Akimitsu Takagi

“If you’re exposed to grief long enough, you can become addicted to it, you know. You begin to feel something’s missing when­ever you’re without sadness. And once this happens, sad­ness becomes a kind of queer delight...”
― Akimitsu Takagi, Honeymoon to Nowhere

“Anyway, one of the most taboo of all tattoos is the Three Curses.” “The Three Curses?” Kenzo asked, feigning ignorance. “Surely you’ve heard that saying: ‘The snake eats the frog, the frog eats the slug, the slug dissolves the snake.’ At any rate, those creatures are the familiars of the three rival sorcerers. The sorcerer Jiraiya always appears riding on a giant toad, Orochimaru on a snake, and Tsunedahime on a slug. If anyone ever tattooed a snake, a frog, and a slug on one person’s body, the three creatures would fight to the death. That’s why such a tattoo is forbidden. Even if a client begged for that tattoo and offered to pay a fortune for it, the artist would be morally obliged to refuse.”
― Akimitsu Takagi, Tattoo Murder Case