Lightasus's Favorite

Here's a really short description of the rest of the Kuroda part of the novel.
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The rest of the Kuroda part is long but it almost all takes place recovering at Asami's. Asami takes Kuroda back to his home, a huge Japanese mansion of his mother's family where he has a room in an isolated wing. He tells the school Kuroda is sick, and has Kuroda tell his parents he's staying with a friend to study. Asami takes care of him for about 2 weeks until New Years Eve, washing him, tending his wounds, feeding him, and calming him through flashbacks and even holding him when Kuroda cries. Asami is gentle and kind but only thinks that Kuroda is strong and he'll be fine. The idea of rape doesn't seem to bother him, except that it happened to his only friend.

Oh, he gives Kuroda a Christmas present at one point, most of the money the gang had taken from him, and the book he'd promised to give him. Kuroda doesn't see anyone the whole time he's there, and they're never seen in the novel. Nice mother.

Asami's father calls him and asks about the killing and tells him he has to come home, overseas. He's resigned and thinks his trial year as a high school student failed- he never fit in and didn't make any friends, except Kuroda.

Eventually Kuroda leaves, and they both basically say they'll be friends forever and can always count on one another. Kuroda tells him something important, that no matter what he ends up doing, he needs to remember that he's himself.

Asami leaves his mother's, reconciling himself to a life on the other side, his emotions numbing as he walks to the car (parked in an alley down the street?) that's taking him to the airport. A child runs into him, obviously Akihito, who glares, shouts, runs away with a bloody nose and he laughs and remembers Kuroda's words about staying true to himself. Then he blanks his face and gets into the car and it drives away.

That's it for this section.

About the rapes, Asami doesn't seem to feel emotional about it. The act of rape doesn't seem to bother him. His friend being hurt bothers him. He'd have felt the same if Kuroda had been shot, but he'd still use guns. I think with Takaba in chapter one there were two things involved. One, he was attracted to Takaba beyond belief for him. Two, he saw someone on a path toward death, knew how stubborn Takaba was, and knew he needed a lesson he'd never forget if he was going to live, and Asami wanted him to live if only to play with him. Also, Asami believes strong people survive and get past rape, lesson learned, so Takaba would. So to him rape is just a thing, just something to use or to overcome. He knew Takaba would be hurt, but that was the point he wanted to get across. Pleasure and pain.

Finder no Souen - chapter 2, part 5 - SPOILERS (and a WARNING, not for the faint of heart, this is dark stuff, even though I made it as brief as possible)
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SPOILERS
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So... this is the tough part that one of our Anonymous posters had already mentioned. You have been warned...

Kuroda was heading to the train station to go to cram school when the gang, that had been threatening him, extorting him and beating him up before, got hold of him. The kidnapped him and he was taken away, bound, blindfolded and drugged. He is taken to an empty room in an underground club and then gang raped repeatedly by the gang (10 men in total) who take turns and keep giving him more drugs. Kuroda loses track of time (and also consciousness at some point), but it seems this has been going on for days. When he no longer reacts to what is being done to him, the boss of the gang wants to dispose of him by shooting him dead. That's when Asami shows up and kills every single one of them with his knife, until only the leader of the gang is left standing. The gang leader puts a gun to Kuroda's head, threatening to kill him, if Asami doesn't put down the knife. Asami does so, but as the gang leader goes for the knife, Asami kicks the gun away from him. The gang leader then pulls out his own knife. He and Asami circle each other. Kuroda takes hold of the gun and aims at the gang leader, but Asami tells him not to shoot the man. Asami manages to break the gang leader's hand and then, getting him in a chokehold, breaks his neck. Asami then tells Kuroda to give him the gun as he had no need for it. Asami finds the keys and frees Kuroda from his handcuffs. Noticing he has been drugged, Asami looks around and finds the syringe with the drug they gave Kuroda and pockets it (personal note: I guess to give it to the doctors at the hospital, so they know what they're dealing with). Asami then puts his jacket around Kuroda and tells him he is glad to have found him in time (personal note: okay, that's relative...). Kuroda then loses consciousness.

*****

I find it so profoundly sad that Asami made sure it would be him who killed the gang leader, and not Kuroda. I mean, Asami is still a teenager, too. He prevented Kuroda from becoming a killer, thus saving that last bit of innocence that Kuroda had left. :(

Chapter 4 - SPOILERS
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Really not much happening in that one. But some interesting bits of info:
- Asami doesn't currently live with his dad. And it's also not clear where he stays, exactly, and whether the parents are separated or maybe his mother his dead. Completely unclear. His dad's men ask him to "go back" (not specifying where that is), but he refuses.
- It's interesting how adult Asami and adult Kuroda seem to have followed into their father's foodsteps. Asami's dad is described in the novel as "worse than the Yakuza, a man who has huge influence in the world of business and politics" (which is exactly how Asami is described in the character profile). And in the novel it says that Kuroda's dad is a high-ranking judge and that he is trying to become head of the Supreme Court. So Kuroda followed his dad into the legal profession just as Asami followed his dad into the shady world of mingling with the head honchos in business/politics.
- Remember when I said I was hoping there might be a connection to the book that Asami gives to Kuroda as a gift in the novel? Well, it seems I was right about that: Kuroda is interested in a book, a foreign novel, and when he spots it in a bookshop, he bumps into Asami who eventually buys the book for himself, but promises to lend it to Kuroda in a few days time, right before Kuroda has to leave for cram school. But then the last line of the chapter says that "that promise was not going to be fulfilled"...
So it seems that one, "stuff" is going to happen within the next chapters (aka shit is going to hit the fan) and two, I think that Asami, because of what's going to happen, will never get around to lend Kuroda the book as he had promised to - and that this is the very book that Asami gives to Kuroda in the manga that night at the penthouse when Kurodo says "You still remembered". :)

P.S.: If anyone wants me to NOT post these little bits of info, because they find it's too spoilery, please say so. I'm deliberately trying not to give away the plot and I also won't be doing summaries, just post some odd new facts that might be interesting. Hope that's okay.

I have to say that initially I wasn't too exited about what the new Viewfinder novel was going to be about, but boy have i changed my mind... :) From the first three chapters alone that novel is a gold mine in terms of information. So I highly recommend to anyone to buy it once it comes out in English. I know, I will. I'm completely hooked.

What is really great is how the author gives the reader facts that tie in perfectly with adult Asami (I will post just a few under the Spoiler tag in a moment). And I'm really liking the story thus far. I thought it would all be a bit silly, since they are in high school - not at all, on the contrary. Both Asami and Kuroda are very much dealing with "adult" things and adult problems.

SPOILER
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On thing that I know will make a LOOOOOOOOT of Viewfinder fans really happy (I know it did me!!!) was something that I had always secretly been hoping to be the case:

1) ASAMI COOKS!!!!!!!!!! Yes, Asami knows how to cook and he is really, really super good at it!!! That made me so happy. I just wonder, what made him NOT cook in his adult life (empty fridge before Akihito and all) or nowadays leaving it all up to Akihito... From the novel you would think Asami can't even cook an egg, so this was such a pleasant surprise (for me, at least).

2) The part-time job? Asami works... wait for it... as a BAR TENDER!!! Yes, he has a job as a bar tender despite being under age. He owns the keys to the bar, he takes car of the bar, mixes the cocktails and cooks the food. He does curry, Italian food, sandwiches etc. for Kuroda (who starts hanging out there before the bar opens) on a regular basis and Kuroda says the food is delicious.

3) Asami does NOT have a part-time job, because he needs the money. There are other jobs that would certainly pay better. He works there because it's a great way to garther information and connections. He tells Kuroda that he wants to open up his own place one day. (I LOVE how that ties in with the story of adult Asami!!!)

4) Kids in school are talking and warn Kuroda. They overheard their parents saying that Asami's dad was "not a Yakuza, but worse than that: someone who was hugely influential in the world of business and politics" (again, I LOVE how that ties in with what YA wrote about Asami in his profile, those are the exact same words she used for Asami!). The kids also tell him, that Asami is dangerous, too (again, they've heard their parents talk).

I hope this really gets people interested in the novel and a lot of folks will end up buying it once/if it's translated. :) Just had to share these bits, as I know a lot of people will love that info.