I'm busy working on the final chapters of Unmasked, but just wanted to post a few quick updates of Youka Nitta news. First off, it isn't showing up on the official Youka Nitta site yet, but Chapter 2 of Boku no Koe is up at the Amazon's Kindle store.

There were also some interesting questions recently posted in the discussion forum:

In the "Do you really want Haru wo Daiteita to END?!" thread, Nita said, "Nevertheless, I always had a doubt... Was Onozuka in love with Miyasaka???? I think he was, but Miyasaka never realized it because of his obsession with Iwaki-san. I think a new story could be made out of this, a spin-off of Haru wo Daiteita, with Katô and Iwaki-san in the background...."

And well, you guys know how I feel about the Onozuka/Miyasaka thing, so of course I had to respond with my two cents on the matter! I did refrain from mentioning my Kikuchi/Onozuka OTP, since I didn't want to seem like I was promoting my fics on an official forum, but it tickles me that someone else picked up on the possible O/M attraction. I haven't seen anyone else mention it, but I kind of feel like Onozuka has a thing for Katou, too. I was re-reading "Trickster"--that's Chapter 3 in Book 8, the one where Iwaki invites O&M to the house, and they reveal that Katou went to the orgy party with them. On the final page of that chapter, O is leaning in close to Katou's face, saying something about how much he enjoys having the power to ruin Katou (with the info about the orgy party), and I was struck by how seductive he looks--it almost looks like he's kissing or nuzzling Katou's face! I think that must be where I got the idea that Onozuka is secretly attracted to Katou, although now that I think about it, one could argue that if he really was attracted to Katou, he wouldn't demonstrate his feelings so obviously. Then again, to play devil's advocate, one could also argue that O is twisted enough to play it up as a joke so that no one would ever take it seriously. Or maybe it's just my own twisted imagination, but hey--that's how fanfics are born! ~_^

And in this thread about Iwaki, Conan528 said that when Iwaki says "I love you" to Katou in the manga, he actually uses the word "like" rather than "love," and wanted to see him actually use "love." I haven't read much of the manga in the original Japanese, but I assume the OP means "suki" ("like") as opposed to "aisuru" ("to love"). From what I've heard, "suki" is often used to mean "love," and Japanese guys are more likely to use "suki" when confessing their feelings. sweetiwaki999 replied that although Iwaki and Katou use different words for "love," their feelings are the same and the words just reflect their different personalities. I said something similar in my own reply, suggesting that it would be in character for Iwaki to use "like" rather than "love," given his reserved personality--he does often seem to have trouble properly expressing his feelings to Katou, often resulting in misunderstandings between them. Personally, I think he'd feel more comfortable showing his love with actions--like the pretty grand gesture of buying a house for them to live in (in Book 3), although once again the communication thing causes problems because Katou is upset that he kept it a secret.

The next commenter disagreed, saying that Katou uses "love" more freely simply because it suits his cheesy personality, and I certainly can't deny that Katou can be pretty cheesy at at times! ^_^ Anyway, it's great to see a bit of character/meta discussion going on, so if you find the topics interesting, head over and join in!