Helping Akane and Yoshiki Out
After saving the Kataoka family it was time to help out Akane Sawai from episode 12. Reina and her companions were at the abandoned house Akane and Yoshiki Fukasawa used to hang out in episode 12. "So who are we helping today Reina-san?" asked Wanyuudou. "Actually there are two people that need our help," answered Reina "you see there is a school girl named Akane Sawai who suffers from depression which makes her want to not attend school again. And there is a teacher named Yoshiki Fukasawa who also suffers from depression because of his job as a teacher". "What's the cause of their depressions?" asked Ren. "It's a bit complicating to explain but the girl suffers from depression because of being at school," said Reina "as for the teacher, he tries to be a good teacher, but the other teachers keep on chewing him out and the students don't like him. I mean Fukasawa-sensei is a good man who cares about his students, but the principal doesn't like his way. That principal only cares about the school's reputation and not the student's well-being". "That is so wrong" said Hone Onna. "So what are we going to do?" asked Ren. "You can leave this one to me," said Reina "I'll be talking to those two as a therapist. The only way to get those two better is to make them talk to each other; as those two suffer the same problems, comforting each other will make them feel better". The companions understood.
The first stop was Akane's home. It was day time right now so Fukasawa-sensei wasn't turning up yet to speak to Akane. Reina's plan was to talk to Akane first and find out why she was depressed and not attending school. She introduced herself to Akane's mother as a therapist. "I have heard your daughter has stopped attending school due to being unwell a lot," said Reina "as a therapist I've learnt school students do that due to suffering from something. So I've come round to see if I can help". Mrs Sawai accepted Reina's help right away because she was worried about her daughter and believed talking to a therapist would help her.
Mrs Sawai knocker on Akane's bedroom door and Akane opened it. "Hello Akane-chan," said Reina "I'm DR Reina and I've come to see you because I've heard you have been unwell a lot. May I come in and see what's wrong?" Akane was hesitant at first but agreed. Reina asked Mrs Sawai to leave them alone while Akane is getting checked through.
While they were alone Akane lied down on the bed while Reina sat down on the chair. "Akane-chan I can tell that you are suffering from depression because I am a therapist, and that's the reason why you are not attending school am I right?" said Reina. Akane didn't answer because she didn't know what to say and she didn't believe Reina would understand her. Reina knew she wasn't going to get much out of Akane so she decided to use her hypnotic power to get Akane to talk. Reina didn't want to do this, but she had no choice in the matter. Under Reina's hypnotism Akane revealed why she wasn't attending school. She admitted she didn't like how the other students and teachers acted at school; her classmates only interested in socializing than school life and teachers only caring about the school's reputation instead of how students were feeling. "So the reason why I don't want to attend school is because I hate living in this delusional world where I have to be like everyone else at school". Unbeknown to Akane, Reina was recording everything she was saying on a tape recorder; this was another part of her plan. After Akane finished talking, Reina cancelled her hypnotism and Akane fell asleep.
Mrs Sawai was waiting when Reina finally came out of the room. "What happened doctor?" she asked. "Well Mrs Sawai after having a talk with your daughter, it seems your daughter is suffering from depression due to what's been happening at school," said Reina "I mean she said she's not being bullied, she just having trouble fitting in due to her emotions. I'll come by again tomorrow, and I'll talk to her room teacher about this". "Thank you Doctor," said Mrs Sawai "I always felt something might be wrong at school, but I didn't want to force Akane into telling me what's wrong". "This is where a therapist comes in handy;" replied Reina "is easier for us to talk to troubled people than it is for parents or other family members". "Would you like some tea doctor?" asked Mrs Sawai. "No I have to run because I have another patient to visit," Reina lied "so I'll see you tomorrow". Then Reina left.
After visiting Akane, the next stop was her school. Right now the students were leaving the school for home, so Reina arrived just in time to visit the teachers and principal. Reina walked up to the school and asked a boy student to tell a teacher that she was here to talk to the principal. The student did as he was told and brought Yoshiki to her. "I am sorry to appear out of the blue like this but I wanted to talk to the principal about a student named Akane Sawai who attends this school" said Reina. "Oh really," said Yoshiki "I was going to visit her this evening because she hasn't been attending school lately". "That's why I'm here," said Reina "I know the reason why". Yoshiki was curious to hear what Reina had to say about Akane, so he led her to the staff room.
Reina introduced herself to the principal and explained why she was visiting the school. Like in the anime, the principal thought Akane was trouble to the school's reputation for not attending school, and he thought about expelling her. Reina did not like his attitude. She explained about Akane's depression problems, which made her want to stay at home. "So the truth is Mr Principal, Akane-chan is not a bad child, which you think she is; she is just troubled for personal reasons" said Reina. The Principal flinched from being spoken to like that. Yoshiki understood the situation and felt sorry for Akane.
After finishing the talk with the Principal, Yoshiki led Reina out. "Are you troubled with something too Fukasawa-sensei?" asked Reina "I can see it in your eyes". Yoshiki sighed. "Actually I am" he said. He explained how he was finding life as a teacher difficult. "I've tried so hard to be a good teacher, but I can never seem to get anything right; I'm just one of those unpopular teachers". "So you too are suffering from depression?" asked Reina. Yoshiki admitted he did and he just felt tired with life. "Have you ever spoken to anyone about your feelings?" asked Reina. "Sort of yes and sort of no;" replied Yoshiki "the truth is the only person I've ever spoken to, well really texted to, is my textmate Anemone". Reina remembered how Akane and Yoshiki used to text each other in the anime, but they didn't know who each other were till later on. "Ever since I started texting my textmate Anemone, I've been feeling better because we suffer the same thing" said Yoshiki. "Have you ever met up with your textmate in person Fukasawa-sensei?" asked Reina. She had a plan. "No I haven't yet; truth is that hasn't really come to my mind to meet up with my textmate in person" said Yoshiki. "Well I think it's time that you two should:" said Reina "you said so yourself that you feel better whenever you text your textmate. But you might feel even better if you talk to her in person. As a therapist I advise you that talking to people in person is a lot better than texting". After hearing Reina's advice, Yoshiki agreed to talk to Anemone in person. But of course he had no idea that this was going to give him a bit of a surprise.
The next day Reina went to visit Akane again. This time Akane actually spoke to Reina; Akane felt a bit comfortable talking to Reina this time. She told her about her textmate Cheppo, how texting and emailing her always made her feel better, and that she just got asked by Cheppo to meet her in person. "I feel that I do want to meet her but I feel nervous and scared at the same time" said Akane. "I understand that," said Reina "but you will feel happier talking to Cheppo face to face rather than text to text. Believe me I've seen it before". Akane felt hesitant, but she replied to Cheppo, agreeing to meet up with her. Just then Akane got a reply back and was shown a photo with an abandoned house. (The same abandoned house in episode 12) Cheppo wanted to meet her at sunset. Akane still felt nervous about meeting her textmate in person, but again Reina reassured her that everything would be okay.
That evening Akane made her way to the abandoned house. (She told her mother she was going out for a walk to cool her head, and her mother allowed her) She waited, nervously, to meet up with her textmate in person. Just then somebody turned up. When Akane looked, to her shock, it was her teacher Yoshiki. "Sawai, what are you doing here?" asked Yoshiki, in surprise. "I can answer that" said a voice.
The voice came from Reina; her plan was to talk to Akane and Yoshiki together. "It was very clear to me that Fukasawa-sensei, you are Akane-chan's textmate Cheppo and Akane-chan you are Fukasawa-sensei's textmate Anemone" said Reina. "What?!" gasped Akane "is that true sensei?" Akane and Yoshiki each exchanged texts with each other and it turned out to be true. "Since the truth is out, I think now is the good time for the both of you to talk" said Reina. "How did you know about?" asked Yoshiki. "Let's just say I have a sixth sense about figuring things out" interrupted Reina "now tell Akane-chan about your feelings Fukasawa-sensei". Thanks to Reina's pressure Yoshiki got the courage to talk to Akane and told her about his emotions of depression due to the burden of social interactions at the school ever since he became a teacher. He also admitted that talking with her on the chat line made him feel better, even though he had no idea who she was. Akane admitted she felt the same too.
Reina spoke up. "Well then I take you two feel better now am I right?" she asked. Akane and Yoshiki nodded yes. "So my advice is you two keep on talking to each other face to face from now on;" said Reina "so Fukasawa-sensei, apart from talking to Akane in the student council room, you'll need to organize home visits to see Akane-chan from the school and also ask her mother. But don't do it too often otherwise the school might get suspicious with you, especially that Principal. I'll come round to the school tomorrow and talk to him and make him see sense". "Thank you Doctor Reina" said Akane, bowing her head. Yoshiki thanked her too. Everything was going well so far; now all Reina needed to do was deal with that selfish principal.
The next day Akane attended school again; because of what happened yesterday, Akane now had the courage to go back to school. Yoshiki kept an eye on her from time to time, to make sure she was okay. After the school day finished, Reina went inside the school to talk to the principal again. She explained that Akane needed some school counselling due to her depressing problems, and Yoshiki volunteered to do it. Yoshiki also asked if he could organize home visits to Akane's home once every 2 weeks. The principal wasn't so keen on this because of how Akane was going to get a lot of attention from Yoshiki. But Reina put her foot down and firmly reminded the principal that a student's well-being comes first before a school's reputation. "Not caring about a student's welfare will bring down the school's reputation completely" she said firmly. Hearing this made the principal have no choice but to agree.
So it was arranged. Akane had talks with Yoshiki every day in the student council room, and once every 2 weeks Yoshiki visited Akane and her mother at their home for talks. Thanks to this Akane and Yoshiki felt at ease at last.
"I'm glad everything was sorted out for those two" said Wanyuudou. The companions had watched everything. "I can't help but feel that those two will have a stronger bond in the future" said Hone Onna. Reina felt that way too; she remembered how Akane had feelings for Yoshiki in the end, after she sent him to hell in the anime. 'May those two find comfort with each other forever' she thought.
I always found it a shame that Akane and Yoshiki never sorted things out properly in the anime. I think they would have done a lot better together if Akane didn;t pull the string.