update 03_CUTTING WITH SCISSORS
Thank you everyone for the comments and the likes. Hope you enjoyed this direction. Man, lots of things have changed here since September 2017 when I last updated. I'm going to say that I finally got out of the chatting loophole and move on from it. To be honest, not a lot has gone out and had dug a deeper hole.
@Namiko - haha, thanks for being first as always. And no, this is not Okami 
@Bastet69008 - Thanks for liking the soundtrack! I'd wanted it to be different than what the others had been posting a while back. There's a lot more things to like when you go the country. (PM sent for building requests)
@TowerDude - Thanks! I see, you have updated after all this time as well.
@The British Sausage - not much were new but these were a good start.
@Takingyouthere - Thanks! Makes me write longer stories like the previous update. It adds some perspective aside from saying "this is blah, the blah of blahhh."
@Kingkhufu - Thanks!
@JulianMIA - I don't use HSR as much either but when I do, it will be there.
@korver - Thanks!
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"God, this reminds me how annoying firecrackers are."
"Hahaha, I'm not playing stupid games like that," said a man poised to throw away a firecracker towards another person.
"Hey, what the [xxxx] are you doing?" asked the other person, though seemingly happy he was looking a little more perplexed towards the other person.
The firecracker was thrown at a wall just to the left of him and popped.
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03_CUTTING WITH SCISSORS
Disclaimer: Please watch the video on its entirety. After the video, you can begin the Spotify playlist located at the information message above.
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"Hold on [xxxx]."
I paused the track at the beginning and I began to laugh hard with this track. "Oh, you. What is this new track?"
"Haha, just something that I've been working on for a while now. Ya know living in Aikawa is getting a little bit repetitive here and there with the pet store job."
"Wait, since when were you employed at a [xxxxxxx] pet store, Ki-kun?"
"Since SixTONES got a [xxxx] job," Ki answered jokingly, referring to some band he saw on a poster at the corner of a random alleyway.
"Don't fill yourself with random [xxxx] you see on the street, Ki-kun. Anyway, I want to listen to that track of yours." I went towards the sound mixing table and put on the headphones and started listening to the track.
"Man, this is so good. Since when did you start writing about this song?" I asked.
"Not a too long while ago. As you said, I was just walking on the streets looking for some uncalled-for inspiration," he answered, grabbing his retractable pen and started playing with it. As he started to repeatedly click the pen, he said "I was looking for what people have been writing around the internet as well and I just look at all the [xxxxxxx] people write, insane. This one person from Indonesia called a French person a [xxxxx]. His rant was funny though because he was just babbling about random stuff unrelated to the context. Another person published his book and his own friends turned against him because of the book's contents."
"What site were you looking for, 4chan?" I jokingly asked while trying to hold my laughter. Ki stopped clicking his pen and smirked.
"I got it off some random Chinese medicine forum on the internet."
"What the [xxxx]?" I laughed uncontrollably.
---
You haven't seen a real town like what Ki-kun has. This is the ward of Aikawa, located not far from the centre of the city. This area was designated for the poorest and the damned a long time ago but I don't really see a difference with the other wards of Hashima. Ki-kun was from a poor family but he loved skateboarding when he was in elementary and junior high schools.
There's just a repetition of apartment blocks wherever you look. This project was meant to decongest the central area of Hashima and rid it of its sins. At Aikawa, you'd find places where there are a lot of either graffiti marks: walls, postal boxes, posts. I'd blame Ki-kun's group for the messiness and the graffiti but hey, that's what makes this place charming in the first place.
[address retracted] Aikawa Heights was Ki-kun's home since 2015. He had been living on top of a ramen shop from the late 1990s to 2015 and I welcomed the change to an apartment block. The space is still pretty small but at least he can now put studio equipment in the apartment instead of leasing a back room from a real estate office.
"Hey, listen to this next track of mine. This won't be included in the next album but I'm putting this one on the EP." He then gave me a brown CD. "Play this one," he asked.
The opening track was very typical Ki-kun. That's what made him into one of the country's best hip-hop artists. I mean, he's not one of those freestyling battle rappers but he adds flavour to his music unlike anyone else.
Life in Aikawa is hard. It's not like what you'd expect of this country. The government always claim that the country is safe; less murders; more happiness and all that jokes you can tell yourself (Volume II) but it's far from perfect. Theft is often not recorded in the crime tallies and often assault goes unnoticed.
But Aikawa is also diverse and certainly not something you'd see out of nowhere. Sure they identify as being from this country but they don't ignore the fact that their origins came from another country as well, and they do cherish a part of it. That's why in Aikawa there are a lot of Filipino-style bars and also a lot of "haafus" helping each other to make Aikawa the way it is. Here, they talk about their issues and express them through culture. This is why Ki-kun and I were doing hip-hop in the first place. It's not pretending to be one and it's not screaming that it's not perfect to everyone; it's just the way it is.
---
Disclaimer: Please watch the video on its entirety. After the video, you can continue the Spotify playlist located at the information message above.
The next day of my visit to Ki-kun's place he told me to meet at a playground in Aikawa. He said that they are shooting for the next album.
When I saw the camera pointed towards him plus some random kids playing in the background I couldn't believe this guy's humour. Posing with the kids was all fun and games and I haven't thought of that idea. I wouldn't pose for anything with my kids.
"Oi! Yuto-san, come here," said Ki-kun, fixing his collar for the photo shoot. "Want to join in the photo shoot?"
"Nah. It's your EP and I don't even have a featuring track with you for a while. Not since 2009," I answered while taking a seat in see-saw.
"Oh yeah, right. By the way, I'm quite interested with your beef with Emi. I just saw yours and OKI (Gon-chan)'s diss track. Did he even respond with anything?"
"Nada. He was being a [xxxxx] anyway so I don't expect him to answer anytime soon.
The camera crew went to have a lunch break at a gyudon place and said that they will come back to the next destination, a baseball field, at 1:00 in the afternoon. I took Ki to a shawarma place near the police and fire station.
Ki-kun looked at me and began asking me more questions about Emi. "So, when did this happen again?" "It happened about five to six months ago. He went totally sour with our group," I answered, taking out my wallet to pay for the shawarma.
"Weird, it was also a few months ago when he invited three or four rappers including me into a chat room to talk about dissing people behind their backs. I left quickly because I don't want to get involved into some lowballing [xxxx] like that. The last message that I told him to stop but he just brushed it off with a laughing emoji. From then forward, I haven't talked to him."
"Yeah, he'd begin with low kick to the [xxxx] because that's his style now, plus the overbearing autotune and Twitter-esque quality of his tracks," I responded to Ki-kun. "2 shawarma meal sets please."
As we walked back towards the intersection, Ki-kun looked to the right where the police station is. "Hey, that's where I threw that firecracker at someone when we were kids," he said, bursting into laughter right after. "Kid was a dumb [xxxxx], he told his friends about the firecrackers and had a group of yakuza beat him up the next day. Heard he's one of the managers of one of those idol groups that quickly disbanded.
"Oh yeah? Care to give the name of the group?" I asked while reaching out for my cellphone to text Gon-chan who had been buzzing me continously since early morning.
"Something something shiny something child. Akaruiko? It was some girl group with a manager as fat as I could remember. They broke up because the manager wasn't interested with the girls but with his overblown ego." Haven't heard from him since he left Akaruiko.
"Oh I remember Akaruiko. A girl named Yui was in there, right?" I said quickly while looking at Gon-chan's message.'Yu-kun, do you want to come with us on the 23rd?' read the text message. "Yeah, she was," he answered. "Do you know her from somewhere?"
"Yeah, she was in the Jumperz Studio one time."
We arrived at the baseball field for the photo session. The producers and the photographers said that I need to be in the background for one or two of the pictures and I agreed.
"We're also going to shoot a music video called 'Home Run'. Do you want to join in Yuto-san?" A producer screamed from a distance. "Sure, I answered."
We had to wait until evening to begin filming some scenes, beginning at the baseball ground. I chatted with Ki-kun with things in life, such as his involvement in his group called "SD" and his friends.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you about Shi-chan, Yu-san. He's about to get married to someone," he added.
"What the [xxxx]? Since when did he have a girlfriend?" I asked, obviously bewildered with his statement.
"Oh, about a year ago?" Ki-kun answered with confidence.
"Huh, it's been that long since we last got together huh?"
Filming for the music video continued at one of the apartment blocks with the adamant permission of the owner, who said that we need to leave at around 8pm because people wanted to sleep.
"Ramen place right after?" Ki then took out his pen and notebook and started clicking on it again.
"Sure, why not." I answered. "Though I'm not hungry and probably wanted something small."
"I was thinking I should do a diss track against Emi. That'll jolt his nerve a little," he hilariously suggested. "Sure, I'd invite Gon-chan next time he comes by," I answered.
Ki then gave me a copy of a book called 'Book of Rap Facts' by some guy named 'Dojimazaki Kazuya'. "Isn't Emi one of the contributors of this book? What a loser."
"Yeah, I'd suggest we burn it for the diss track," he answered.
"I'd see you in about two weeks with the track, Yuto-san. Enjoy your trip with Gon-chan and Ban-chan to the inaka."
"Wow thanks for advice. [xxxxxxx] great," I answered. I walked towards Gon-chan's car but Ki turned around and threw me a pack of stickers. "Here, have some of this stickers. With great love from Aikawa."
"Thanks Ki-kun. That's hot,man . Alright Gon-chan, bring me home and we'd travel to Ichijoudani tomorrow."
"Haha, sure. I have onsen passes to this one resort. Let's go," Gon-chan answered. "But first, let's get some of these [xxxx] at the convenience store."
We stopped by at a Lawson located at a not-so-busy corner of Aikawa. I got myself a sandwich and three oden pieces. They're cheap as hell so why not.
There's three people on another vehicle giving us a weird look. I'd usually brush it off since that's mostly what people from Hashima do.
"Yu-kun what is--"
"What is it Gon-chan?"
"It's Emi's posse. I think they're coming for you-- I'm just kidding," and Gon-chan started laughing loudly. "I'm just [xxxxxxx] with you tonight. Get some sleep when you get home and we'll travel to Ichijoudani tomorrow."
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Fictional characters. Not based on a true story. NORIKIYO "馬鹿と鋏と", "日記 〜追記あり〜", ©2019 YUKICHI RECORDS; "支払は満額で" ©2011 YUKICHI RECORDS. Fla$hbacks "Fla$hbacks" ©2013 FL$Nation. All real life photos ©2018 Carl Sotomil. SimCity 4 Photos ©2019 Carl Sotomil. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction of this update or its contents are strictly prohibited.
Concrete Jungle. Because rainbow coloured text ain't gonna cut it.
鋏で切る
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