i don't write official ages out normally but yes, shu is in his late 30s-early 40s! i wanted to leave it vague but i imagine him in that age range, make him whatever you wish. he's not super old but he's established enough in the art school/has had enough experience to get tenure and stay comfortable in his job/social standing.

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as to mika's age preference, i think he prefers people similar in age to him, because of several reasons:

• one is simply vanity. he mainly thinks that the most entertaining and visually-pleasing victims to the camera are people in their 20s like him, especially for viewers looking for those kinds of things and willing to wire him money. for someone with very loose, questionable morals, i do think he has a strong preference against anyone younger than 18, and anyone older than 30 that may have a family of their own. there's also an important keyword when regarding shu: that he is LIKELY outside of mika's age preference. he's willing to bend on that age preference if his instinct tells him it wouldn't get him nailed or the victim wouldn't get away easily. sometimes he intentionally skews it so he doesn't get too stuck in a pattern that can make him easy to trap. and mika is someone to rely on his instincts that have gotten him this far. he is however, VERY prone to becoming overwhelmed with emotion like rage and spite.
• another one, as i've implied in some of my tweets and posts around awoa that i'm elaborating on, is also because of his cannibalistic desires. generally he prefers people that don't do drugs recreationally (to his knowledge), are somewhat fit/have some qualities he may want for show, and are generally independent. he ideally wants people that wouldn't easily be missed, but sometimes it doesn't happen. he may have started off with low-risk victims but found they don't really taste all that well when he began experimenting, and elevated to people considered medium-risk in order to satisfy his own needs better--people that go out at night on walks/drives by themselves, lone travellers from another country/area, etc... mika has to already go through an large amount of effort to make sure they're subdued and unable to leave his work area, he can't leave a trace of his behind, and he will not stalk someone unless he's ABSOLUTELY set on making them his next target and will not be able to rest until they're on his plate. my guy has school the next morning and he rarely misses, just to keep up appearances. he kind of already seems a little off-putting when you spend more time around him, but he does have friends that would notice if he was gone for weeks at a time and he has a more unassuming exterior in public. he is attractive and blends into his environment naturally/isn't easily noticed, which is why he's able to lure people without raising much of an alarm

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i hope this makes sense, i know its a somewhat convoluted explanation.. i enjoy character analysis with a side of erotica and serial cannibalism

my best recommendation is joining group orders, or buying directly from toranoana with AOCS! setting up an account is a pain in the ass though and i had to remake an account twice, but i had put in my information wrong both times 😔

AOCS is the best shot at getting limited stock doujins/reprints from toranoana only, since with other proxies you have to put in a request that can take 12-72 hours to confirm and buy. i know buyee has restrictions on 18+ items, and you can only buy 18+ items on booth with a direct address in japan (i use a mail forwarding address though).

for proxies, if you don't want to set up an AOCS account, i recommend japan rabbit! i also use a mail forwarding address for 18+ stuff on booth, it takes a while to set up, along with proper ID or passport.

happy yaoi hunting, friend.. i have my Big Box Of Shame hidden at home rn from my family and i got another big box coming next month too 🧎‍♀️ i also accidentally get dupes sometimes and just resell to my friends LMAO luci and dio got a lot of my dupes from my last box, since december was the month i joined several group orders AND didn't realize i had bought a box of my own until i got an email from AOCS... i have to start keeping a log of which titles i have so i don't buy dozens of dupes again. yaoi cocaine too strong

i recommend the enstars tl masterlist! you're able to sort by character, unit, and story type, but some stories are not on the masterlist, just a warning.

i recommend at that point, going to the wayback machine and typing in the link for the story around 2020. that's the year that i look for a snapshot personally of !-era stories, considering around august 2021 is when the takedown of story translations from the wiki happened. you can also look it up in google and sometimes tumblrs/blogs pop up with the translations :~)

happy searching btw ! valk stories are always fun for me to read (sometimes emotional too). it's where a lot of the fun of enstars is imo, since the stories make me love the characters more and understand writing/fan content in context 😭💗

every valkP i think has their favorite stories, so it depends on who you talk to. i personally love snow globe (HEAVY EMPHASIS), human comedy, reminiscence of marionette, and milky way (ALSO HEAVY EMPHASIS) for the !-era. i also love dragonfruit lots and its a short read since its just 2 chapters .,... but i love ex-valk and their dynamic a lot too. they make me ill /pos

i like both too much to have a definitive preference, and most of my closest friends are no switch/have a heavy preference for mksh/shmk. i am normally the "true neutral" out of my mutuals, i'm genuinely open to most scenarios/interpretations (within reason obviously, i may seem like a gooner but i like analysis/plot with my porn).

some aus in my mind may lean more top/bottom heavy depending on how i perceive their personalities and experiences in that universe (vanpro is one of these aus i view them as leaning towards shumika, ougonten/dragonfruit being mikashu, there's more examples i can provide too)

in canon, i see shu being more comfortable topping at first but gets more comfortable and vulnerable to let mika top (and actually WANT to switch more). i think it's overly emotional for him too, i have a hard time trying to imagine shu as someone who bottoms just out of the gate for their first time, considering how strict he has been with himself in the past over what goes into his body. i have this headcanon that may be unpopular, but i think shu was neglected/abused more than what his stories give us context of. that abuse, in my headcanon, had a HUGE part in his deep infatuation and obsession with nazuna in his first year, and his fall from grace after valkyrie's defeat + his dissociative states. that's why, i don't think it's a stretch because of his trauma, his prudishness, and his desire for someone close, but his overwhelming desire for control, that he wants to top for at least their first time. he gets more comfortable as time goes on with relinquishing power and, per his request to mika, letting mika control him, rather than the usual puppetmaster controlling his puppet. although.. mika does take initiative Quite A Bit me thinks. i just think he does MOSTLY what shu would ask, unless he was angry at him or too impatient. i like angry mika a lot when he actually expresses his anger/frustration towards shu. besides we already got confirmation in the story theyre loud and shu's apartment has thin walls.. heh. heheh. i also interpret different stories as shmk / mksh-coded (ie hoshi no meidou being mksh coded)

i have been a fan of mikashu more recently because of my beloved echo chambers groupchat (shoutout to my goats) but i used to be shumika only when i first started producing valkyrie (and hadn't read as many stories). now i am a genuine middle of the road person, i love both and i will interact with both/write both dynamics. different aus mean different dynamics i like to experiment with and analyze their behavior. i wish to observe them in jars and shake them around

regular couple yaoi couple yuri couple i see no difference. love is love