James Hiwatari

11th January 1995 Dear Diary of Sunshine, Nobody seems to have noticed I’m awake yet. I’m not sure where I am or who else is here. I’m not even sure I’m still in Daisen. I could’ve been captured by the demons for all I know, though I suspect if that was the case, they would have someone watching me while I slept. You know what I mean, right? Why go over so much trouble to kidnap me and then not even bother to be creepy about it? Actually, why kidnap me in the first place? W

11th January 1995 Dear Diary of Things that Keep Going Wrong, Sorry I stopped writing so abruptly before. That giant gash on my side was hurting again and I couldn’t concentrate. I though I was going to pass out from the pain, but it’s ok now. I got it under control by covering it with a pillow and using my arm to keep the pillow in place. The pressure makes the pain better for some reason. The wound has some bandage and dressing over it, so someone must have been taking care of

As horrible as it sounds out of context, I'm glad for your boredom!

11th January 1995 Dear Battle-wary Diary, Mamoru is dead. We were ambushed on our way out of the caffé, like Branjka feared. The first demon materialised behind us. Grabbed her by the throat. Mamoru whispered a “sorry” and threw my body against the nearest wall, using his own body to shield me from the scene. He turned around and I couldn’t see much beyond his back. The black fake-leather jacket that brushed against my skin smelled of apples, oranges, and pineapples. This s

Fun fact: Sailor Moon was one of the first animes to make its way to Brazil in the 90s. I was around 5-6 at the time, and I loved it. We didn't get the original names, though, so I didn't find out Mamoru was called that until much later. That said, this Mamoru was not named because of that Mamoru. It's more like they were named for the same reason: "Mamoru" means protection/defence, so that was really a most suitable name for a bodyguard. "Branjka" also sort of means "protection", though not as blatantly as Mamoru's case. I made some spelling alterations to the Slovak name "Braňka" (so I wouldn't have to deal with a letter that I don't normally have on my keyboard), which is the diminutive of Branislava. The "bran" part comes from "borna" and means protection, according to the Behind the Name website. So there. Nessa got as literal protection as she could.

10th January 1995 Dear Travelling Diary, The hospital is now a distant memory. It’s hard to believe I was there just this morning. The sun is setting and I’m sitting at a coffee shop. The guard who brought me here is making a point of not looking at me, though not because he’s a bad person. When I said I wanted to write on my diary, he understood my need for privacy and even apologised! ‘I’m sorry I can’t leave you alone. It’s a big risk in your situation, and I want t

10th January 1995 Dear Shabby Diary, Looks like I survived the night. I don’t know how much I slept, but it can’t have been much. The demon guard was there every time I spied the door. At least this time they didn’t flirt with anyone. I think this is the last time I’ll write from this hospital room. I’m not sure if I’m happy or scared to leave this place. I guess I’m both? I don’t like the hospital. The nurses are still not nice to me (I can’t even tell if they’re the

If you don't have obstacles of some sort, chances are the story gets boring quickly... Attachment to characters is usually a good thing. I actually get to know mine by role-playing random scenes/interactions in my head that just happen to fit whatever I'm doing at the moment, so I tend to treat them more like friends/family than random people whose actions I put on the page. It works well for the most part, until someone has to die. I think I killed a major character in a story only once, ages ago. I know I'll kill again (cue creepy villain background music), but actually this particular character will have his death over-ruled in the new version I'm making for his story (because his death turned out to be surrounded by unfortunate implications that I now know better than to perpetuate, so he gets to live... for now). (end of villain background music)

Yay! You just made my night! I do try to not go down the route of "yet another freaking fairy story", so I'm glad it seems to be working. Though why did you start reading if you weren't interested? Just out of curiosity...

Thanks. I'm good at remembering things that happen and overall ideas, but never the name of those involved.

The scene's shortness is a well-though feature, not a bug... I mean, which author doesn't want a hoard of famished readers banging on their door and demanding to be fed the newest chapter as soon as possible or else... Ok, maybe not that in those terms. There is a book somewhere that is about an author getting kidnapped by a fan, isn't there? I forgot what it's called, but it doesn't sound like a pleasant reading. The good thing about short scenes, though, is that you only have to wait 2 days at most for an update instead of a week or (as is unfortunately the case with my other stories) a few months.

Thanks, I do work hard for that!

I think the rats object to being compared to a traitor fairy. Just saying...

Well, Nessa did end up getting in quite a lot of danger in the end (and continues to do so as of scene 20 even... writers love their main characters, don't they?), so hopefully you weren't disappointed in that.

If I ever decide to make this into a proper book, I'll definitely go back and edit/retouch/improve the story. I change my stories all the time too- there's a reason The Orchestra is now rarely updated (I'm working on radically changing the beginning for its new book format). My problem is rather knowing when to stop changing and getting on with actually publishing already!

9th January 1995 Dear Diary of a Sitting Duck, I’m not sure how I’m going to sleep tonight. I just had a long conversation with the police officers. They explained what is going to happen to me tomorrow when they discharge me. Yes, you read that right: they’re kicking me out of this hospital. They think I’m well enough to survive on my own. Not quite on my own, though. I’ll have a guardian and a fake new family. Or something along those lines. My brain is still melting

9th January 1995 Dear Diary of the Unsettling Things in my Stomach, I’m only doing this so I have a written record of what the demon officer is doing. Nobody seems to care they’ve left a demon in charge of guarding me. People bow their heads slightly to the demon as they pass by - I guess that’s how shape-shifters greet each other? Everyone is always smiling, like the demon is a friend. Maybe they are. Maybe the police told me all those lies about me being innocent so I wou

9th January, 1995 Dear Diary of Distress, I hadn't noticed before, but there is a police officer outside my door. It was harder to see at night, when the lights in the corridor were almost all off, but now there's no mistake about it. The police officer is still like a statue blocking my door. Are they going to step aside when breakfast comes? When the nurses need to give me medicines? Why are they even there? Maybe the police finally realised my case deserves punishment. T

8th January 1995 Dear Diary of Guilt, That should be the last of the animal cadavers coming out of me. I don’t think it’s possible to have any food left in my body after the last hour bending over the toilet. Is it too much information for you? Wait until I describe the foulest taste known to fairies and the most putrid smell to ever descend on one’s nostrils. Then remember I just spent a whole hour surrounded by that horibleness in the tiny, windowless bathroom next to my bed. You f

I like your style. I hope you continue to enjoy the story too!

That's definitely an interesting way to put it. I hope you enjoy finding out whether Nessa is going to swim out or drown in this one.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked the scene. Let's see what you think of tomorrow's one...

8th January 1995 Dear Diary of Truth, The nurse tried to serve something dead on my plate. That bloody slab of some no longer recognisable animal stared at me and I stared back at the nurse, hoping they would understanding my unvoiced question. But they left the room without making eye contact. Did they really expect me to eat that disgusting thing? Or was it a message for a killer like me? - now that I’ve taken out a life, I should only feed from other dead things? One taste of t

8th January, 1995 Dear Diary of Memories, All lights in my room are off, save for a lamp on my bedside table. It's way past bedtime, and the night shift nurses cleaned my room and gave me a new gown. They have no idea who I really am. The police will come back tomorrow to oversee my discharge and guide me to wherever I'm going next. I can’t bring myself to care about any of this, though. Whatever will be, will be. As for my story, I'll tell it now. And I'll mark this

Fairies see certain parts of the world in strictly black and white terms. Shape-shifters, on the other hand, allow for a lot more grey to seep into their world view... They're looking at the same facts from different angles and arriving at potentially different conclusions. Not that it comes as a surprise... Just as it probably won't be a surprise with which point of view we agree more. Which isn't to say we should go and advocate for fairies to change their entire belief system. They do have reasons to believe what they do, but we're outsiders to them just as the shape-shifters are outsiders for Nessa.