As I read the Lunar Festival, I got a few laughs. Marie’s lack of fashion sense is entirely like me, and I think it’s great that after being an hour late to the Festival, she arrived in a simple school outfit. Since my own clothes don’t ever get fancier than yoga pants, t-shirts, and a beanie, as well as the occassional coat, I also would have a hard time if I had to imagine myself in a fancy, or even semi-presentable western style dress. Switching it up for me is finding a new color shirt to wear after only wearing black or gray for 4 days straight!
It makes me very happy to see Sakut–… Sakunoshin. He warms my heart. It was definitely a surprise, and a bit confusing, to see the school nurse there. I forgot what her name was…
It’s very interesting to me that youkai consider their lifespan only as long as they are remembered for. It draws some similarities to some concepts in Umineko, mainly (full series spoilers)the basis of needing people to believe in them to validate their existence. In some ways it’s very sad, but given they’re school youkai, the concept makes sense. It’s sort of like they cannot totally escape death despite already not being physical beings, or in Marie’s case, having already died.
I wonder just how similar the concept of youkai is compared to that of witches. It’s something I have wondered since first starting the First Night. Hopefully by the end of the second, I’ll be able to draw my own conclusions!
I really enjoy this quote:
“It is because the night is dyed thick with darkness that the day may sparkle with the light.” That’s really poetic.
The discussion of dreams started by… uh, the 2nd ranked youkai, Inazami, is interesting.
When you look at it, there are two main stances to dreams. You can not dream, or you can drown in them. Of course, there are definitely in betweens to that, these stances are simply the two extremes presented by Inazami and Black Tea Gentleman. My fantasy prone personality is inclined to go with the idea of drowning in dreams by default, but Marie has a healthy quote here that also shouldn’t be ignored.
Like Marie says, this is probably the way the majority of the population looks at dreams. I very much think this outlook is the healthiest, but it’s not the one I personally live by. Moving on.
I was a bit shocked with Marie woke up after drinking alcohol all alone, and when her story did not match Higanbana’s. Unexpected, but it’s something I ponder over quite often. Are my memories real? Did yesterday really happen as I remember it? Are my memories all delusions, writing over reality like fall leaves begin to cover the grass? I do wonder about it quite a lot.
I also wonder, was the old school building simply expressing its thanks to Marie for inhabiting it? And how was Marie able to meet these youkai that she had never seen before? It’s very interesting.
I’m looking forward to the next chapter!