June 22nd was often considered the Summer Solstice, though, south of the equator, it would be considered the Winter Solstice, which would raise a few eyebrows here and there. However, there were plenty of other things to raise, and even wrinkle, more than a few eyebrows.
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What was undeniably the biggest thing was Rocky, Bowie, and their daughter, Libby. With all three of them being uplifted emperor penguins, and Rocky and Bowie both being males, this revelation was sparking new debates about homosexuality in nature. Though, from both Rocky and Bowie's accounts, this was less about actual homosexuality and more about survival and necessity. No matter what anyone would make of that, the BARA house was more than happy to help all three of them adapt to human society. Especially since, when the school year began, Libby would be heading to WSA (after evaluation of her grade level).
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Another, really eyebrow-raising, thing that was going on was the number of middle-aged to elderly Chinese men and women coming to Heiya Prefecture (especially Ao Guang Island), whether as tourists or as new inhabitants (partly due to China's economic downturn). What made it eyebrow-raising was the fact that a large number of them were the infamous "Chinese aunties", who cause all kinds of trouble, whether grabbing 'free distributions' en masse, or running scams (such as selling cheap rain ponchos for ten times their worth), or demanding special treatment simply because of their age and making a fuss about it when they don't receive said treatment.
Fortunately, there had been a solution on the drawing board for quite some time, though it was the behavior of these "Chinese aunties" that moved it into the finishing stages. One of Ami's old friends had wanted to open a school for proper etiquette for quite a while, laying the blame for the behavior of the "Chinese aunties" squarely at the feet of the CCP and the long-term effects of their propaganda. However, it was their actions during the Quasi-Raccoon Cuties' coverage of the Ao Guang events that pulled her out of her 'old age slump' to double down on her planned 'etiquette school' idea.
So, Ami was able to get her sponsorship for a double-dosed tiger Animalian conversion, mostly out of friendship, but partly due to her approval of the etiquette school idea.
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The other eyebrow-raising thing happened during Renardville's events. As part of the festival, Hide decided to show off something that Hewg, Taylew, and Hinopio (a special Ippon-Datara that could shape iron infused with Amrita) had been working on together: the Black Katana. It was a katana with a special matte-black blade, covered in a special substance that, when exposed to air, caused flame to coat the blade and leave a really cool smoke trail behind it when swung about. After performing a special kata with the blade, Hide explained that the blade contained the power of "destined death, focused and refined through the power of the spirit stones", and that it was one of the few weapons, if not the only weapon capable of permanently killing a god, and that it got its "baptism by fire" (quite literally) in battle with both Mesmer the Impaler and the final boss of the Shadow of the Erdtree (no spoilers here).
Miles' special coverage of the events also showed the Black Katana without the flame effect, showing the black metal of the blade, tsuba (guard), and the black-wrapped grip.
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Now, with the Summer Solstice, days would begin to be getting shorter, but the IAC was still going strong.