Tuesday
It's the morning of the day after, honestly speaking, I was scared that when I woke up today everything would have just been some dream. That I.. missed getting to her in time, or that I wasn't strong enough. But here I am, sun in my eyes, arm still in a cast, on Tuesday.
I bring my hand up to my face and wipe a few tears from my face, "Thank god-", I shouldn't be crying, especially not this much. I woke up, and everything's still the same, but, I can't believe it, really. Even so, with how happy I feel, there's still things I need to do.
Most importantly, Tomohiro. I said some things I really shouldn't of. I wasn't even mad at you Tomohiro... whining about it in my head wont fix it though! I need to save this for when I meet him in person, not now. I throw the blanket off of me with my free arm and get out of bed, my natural instinct was to stretch my arms but well... yeah.
With a bit of careful maneuvering I stand up from my bed and check my phone, I notice I have a message from Shoko. Shoko!
"Good morning! I had trouble sleeping yesterday, did you? I just wanted to talk about yesterday, thank you, for everything, really. Do you have time to hang out today? I can't go to school because of my arm, so it would be fun if you could come visit me. Have a nice day !"
My heart beats a little faster as I read the message, The first thing I do is immediately respond. I type too fast and most of my initial response looks like a jarbled mess, I fix all the typos and respond to her.
"of course i can i don't have school either and i also wanted to ask you about something anyway is" I look at the time, 8:02 "is 9:30 or 10 good"
With a wide smile I hit the send button and put my phone back in my pocket before leaving the room, I think moms cooking something.
It's a long way to the bridge, especially when I can't cycle there. But that's fine, it gives me time to think things over. And really I need a lot of that, I don't know how I'll manage it but I need to show him I'm sorry. Maybe I could buy him bread, like that one time?..
I can't help but sigh at the situation I find myself in, it seems sorta hopeless... but...
The way she looked at me... tears in her eyes, "I always make everyone lives worse!"
...
There's a lot of things I could've done better. I could've said the right things to her, listened to her better, bring her to new places. I thought I was doing alright, but Shoko is too caring. She'd rather I be happy, rather the person that ruined her childhood be happy than her. To a point where-...
It feels silly, I was never much one to cry. Even when I was standing on the railing of that bridge, looking over the ground, ready to turn the final page in my life, I didn't shed as much as a single tear. But now, it feels so easy to just, let it all out.
To stare at the somber sky, void of any clouds, and regret every action you've ever made.
If I could've
[Shoya and Shoko, standing in the playground, playing in the sand. Swinging on the swings, laughing and joking in class. Running after each other, playing tag with their friends. Doing school projects together. learning together.]
If I could've
[Shoya and Shoko, walking home after school, together. Staying at each others homes, stressing over homework, over exams. Going out with friends, together.]
I wish
[Shoya and Shoko, going out together, hand in hand. living life side by side, happy and together. Going out to watch movies, going out to the park, to an amusement park, to the fare, to the store, to the mall, to the aquarium, to the zoo, to the beach, to get ice cream, together.]
I wish
[Shoya and Shoko, sitting on a bench next to each other. Hand in hand, laughing, joking, talking.]
I've made it to the bridge, Shoko is standing in front of me, calmly looking at the koi fish under the bridge in the water. Shoko noticed me, she turns her head to face me, and smiles warmly.
[Shoya and Shoko, smiling together.]
I wish I could've made you smile sooner.
Before I know it, I grab Shoko around her shoulders (having to crouch down a little to do so), and hug her. My eyes are welling up, why do I feel like this so soon?
"I'm sorry Shoko! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
She probably can't hear me properly.
"I really am! Forgive me Shoko!"
I hope you can hear me.
I continue crying while I hold her, her shoulders probably wet by now.
I didn't say it enough last time, it didn't feel right, it didn't feel genuine.
How could she forgive me so easily? How could she blame herself, hate herself, after everything everyone has ever done to her?
Through my (ever unmanly) sobbing, I feel Shoko's arms move to my back and hug me back. It must be so sudden, how quickly I grabbed her, I hope I didn't startle her. But, is it right of me to seek comfort from Shoko? After all, I'm apologizing to her for all I did to her. Is it really okay? Do I really deserve th-
"I lub you, Shoya"
Three words, that mean so much to me. In her whispered, off tune voice, she whispers to me. Even if its selfish, right here, right now, in this moment, I feel content with everything.
Shoko and I got ice cream after... uh, that. We're sitting on a bench right now, she got vanilla, I got strawberry. But well, she's eyeing mine, so I point the cone in her direction. Staring at it for a few seconds Shoko can't exactly grab the ice cream cone with her free hand, and neither can she hand hers to mine... cause both of us have an arm in a cast (Anyone who sees us must wonder what the hell happened to us), so she simply tries it from my hand. Not like, how a dog eats treats from your palm I'm still holding the cone.
She seems to enjoy it, "Want mine?" I say a bit loudly so she can hear me clearly. After a bit of contemplative staring between mine and hers she nods her head up and down a few times. So with the surgical precision of a bird in scrubs I grab both of the cones with one hand and point mine in her direction. With her now freed hand Shoko grabs the cone, can't believe that wor-
The vanilla ice cream cone fell onto the ground.
Devastation.
Shoko looks apologetically at me as she offers my old cone back to me, with my free hand I sign 'No need to' back at her. It takes a bit of back and forth before Shoko admits defeat and continues eating my ice cream.
I lean back into the bench with a bit of a sigh, how do I deal with Tomohiro? Wait, no that sounds wrong, how do I make things up to Tomohiro? Mom said he came by the day I was admitted to the hospital, so I know that he at least wants to be friends again. But that'd be taking advantage of him wouldn't it? I need a proper apology, a real one!
But well, how do I do that? Maybe I could invite him to a movie, he really liked those.. Crap! The movie project!.. Maybe I could make it up to everyone if I helped them all make a movie before times up?.. How much time is left, a week? No, even less than that.. In frustration, I shut my eyes and grip the sides of my head, I'm really knee deep in this...
Hm? I feel a tap on my shoulder, I open my eyes to look, and it's Shoko offering me my- her ice cream to me. Just like last time, I shake my head, but she adamantly shakes it in front of me.
Oh, sharing, I get it. I lean down a little and take a bite of it. Shoko then brings it down to continue eating it before offering it back to me, this goes on a bit before the ice cream is gone.
After taking the final bite she quickly takes her phone out and types in it before showing me it. "Do you have anything on your mind? Texting would be easier than signing on a bench :þ."
Ah, smart. I nod and I take my own phone out and type out what I want to say before showing it to her.
"Guess it was that obvious huh im just thinking about how to smooth things over between us and our other friends"
"You don't have to cover for me! It's fine, really!"
"There you go again if i care about you, you should care about yourself too"
Shoko shuffles a bit nervously when reading and responding to my last message.
"Right, I'm sorry! But if you want to help me out then you have to let me help you out too! Okay?"
"Thats actually what i wanted to ask you about i want to make it up to Tomohiro but im worried i wont be able to do it properly do you think you could help me"
Reading my message, Shoko smiles and nods her head up and down quickly.
"I'd love to! It's only fair, right? We should try and find him after school, then you two can go for a walk together and you can apologize properly to him! I'm sure he'd understand!"
I cant help but be a little doubtful of myself when met with the notion of "I'm sure he'd understand". I mean, mom did say he came by the other day, but that doesn't mean it'll be as easy as saying sorry, right?
"I hope he does i really messed up back then should i not buy something for him or ask him to watch a movie with me"
"It'll be fine, Tomohiro was your best friend wasn't he? I told you, he'd understand! You were going through something at the time right? Then you just made a mistake!... Also could you please use proper grammar when you type :V"
My face turns a little red when I read the last bit of her message. I didn't really have any friends growing up after elementary so I didn't really have to text anyone ever... Thinking about it, Tomohiro was the first person I got the number of for like 8 years.
"Sorry. I'll try my best to type correctly from now on. What should we do until school ends?" It takes me an extra minute to fix all the mistakes I made.
Shoko smiles gleefully as she reads my message and starts typing. My heart flutters a little.
Shoko abruptly stands up from the seat and stands in front of me, in this position Shoko's almost looming over me. With a confident smile Shoko shows me her phone.
"Let's go on a date!"
It's been an hour or so, we walked around for a little bit, the occasional stare from the passerby took some getting used to but by the end of our walk I had splurged a little on random snacks and drinks and we found ourselves by a park. I bought a picnic blanket so we didn't have to sit in wet grass. It was a bit troublesome bringing everything with us due to our, well you know, but we managed.
Shoko's sitting in front of me, eating a sandwich. It's two halves of one sandwich (one half each) but personally I didn't really like the taste so she can have the entire sandwich. The sun is still rising, the sunlight is reflecting off of Shoko's hair in a way that makes it seem like she's glowing. It's a pretty sight, and before I know it I'm caught red handed (Red eyed?) staring at Shoko.
Shoko, having taken notice of my self indulgement, smiles at me warmly. I thank Shoko for asking me out so early in the morning, because if she asked any later and there were any people to see how flustered I just got I think I'd spring myself over a bridge. I look the other way and apologize to her with my free arm. I'm sure if Shoko could speak she'd say something lik-
But before I could finish that trail of thought I feel something, or well someone, softly grab the sides of my face and turn the direction I'm facing. I am met with Shoko's face inches away from my own, and before I can process the situation I find myself within, I am pulled into the third kiss of this relationship. My entire body tenses up, I'm sure Shoko can tell because when I did a muffled giggle escaped her covered lips, but after a few seconds I evidently ease into the sensation.
Maybe if I were cooler I'd think like, "I could get used to this", but I don't think I could ever get used to this feeling. Not like it's a bad feeling! Just, this feeling seems like it'll be wholeheartedly unique every time it happens to me. Like how even if you've watched your favorite movie a thousand times watching it the thousand and first time isn't any worse than watching it for the first time.
A minute or so passes, I wasn't really paying attention to time passing, nor was I paying attention to my arm (the one in the cast) hurting. After the kiss ends a few seconds pass where I'm just catching my breath, and then I yelp in pain as I finally take note of the surging feeling in my arm. Shoko concerned waves her free arm around to emphasize her worry, another few seconds later I collect myself.
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt anymore! Plus, it was worth it."
I say as confidently as I could possibly say.
Shoko is blushing, probably from the kiss and not what I said (:(), she lets out a relieved sigh as I reassured her I was fine. The mood is kind of broken now, so I quickly reach into the picnic basket which I bought to put all the individual bottles and snacks and what not into and pull out a drink handing it to her. After she grabbed it and I opened the cap I grab my own and let her open the cap for me.
We both take the first sips of our drinks, my sip being significantly bigger than hers as I was thirsty. I check the time on my phone and exhale reassured as I see that we still have a good 50 minutes before we need to get up and leave to the school... I'll probably have to drop all this stuff off at Shoko's place. I lay down on the picnic blanket using the picnic basket as a (pretty bad) pillow.
In view is Shoko, the trees and the lake. Shoko's looking away into the distant lake and its ducks absentmindedly. Her hair wears the light of the rising sun in such a way where she looks as if she's glowing, her hair is worn down, flowing down her shoulders in various relatively curly bangs. This aching feeling in my body, in the depths of my chest and my ever beating heart, is this what they call love? When I look at her, as I am now, everything feels nice, feels calm. The way she's peacefully watching the lake, her head turned from away from mine, if I had a camera I'd take a photo, this is something you'd want to remember.
It's a nice view, it feels like so much has happened in such little time. It's nice to just sit back and take in quieter moments like these, even if I haven't had the ability to do so for a long time in my life. I feel my eyelids betraying me as they get harder and harder to open after I close them.
Before I know it I'm being gently shaken awake by Shoko, 48 minutes later. Groggily I sit up and drag my hands over my face and stand up stretching and yawning. I notice Shoko giggling in reaction to my sleepiness, I feel bad for dozing off while being on a date with her. I'll just have to make up for it on our next one.
The two of us took an unexpected amount of time to pack and roll up all our belongings, we have to hurry- At this point if we want to make it to my school before it ends it'd be a miracle. We're walking on the sidewalk, Shoko's a bit ahead of me, and as I stare at her, I feel this strange warmth in my chest.
It's almost like somethings gripping at my heart again, I can't control myself as I approach her from behind and pull her into an embrace, resting my chin on the top of her head.
...
"Thank god you're here."
As we round the corner to make it to my school I hear the school bells ring, students who were dismissed earlier are already exiting the gate of the school. I turn to face Shoko and tap her on the shoulder to get her attention before I speak and sign to her.
"The bell just rang, we should walk over to the bike spot, Tomohiro takes the bike to school after all."
Shoko smiles and nods in response to me, I smile back at her. Though, something is bothering me. I can feel every person around me burning their stares into me. I mean, I get it. I don't come to school for a few days and then the first day I come back I walk to school after it's already over, with a girl and we BOTH have one of our arms in a cast.
Even as we enter the school it feels like I'm an actor on stage as everyone's staring at us, I hope Shoko doesn't notice anything. I notice a few of my classmates that I've seen around around us, seems like they got to go home a little earlier, I hope Tomohiro is still here. It'd suck if I were too late.
We turn the final corner and make it to where the bikes are all stored, and I'm met with a rather familiar sight.
"L-Let go of my bike man!"
"Dude shut up I just need this to get back home, why are you being such an asshole about this dude?"
Same dude, same bike, same situation. This guy must be a real jerk. And I unfortunately don't have a bike to offer him this time around.
"R-robbery! Help! Help! This guy's trying to steal my bike!"
"D-Dude shut up! Just give me the stupid bike alrea- huh?"
Both of them stop their tug of war on the poor bike as I intervene. Tomohiro looks shocked that I'm here, the other guy has this stupid look on his face.
"Yo! It's you man!" He says happily as he puts an arm around my shoulder like a friend would. "This guys not letting me borrow his bike again, so how about you let me borrow yours again?"
I slowly grab and push his arm off my shoulders as I turn to face him. I'm in no condition to fight anyone, not that I'd be any good at it, I hope he backs off on word alone.
"No, man. Leave Tomohiro alone, and if you wanna bike to school so bad take better care of your own bike, if you even have one." I try bringing out the inner elementary student in me for this, it might've worked? I'm unsure because the guy looked at me confused and stepped away from me.
"I thought we were friends man, not cool, not cool." He says as he shakes his head, mumbling something under his breath and leaving. Well, that sure happened?
More importantly I turn to look at Tomohiro, I'm ready for anything, a thousand insults, a cold shoulder, no reaction at all! Anythi-
"Y-Yasho! You're BAAAACCKKK!" He musters out in a cracking voice, his eyes welling with tears as he lets the bike go and immediately hugs me.
"W-wait your bike-"
"I was so worried! Y-your mom said you got injured badly trying to save Shoko and you were in the hospital! I- I tried to visit but I got lost and couldn't find you, are you alright?!"
You know, when I said I was ready or anything I think I might've been lying. He's forgiving me way too easily...
"Tomohiro It's alright man, I'm the one that needs to apologize anyway!" Tomohiro sobs a little more before backing off and wiping his tears and sheepishly looking up at me.
"T-thanks for coming back... I tried telling everyone the reason you weren't attending class was because you tried saving a girl but no one believed me! Come on you have to go show them your cast!" Tomohiro grabs my free arm and tries to drag me away, I almost trip but I manage to catch myself.
"Tomohiro, that really doesn't matter right now, let's sit down and talk a little." I turn and point at some stairs, Shoko's standing there. I almost forgot I brought her along for all of this, she smiles at me and Tomohiro contently.
"W-what I-.. okay Yasho." Tomohiro and I sit down on the steps of the stairs, Shoko sits next to me as well. I sign to her.
"Do you want me to translate what were saying to you?"
Shoko nods her head and signs to me. I nod in response. I turn to Tomohiro, now it's time to start this..
"Listen, I just want to say that I'm sorry. Really, I really am sorry. What happened was between me, Miki and Satoshi." I grimace a little as I remember what went down, man that punch really hurt. Should I really forgive them?.. That's not the point right now Shoya! "Some past problems of mine were coming back up and I was getting really worried that it would bite me in the ass again.. I was angry, and uh... my head was clouded. I just sort of wanted to push out all of my angry feelings at once and you got caught in the crossfire."
I don't feel like that was an appropriate apology. I think a bit harder and continue. "I said stuff I didn't mean. "Stop acting like you know anything about me", even if you don't know too much about me that's because I never told you. You're sorta my best friend, Tomohiro. So, thanks for sticking around man-." I try my best to give a nice smile, if it's even half as nice as Shoko's I should be clear.
A few awkward seconds of silence pass as I stare at Tomohiro, and then he suddenly bursts into tears, he reaches in to hug me again but luckily notices the cast my arm is this time around and refrains from hugging me. He just sniffles to himself as he wipes his tears from his face while I concerned-ly look at him. Shoko is giggling to herself, I bet she can't hear it herself and doesn't notice.
"I forgive you, Yasho! I t-totally understand, man! It's sniff, alright!" Tomohiro excitedly stands up and turns to look at me, pointing a finger at me with a smile. "And besides! We've been best friends since forever anyway! I wouldn't let something so petty as that ruin our friendship!" I stand up and smile. It seems like that went really well! I hold my hand out, and Tomohiro immediately gets the notion. My hand hits his hand and a resounding clap come as we high five!
"Alright, well, that went a lot better than I thought it would!" I turn around to Shoko and sign to her to catch her up to speed, even though I'm pretty sure she understood the situation anyway.
"Well, have any time to hang out then?" I ask Tomohiro as the three of us begin walking, Tomohiro having parked his bike again since he'd rather walk with us.
"How's your arm, Yasho?" "It's fine! I just dislocated my shoulder when I-.. yeah." I don't really want to mention it. The less I remember, the better, right? "That sounds pretty bad, man. How long till you'll be out of the cast?"
"Oh, just like-.. wait, hang on, let me ask Shoko, " I turn to Shoko and sign her how long it'll take before we're out of the cast.
Taking in her answer with a nod I turn to Tomohiro and hold up 5 fingers
"Probably the end of this week, so roughly five days. Though I dislocated mine worse than Shoko's so it might take longer."
"Aw man, that means you won't come to school for the entire week!"
Sheepishly I bring a finger up to my lip, but immediately bring it down to sign when I start talking.
"Haha, I could probably go to school if I wanted to, but well I'd rather stay home."
Shoko giggles in response to my rather childish want of staying home.
"Not fair! Can you dislocate my shoulder too? Then I can hang out with you guys too!" Tomohiro said jokingly as he stretched his arm out towards me.
"Hah, trust me this thing sucks pretty bad. Not worth it Tomohiro, I'm tossing and turning every night in bed!" Shoko nods up and down quickly a few times in response to me.
"Hmph! Too bad then.."
The three of us walk a few minutes more while talking (Shoko occasionally budding in) until we make it to a bus stop.
"Hey look the bus's already here, looks like we made it in the nick of time!" Comments Tomohiro as he points at the bus roughly 100 meters away from us.
But, while I was looking at the bus I couldn't help but notice a group of four relatively angry and smug looking guys approaching us from the buses direction.
"Hey Tomohiro," I tap him on the shoulder "Isn't that the guy who keeps trying to steal your bike (and friends)?" I say as I point at them.
Before Tomohiro responds I hear the guy yell.
"Oi! We'll show you two what happens to selfish assholes who don't lend their stuff to others in need!" He shouts as the group starts speeding up.
"uh, Tomohiro-" The bus stops in front of us.
"Oh yeah?! Well my best friend Yasho will show you delinquents whats what!" Shouts Tomohiro back loudly as the doors to the bus open.
"Tomohiro the bus is here-"
"Because I know Yasho will protect me, just like in my movie script! Wait my movie what are gonna do about th-"
I cut Tomohiro off and quickly shove him into the bus, Shoko following us quickly after. The bus doors close behind us and we hear the gang of jerks yelling profanities at us as we pass them, thank god we made it out of there!
I melt into a bus chair, close my eyes and sigh out of relief. However, soon I open them and notice Shoko standing in front of me.
The cogs turn in my head and I quickly sit up straight and move to the window seat, Shoko smiles and sits down next to me. Tomohiro sits down in the chair in front of us, but since it's impolite to speak while on a bus we don't really hold a conversation.
However, one of the plus sides of sign language does happen to be that it has no sound.
I smile and tap Shoko on the shoulder before we immediately start talking, a few minutes pass like this of us just simply talking to each other before something crosses my mind. I sign to Shoko.
'How come you don't talk much when it was the three of us'
My expression turns to mild shock when I hear her answer "I didn't want to intrude" That's such a stupid way of thinking!
'Tomohiro is your friend as much is he is mine! You said you wanted to help me make amends with our friends, that means they're your friends too Shoko! Okay?' Once I had finished signing to her I noticed that Tomohiro had taken notice of our chatting in sign language, maybe he'll forget by the time we're off the bus? That way I won't have to explain anything.
I nod my head as I take in her response, it's not the best but her saying she'll try not to back away from our group conversations is reassuring, I close my eyes and exhale rather loudly. As I open my eyes to nervously look around the bus to make sure I didn't disturb anyone ,I notice we're at our stop. I quickly stand up and leave the bus, Shoko and Tomohiro following in suit.
"Finally we're out of the bus! That felt like it ten years Yasho!" Tomohiro looked around "Huh, this isn't your home, where did you take me?" Asked Tomohiro, Shoko signing me the same question.
"Well I thought to make it up to you I'd take you to see a movie Hiro" I say and sign simultaneously, once I'm done I pull out a couple bills. But, curiously, I notice Tomohiro is staring at me with blissful glee.
"What did you just call me, Yasho?" Asked Tomohiro rather ominously, he's looking down at the ground so I can't quite make out his face.
"Uh, well, your name is rather long, so I shortened it to Hiro-" I say a bit nervously, and before I'm even able to finish signing my sentence Hiro is already jumping with joy.
"I have a nick name! Finally! We don't even need to watch that movie anymore I'm so happy!"
"Oh okay I guess we can just go home th-"
"Hey I still want to watch a movie."
I can't help snicker at Hiro's sudden change in demeanor. But anyway, the three of us end up walking to the movie theater, I explain everything that went down between me and Hiro to Shoko along the way. Hiro ends up choosing some obscure horror movie, it was fun watching it but most of the movie's horror came from audio so Shoko wasn't really scared. Me on the other hand, well... that's a different story.
The walk home was fun, it even seemed like Shoko stuck true to her promise and spoke way more than last time. It was over before it felt like I'd had enough fun with my friends, but well that's just how it is isn't it?
The three of us make it to my home and we stop by the gate, the sun is setting, hope mom doesn't get too angry at how late I came back home.
"Alright Hiro, Shoko, it was really fun today! But I made it home and I think if I stayed out any later my mom would kick me out of the house." I say and sign in tandem, rubbing the back of my head after I'm done.
"Thanks for the free movie man, what are we doing tomorrow?" Asked Hiro lightly.
"Well, I guess nothing comes to mi-" I stop mid sentence as I remember I still need to make things up with everyone else. I close my eyes and sigh before continuing. "I still need to patch things up with everyone else so there's that."
Hiro puts his fist into his palm "Oh yeah I! How do you reckon we do that?" Asked Hiro as Shoko signs to me.
"Good idea, Shoko says we should meet up after school again and track either Miki or Satoshi down. Though they're often hanging out with each other anyway."
Hiro smiles as he turns to Shoko "Nice! So we just talk to them and that's it?" I sign what Hiro said to Shoko, she nods in response to him.
"Okay cool, talk to you guys over the phone then?" I sign to Shoko and we both give a thumbs up in response.
I turn to Shoko as I begin to sign goodbye, and right after I'm done I feel a tug at my collar, and then I feel myself being pulled down right into a kiss... when did Shoko get so bold?!
Quickly I feel myself being released and as I regain myself I see Hiro, mouth agape. Oh right, I never did tell him abou-
"YOU GUYS ARE A THING!?"
"Okaybyeguystilltomorrow!" I blurt out as I turn around and run towards my house snickering. I hear Shoko giggling to herself but she is quickly drowned out by Hiro's loud demands for an explanation.
I'm laying in bed, I just texted both Tomohiro and Shoko goodnight and put my phone off to charge.
I should be smiling and happy drifting off to sleep, but I feel this strangely deep dread in my chest...
It's because of Miki and Satoshi...
I turn to my side and sigh as I close my eyes, how do I deal with them?.. Do I even want to deal with them? Miki's such a hypocrite and Satoshi...
A memory flashes across my mind of when Satoshi punched me, he's... maybe I deserved that.
I turn again and groan, this is too confusing! How am I meant to deal with this?! Should I even try and mend things between us? Would they even forgive me? Would they even change from how they started?
I turn to face the ceiling, eyes still closed. I should talk to them both, when we hung out we didn't even talk that much about our lives.
When I think about it, I know nothing new about Miki, and I don't even know anything about Satoshi. Maybe I was in the wrong to think of them like that? I should talk to them, actually get to know them, and then I can make my decision.
My expression relaxes a little as I make my mind up, yeah, that sounds good. Now that I've finally cleared my mind I can sleep, let's hope tomorrow isn't too hard
Good night.
Didn't think I'd continue writing, did ya?
Wowie that's the second chapter, so surprising! This is a record! I don't think I've made a second chapter of a manga since like, 2022 maybe? Anyway let me discuss stufffffff
Thanks for leaving your reviews! (2) I was gonna give up on this fanfic like every other I've done (L) but I noticed I got two reviews so like, motivation spike?!
From Tom on Fanfiction dot net:
"Alright well this is a pretty goddamn great story here. I really enjoyed the way you wrote the first person narrative too, it felt way more immersive with your style. The only thing I could say is that I would've wanted to know what Nishimiya was saying to him in sign, but that's a minor thing. Good job with this story my guy."
Thank you! Writing in first person has been pretty fun actually, I've been sleeping on it! And my decision to leave Shoko's signing untranslated was because neither the movie nor the manga translated what she said. (the manga did translate like 3 times but they were all single word things) So I decided not to translate in my fanfic either, which has actually made it a bit more difficult than it had to be, lol.
From mikamukainumbertwoshipper (who's number 1?) on Ao3:
"pleasemakemorepleasemakemorepleasemakemorepleasemakemore"
Bit desperate are we? But hey when I read this I was like "Well I cant let it die now can I?" So pat yourself on the back for your effort!
That was all, until next time, have a good day!