Welcome back,

this is going to be another contest entry, this time – again - for RedsyDevil's Draw It Again In Your Style! challenge. Even though regular viewers of my artbook will definitely know the contest challenge, this chapter is a special one. Not only did I redraw the character provided but went as far as giving her a sidekick. Honestly, I didn't think twice about it, but inevitably the two of them gained some kind of life on their own, and the next thing I know I'm telling my partner about their backstory and life situation.

When I began sketching out the piece I thought about how few things I changed this time. Turns out there are indeed some details worth mentioning, but I'll have to tease you on: My description will focus on the artistic choices and execution of the illustration. Everything backstory will be presented in form of a oneshot which is the main reason it took me so long to get this chapter ready to publish. In fact, the illustration itself was finished last week, but my writing skills seem to be a bit rusty. I apologize to everyone reading through my undoubtely clumsy English phrasing

Coming from me, this illustration contains an unusally heavy Japanese influence. I may have mentioned it before: My drawing style initially derived from fashion design instead of Japanese pop culture and media as it seems to be common for many artists on this site. Accordingly I'm not at all used to draw manga style. Setting these two characters up with the background I came to think of, required me to go out of my comfort zone quite a lot. I hope it shows in a positive way. Also I never really joined the japanophile hype (though meanwhile I read some manga series and watched a few studio Ghibli movies), and therefore lack a lot of knowledge regarding Japanese folklore, tradition, and history as well as customs and tropes that frequently occur in Japanese pop culture. I just can hope I didn't fail in my research and, if I did, someone kindly points my mistakes out to me in the comments.

Now let's take a look at the actual picture (work in progress snapshots are included at the end of the chapter as I am not too sure about many of you being really interested in them).

The original seems to depict a secretive type of girl with a kunai which, as I found out, gained popularity as a weapon for ninjas, especially if thrown. Effectively it was this prop that tied me down to the Japanese style and background as I didn't want to change something characteristic for the culture. The original, to me, has a very intense expression, almost lunatic. Once I decided on focussing her portrayal around the kunai and basically throwing around knives a lot, I shifted that aspect into a more sincere direction. I tried to keep an intense stare directed at the viewer, but considered it to be more a sign of defensiveness and secrecy – after all, she hides half her face behind a mask. That I also wanted to emphasis, so I complemented her outfit with a short type of cloak or pellerine. It gives her a more closeted feeling, though she still shows a lot of skin (and some scars I just felt like putting there. This piece is really designed by my gut feeling). The suspenders were a cool part of the design, even though they honestly don't make much sense when also wearing a belt. I had to pick one to be the focus, so I decided on the broad belt. I straightened her outfit (that almost sounds like a mother checking in on her child's clothing before letting it go outside, doesn't it?) to give her a less playful/slightly crazy demeanor. The rest of her clothing is basically the same as in the original, I just added the extra kunai sheath at her belt to further emphasize her weapons of choice. It also makes sense for a carny to show off her artistic tools, even if it's just in the ring.

I really liked the colour sheme of the clothes and her hair, it had an earthy vibe to it. With my carny association I used even more sated tones – now it maybe has a slightly Naruto-ish feeling, my bad! - and changed her eye colour to red. For the drama, that's all. Her bright blue eyes (hello, Art Garfunkel, catchy tune!) went to her new sidekick ...

I first came up with a pose, or to be more precise, I adjusted her arm poses after using the original pose, and wanted to have another prop in the picture, something that wouldn't let her stand in an empty space. So that's where the practice targets came from. Suddenly there was lot of room in the picture, right next to kunai girl aaand there we go: when in doubt, get a cute sidekick. It just kind of happened but it fit the picture well, or so I like to think, and she got to have the original girl's blue eyes to sparkle and shine like it wouldn't fit with the sinister demeanor I gave my version. It wasn't easy designing an outfit that would match the original one without copying it, while still conveying the carny feeling I was going for. I went an easy route and let myself be inspired from Harley Qinzel's two-coloured costume, though it's brighter and more vivid in my picture. To complement the suspenders from kunai girl, I gave her sidekick kind of a really low-cut romper design with a skirt instead of the pant legs and put in some glovesand necklaces for good measure. There, now you know how clueless I am in ‚Japanizing' a character ... For the manga style I also took inspiration from the tutorials by _ArtClub_ which are quite diverse through the members' different styles and techniques, and helpful as guides.

In the end, it's a redraw, even though it's an extended version, and I'd like to think I didn't do that bad of a job. It's a fairly different tone, I guess, but they do make a really cute couple, don't they? Also it kind of looks like it could be a selfie on social media. Hashtag practice, hashtag lovelyday, hashtag fantasy!japan, hashtag lovehersomuch, hashtag nofilter!

This piece was done in water colours on my usual hardly textured 300 g/m² paper in A5 format and has some touch-ups with alcohol markers on it. On my quest to find the perfect opaque white, this time I used some ordinary correction fluid to lighten up the metal and eye shines, that's it. I painstakingly read through countless Japanese baby names and meanings and finally named them Miya (right, apparently meaning „temple") and Sueko (left, apparently meaning „blessed child").

Oneshot: Excursion

It was an inevitable part of carnies' lifes to face reserve everywhere they went. Even though the town outside they pitched camp had known them for years, its residents met the troupe with curiousity but also sceptical prejudices. The women going to the market had asked Miya to accompany them. Miya's younger self would have taken it as kind of reward. Since she had grown into a tall, square-shouldered woman, toughened through physical labour and her training, it had become just another task; and an excuse to get out of Kaji-sama's way for a while.

„Is nobody doing any work around here?", the old man grumbled, when Miya entered the wagon to get her short cloak.

Since the most recent litter left their mother's side to adventure, one couldn't set a foot in front of the other without having to push curious snouts aside left and right. Just how Kaji-sama liked it: He crossed his legs on his favourite cushion, surrounded by a lively pack of dogs who bent over backwards just to get his attention and learn their first tricks for a future as showstars. People like Kaji-sama's daughters, let alone a merely tolerated fellow such as Miya, were only a disturbance to him.

„I'm going to attend to Shika-san on her trip to the market", Miya explained.

Kaji just grunted unintelligibly and waved her out. A handful of the youngest pups followed her to the wagon's door but stayed behind as they realised that the young woman wasn't going to play with them.

On the footboard Miya paused briefly and gazed over the inside of the circle in which the wagons stood. There was bustling activity with the troupe tending to their late morning duties though she couldn't spot who she was looking for. Maybe at the horses's paddock ... But Miya wouldn't let the women wait. They had gathered just outside the circle, talking about their plans for their morning in town. Miya joined Shika, a middle-aged woman who happily handed over a bulbous bamboo-woven basket; and used her free hands to carefully put some loose strands of her reddish hair back under the head cloth. Dog's hair the carnies called it, and Miya had noticed every now and then how the resident's children parroted it. They seemed to think of it as a slur, but they weren't to blame for their lack of knowledge as Kaji-sama's hair was greyish white now and no longer resembled that of his offspring throughout the troupe.

„There you are! So, Otosama did let you go.", Shika-san sighed. „Now I'm feeling guilty. You see, Inoue-san just came by and told us that he, too, will accompany us to town. So maybe you can stay and -"

„She's coming with us." Inoue-san appeared as though of nowhere and gently put a hand on Miya's shoulder.

She winced at the sudden touch. It was downright creepy whenever he showed up that way, as if broad daylight served him just like the darkest of nights. It didn't help that the acrobat amused himself greatly making the younger troupe members jump, favourably to find them in a quiet moment and assign them lots of new tasks.

Before the group left camp, Inoue-san inspected Miya from head to toe, pausing briefly at her broad belt. Like many people in the troupe, Miya openly carried a kunai. No townsfolk would have considered it something noteworthy – not if they wouldn't recognize her from the show.

„One?", Inoue-san asked, and she felt umcomfortable at once.

„No."

In a wary gesture she hinted at the rope under her cloak, tied diagonally around her upper body. She got used to carrying around at least one show kunai, too, just in case. At first it had been a practical decision for training and became a precaution she felt safer with on the road. Inoue-san raised a small smile. It wasn't the first time he insisted on her coming to town with them. As the group left, Miya turned her eyes back once more, but she couldn't find that one smile she had missed the entire morning.

Since her childhood Miya had grown to value the familiarity and grim unity of the troupe, no matter where they pitched camp. Nonetheless, a visit in town would make for a nice change. She kept close to Shika-san, carrying her shopping, and every so often looked out for the others. Though the women spread over the outer market place, they kept an eye out for each other. It had become a vital habit for the members of the troupe who alltogether faced scepticism wherever they met fully settled folk: sticking together and watching out as to not be alone if things got rough. Inoue-san, too, never strayed far from them. Miya found herself looking over to him time and time again, while Shika haggled with the sellers. He stood not too far yet alone and hardly seemed to notice the vendors trying to sell him up, until they gave up and just watched him closely whenever he wandered close to their wares. The women gained attention as well, wether they liked it or not, as some folk on the market was on the lookout for the carnies camping in front of their town. Some kids shouted after Shika-san, „Dog's hair, dog's hair!", but ran away laughing as Miya turned around to face them.

„Don't look so grim", Shika-san laughed and gently stroked Miya's thin braid over the young woman's shoulder, just like she did when Miya was but a child. This simple gesture in fact was the reason Miya couldn't part from the last bit of her long hair, though most of it was trimmed back above the height of her chin. „It doesn't fit you, bunny-chan."

Involuntarily Miya wrinkled her nose hearing the old nickname. Shika-san, who without a doubt predicted that reaction, snickered and lightly tapped the tip of her nose.

„Smile, my dear. We will eat fresh ayu today, and tonight's show will be just as well attended as last night's opening."

As if he had listened to a secret phrase, Inoue-san walked over to them.

„Take your shopping", he ordered the older woman and gave Miya a nod. „We've got something to take care of."

She didn't ask questions. Instead she gave Shika-san back her basket and obediently stood at the man's side.

„See you later", Shika-san said but Inoue-san didn't wait for her farewell and took lead.

They left the market place and the rest of their group. Cut-off from the others Miya felt her body tense up and instinctively she pulled up the wide collar of her cloak a bit. Aloof the market where they were to be expected by curious townspeople, Inoue-san, wearing his modest and plain everyday clothes and having tied back his black hair, easily passed for a day labourer. Miya herself with her broad shoulders and equally simple garments might be considered his younger buddy or workmate. And it wasn't that far a stretch: Since Miya's mother had left the circus and her young child to go live with a fine man from a big city, Kaji-sama allowed her in his wagon and Shika-san cared for her as if she was her kinswoman. But since before she even learned to throw a single kunai, she had earned her place in the troupe by carrying out any duty she was given by an elder. Accordingly she got used to follow orders without asking questions – she was but a small cog in a finely attuned system they all relied on to survive.

Inoue-san led the way into a district near the town walls. The buildings were small and lined up tightly, the residents Miya saw on the streets resembled their own looks of day to day work and a modest lifestyle. She spottet mostly children and elderly people, their families probably laboured at the fields. The two of them didn't gain much attention, and Inoue-san went ahead with sure steps. When he stopped at a corner between two huts, Miya couldn't see anything special about it. He laid a heavy hand on her shoulder and discreetly pushed her around so they faced each other, then he nodded towards the opposite side of the street. Between two of the lightly built houses there was a narrow path, hardly more than a gap. Miya peered over, it seemed like there was a inner courtyard behind the houses. She could spot a board wall and something that looked like a chalk mark on it.

„You see that sign?", Inoue-san asked quietly.

Miya squinted, but couldn't make sense of the squiggle. „I don't recognize it."

„Doesn't matter. Can you hit it?"

Instinctively she touched her cloak, just at the height at which she wore one extra, sharpened kunai. Of course it was a rhetorical question, Inoue-san had seen her training and show often and knew what she was capable of by now. She didn't understand the reason for this strange target practice but she know better than to test Inoue-san's patience. He leaned against the corner to cover her up a bit, while she got out one of her kunai. Miya looked left and right but there was noone near enough to watch them. She grabbed the kunai between two of her fingers. In the ring she always made a great show of whirling them around but it was clear that Inoue-san didn't want any attention. She drew a deep breath and took aim then moved her wrist in a single, powerful swing. The malleable metal flung through the air, turning at just the right speed to bore the knife point into the wood. It didn't go deep, but kept trembling at the wall, right at the upper edge of the chalk mark.

Miya stretched her hand and poked Inoue-san's back with her elbow. He turned around and took but a quick glance at the target, making a grunt heard as a half-hearted acknowledgement.

„Outta here."

To Miya's surprise they didn't return to camp right away. Instead they stopped at a small sake shop in the same area. Around noon, a couple of workers had gathered for drinks and a chat. The keeper served the drinks without a word to spare but there were a few sake barrels on which one could sit. Miya would have changed to a tea house anytime. Her thoughts wandered back to the camp and to who would wait for her there. Inoue-san seemed to notice her discomfort.

„Won't be long", he said and bought both of them a drink.

They retreated to a corner where Miya leaned herself against the wall and her companion found a barrel to sit on. There was nothing to talk about as Miya didn't care to ask about the whole ordeal. In time, she would see. The mood wasn't tense, and they kept their silence without resentment. Inoue-san seemed to enjoy the anonymity, something that Miya felt uneasy about, as if the tide could turn anytime. It was the caution taught to her by people who told her their firsthand-accounts of many years of hostility. Miya busied her hands with a piece of wood she had begun to carve yesterday, but kept an eye on the other customers. Being shaped by physical labour, sunburnt, and rough-handed she fit right in yet resistet temptation to pull up her hood to cover up her hair which was light brown like that of a foreigner; probably like her father's.

When two men entered the sake shop, Miya mustered them quickly but wouldn't have paid them more attention than other customers, if Inoue-san hadn't straightened up next to her.

„Keep quiet", he whispered and faced the strangers who came over after getting themselves something to drink.

They looked like farm hands, tanned by working outside all day and wore their pants bound high over the knees; one of them had a straw coat, the other a round hat which hung over his back. As they closed in on the two carnies, Miya involuntarily paused carving. Suddenly she was very well aware of the blade in her hand. Slumped against the wall and the barrel next to her, she felt vulnerable and, just like Inoue-san, rose up. Both of them knew how effectively Miya could use the kunai to defend herself, yet since puberty even more helpful was how she'd grown to a height equal to most men and towering above most women. Her build probably suggested more than she could have believably said. It was visible in the look the strangers mustered her with before they said their greetings.
Inoue-san raised his eyebrows until one of the men drew a tool from his obi and held out a sharpened kunai. Obviously the gesture wasn't meant as a threat but Miya immediately recognized the band which she herself had wrapped around the grip. Some things started to make a strange sense. Inoue-san finished his drink and licked over his lips.

„So?", he asked with underlying impatience.

One of the strangers glazed over his shoulders before he gave a nod to his companion.

„Small pieces." The man lowered his voice. „But hot."

Their behaviour was to be too nervous as to be perfectly subtle, but nobody seemed to care enough to go back for a second look. Also, they weren't the only group of patrons talking between themselves and the level of noise was enough to cover up the tension in the stranger's voice. The man in the straw cloak handed Inoue-san a small package wrapped in cloth. He held his hands low and Inoue-san put the parcel in his lap to discreetly lift an edge of the cloth. The silhouette didn't show what it contained.

Miya didn't know where to look. She felt prohibited to know what the secret package contained and even if she was the least bit curious, she didn't want to drew the anger of Inoue-san. She didn't want to affront the stranger, too, by staring at them. In the end she fixed her gaze quietly to the kunai stuck into the wooden barrel. The glue which held the grip wrapping in place became detachted at the small ring, and the edges weren't as sharp as she had wished. Back in the camp she would tend to her equipment, as soon as they came home ...

„Alright." Inoue-san smiled narrowly.

As he folded back the oilcloth and picked up the parcel from his lap, it made a delicate clicking sound, the touch of metal on metal.

First thought was that of thin-walled bells, but why would one seek to buy them in a secrecy? Yet iron hooks, nails or files wouldn't be traded in such a manner, too, even if Inoue-san, for some reason, deliberately bypassed the troupe's own simple forge work. Also, that kind of wares certainly didn't fit the price Inoue-san quietly offered the strangers. Miya endeavored not to show her shock. She hadn't suspect him to even have that kind of money, much less spend it all at once on something mysterious like that small package. The strangers, too, seemed not too happy about the prize.

„Take it back, then." Inoue-san kept his cool, even shrugged. „Good luck not burning your fingers, though."

Miya had the bad feeling that part of his poise came from her standing right next to him, something she was not eager to shove into the strangers' faces. Provoking an open confrontation was the last thing she wanted, not to speak of Kaji-sama's rightful wrath that would came over her if she did. However, backing out and opposing Inoue-san infront of strangers was out of question. So Miya kept doing as she was told and firmly gripped the kunai in her hand. The negotiation didn't last long.

„Glad doin' business with you."

Inoue-san pocketed the parcel and rose, waving Miya to follow him. She couldn't wait to get back to camp and almost bumped into the man with the straw coat. Striving for composure she stopped for a moment and reached out to the barrel's side. The strangers followed her movement with their eyes and one of them grasped his belt, tensing up. But Miya just grabbed her kunai and quickly tucked it back under her cloak. Following Inoue-san she met his smug look over his shoulder externally calm. Inside her mind, however, she began to lay out all the unanswered questions and sort them into mental pidgeonholds where they could gather dust in the dark.

As soon as they passed the town walls, Miya felt the knot in her stomach vanish, and when they reached camp, the irritating thoughts were already safely locked away in the back of her head. Inoue-san didn't bother to comment on the meeting either. He simply sent her back to fulfill her daily duties and convey his regards to Kaji-sama. Automatically, her steps lead Miya towards Kaji-sama's wagon. Barking was heard from within, and Shika-san's voice „Well, someone has to clean up in here, Oto-sama!", so Miya swerved. Instead she walked out of the circle, towards the river where some of the women washed colourful laundry. Halfway there, tough, someone had raised the board on which the practice target's colours seemed suspiciously crisp and vivid. Next to it a small basket full of last autumn's apples, firm and wrinkly, was laid out ready. Miya plodded towards the assembly, feeling her tension disappearing with each step. She was back in her familiar surroundings, now there was just one thing missing for a perfectly fine afternoon.

Someone jumped her back from behind and two hands cupped her eyes.

„Guess who?", someone whispered into her ear, but the laughter in the voice was barely restrained.

„Sueko." Miya gently grabbed the hands and turned around, facing the smile she had craved all day. She kissed the wrists and gave them free, just for the young woman to threw her arms around Miya's neck.

„Yaya-chan", Sueko chuckled and gave her girlfriend a long, soft kiss on the lips. „You're late for training."

„Would you have started without me?"

She got a gentle smack on the hip for an answer. Sueko wore her bright, two-coloured costume as she liked to do even outside the ring and the broad sunlight gave her hair a mesmerising red shine. She led Miya by the hand to the basket. In the grass next to it there laid the sheath for the sharpened kunai, carefully rolled up and held together by a braided string.

„I hid from Oto-sama the whole morning to get them all fixed up", Sueko openly admitted. „I'll be getting an earful later, no doubt, but I wanted to surprise you."

She unrolled the sheath and solemnly presented Miya with it.

„So shiny!" Miya smiled. „Just like your eyes."

„Yaya-chan, please", Sueko shook her head, but her cheeks blushed in a lovely pink, „Will you finally throw dangerously sharp knives at me?"

„If you wish so, my lady." Taking the sheath to fasten it to her belt, Miya stole another kiss, before Sueko turned to the basket once more.

„Hurry", Sueko said as Miya took position, and balanced the first apple on her head. „I've defended these snacks from everyone else but I'm not waiting much longer to eat them myself."

„Oh, no worries", Miya weighted one of the kunai between her finger, „Shall I lend you a blade to cut them up, then?"

Sueko stretched out her feet, standing as tall as she could in front of the colourful rings on the board.

„Do your worst", she said and smiled.