"Can You Open Your Heart?" - a Rika pseudo-route

[kuniqs]

Would Rika be more fit to worship Nurgle or Tzeench?

[Elcor]

That question is still lingering in the back of my head. Damn your cliffhangers. An excellent read as always, and a refreshing update after suffering from a week's worth of withdrawal.

I feel like something classical would suit the theme of the game and her more. Like Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

I agree that it should be instrumental. I like The Winner Is from Little Miss Sunshine, myself, but it might not be too cryptic for her.

Hmm..instrumental, maybe Love Story from Richard Clayderman.

[Titus]

Yea Rikabro, I think your story has attracted alot of attention, positive feedback, and discussion: 15681 views

You really made Rika into your character. You make people love and hate her at the same time, and the past you came up for her was deliciously scandalous. I've got to say if this ends in the next scene or the one after that then what will you do after? I'm hoping that you'll make more fanfic if it's not too much to ask...selfish I know and if you wont, then that's completely fine too

[The O.H.L.]

Would Rika be more fit to worship Nurgle or Tzeench?

Oh no, let's try to keep this as far away from 40k as possible.

[BobBobberson]

Ehh, for some reason I'm starting to dislike Rika more and more and sympathizing with Emi's POV at this stage of the story. Not sure why though. Might've been because I've seen the two potential bad endings, but it still feels like Rika's trying to drag someone else down with her, and the 'good' scenes is just Rika successfully persuading Hisao to take her point of view.

[kuniqs]

Staying in the hospital for much of her life, along with her mother more emulating love than feeling it and staying in touch with not so happy people, have taugh her to feed of negative emotions. This means she would be apathetic even without hearth problems. But then she's only human and craving some acceptance. One time when she wanted to widen her horizons and love Shin, she couldn't supress her hunger for fear and killed him in one way or another. That left her scalded, repulsed of doing anything like that again and with belief nobody could possibly accept or love her for what she is.
So she's not actually evil, rather spend too much time alone to have her psyche intact. It doesn't matter anyway but I think she's got the smoking habit from Shin as a remainder.
One thing she learned in hospital is a weird oppinion that people could be honest with themselves and touch each other's souls only when they're close to death.
Conclusion: she's a hypocrite, all the time she talks about confronting fears, that only in the face of fear she's feeling alive. She still can't confront the fear of being rejected by somebody she cares about or failing at something. It's the main thing that keeps her from moving on, 'cause she really wants to have something to look at in her life, some goal or purpose other than making other people feel. Probably the reason why she treats people like toys is to discourage them.
She feels smart about knowing everything about life, but it's just a cover for the fact she's too afraid to getting hurt again. She says she wants to be herself, but she doesn't realize most of her 'rebel without a cause' personality is determined by her memories about her mother and previous love.
She shows bits of her true personality during hospitalization, and what she doesn't like about people visiting her in there is that they could have some influence on her in that state, or maybe that it leaves her vulnerable?

What Hisao needs to realize is that he, like her, isn't really himself. While he may understand her, he's actually a puppet of Rika. I mean, he accepts her views without thinking too much about it (when he didn't gave a shit about Iwanako's letter until Rika got some complications) or does anything she wants from him just so he would have access to her pants. At this stage, he's essentially became like her. Plus, he doesn't understand that death would be the end of it and is not something to look forward too. They're wasting time on talking what they want rather than just doing it.

Any attempt to show her there is something to live for could be countered with 'you don't understand me'. Him trying to help her with exams was a good first step, but she still took it serious mostly because he threw her a gauntlet. If I'm correct by assuming You've based the line "How can you live with yourself" on a song title, she already starts to weaken. The happy end of this story, besides a simultaneous suicide, is Hisao becoming an influence to Rika as strong as she was at the beginning to him, show that he can understand her and is in the same position as her, but pursuing what he wants no matter what. I can see a turning point in the hospital where Hisao is shown to have went through it all a bit less shaken than her. That might impress her enough to start questioning her worldview.


If Rikabro plans the typicall good/bad/neutral ending routes, I imagine than during one point Emi confronts Hisao to tell him about her dad. For neutral ending, he doesn't buy it. They die happily, yes, but ultimately they both lose proving that if the world has no worth and there is no purpose to pursue anything, they philosophy also has no worth since they didn't backed it up with any effort. In the good ending, Hisao gets the idea that he can simply make himself a goal in life and that dying won't really make either of them happy. While he may believe there is no sense in existence, he just doesn't care and embraces the other end of nihilism. Why he still fights? Because he wants to. Instead of Rika, he doesn't allow the world to shape him into a guy whose only sense of existence is to prove everyone was wrong about him. Yeah, he may have only few years of life and is living in a society which secretly despises both of 'em for what they are. So what.

[nemz]

Nice wall of judgmental psychobabble and all, but... the future refused to change. (insert Lavos noise here)

'True selves' and 'souls' don't exist, nor is a philosophy made more or less relevant by the effort required to uphold it. You're right in saying Hisao and Rika should do what they want, but you're wrong in assuming you can know what that is for them. Also, we've already seen 2 of 3 endings; try and keep up.

[Roamin12]

I like to think I spent my day well reading this. It has been fantastic so far and I am highly anticipating any updates, but take your time, quality over quantity.
RANDOM UNIMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I was listening to my "A Perfect Circle" playlist while reading this, it seemed to fit Rika pretty well.

[Comrade Lenin]

Damn, the more I read this the more I feel I am chengeing, becoming someone else.
I am only halfway in the story and I know that reading this wont do me any good but I can't stop! This is just pure gold and I think this is better then the actual vn.
When I was reading ks, whenever things became really emotional I was playing red army songs in the backround or opend my collection of Lenin's pics and I felt better but I don't think it works anymore.
Someone help me, I don't wanna be chenged!

[Titus]

Damn, the more I read this the more I feel I am chengeing, becoming someone else.
I am only halfway in the story and I know that reading this wont do me any good but I can't stop! This is just pure gold and I think this is better then the actual vn.
When I was reading ks, whenever things became really emotional I was playing red army songs in the backround or opend my collection of Lenin's pics and I felt better but I don't think it works anymore.
Someone help me, I don't wanna be chenged!

It's too late bro, no matter what kind of manly hobbies you try, this story turns you into an emotional little girl that lost her skirt. At least that's how I felt, it isn't weird right?

This is just pure gold

I know right.

[Comrade Lenin]

Never mind I got to the end
הזמן הגיע קומראד!

[omerde12]

drunk?

[Comrade Lenin]

Never mind I got to the end
הזמן הגיע קומראד!

Good to see you alive again, Comrade.
אני שמח לראות שהתכנית שלך עבדה, קומראד.
מזל גדול שקומראד איינשטיין הסתיר את התכנית לשיבוט שלך מהאמריקאים.
אני סידרתי לנו טיסה למוסקבה מחר, ואז נוכל להחיות מחדש את ברית המועצות קומראד
Well done rikabro.
You have maneged to make me feel again.
I am reading this since day one but only commented now because I was waiting for our comrade here to "show up".
The last line, just speachless.
Only one dissappointment, when hisao was taking the exam on history, he mentioned rika gave an odd emphasis on the cold war, when I read it I thought we might finally have a comrade here on ks but it looks like you didn't follow that line.
Unless of course you are going to surprise me next post?
In any case, I don't think I will be following, neither does our comrade here, we have more Pressing issues at hand...
In any rate I say "lehitraot" comrade rikabro. Maybe one day we will come
Back here.

Exellent comrade.
שמח לראות שהתכנית שלי הופקדה בידיים הנכונות.
Can't wait until we meet tommorow and then we could start working.
It feels good to be alive.
And to you rikabro, I can only say good luck.
You are quite the writer here, not sure why comrade here told me to post here but I guess it was worth it.
Needless to say I am quite fond of my comrade idea for the plot twist but I believe it is pointless to hope for it.
In any rate like my comrade said, we won't be around to see the end, we have a little something to take care of.
Maybe one day, when all this is over I will come back.
Dasvidanis, Rikabro
ותודה קומראד, שהחזרת לי את החיים.
Sincerely, Vladimir.I ullyinov

[Rikaficfan]

Wow this is a masterpiece!
I like almost everything in the story and I can't wait for the end.
Btw that "comrade Lenin" guy here is creepy, stop talking foreign languages dude!

[nemz]

it's just hebrew, should be easy enough to translate online if you really care.