would you mind doing a chinduggery prompt from back in the good old days??? I love your blog!!
Agh thank you so much!!! I hope this makes you happy!
“This is a surprise.”
“A nice one, I hope?”
Skulduggery smiled, standing up from the desk he was sitting at and pulling the beautiful woman into his arms. China’s coy smile broke out into an even more brilliant beam as icy eyes softened while staring into equally startling emerald ones.
“I hope it wasn’t too troublesome getting here.” He murmured into her hair, resting his head nearly on top of hers.
“Oh please, mother and father were at prayer, Bliss was off doing the gods know what an-“
He pulled her into a kiss, hands tugging her waist closer towards him, pressing the both of them together. China eagerly responded, hands grabbing the front of his doublet.
“Bed?”
“Bed.”
Skulduggery sat down heavily, pulling China on top of him with a chuckle. Swathes of white fabric covered his legs as she sat up, straddling him easily. He surged up, threading his fingers into her raven hair, dislodging the pearl pins which had been keeping it in place.
“Skul, that took the better half of an hour to do,” China said reproachfully, an amused smile tugging at her lips.
He ran his fingers through the long strands, humming in contentment. “You know I love your hair down.”
He then picked up one of the earrings she’d pulled out in response and had fallen into their laps, spinning it between his index finger and thumb. “I’m keeping this.”
China raised one eyebrow, confusion etched on her face. “And why is that?”
“So I can always remember this moment,” He said honestly, warmth filling that velvet voice of his, ”The day I had the most beautiful woman in the world, smiling, on my lap.”
She laughed, tucking some loose strands behind one ear. “You dear, dear man.” She kissed him again. He stopped talking.
-
“You’re missing an earring.”
She frowned, looking up at Eliza’s sweet face in the mirror, shining eyes narrowed like a cat.
“What?”
Eliza, who was stood behind the chair she was seated in and had been pinning her hair and arranging her jewellery for the past few minutes, stepped slightly closer and showed her the empty box.
She grabbed it, inspecting the oak box. “Are you sure it didn’t fall on the ground?”
Her paramour shook her head, scarlet tresses of hair swinging as she did. “You’ve lost one, and your other earrings won’t go with these pins. I’ll go find the emerald ones.”
China groaned, head falling into her hands. “That’ll take forever, I’ll just leave my hair down instead.”
Eliza rolled her eyes. “Stop whining, it’s unbecoming of you. I’ll be back in a moment.”
A kiss on her cheek and the woman is gone.
-
Valkyrie had had enough cobwebs. She’d been searching the attic at the top of Skulduggery’s house along with him, searching for some ancient medallion which he’d stolen off a monk which would apparently stop some warlock from achieving world domination.
Still, she hated cobwebs.
She swore suddenly as she tripped over a hidden crate, sprawling across the creaking boards which groaned in a response.
“Language,” muttered Skukduggery as he idly flicked through an ancient tome.
“You know,” Valkyrie said, heaving herself up, “You could be a gentleman and help.”
“Nonsense, you’re doing wonderfully.”
She huffed in frustration, dusting off the huge smeared patches of dust now coating her clothes.
It was then she saw the box. Small, oak and covered in dust, it didn’t seem particularly special except for the beautiful engravings carved on top. She leaned down, picking it up, and dusted the top.
There was a small silver latch on the side, a delicate thing that seemed so easy to break, which she carefully opened to reveal that the inside of the box was grey velvet with tinges of soft green, soft to the touch.
Valkyrie carefully scanned the contents of the box, a pressed flower no longer producing its sweet scent of summer, a couple ribbons which had lost their vibrant colour centuries ago.
Then finally, there, tucked into the corner of the box was a small earring. Beautiful pearls captured and twisted into small wispy strands of silver, the earring was a thing of pure craftsmanship. She gently lifted it into her palm, tracing a finger along the edge of one pearl.
“Have you found something?”
Skukduggery’s voice broke Valkyrie from her reverie, causing her to step back into him.
“No, just some old stuff of yours.” She showed the trinket in her palm to him. “Remember this?”
He took it between his gloved fingers, dangling it in between them. He tilted his head slightly as he looked at it and for the first time in a long while, Valkyrie failed to understand what he was thinking.
“You know,” he began, his voice soft,” I have absolutely no idea where this is from.”
He took the box from her hands and dropped the earring back in it. He shut it and placed it on an old creaking dresser. He suddenly then grabbed something off it, bringing it close to his face.
“Got it.” His voice full of mirth and medallion swinging in his hand, Skulduggery began to walk away, heading towards the hatch that led back to the floors below. Valkyrie followed behind him.
Eheeee, and, later like a true Heikazuha shipper that he is he had the moment recorded xDDD
Conan's face! X"3
One of my favorite thing about Heikazuha is that we can tell that it's the trope of Kazuha fell first, and then Heiji ate dirt falling from the 30th floor onto a tree, and plummeted into the asphalt for her
So, the Naniwa Harukas where Heiji confessed was inspired by the Abeno Harukas in Osaka. Today, they posted a beautiful panoramic view of the sunset from the observation deck with this acrostic poem on X :
When you take the first ideogram of each line, it reads :
Now our Osakan couple is finally formed, I'd like to bring up their ship name. I know the western audience likes to call them Heizuha but I've always favored their Japanese ship name : Heiwa. Both Heiji (平次) and Kazuha (和葉) have one kanji of the word 'peace' (平和) in their name, thus the fans naming them Heiwa.
And for some reason, I find it really adorable that the confession randomly happens in September, which is also the month for the international peace day (09/21).
Shinichi once again proving he's the bestest dude ever
Chapter 1133 spoilers
Just in case you haven't realized it yet. I've seen a lot of people just saying Shinichi was present there because he's just nosey. WHICH SURE. YEAH. ME TOO BTCH SO WHAT. BUT! IT'S MUCH MORE THAN JUST THAT
Here are both of them, finishing the case. They realize the sunset is going to end, and Heiji takes off running, and Shinichi stays behind. He doesn't follow Heiji as he desperately runs to the meeting spot.
BECAUSE
HE WENT TO GET KAZUHA.
Get you a dude that helps you out so you can confess to your girl.
Heiji, very bluntly: I want to confess my love to Kazuha better than you did to neechan, mine has to be better yadda yadda yadda
Shinichi, completely chill: yeah, for sure dude, let's make it happen
In the end it was teamwork from everyone, it's just very sweet, I love this confession.
Guys, we survived it. We're the fandom that survived all the ships (even the ones that came out of nowhere) getting together before the main quest/plot in the manga is concluded or even reaches its climax
We ticked them off one by one
Shinichi confessing in London ☑️
Takagi and Satou getting together - this was a long road ☑️
Shiratori finding his first love - finally, it was their elementary school homeroom teacher ☑️
Even Sonoko have found her The One after all those attempts at flirting, Makoto ☑️
Chiba's first love 🤨 i Don't even know how we got here loll ☑️
Chiba finding out it's Miike and getting together after several chapters ☑️
Somewhere along the way we even got Professor Agasa and his first love ☑️
Shinichi getting his answer in Kyoto 💙🌸 ☑️☑️☑️
Heiji keeps trying to get the right place to confess ☑️
Many times
And finally after thirty years, we have it, we survived the Heiji x Kazuha confession, we got it ☑️
Are we supposed wait to tick the box for
Kogoro and Eri getting back together 🔲
.... for the awaited conclusion?
Lmao or we're going to get another couple? Who's next? Inspector Megure getting a divorce and getting back together with his wife? Sera getting a love interest too perhaps? Mitsuhiko and Genta ultimate showdown for Ayumi?
Translation of the PASH interview with M27's Director
I translated the interview with M27 Director Nakaoka Chika in PASH's April issue, as well as a few of the questions from the Scriptwriter Ookura Takahiro's interview. (Raw from the DCEN Discord.)
Key new information:
There's a scene that reveals why Kudo Shinichi and Kaito Kid look similar.
They decided to save Hakodate's best nightscape for an "important scene" (that isn't the Kid vs. Heiji swordfight). Additionally, Heiji will be saying an impactful line, and Nakaoka would like everyone to pay attention to Heiji's feelings leading up to him saying that line.
Per Nakaoka, Aoyama said that Okita and Kazuha know each other's faces, but aren't any closer than that. (Also, they have a conversation in the movie.)
Ookura is fond of Ran's role because of the way Ran enthusiastically supports Kazuha in the movie.
Translation under cut.
Preparing For Battle
What will be the plot of Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram, which will be released next month…?
Gather hints from Director Nagaoka and scriptwriter Ookura’s stories!
A new truth regarding Kid, not yet shown in the original series, will be revealed.
As the release date of The Million-Dollar Pentagram draws ever nearer, new information drops by the day. What no doubt drew everyone’s attention the most was the tagline on the main visual- “At last, it will be revealed. ‘The truth regarding Kid.’” It appears as though in this movie, a “secret” that has yet to be shown in the original series will be revealed.
Please also draw your attention to Hattori Heiji, who stars in a movie for the first time in seven years, and how his confession to Kazuha will turn out. We hope you look forward to the release! ♪
Staff Interview 01: Director Nakaoka Chika
Q. When did you receive the offer to be the director of Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram?
It was after The Scarlet Bullet (Detective Conan Movie 24) ended. Aoyama-sensei was the one to nominate me- it was already decided that Kid would appear at that time, and as he quite enjoyed The Fist of Blue Sapphire (Detective Conan Movie 23), he likely nominated me thinking “Well, it’s a Kid movie, so better go with Nakaoka!” I definitely felt the pressure, but I was also determined to do my best.
Q. In this movie, Hattori will be part of the main cast along with Kaito Kid, correct?
I learnt that Heiji would be a main cast member at the same time I learnt that Kid would appear, but my first thought was- “So they meet at last!” In the original manga and the anime series, Kid and Heiji have shared the stage in Fairy Lips (Anime Ep. 983-984 Kid vs. Koumei: The Targeted Lips). But in the movies, even if they’ve appeared in the same one, they’ve never met without Kid being in disguise. So I realized that this would be the first time they would actually talk.
Q. Their swordfight, as shown in the currently-revealed previews, left quite the impression on me.
As the movie takes place in Hakodate, and Hijikata Toshizō appears as an original character, we decided fairly early on to include a swordfight. Aside from the Kid vs. Heiji swordfight revealed in the PVs, there’s actually so many swordfights you might think- isn’t this a bit much?! We did decide, “Let’s go with something related to katanas,” but honestly I never thought we’d show so many katanas in the end (lol).
Q. Please tell us the inside scoop on the Kaito Kid vs. Hattori swordfight scene.
We decided we wanted to have an action scene somewhere where you could see Hakodate’s nightscape, but we wanted to save the well-known nightscape for an “important scene”. So, we had Kid and Heiji fight with a lesser-known nightscape as their backdrop.
Q. As the movie takes place in Hakodate, Hokkaido, did you go visit in person?
Yes! It was my first time in Hokkaido, so I was very excited for it. And when I arrived, I truly felt once again that Hakodate valued history deeply, from the way they kept old buildings in great repair. I understood at a glance why Hijikata-san valued the land so deeply. It also felt rather special that Mount Hakodate was visible no matter where you were.
Q. What are you keeping in mind with this movie as you bring Edogawa Conan to life?
I keep in mind that it’s always Edogawa Conan who discovers the important things when it comes to mysteries. While Kid and Heiji are the main cast in this movie, I’d still like the protagonist to play a big part. Also, this is just related to Conan, but the way Takayama Minami-san would act out Conan’s expressions left a big impression on me. She would question my lines and ask things like, “What is Conan feeling in this scene?” And her feedback was all amazingly sharp- it made me think, “I’d expect no less from Conan-kun!” (lol). Sometimes my heart would thump as I answered.
Q. Could you tell us what you think we should focus on in the movie?
Definitely the katanas. As the main motif, they appear quite a bit, and I investigated them quite a bit- I put lots of care into it. There’s also a scene where Heiji says a line I’d want everyone who loves Detective Conan to hear. His entire atmosphere changes when he says that line- it was so amazing, I couldn’t stop smiling after the recording. Please look forward to it! I’d also appreciate it if you’d pay attention to Heiji’s feelings until that point.
Aside from that, there’s a scene in the PV where Heiji is shocked at Kaito’s bare face- please don’t miss the scene that reveals why, “Hey, don’t Shinichi and Kid look kinda similar?”
Q. Please tell us what left an impression on you during your interactions with the movie staff.
It was my first time meeting Kanno (Yugo)-san, but I truly felt that all of the songs he composed for the movie were superb. The Million-Dollar Pentagram has aspects to it that resemble a period drama, so I requested that he include taiko drums in his pieces. Then, he created music reminiscent of a festival that hadn’t appeared much in Detective Conan before. It felt very fresh to me when I heard it for the first time.
Q. Did your experience with The Fist of Blue Sapphire and The Scarlet Bullet help you with this movie?
When it comes to the Detective Conan movies, the usual suspects are always present on the production crew. So I feel as though I’ve gotten the hang of things like everyone’s areas of expertise, such as what scenes would be best drawn by which person. So I always made sure to give the storyboarders and animators scenes that would allow them to bring out their own unique talents. I also think the way the Detective Conan movies use a surprising amount of CGI is also one of its unique points. We use so much, it makes me think- “I don’t think a normal series would use so much?” But it’s because it’s been used for so many years that when we join CGI with animation, we can judge that, “Ah, this much is alright.” I believe that The Million-Dollar Pentagram has managed that balance as well.
Q. On the flip side, what did you do for the first time?
We had a designer named Hama Yuuto-san join us for this movie. When I met him on a different project, I thought that he drew designs that made a big impression. He’s produced various designs in a superb manner for The Million-Dollar Pentagram as well. For example, I consulted with Hama-san regarding things such as the stained glass and Higashikubo Eitatsu’s katana’s [scabbard(?)]. I think it’s best to consult a professional designer when designing something rather than an amateur trying it, and as a large number of katanas appear in this movie, it also allowed us to differentiate them.
Q. Who would you like us to focus our attention on in this movie?
Among the guest characters, I would say Kawazoe. He’s a bit clumsy and scatterbrained, but he’s skilled at information gathering despite that. He was a fun character to bring to life. Among the main cast, I would say Heiji and Kazuha. What will happen with their love story? I’m sure there’s plenty wondering about that!
Q. On a side note, when the teaser visual was revealed, Okita went trending on X (formerly Twitter.) I think many look forward to his part in the movie.
We decided to include Okita as the movie takes place in Hakodate and includes Hijikata, but he’s certainly a super cool character. Though I can’t say much as it’s before release, there is a scene where Okita and Kazuha talk to each other. But I think in the original series they haven’t talked properly before, so I didn’t know how close they were- that’s why I asked Aoyama-sensei for information on what their relationship is like. He responded, “They would recognize each other, but that’s all.” I kept that in mind while having them talk.
Q. Finally, please leave a message to our readers waiting with anticipation for the release.
I believe you’ll see the movie in different ways if you watch it from a different perspective each time- for example, first from Kid’s perspective, then from Heiji’s, then again from Kazuha’s. Also, you’ll only be able to experience the mystery of where the treasure is the first time you see the movie, so I would appreciate it if you played the part of one of the detectives and tried to solve the mystery as you watch.
Staff Interview 02: Scriptwriter Ookura Takahiro
T/N: I was too lazy to translate the whole thing by the time I got to this point, but have a few of the questions I was actually interested in.
[...]
Q. So that’s why Okita will be appearing in the movies for the first time?
While I can’t speak in detail about it, in the end I appreciated that Okita was part of the movie cast. Please look forward to it.
Q. Speaking of first appearances, Detective Kawazoe will be appearing as an original character in this movie. How did you create his character?
As the movie takes place in Hakodate, we decided to have Inspector Nishimura appear- that’s when we realized that he would have a subordinate, something like what Detective Takagi is to Inspector Megure. Since we couldn’t make Inspector Nakamori into his subordinate, we created Detective Kawazoe.
Also, before we decided on the treasure-finding plot, we initially had him as a spy that Public Safety had placed into their ranks. There were some characters we created because we’d need more police officers if Public Safety made an appearance as well. But even after the plot changed and Public Safety no longer played a part, Detective Kawagoe remained. This is the inside scoop on his character creation.
[...]
Q. What other characters would you like us to focus on in this movie?
While Heiji and Kazuha are the main cast, personally I’d choose Ran. I must apologize, but I haven’t been able to make Ran shine in the scripts I’ve been in charge of until now. But in this movie, I felt it was easy to bring Ran to life. She supports Kazuha full steam ahead. I personally was a big fan of that (lol).
So Gosho dropped his official movie poster and I have… thoughts on it:
- can we please exchange the Momoji hag with Hakuba and the rest of Kaito’s gang? Really I hate her so much I don’t need her in another movie 21 was enough for me!
- I believe behind Momoji we can see another Shin look alike namely Soshi Okita
- also there’s no way they’re letting Heiji confess in this movie! NO WAY! I don’t care what it looks like on the poster! It’s gonna be some movie 21 shit all over again! I can literally smell it
- now onto translation, mind you I’m not the best cause I’m only first semester Japanese student but I’ll try my best (don’t hesitate to correct me!!!)
こういう 謎 解 きは 得意 だろ…?
So it means something like that :
"You’re good at solving riddles like this, right…?"
Pretty sure that’s Kaito speaking there! To whom? Honestly could be literally anyone but I think it’s either Conan or Heiji, cause they have beef and it sounds kind of taunting lol
