Last day, eh? I suppose I'll leave the AN at the bottom.
Hazy Days in the Daze
Marry paused, the rapid sounds of keystrokes dying down to a dull silence in the dark room.
It wasn't that Marry didn't know how to continue her words, nor was it that she lacked the plot necessary to fill in the chapter. No, it was something much more common, yet all the more dangerous. If Marry couldn't tell what to put down next, she could just hammer out of her head, and she'd remember it for as long as she lived. But this? This was something Marry could not control. This was something much scarier.
"Oba-sama!" A child's voice cried out. One- no, two children pounded on the door, beating their plump little fists on the strong doorframe.
Marry sometimes wondered if she was cursed or blessed by her longevity, it was a horrible thing, to watch those you love slowly wither and die, yet at the same time-
"Go on Oba-sama, your great great great great great great grandchildren are waiting for you." A cheery voice mocked, the sound disrupting Marry's calm and quiet set-up of instrumental music. The voice rang throughout the room, Marry covering her ears from the sudden racket.
"I'm physically twenty-four Takane, and we've talked about this." Marry sighed. "I can't concentrate when you make so much noise. Go back to your game development, I don't have time for you."
Takane Enomoto. A very curious entity, she was one of the few members of the Dan who had received a power that granted… immortality. The only other was Konoha, and the two had spearheaded a rather successful "indie" game company. Of course, it had to be kept rather secret that the two members were over a-
"Nyeh." Takane stuck out her tongue from the monitor, showing the side of her that was oddly popular among her company's fans.
Yet, despite that, Marry knew better. A hundred years of being with a person, and you learn a lot about them. Takane wasn't so much this cheerful bubbly little Ene as she pretended to be, or not anymore, but Marry didn't call her out on it. It was nice, the reminiscent feeling, the nostalgia, but Marry dismissed the thoughts. It was distracting to her work.
"Marry, you might want to handle those little imps out there." Takane suggested, and Marry realized that the kids were still pounding.
"What?" Marry asked, sliding the door open, wincing at the natural light that streamed into her dimly lit room from the open windows.
"Mom says you should come out more often." One imp said. Kido and Kano's grandson, eh? He had Kido's hair and face, but spoke almost as devilishly as Kano had. It was almost scary to watch, imagining Kido as Kano.
"Yeah oba-sama, you should spend more time with us!" Marry's own granddaughter smiled sweetly, so much so that in that brief moment of blissful recollection, Marry forgot about her irritation. It made Marry wonder
"I'm twenty-four, don't call me oba-sama." Marry scolded her granddaughter, bending down to flick the child's forehead. Her granddaughter recoiled as if stung, still managing to be adorable even then.
"Maybe in a little bit." Marry smiled lightly. "This… oba-sama… has some work to do. I need to finish my opening-"
"We can help you with that!" Kano's grandson smirked. "You'll never guess how big the house I built was, it was huge!" Marry stared at the boy, wondering if she could slowly edge back into the safe safe confines of her room.
"She's writing a book." Marry's granddaughter frowned. "Oba- Auntie doesn't like games like that. Auntie doesn't have much time, see. Auntie, should we stop bothering you now?"
Marry realized that maybe she was too out of sync with this new generation. Even if they were her own flesh and blood, even if they were the direct descendents of her closest friends, or even her own, Marry didn't spend much time with the kids.
In fact, Marry didn't spend much time with other people at all, having recently shut herself up with another smash of inspiration to write about. It was perhaps her favourite and most hated story, one that Marry had known very well for the past hundred and ten years, one that Marry hadn't dared touch for fear of ruining it by putting fingers to keyboard.
So when Marry's editor had said that he wanted something a little more… fantasy-oriented, Marry jumped at the chance, describing the entire chain of events in detail, going on about the relations and likes and dislikes, everything and anything she remembered with her perfect memory. He had been floored of course, having merely wanted to pass a suggestion, but instead getting a huge plotline with several developed characters.
Thus, a hundred and ten years after the dreaded Summer had come to an end, Marry was reopening its doors once more, bringing back memories dreaded and known, experiences loved and hated, but still, the prize-winning author couldn't think of a way to even start the story.
Marry broke herself out of her self-induced reverie, and smiled awkwardly at the children.
"It's fine… Auntie… has time to spare right now." Marry glanced around, letting her eyes adjust to the natural light. It had burned a little at first, but now it was getting a little better.
The children looked as if they'd won the lottery, found Merlin, sacked the fire-cat, or discovered a butterfly ring oh-so-conveniently left behind. Marry could tell just by looking at their faces that they hadn't had the slightest hope of Marry Kozakura, their grandmother or grandparent's friend, the award winning author of world-wide fame, the legendary recluse who was unknown to anyone but the editor who refused to answer any questions.
Marry supposed it was better than spending some more time puzzling over the opening. As familiar as Marry was with the stories of that everlasting summer, of the Dan and her closest friends, Marry didn't know who to focus the novel on, or use as the main character. Everyone had been so amazing, so important, or so that was how Marry remembered the times through her fourteen year old self.
Perhaps that was all a way of deluding herself. Deep down, Marry knew that maybe, just maybe, it was her own self-doubt that stopped her from starting the first sentence, from typing up the chapters in four hour sessions. It was the fear of failure. Despite all the awards, despite all the praise, Marry feared putting down her life's story, the story she had wanted to learn how to write for, and messing it up. If it was anything but perfect…
"Tell us a story!" Her granddaughter suggested. Good, Marry was no good with physical exercise. Anything more than a slow walk would be exhausting.
"No, we should go out!" Kano's grandson argued. "It's a really nice day and-"
"Auntie can't go out, remember?" Her granddaughter shut him down, shoving a surprising amount of force into such a weak voice.
"R-right. I ah, forgot." At least Kano's grandson had some sense of decency. He wasn't exactly like his grandfather, even if his mother had complained so much.
"Besides, Auntie makes money from telling stories, so she should be a good storyteller."
Marry let a self-indulgent smile through. Although Marry was the world-renowned author, Shintaro had been the one to put in long hours educating her about the world of writing, the only subject that Shintaro hadn't aced with a full 100% during university, because of the ambiguity that went along with it. Although most praised Shintaro's work with a dead-set passion, his professor that year had managed to take away just enough marks to drop him to a 99 average.
"What story do you want to hear?" Marry asked, leading them into her little cave of a room. The two children settled down on the bed, leaving Marry to turn her work chair around to face them. Takane peered out with curiosity from the monitor.
Marry had memorized a good number of children's tales for the purpose of reading to her children, and for… personal reasons, so she knew she wasn't lacking in that department. If worst came to worst and they knew all of it, her own novels would probably have been advanced enough that the two wouldn't have touched them.
"How about the one you have cooking right now?" Takane suggested sweetly, smiling innocently. Marry glared at her.
"Yeah! You were having trouble right? We can help you out, right?" Kano's grandson erupted. Marry had to wonder where exactly that child was getting his enthusiasm from. The other side of the family?
"You can't help dummy, you'd only make it worse." Marry's granddaughter again, showed a strange conviction in telling her friend off. Marry wondered whether her granddaughter looked up to her somewhat, but dismissed it. Who would look up to a life-long recluse?
"…Fine, where do you want me to start?" Marry asked hesitantly. She hadn't exactly begun the story, or chosen how to start it, so it was better to ask the children.
"It's the story of the Mekakushi Dan, so you should be familiar with it." Marry explained, catching their bewildered looks. "I'm finally going to be writing a series on it."
"Shintaro of course!" Kano's grandchild called out. Odd. Marry would have thought the boy's grandfather would've asked for more worshipping. It served just as well though.
"Alright." Marry obliged, and she began the tale from Shintaro's perspective, captivating the two children with words woven from the wonders of language, just detailed enough that they would be able to imagine it themselves, but thinly used so that the two would understand all of it. It wasn't exactly a new story, but Marry found that the children didn't care so much for that either.
Perhaps it was new to them, to hear the story of the everlasting summer from Shintaro's perspective, with the others used sparingly for story elements that Shintaro hadn't been privy to.
They left, two hours later, much longer than Marry had expected to entertain them for, but oddly enough, Marry came out just as satisfied as the boisterous young kids.
That night, Marry didn't go to dinner, as she usually did.
Marry didn't go to sleep either.
Why, one might ask?
Because Marry had gotten her start, her main character, her muse and inspiration.
So Marry kept on writing through the night, ignoring her body's complaints, taking flight in the text she wrote, in the prose she drafted, in the story she remembered wholly and to the every dot. It was perfection. It was flawless.
And Marry would have it no other way.
PROMPT – Write about a special summer's evening.
Huh, I actually got this prompt like two weeks ago, but felt it would do better as the conclusion rather than a random little one-shot.
And wow, this got a bit bigger than I suppose I expected it to be. Or smaller, perhaps, since my original goal was thirty one shots, one a day (hence thirty days in the daze) and forty-five thousand words, but life caught up to me and I procrastinated. Still, for some odd reason, I feel a sense of accomplishment, despite not really having accomplished my goal.
Oh well, I guess I still came pretty close, with twenty-five chapters and almost forty-five thousand words. On fanfictiondotnet, it might show up as over that maybe, with all the notes I stick on, but eh. Without them, it's roughly forty-two thousand.
Regardless, thanks for reading all the way to the end, and I hope my lack of editing hasn't burned anyone's eyes too much, haha.
Here's a list of the days (of April) I completed the chapters in:
1 - April Fools' (1)
2 - April Fools' (2)
3 - Money up in Smoke
4 - Summer Haze
5 - Too Chicken for Panda
6 - The Hikki & The NEET
7 - To Dream a Dream of Dreaming Dreams in Dreams
8 - What Does a Sibling Mean?
9 - Reminder of Days Long Gone
10 - N/A
11 - Indication of Days to Come
12 - Swimming With the Fishes ||| Invisible Woman
13 - N/A
14 -Hello Mr. Wolf (1)
15 - N/A
16 - N/A
17 - N/A
18 - Hello Mr. Wolf (2)
19 - N/A
20 - Hello Mr. Wolf (3) ||| KaNOT Stop KaNO
21 - Hello Mr. Wolf (4)
22 - Hello Mr. Wolf (5)
23 - Hello Mr. Wolf (6)
24 - N/A
25 - N/A
26 - Necromancer Kisaragi (1) ||| Necromancer Kisaragi (2)
27 - Necromancer Kisaragi (3) ||| ChunniKido
28 - N/A
29 - N/A
30 - Dr. Tateyama & Mr. Eyes ||| Hazy Days in the Daze