come to settle things.”

“Is that so?” I said in return.

“Here I go” she replied as she got into her battle position.

In an instant, she fired a fireball at me, and I dodged to the right.

She reacted quickly, casting an ice spell and sending spears of ice flying in my direction.

I backflipped off the platform and landed on the field below.

“Wait!” She yelled, as she, too, leapt off the platform.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she unleashed the wind spell she had prepared during her drop.

Having no time to evade, I was knocked over, and before I could recover, she stood in front of me, right hand reaching inside her sleeve.

“You know better than to move,” she said, “the moment you do, I will draw a Muramasa blade. Then, one of us will have to die.”

Being unarmed, I knew I was helpless then. “So, you going to kill me again?” I asked.

“No,” she replied, “that would be meaningless.” She then held out her hand to me. I took her hand and rose.

She walked over to a tree and leaned against it. As she was staring at the sky, she said, “Besides…”

“I can’t kill the man who destroyed the world with me. Not a second time, anyway.”

That’s right, I thought. You can’t kill a spirit.

We returned to the Arc of Apocalypse.

“What do you intend to do with me now?” I asked her.

“The only thing left to do for spirits.” She replied, “I will send you to the next world.”

I looked around. “Well, this is certainly a fitting place to end my existence.” I said, “Good-bye, and thank you…”

As the last of my senses were about to fade, I could faintly see her figure. She was praying.

With that beautiful last image burned into my conciousness, I dissolved into nothing.

I know this is over half a month late, but here is the Night-theme Figurative Story I promised ages ago.

Sorry the story’s so much crappier than the last one. ^^; Unlike the Beach-themed one, I took the night shots without any idea for a story in mind, so the story ended up being built around the pictures, instead of the pictures being built around the story.

As for Haruhi’s clothes, I made them myself. It was my first time sewing an outfit, and the outfit is 100% hand-stitched. It’s a pretty messy job, but that was because I was rushing to meet the 31st October deadline (which I never did meet). The string around her chest.. should have been thicker. :\

Oh, the shots were taken in a nearby park (this park).

Thanks/Congratulations for reading this far, hope you enjoyed this FS anyway. ^^;

Related posts:
Figurative Story [Beach] - The Day I Met an Angel

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I strolled along the shore, sandflies biting me, my skin burning under the raging blaze of the sun. It was just another day at the beach for me.

You see, my job is to walk the length of the beach everyday, and make sure that no disturbances take place. A strange job, I know.

When I first took up this job, I was excited and had anticipated everlasting fun days, playing in the sand. But as the days progressed, it just got duller and duller. Nothing ever happened, and being a beach with restricted access, there was never anyone to talk with.

Except for that one day. That one day, when an angel literally descended from the heavens to be with me.

I was taking my usual walk on the beach, when I spotted an object falling from the sky. Excited that something might finally be happening, I continued to watch the falling bulk carefully.

As my gaze remained fixed on the descending mass, I noticed it was getting larger with every passing second.

Soon enough, I realized it was headed right towards me, and so I ran. I ran with all my might, fueled by the fear of getting squashed by some unidentified object descending from above. I sprinted as fast as I could, crushing shells, twigs and anything between my feet and the sand.

After gaining some distance, I turned around, just in time to see the object right before it crashed into the sand.

Upon impact with the ground, tons of sand was thrown into the air, and I was blinded temporarily.

When the sand settled, it was revealed that the mysterious object was what appeared to be a huge android. I knew it was my job to be brave when things like this happen, but I was still scared afterall. Mustering all the courage I could, I slowly and carefully walked up to the behemoth.

I walked all around it, examining it thoroughly, trying to make sense of this android. For a long time, nothing happened. I began to wonder if it was spoilt or something. I mean, it DID fall down from the sky, afterall. It wouldn’t be surprising if it wasn’t-

*click*

I heard a sound. I looked around to see where it came from, but save the android, there wasn’t anything unusual in sight.

*click* *click* *whrrrrrrr*

This time, I was sure the sound came from the android. I figured it was better to hide myself before whatever was going to happen happened, and so I ran further up to land.

I continued to watch the android from my position. After several more clicks, buzzes, and some other strange noises, a hatch opened, and a girl stepped out.

She carried a shield on her back, and a strange-looking rifle in her hand.

I debated with myself whether to approach her or not. She was carrying a rifle, while I was unarmed. Well, it was my job to keep the peace around here, and so I approached her anyway.

I carefully crept up behind her, and, very weakly, said, “Umm…”

Almost instantly, she reacted by turning around and pointing her rifle at me.

I let out an, “Ahh..!!!” and tripped over myself, falling backwards and away from the girl. We were a distance apart, but she quickly closed the gap by throwing down her shield and rushing at me.

She stood over me, one foot on my chest, gun aimed at my head, and asked, “Who are you?” In that moment, the skies seemed so gray and dark.

“I-I mean no harm! I assure you!” I hurriedly said, fumbling over my words a little. She stood silent for a while, then moved her foot off my chest and pointed the rifle upwards. I took the chance to stand up.

“I suppose I can trust you..” she said. The expression on her face was cold, but somehow, I could sense that she was really afraid.

“Haruhi.”

“Eh?” I replied.

“My name is Suzumiya Haruhi. Yours?” She asked in return.

“Oh, I’m Mizunaga. Chong Mizunaga.” Not knowing what else to say, I asked, “Um.. Shall we take a walk?”

“Why not.” She promptly replied.

We began walking, and there was a silence for a moment. Then, I realized, wait a minute. A girl just came falling from the sky. Why am I still acting so normal?

“Um, excuse me for asking this so suddenly, but… Who exactly are you?”

“Hm? I told you I’m Haruhi, didn’t I?” She answered.

“No, I mean, where did you come from? And what is that huge.. thing?” Thinking back now, calling it ‘thing’ was really lame of me.

She remained silent for a moment, then said, “Alright. I’ll tell you, but only if you promise me you’ll keep it a secret.”

If you promise me you’ll keep it a secret? Sounds like something a high school girl would say. I thought. “Sure, I promise.”

“Well, you see…” She then went on to tell me about how she had come from another planet, and that she had stolen a “mobile suit” to get here. She told me some other stuff too, but I would be breaking my promise if I said anymore.

After she told me her story, I curiously asked her, “But.. why did you come to Earth? I mean, there’s nothing to see here. Just lots of trees, water, and sand. And not to mention, it’s extremely polluted.”

See? A perfect example of how polluted Earth is.

“That’s not true!” She quickly replied. “The Earth is a beautiful place! You have a vast sky, the sun to light your day, and the moon your night. There isn’t any sun where I come from.”

A world without a sun, eh…? I thought to myself. I looked up to the sky, skeptical that it was as beautiful as she made it to be.

But as I cast my thoughts aside and set my sights on the never ending azure, I understood why she called Earth beautiful. I began to feel rather ashamed with myself for not taking the time to enjoy and notice the beauty that surrounds me everyday.

As I remained staring at the sky, something hit my back at full force. I turned around, and just some ways away, Haruhi stood, waving at me and poised to run.

“Don’t space out, or I’ll throw another mudball at you!” She said playfully, just before running away.

A smile grew on my face, and I chased after her, yelling, “Hey! Come back here!”

We played around for a long time, until the sun began to set.

“So this is what they call a sunset…” She quietly whispered to herself. “It’s beautiful.”

With nothing better to say, I simply went, “Yeah, it is.”

“Well, I better go now.”

“What? You’re leaving already?” I didn’t like the sound of that, so I tried to convince her to stay, saying, “But you haven’t seen the moon yet, or the stars, or the constell-”

“If I stay here any longer, I’ll just cause trouble for you.” She said. She had a sad look in her eyes. “They will come after me soon. So If I don’t leave, you know what’s going to happen.”

I sighed. After too long, I finally had some company, and to think that I could not do anything to keep that company was devastating. As she began to walk towards her mobile suit, I reached out and grabbed her hand. “Look. I know asking you to stay is out of the picture, but…” I took a deep breath, then continued, “Please. Promise me you’ll come back some day.”

Neither one of us made a single sound. All I remember in that seemingly everlasting moment of silence, was the sound of the waves, and the warmth of her hand in mine.

I waited for her reply, and when it came, all she said was,

“ばか” (Idiot)

She pulled her hand away from mine, and ran off to her mobile suit. I stood there and watched her climb in through the hatch. The suit activated, and dispersed some green particles, before blasting off into the sky.

Did I ever see her again, after that day? Well, let’s just say she’s the reason why I’m still keeping my job, and enjoying it.

Well, if you’re wondering what this is all about, it’s an event in Team Blue, to come up with “Figurative Stories” - to put it simply, figure photoshoots with stories. This FS was done around the “Beach” theme.

I took the photos on a beach in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan. As you can see in some of the photos, our beach isn’t very clean, and the sand isn’t nice and fine, (except further up shore, where there are lots of sandflies ^^;) but instead, rather grainy.

I got a BAD sunburn from this photoshoot, because the sun was really blazing. ^^;

Anyway, I will be posting another FS, that next one being of the “Night” theme. That will be up tomorrow (hopefully).

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Toyz N Hobbies- another shop on the lowest floor in Cineleisure, Damansara.

The shop focuses highly on Gundam and mechas. When I say focus on Gundam, I don’t mean just Gunplas, but also stuff like Gundam War (a Gundam TCG), and Gundam trading figures.

The prices of Gunpla there range from around RM120~160, which is pretty expensive. There was also a Perfect Grade Gundam Wing Zero Custom going for RM 539. However, if it’s Gunpla you’re looking for, I highly recommend Time Machine in Times Square KL. They have much cheaper Gunpla there.

As for Gundam War… when I saw it at this store, it was my first time ever seeing a Gundam TCG (trading card game). ^^; I have not noticed any other shops selling this, so if you want to pick up Gundam War, this is the place to go.

Aside from Gunpla, this store also sells other otaku goods, such as bishoujo figures, and Gashapon (as you may have noticed from the first picture). No pirated DVDs and the like here.

But these “other otaku goods” are much lower in quantity as compared to the mecha goods.

As you can see, bishoujo figures on the top shelf, and mecha goods right below it.

That’s one half of the store. The other half is suddenly arts and craft (like, ribbons and stuff). ^^;

Overall, I’d say it’s an okay store, but there are much better places to go for both Gunpla and figures. If anything at all, come here to find Gundam War, or Gundam trading figures.

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This is Figma Hatsune Miku by Max Factory. She’ll be released soon on September 10th, and will be going for the price of 2,500 yen.

The pre-orders for her were opened by HobbySearch today, but have already been closed. ^^;

Anyone managed to pre-order this?

I had thought of pre-ordering, but I decided to try and reserve from XL-shop instead. Hopefully XL-shop managed to get stock.

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Image source

Remember the recent attack on figures in Malaysia?

Yesterday, two more articles were published regarding the issue.

Source: the Star Online (Figurine love) (Concern over hobby)

I was laughing my head off while reading those articles. ^^;

Anyway, I’m glad that our Malaysian otaku community did not keep quiet about this matter, but instead stood up to defend our otaku pride.

Now, if only the authorities would listen.

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Here’s an otaku shop I discovered recently.

This place is called suncomic. If one had heard of the name alone, one would’ve probably thought it’s a comic store.

Far from being *just* a comic store, suncomic sells pirated DVDs, art books, figures, Gunpla (and some other plamo), cosplay outfits/accessories, ita-shirts (shirts with anime characters printed on them ^^;), and yes, comics too.

The store consists of two “floors”- the first floor is where the gunpla, artbooks, figures, DVDs, and ita-shirts are. The comics and cosplay accessories are found on the second floor.

But what I really wanna highlight about this store is this-

Suncosplay Cafe

This cafe, located at the back of the first floor, is, as the name indicates, a cosplay cafe. When I saw this I thought, “WHAT? A COSPLAY CAFE IN MALAYSIA?” I was at this store after watching Eva 1.0, and the cafe was closed then.

So I mailed them to ask about the suncosplay cafe, and this is what they said:

Yes, the Cosplay Cafe was intended to be a true cosplay outlet for cosplayers. We used to have part time cosplayers working there but unfortunately, the crowd in Cineleisure has been poor and we were unable to realize our intention for that place. Right now the cafe is functioning as a normal cafe with food and drinks without any cosplay elements at the moment.

We do hope someday the crowd in Cineleisure will improve and we can then bring back part-time cosplayers as waiters / waitresses, even organise cosplay events as well.

T’was very disappointing to hear that. I think we’re gonna need to support them a lot more before they can resume activities as a cosplay cafe.

Maybe they should have some meidos outside Cineleisure to give out flyers or something. That would surely attract tons of Malaysian otaku.

Anyway, if you wanna visit this store, it’s located at Cineleisure, Damansara, on the lowest(?) floor. It’s just two lots away from ShiokToys.com.

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Was just surfing the internet today, when I came across this figure..

It’s an “SOS sexy figure,” and goes at a wholesale price of $65.

Certainly, her body is rather sexy, but her face is so… “fugly” Well, her mouth in particular, because her eyes look salvageable good enough.

This figure seems to be manufactured by, “You-Q”. Regardless of whether this “sexy figure” looks good or not, after looking at their dodgy legit website, I would love to get one.

Apparently, this You-Q is, “…one of the biggest anime wholesalers in China,designing and producing various kinds of anime products,with high qualitity ,competitive prices of our goods and superb service,we have established long term business relations with a lot of Clients in Europe,North America and Australia.”

High qualitity sounds great, and totally trustworthy.

This figure can be found here.

You know any other ugly sexy figures? The other ugly sexy figure I remember is Sader. ^^;

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Image somewhat related. Source.

Patung Permainan Gadis Aksi Lucah (Figures of girls in sexy poses)

Koleksi anak orang kaya (Wealthy people’s children’s collection)

I would translate these articles for you, but Setsuna-san has already done a good job with that. You can read his posts about the articles here and here (in respective order).

Well, this is another attack on us otaku. I’m not much of a figure collector (yet), but I find it annoying and offensive that they would call figure collecting a, “minat dan hobi aneh” (weird interest and hobby).

Also, they mentioned that these figures would, “…merangsang minat remaja dan kanak-kanak kepada seks, sekali gus mendedahkan mereka kepada perlakuan tidak bermoral.” (…stimulate the interest of teenagers and kids towards sex, altogether exposing them to immoral acts)

Now I say, “What about Hollywood?” Hollywood produces tons of movies with sexual elements. Sure, they cut out all the sex scenes when screening in the cinema (even after the movie is rated 18-sx), but in the same way that they try to hide those scenes, figure stores do hide their “sexy figures”. So then, why do they have to shoot us down while they’re doing the same thing? Because we’re a minority? Because our interests are different?

At this rate, they’ll start saying cosplay is influencing everyone to have sex.

On a side note, the figure I showed on top is pretty sexy cute, no?

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