Author's Note
This is going to be one of the only Authors note I put on here, they will be few and far between unless I feel like I really need to explain something.
I started writing this as a little project for myself as I wanted a version that was a little more modern that I could read and I decided to set it in the UK as that's where I live and I felt that would be easier for me. I genuinely love this series so much but find it hard to get through some bits (eg; Naoki making fun of Harper getting molested on a bus). I'm going to outline the major changes I have made here. The chapters can be very long as they are based on the manga chapters.
Story
I wanted to follow the basic story as closely as I could but I had to swap around some of the storylines so that it could fit in with the drastic differences between the UK and Japanese schooling systems. There are also some component changes such as what I mentioned above with bus and how they start University as we don't do things the same in the UK. You apply for university before you finish college and pick a subject and stick with it or drop out.
Names
As this is a version set in Britain, everyone's names are different. I have tried to name everyone something that has the same meaning as their Japanese counterpart. For example; Kotoko means Harp Child so I have named her Harper and Naoki means "Tree of Truth" so I have named him Oliver after an Olive Tree. The rest of the characters' names are similarly influenced. You don't have to like what I named them.
Kotoko
For Kotoko, I wanted to change her a little so she is less of a complete idiot who will literally puppy dog after Naoki for the rest of her life but still keeping her deep infatuation for him. Keeping the fact that she is not academically gifted, she will develop other skills and learn to be her own person.
Noaki
I wanted to keep Noaki's brash personality, especially for when he is young. I would like to see him mature from an arrogant arsehole, to someone who takes accountability for what he does and says in a grownup way and growing out of his manipulative behaviour to be a decent human being. But his love language will remain subtle. I think a lot of people struggle to understand Noaki's love because he's not very expressive and doesn't voice how he's feeling but I think that is portrayed very well in this story as a whole. He is academically intelligent but not emotionally intelligent. He doesn't express himself or his feelings very well which can make him feel a bit distant and uncaring. He acts out when he feels jealous or threatened because he literally does not have the emotional intelligence to understand or cope with how he is feeling. Not defending him though, he's still an arse in many ways.