In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined.[1] In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. A still more broad definition includes everything that has existed, exists, or will exist.
Philosophers, mathematicians, and others ancient and modern such as Aristotle, Plato, Frege, Wittgenstein, Russell etc., have made a distinction between thought corresponding to reality, coherent abstractions, and that which cannot even be rationally thought. By contrast existence is often restricted solely to that which has physical existence or has a direct basis in it in the way that thoughts do in the brain.
Reality is often contrasted with what is imaginary, delusional, (only) in the mind, dreams, what is abstract, what is false, or what is fictional. The truth refers to what is real, while falsity refers to what is not. Fictions are considered not real.
-Wikipedia entry, edited 20 March 2012
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Part 3: Nishida and the Reality of Love
They ran for their lives. And they hid for their lives
The Karate Club was all over the school, back and forth, like ominous patrolmen, looking under bushes. Inspecting the rooms, visiting the roof.
Torachin had the best idea out of all of them: circle back to the Karate Club Dojo. That would have been the last place they would look for Torachin, Yamanaka, and Yoshida.
They were sitting against the wall, breathing hard from the running.
"Why, Torachin, do you save Yamanaka's ass every time?" Yoshida said, wheezing.
"Hey, that's not fair. Can't be my fault that people fall in love with me," Yamanaka shot back, as he held his chest. "Besides, Torachin likes my ass—"
Torachin slapped a hand against Yamanaka's mouth. "Shhh."
The high window of the Dojo let afternoon sunlight into the room. And there was a shadow, the shape of a person's head, crossing the light.
All three pressed themselves against the wall and tried to think themselves invisible as best as they could.
"Yoshida?" Came the tentative whisper, but the person need not have bothered, as his whisper carried loudly, anyway.
A whoosh sounded as Yoshida, Torachin, and Yamanaka all exhaled. Yoshida jumped up and held the bars of the window, where outside, Nishida was standing, tall and handsome. "Jeez, thank god, you're here. Yamanaka and Torachin's hurt. Do you think you can help me get them out of here?"
"Wait." And Nishida disappeared for a moment.
He came around to the entrance of the room. He shook at head, seeing Yamanaka and Torachin. "They really got you guys good. Come on, Yoshida, have Torachin lean on you. I'll take Yamanaka. There should still be a nurse in the clinic. We can at least call for the hospital from there."
They made it all the way into the clinic, getting Toraching and Yamanaka settled into beds, and the two (despite the situation hanging over their heads) were simply so tired and beat up that they fell asleep.
And that's when the Karate Club found them.
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Torachin is dreaming.
He is dreaming that he was a face among many faces embedded in the stones of a deep, dark well. And in the dream, something falls past him.
And out of curiosity, he moves, wiggling and stretching out joints and fingers and hands, which creaked like stone rubbing against each other. And he pulled himself out of the well.
He climbed down. And at the bottom was a frog. He brings up the frog on his hand, and begins to climb the well.
The frog starts to change, turning human with every step that he climbs up. First growing bigger, then his lips becoming longer and no longer bent. Warty skin changing into pink, hairless skin. Head becoming smaller, and a neck appearing. Until finally, Yamanaka was clinging to his back, arms around his neck, as Torachin climbs out of the well.
And he finds that the frog, now a man, was not the only one changed. He, as well, had changed. He had become soft, no longer made of the stone shell that covered him. His outside more matching his inside, as something not scary, as something that could love. It felt completely real.
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Yamanaka is dreaming. He is dreaming that he was drowning in a large, luxurious bed. And although, there were many bodies drowning with him, nobody seemed afraid of being alone. He had no one to talk to and all the bodies were just that, bodies.
Then a hand pulls him and he surfaces from the bed, bodies rolling all around him. And he sees Torachin's face above him, with the sun behind Torachin's head, the light blinding Yamanaka.
And although, there were so many bodies around, Yamanaka understands that Torachin is the only real thing in the bed. The only real thing.
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Nishida and Yoshida are standing in front of the clinic beds. They've closed all the curtains so that the Karate Club members don't know where Yamanaka and Torachin are.
"They…seem out of balance," Nishida mutters out of the corner of his mouth. It was slight, but it was there, the hesitation in the way the members took their stances. This was his fighting experience talking. "Did you do something to them?"
Yoshida shook his head, paused, "I beat Tanaka, their president, in a tournament-style fight."
"Ah," Nishida smiled. "Good job, Yoshida." He rushed the members, sure of the victory. And when Nishida fights, he fights economically. He ensures that he will knock them out, without lasting damage. He ensures that the fight will be done. What he doesn't count on is the darkness in human nature, including the instinct to cheat. One of the Karate Club members beat him over the head with a chair. And Nishida goes down.
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After Nishida gets knocked out, he suddenly dreams.
He dreamt about an angry and twisted Satou. And the less said about his cruelty and his unhappiness, the better. He functions, and even carves a successful life, job, and network. All the while not quite believing in any of it.
He dreamt about Yoshida who went through life normally. With no distractions, no harassment from the girls, who was able to even enjoy club activities and school. Nishida even becomes really close friends with this Yoshida, who is stable, normal, and for a relative measure of happy, happy. But who always felt that life was...ordinary. They become really close friends, and when Nishida confesses, Yoshida—
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Nishida wakes up in the middle of it, for a bit, and he simply sees bodies. He is disoriented. The dream had felt so real.
But here was Yoshida, pushing people away and keeping a two-feet semi-circle of space by swinging a metal folding chair of his own. And the dark pulls Nishida back.
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He dreams again. Of himself and Yoshida walking by a lake. It's winter. The quiet that surrounds them is so palpable. Yoshida seems older, even though he's still short. He has a scarf around his neck, and it barely shows the scar he had under his left eye. They are walking and Nishida feels happy. He realizes with a start that he is still in love with Yoshida in the dream. But it is…a soft feeling, the kind that warms you at nights and is quite close to nostalgia.
It feels so real that Nishida starts to say, "Hey, I had this weird dream where we were back in high school and we were fighting off the Karate Club," but the dream slips away…
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What Nishida wakes up to is Yoshida on the floor, breathing hard, hurt once more. Satou is at the doorway, while everyone (even the police) edging by him as they pick up Karate Club members. The chill he radiates is incredibly real.
There are medics transferring Torachin and Yamanaka into stretchers.
Satou does not do anything flashy. He simply swoops in, and will be the one remembered, if Yoshida's look is anything to go by. Nishida looks back at Satou and his breath stops…there is a look on Satou's face. It is difficult to describe, but Nishida feels that this is the most truthful that Satou has been. The look in Satou's eyes as he watches an injured Yoshida, who has a gash on his face again…it is the look of someone who cannot forget that he has feelings, it is the look of someone who wants to be cynical and who wants to hate the world, but cannot, it is the look of someone who is in love.
And this is the reality of love.
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Reality is just all about perception. It could mean what actually exists, but it could also mean what could exist.
Many people see Satou as a dreamy prince, worthy of shojo romance, when many others know that Satou is a sadist who is twisted and keeps up a front, lies to the girls and gets Yoshida blamed.
Many people see Yoshida as a loser, when many others know that Yoshida is pure-hearted hero, who will help a bullied classmate, who will properly turn down someone so as not to lead them around, and who is honest with himself when he realizes he is in love with someone.
Reality is all about perception.
Nishida does not understand why Yoshida likes Satou. He does not understand that Yoshida has seen the Satou that other people don't see, the twisted Satou underneath the celebrated prince, and even the Satou underneath that twisted layer. The one who feels empty and sad. The one who can genuinely smile.
The girls don't understand why Satou bothers with Yoshida when he is so popular. They do not understand that Satou knows the Yoshida that other people don't see, the Yoshida whose careless heroism hides underneath the monkey face, and the Yoshida underneath that, who accepts everyone for who they are, twisted or not, homo or not, scary or not. The one who can love immensely. The one who genuinely smiles.
Did you know that you can shift reality?
The day can become brighter, people can become kinder, because of how you feel inside, because of how someone makes you feel. So that a dark world where everything is meaningless, where everyone will become dust and where people's actions will be forgotten, can become a world where a trip to a cheesy amusement park is fun, where losers whom you wouldn't associate with become your regular lunch buddies, and where every new morning is something to look forward to. This is how Satou and Yoshida feel about each other. They shift each other's realities so that all the world becomes an adventure to experience together.
They say that the world keeps on changing, but in reality, it's you who changes.
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The girls whisper and mutter angrily. This is because Satou is holding Yoshida's hand. Yoshida is refusing to go the hospital, but it seems Satou will have the final word.
"It's not a big deal," Yoshida says defensively.
"Stop it!" Satou takes ahold of Yoshida's face possessively. "I've been looking for you all day, dodging irritating women and asking Makimura and Akimoto where you've been hiding. And it turns out that you've just been playing with the Karate Club members."
"Playing? They were about to beat us up!"
Satou tightens his hand, "You…I don't like seeing you hurt." And there is a look that passes between them.
It makes the girls angrier. But it does inspire an otaku girl.
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Nozawa, the girl, notices that Otaku Girl in the art club is furiously drawing something. Curious, she draws near and watches the girl draw.
"Eh, that's Satou and Yoshida, ah." She looks close, "EHHHH! Is Satou &$#%! Yoshida and Yoshida's !$%&*# Satou."
Otaku girl looks up, beaming, "Yes! I'm making a love story out of them, Satou as the prince of darkness, and Yoshida as an adventuring hero for good who falls in love with Satou. Shonen-ai is the best!" She squeals.
Nozawa can only shake her head.
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The END of Chapter 3: Nishida and the Reality of Love