Mia awoke in an infirmary with someone over her, filling a glass of water. Her vision was in a mist, and she felt nauseated & weak.

  "Yeah, um." said the woman, glancing to someone at the end of Mia's sight. "People just call her the Major, though."

  "Didn't some movie about that come out a few years ago?" said a female voice at the cliff of Mia's hearing.

  "Uh, we don't talk about that." said another female.

  "Yeah, it sucked." said the woman as she drank water to Mia, streams of fog helping her swallow.

  "Something you have to watch in the original Japanese." said a male. "With your body pillow."

  The woman walked away and sat down. "Um, they're called dakimakuras."

  "Maybe we should get her one." said the male. "Could we get one made of Aimee?"

  Mia weakly laughed and the four shot up.

  "I - Mia?" said Serena, rushing over to her. Streams of fog checked her for wounds. "Are, are you up?"

  "….nnnf…"

  A dozen wounds on her face burst open, blood not dripping out as Blackburn filled them.

  "I - I got you." said Serena quick. "J-Just be c-careful, please."

  "Y-Yeah." said Yuruko beside.

  Mia's left arm pressed against the bed, but it snapped backwards as she sat up & back in to the bed she sank, fog healing her as she groaned, then saw Sylvia & Samuel.

  "U-Um, she told you to be c-careful." chimed Sylvia.

  "…w-what … what happened?"

  "You were in a coma for a few months." said Samuel. "We were worried you weren't gonna wake up."

  "Uh, before graduation." nodded Yuruko.

  "Y-Yeah." nodded Sylvia. "T-they, um, delayed it, yeah. We're at Timepact."

  "Um, do you want me to let Aimee know?" said Serena and Mia nodded. "Okay." She tapped her tablet. "She was a-"

  - Aimee appeared right next to her & she shrieked -

  " - really should've expected that." winced Yuruko, relevantly, glancing away as Aimee showered kisses on Mia.

  "Should go outside for this." said Samuel, and the three nodded as they left.

  Aimee's tears showed once they stepped out, carefully crouching beside Mia. "A-Are you - h-how are you feeling?"

  "…a-awful." Mia coughed. "I-Is everyone else alright?"

  "A-All good." she nodded. "Um, you - you can g-guess how I've b-been for the past few months, b-but yeah. J-Just glad you're awake. H-Hirogane said, u-uh, you'd p-probably be fine, but y-you know how I get."

  "I know."

  Mia tried to reach over to her, but the two winced as something cracked.

  "Saya said, u-um, just keep resting." said Aimee. "Don't want to strain yourself."

  "Is Worldwide still working?"

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "H-Hirogane said it should be, y-yeah." Aimee nodded, wiping her tears. "... um. Gonna ask if, uh, Daigo's gone?"

  Mia closed her eyes. "Of course he is."

  Aimee laughed. "G-Guess that works. Still need to, uh, show you some stuff tomorrow, but…" She nodded, suddenly serious. "…uh. Speaking of. Needed to talk to you about something."

  "What is it?"

  "…um. Akira came by and dropped a few more tapes while you were out, too. Was listening to them, but, um… they were pretty rough."

  "…what were they about?"

  "…apparently, um…" She wiped her eyes. "Magnus and Ryumi were planning on - once she killed Daigo, she wanted to have a kid, and…they were, um, if they were female - they were going to name her Mia."

  "T-They - what?-"

  "- just kidding."

  " - I - Aimee!"

  "God, could you imagine?" cackled Aimee, little having changed in the interim.

  "…god." muttered Mia, laying her head down. "Four years to find that out."

  "Yeah." laughed Aimee. "…uh. Do you want anything to eat?"

  "I want to rest."

  Aimee nodded. "O-Okay. I love you."

  "…mmhm." Mia smiled a little.

  ◆◆◆

  She broke every bone in her body the next day, but was healed by the time of Timepact's meeting. Sylvia helped her in to her chair, and she noticed one absence as she sat down & frowned.

  "…Where is Akira?"

  "He left as soon as he brought you back." yawned Makoto. "Guy was a fucking weirdo."

  "He knew you were going to kill him after." said Serena and Mia nodded.

  "And if I ever see him again."

  "Won't even need a purple beam for it." chimed Sylvia.

  Mia glanced over to her, wishing she could read whether those eyes had broken up with Maria or not. She'd made no mention of her or the Royal Four, but graduation would soon make both irrelevant.

  "Got it set up?" said Aimee to Yuruko, forming a projector screen at the tip of the room.

  "Yep." she said, and Mia nodded to her as she begun. She discussed much of what Codex's profile of the event had said, and referenced a few papers researching how the unicerse had shifted, as thorough as she usually was as Timepact's researcher. "…uh. GPS was down for a few months, too, but they said it's mostly good now."

  "Felt pretty bizarre, though." said Samuel to Mia. "Most people had the feeling of something moving while staying still."

  Mia nodded. "What about Russia's citizens?"

  The room fell uncomfortable.

  "…what happened?"

  "…uh." winced Aimee. "Don't think you… killed anyone besides a few hermits that didn't evacuate, but…"

  "…pull it up."

  Yuruko nodded and flicked her remote. A map appeared on screen. Russia's destruction had been far worse than Japan's.

  Mia gasped. "The entire-"

  " - entire Western half, yep."

  "You um, got attacked a lot while you were in a coma." said Serena. "Someone found out where Timepact is, but we didn't want to risk moving you…"

  "Yep." grinned Yuruko. "She filled a dude up with purple flames."

  "Uh, she just dyed it." shrugged Sylvia, relevantly.

  "Shh."

  "Don't think it was a coincidence most of them were Russian, though." said Samuel. "Their president was trying to have you extradited. No one's listening to them anymore, though."

  Aimee glanced at Saya & Luna and the medic nodded.

  "When Luna and I were walking home a month ago, a woman approached us offering to pay us ten million dollars if one of us poisoned you."

  Luna nodded and said nothing.

  "Yeah." said Aimee. "Few people from our government even got sent to help guard you. We didn't let anyone near you but us, though. Not after, uh…"

  Matoi nodded. "Japan also offered - and they permanently lifted your ban."

  "As if I'll ever go again." said Mia.

  Matoi smirked. "You'll need it to visit myself and Rin."

  Mia's expression went curious. "…er. They allowed Wedding?"

  "Timepact's Japanese liaison." chimed Aimee and Matoi nodded.

  "They approved my license, on the condition I only hunt with Rin or Daishi. I'll be moving there within a… few months, but I wanted to wait until you were awake."

  "You'll go crazy if you can't kill someone within a year." said Samuel and the table laughed.

  "There can be a few accidents."

  "Uh, speaking of…" Marisa grinned and turned to Mia-Mia. "Congrats, Ms. Threat Level Existential."

  Mia smiled. After the rest of her agency caught up with her, she spoke privately with her squadron, which was something she had not done in months. They discussed the delayed race for presidency, in which Serena and Kate were close. Serena had been reconsidering lately whether she would come out as transgender publicly.

  After, Mia went out hunting with her wife and Marisa, and checked her Solar Beam to ensure it was still dark-blue. On the train ride back to Timepact, her and Aimee stopped by a house closer to the agency's headquarters. Because Aimee had chosen to sleep at Timepact on more nights than not, she was considering buying it, and made a joke to Mia that the two might adopt a child, who would need to either be a host from birth or be traumatized by the violence of their mothers' jobs, even if Aimee left management of Timepact to Charlotte. They thought about how their child might be known as the daughter or son of a world savior, but Mia felt it was too much pressure to come in to Urasaria like that, so she would need to think on it more, and she had other things to be concerned with for the next few years regardless. Her father would be released from prison soon, and she looked in to the present week. She would check her Worldwide again to ensure it was working, return to Urasaria for her speech at graduation, then visit her parents after work.

  [THE END]

  Personal stuff.

  the feeling beside that which is felt, there is objective technical skill that can be learned & applied. My connection with Julia is best expressed in a later line where she says that one must not have too much emotion in art, as the only way to ensure a story hits a reader's emotions is to please their intellectual brain first.

  no longer want to force a climax to satisfy an arbitrary requirement if it doesn't make sense for the characters. I have made mistakes while writing Urasaria, but I am very proud of Year Four, and will bring the rest up to the standard it sets.

  [For an in-story example, Natasha believes that Viktoria is a good judge of character - while you as the reader know that Viktoria doesn't even realize Naomi is straight & thinks Olivia has no guilt over her behavior.]

  Planned Changes

  [GENERAL]

  ('bad fights') should be cut out or upgraded.

  [ARC 1: SCOURGE OVER URASARIA]

  Very good arc. People still complain about the stuttering, it's practically a refusal from stubborness out of me rather than quality to change it at this point. Aimee needs more development, as does Marisa, and the pacing on the final stretch/tournament chapter could be updated. If possible, I would also like to lengthen the intro scene to ensure the reader is behind Mia's eyes before the plot ever starts.

  [ARC 1.5?]

  Marisa & Aimee are underdeveloped relative to their screentime, and Arc 1 only lasted until January 6th because the original Arc 1 had more plot. A full rewrite may have a small arc involving Mia with full Worldwide, her new relationship with Aimee, and developing Marisa until Christmas. In Arc 2, Mia's feelings of betrayal would come across better. However, this could also be done the same way by merely lengthening Arc 2's pre-plot.

  [ARC 2: LANACCA STATE OF MIND]

  2nd worst arc. Atori & Dmitri & Granite have no real characterization. Thankfully, road-trip arcs are easy templates for characterization, but I'll need to re-read it to know more specifics.

  [ARC 3: THE END OF AN ERA]

  There's little investigation, but it's not needed. Narrative is always more interesting than plot, to me: a character can be made more complex than any plot. Sylvia will be developed more via a scene where her & Grant go to the club and Sylvia's issues with women come up.

  I know all of you just winced.

  [ARC 4: RED & BLUE & WHITE AND WHITE]

  Matoi's crush & Mia's guilt will both be scrapped; Mia does talk to Matoi about how she's uncomfortable with Matoi touching her for training, Matoi explains her philosophy but apologizes and says she'll stop. Instead, we will get "My Dinner With Matoi" where the two talk every night, developing/contrasting Matoi's character to Mia's. Drunk Matoi will instead be her ranting about how much she hates men, which will be hilarious and even more revealing.

  Speaking of her being radfem, I actually did consider making her... trans-exclusionary, but I did not like how unlikable that made her, nor is Matoi the type of person to get caught up in petty shit like that. Matoi would accept Serena being trans - she wouldn't accept her being an otaku. (And yes, I may consider changing that she blackmails Urasaria's black staff member via threatening to call the cops on her son, given recent events. Her blackmail has to be rewritten, regardless - it was at a phase in my writing where I still attempted to over-exaggerate. Matoi does have authoritarian tendencies more than she admits, however.)

  [ARC 5: FRENCH DEPRESSION]

  This is actually finished by the time you're reading this, though you won't get to see it until Year 1 summer arc is done. Sorry. It features much more characterization for Jeanne & Nuiko, and Dream's coma-inducing properties are now not discovered in-arc: instead, Nuiko theorizes it but does not bring it up to Jeanne until after they reconnect, off-screen. Essentially, it focuses on their drama and Arc 6 has Jeanne off-handedly mention finding out about it & stopping her drug use.

  The intro also has a conversation between Edgar & Laura.

  Isn't it great reading that knowing that they both die horrifically? Here's an excerpt of Jeanne's new intro; there's a few paragraphs before this, but I won't spoil too much.

  [ARC 5.5: EXCELLENT FELLOWS]

  Possible summer arc involving Mia & Marisa against a/the mafia. Other duo is Julia & her protege, Markus. Most likely a Julia character study. By the way, if people complained about Mia stuttering, they will definitely complain here: Julia has a legitimate stutter condition that never goes away, and even worse, depicting it realistically reuqires me to note that my own stutter occurs *anywhere* in the word, not just the first letter, and Julia is no one if not a self-insert.

  Also, Julia is a smoker now for some reason. She's quit by Arc 17. Hosts cannot get cancer, fortunately.

  If you're interested, and I hope this double-spoiler works, here is the potential first scene of the arc:

  Wreath of Verse

  is a community."

  [ARC 6: IT BLEW IN FROM THE EAST]

  Serena's transgenderism may be hidden until Arc 7; I believe there's only a few lines that hint at it. Then, when it is revealed, it forces the reader to recontextualize her previous traits and perhaps even interest them in re-reading, to see if they missed any subtle hunts. Arc 7 would make a fine reveal time, as her lottery tickets & why she's so upset over Yuruko's rejection means it needs to be revealed eventually, to be coherent.

  Yuruko will likely be characterized more. Certain traits were usually saved for later arcs, but I can now pull everything out. Jeanne will have more follow-up on her growth, and some various drama can be expanded.

  [ARC 7: 21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN]

  That lowercase looks so ugly. Standard characterization update, fuck plot. Film & novels need depth to be cherished, and true depth comes from deep characters that need heavy focus. Dr. Rosenthal has an excellent template, just like his namesake in Dr. Judah Rosenthal.

  [ARC 8: LOCK EYES WITH A GORGON]

  I have little commentary on this for now, as I haven't thought too much on it.

  [ARC 9: BITCH BETTER HAVE MY MONEY]

  Rochelle has very little characterization, though it's mostly a Serena arc. I may recapitulate the arc being about Serena's guilt over her selfishness by giving Serena much more screentime than Rochelle. Saya raping Henry may be too out of character, although I enjoy that Luna is upset at her for it, and it shows even Saya has limits to her kindness.

  [ARC 10: BEST FRIENDS]

  Mostly soapy. Likely little needed.

  [ARC 11: SEASONS DON'T FEAR THE REAPER]

  More Rochelle & Tiffany. Can't think of much else.

  [ARC 12: 30 DAYS A REVENANT]

  Hope a publisher never asks me to write original Revenants. I don't believe you can copyright superpowers, only names, so instead of Sex Pistols we'll just have "it's a gun that fires bullets that can grab things". Don't show Araki this! If you can copyright superpowers, I demand royalties for my 200 unique abilities in <3 years.

  [ARC 12.5: HELL OF AN ACT]

  Possible summer arc involving Mia & Serena and Samuel & Kate investigating a group of sex traffickers. This arc will be very dark, and a Kate character study will match nicely to her appearance in Year 3. I have very little of this arc written, but feel I should show you this to reward you from my notes, unedited:

  [ARC 13: SWIM LIKE AN EEL]

  Worst arc. No clue how to fix it, yet. Naomi cannot be characterized until her amnesia is finished, so maybe more of Yuruko & Serena's relationship, or simply make this more of an exposition arc. Even upgrading the fights will make it more palatable. I'm never doing another amnesiac character again.

  [ARC 14: I REALLY THINK SO]

  Very little, good template. Daishi can be developed more, maybe even some growth, as he does appear to have lost his patriotism by Arc 26. Ending is a scorcher.

  [ARC 15: FILL IN THE BLANK]

  Little Naomi characterization, but she needs time to grow. Fights were extremely good this arc; I rated it at a 3.0/5.0 average.

  [ARC 16: ALL DRESSED UP]

  Desperately needs an extension. This arc will benefit massively from a more literature-style.

  [ARC 17: HERE'S THE WEATHER]

  More Julia. Julia has outgrown some of her cynicism that is in Arc 5.5, but is now even more anxious around Naomi due to protege-death. I'm uncertain how I'll do her sexual harassment of Naomi; I believe it would make sense if Naomi expresses interest in Julia's art and Julia, revealingly, imbues way more in to it because god she's so fucking lonely. Julia doesn't need to break down as hard as she does, but being rejected + yelled at by your crush is rough.

  [ARC 18: KAMON]

  About as good as it can be. I leave it to you if that's a compliment or insult.

  [ARC 19: EVERYBODY'S A CRITIC]

  More Julia development. Julia section will be added post-Kate dream, pre-Serena dream. (The section where they get trapped in their views of the world - Kate has the noir section, Serena has Serenaland anime.) Honestly, Naomi could have one too, she really will need a more prominent personality in the rewrite. Otherwise, good template, this was a fun arc, too.

  [ARC 20: (NOT) BORN IN THE USA]

  You know who needs more development. I'm not saying there's no such thing as diminishing returns, but so long as it's good, important characterization, more complexity is generally better. One of the final guys should have a DISARM scar.

  [ARC 21: ROYALTY]

  The Deku fight will be updated to whatever new powers he has besides Blackwhip & kicks. Hilariously, I remember looking him up and being like "that's fucking it?" What a shitty scrawny little runt who would obviously get fucking obliterated by a Solar Beam the second Mia saw his dumbass green hair pop up on her tablet, I'll tell you fucking wh

  The ending stretch is a little weak after the Kirihara death climax, but a good scorcher. If Urasaria was animated, I would love to have the screen fade to black as her parents listen to the tape, and her father says "I need a drink." as the credits roll. You hear him pouring out a glass, and the episode ends by showing Akira's hand tracing droplets across a table, with Mizuchi's vision reflecting various scenes within it.

  [ARC 21.5: OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD]

  Summer arc where someone is trying to steal Xenocyclin's formula. This offers some cheesy goodness by having Xenocyclic be a Schedule 0 drug, where it is literally illegal to even share the formula. Yuruko is given the formula in exchange for investigating the villain with Mia&Naomi&Serena.

  [ARC 22: TEMPERATURE RISING]

  Pretty good arc, this is one of the first I can be truly proud of. Maybe a little more dialogue, but not too much.

  [ARC 23: RAISE THE DEAD]

  Standard.

  [ARC 24: SPLITTING UP AT THE BORDER]

  Too close to have meaningfully improved writing-wise; will wait until other rewrites.

  [ARC 25: MIRRORED IDENTITY]

  Too close to have meaningfully improved writing-wise; will wait until other rewrites. If you get this far, my Top 5 is Julia / Yuruko / Serena / Matoi / Mia, and Yuruko barely inches over Serena because I love frumpiness & misanthropy.

  [ARC 26: THREAT LEVEL EXISTENTIAL]

  Too close to have meaningfully improved writing-wise; will wait until other rewrites. Most likely, the plot will not be rewritten, slightly rushed as it may be; Akira is correct in that Daigo has 0 reason to have associates, and he was right to ridicule Oleksandr's suggestion they conduct an investigation. The scarab-platform section in final fight is slightly weak; it's a shame that I feel Mia's frozen orb is overused in that fight, but she does *have* to use it. Polonium section fucking rules.