At 19:03 5/20/96 -0400, Chris Willmore wrote:

This was one of the creepiest 2096 stories I've read so far, although it's 
not too creepy to fit in with the others.  I liked the way it hints at 
Reiraku growing up with a warped mind from his "purpose in life", or being 
killed, abandoned, etc, as a failure, instead of making it obvious (as in 
"Shampoo ripped Cologne's eyes out").  Another thing I liked about it is the 
ending's ambiguity.  

Arigato!

You're welcome!

There's no way it tells which way Reikaru would end up.

Er.... O.O

It would be cool if you kept that ambiguity by not having Reiraku show up or 
even referring to him in the rest of 2096.

One tiny problem... He's the main character of the series....

Hibiki Reiraku = Hibiki Ratiko

Oops, my mistake.

(Ratiko was just a mispronunciation by his younger sister, Cytherea, who
wasn't born until four years after the events of 'Little Reiraku'.  The
mispronunciation stuck.

The only problem I saw was Reiraku getting nosebleeds from seeing Batya.  
Nosebleeding due to lust is about a million times less likely, if not 
impossible, in a six year old (unless he hit puberty really early by hormone 
overdoses as part of his "medical care").  Maybe you could have Batya punch 
Reiraku in the face.  That wouldn't need much change in the scene; the other 
kids would probably tease him about liking her anyway, regardless of the 
reason he was bleeding.  Otherwise, don't change a thing.

Well... There IS a reason for that. I don't want to give it away, but if you
read R-Files I very closely, and then reread Little Reiraku (especially the
second half) you should be able to figure it out. ^_^

Do you mean the part about Reiraku being Ryoga's son (I already knew that)?  
If he bleeds when he sees girls because he inherited it from Ryoga, that 
still doesn't mean he'd show it so early (the same way Shampoo's daughter, 
if she had one, would not need to wear a D-cup bra to kindergarten).

Thanks for the kind commentary!

You're welcome again