Developments (Post-Lilly NE) [Complete, 2015-08-11]

[bhtooefr]

Remember that not having an answer for her doesn't go over well, too, though. So, that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

I wonder if Hanako is going to take a third option here. She's good at that when it comes to Hisao (see her jumping him in the VN), and if it's the option I'm thinking of, it'll make Lilly coming back more interesting. (It's not jumping him, for what it's worth.)

[Blasphemy]

Nice work once again.

Certainly does feel like Emi is the one right now.

Either way, unless Hisao's wants to get together with Hanako right now (given the circumstances again, doesn't seem too likely) I'd say it would be best for her to go on the trip now, from everyone's perspective. Her staying in order to... "fight" for Hisao's love doesn't sit right with me and I can't really imagine that either girl really likes doing that, nor that Hisao would want Hanako to sacrifice other venues to live life a bit more because he struggles coming up with an answer. Even if he chose her, let her go on the trip for a week and then they can "have at it" after everything has cooled down (delayed gratification and all!). I mean they still have weeks left of the summer break and the emotional rollercoaster is putting strain on all of them.

And I don't know, if Hanako misses her chance because she's going on the trip and Hisao decides in the meantime that he'd rather choose Emi because Hanako isn't there for him that moment... that doesn't seem like Hisao.

Either way, it's a complicated situation obviously and one could go into depths but eh, not today.

I think Hisao is right now on track of telling Hanako to go on the trip, almost disregarding whether he got an answer and what it would be. However I could also very well imagine Hanako surprising us with having planned something special or so which makes it once again harder for Hisao to decide.

[Mirage_GSM]

Remember that not having an answer for her doesn't go over well, too, though. ...

I always try to be sparing in my quotes, but it seems this time I was too parsimonious*:

Have you figured out what you're gonna say to her yet?"

"I think so," Hisao says as he sits down, "but I don't think it's going to go over too well..

*Thank you, Leaty!

[bhtooefr]

No, I understood your quote fine, I was just referring to Chapter 22.

Where him not having an answer for her caused lots of pain and suffering when they tried to talk. I think he's going to tell her that he still doesn't know, maybe.

But I do suspect Hanako has other plans, expecting him to not have an answer, this time. He'll be totally blindsided if I'm right. And, if I am right, Hanako may actually seek him out.

[dewelar]

Remember that not having an answer for her doesn't go over well, too, though. ...

I always try to be sparing in my quotes, but it seems this time I was too parsimonious*:

Have you figured out what you're gonna say to her yet?"

"I think so," Hisao says as he sits down, "but I don't think it's going to go over too well..

No, I understood your quote fine, I was just referring to Chapter 22.

Where him not having an answer for her caused lots of pain and suffering when they tried to talk. I think he's going to tell her that he still doesn't know, maybe.

Yeah, I just reread this passage, and this perhaps could have been clearer. Actually, Mirage, you were still a bit too parsimonious with your quote, but please don't be lachrymose about it . The next sentence:

I want a chance to figure out how I feel without Lilly hanging over both our heads, so I want today to be a fresh start.

...is what he's intending to say, and is what he expects not to go over well.

ETA: Hmmm...thinking about it some more, I can see where that could be interpreted as "let's pretend the confession never happened" as opposed to "I finally have my head on straight and need to start my consideration of my feelings anew"...gah...

[Oscar Wildecat]

I think so," Hisao says as he sits down, "but I don't think it's going to go over too well...

ETA: Hmmm...thinking about it some more, I can see where that could be interpreted as "let's pretend the confession never happened" as opposed to "I finally have my head on straight and need to start my consideration of my feelings anew"...gah...

It is a wonderfully ambiguous statement. Entirely appropriate for Hisao, the "Master of Romance".

[bhtooefr]

But he's right that Hanako wouldn't take THAT well.

[Leaty]

This is the only excellent neutral ending continuation out there. Definitely the only one I'd recommend to anybody. (Gonna have to disagree with the thread title here and insist that Lilly's non-good ending was merely a neutral end, and that her route doesn't have a bad end. The only really great bad ending continuation is Reconciliation, but this fic is better than that one.)

My only qualm right now is that your OP is kind of lame. You don't name scenes and you don't do blurbs or anything like Tomorrow's Doom, so as somebody who accessed this thread from several different computers and mobile devices, I was constantly losing my place. Believe me, I get that naming chapters is hard, but I hate the numbering convention for fanfic. There's gotta be some kind of middle ground. (Sisterhood doesn't do it either, and I had a huge problem losing my place with that one as well, so you're in good company. :-\)

I try to keep my affection for non-Meiko characters in KS ambiguous to keep my fic less predictable, but I'm going to root for the underdog here and say I want Hisao to end up with Yoshi. Time to go big or go home.

[Guest Poster]

I get where you're coming from, but to be honest, the reason I'm not overly fond of providing chapter names and summaries in the OP is the fact that it basically creates a list of semi-spoilers that's visible upon first opening the thread. In Sisterhood, for example, the accident that hospitalized Hisao was supposed to kinda come out of nowhere, but it'd be pretty tough avoiding mention of that in the descriptions of the OP, since the two chapters after it completely take place in a hospital.

I guess that it's possible for some people to come up with a dozen or more non-phrases that are really, really vague, but...I've never really been big on poetry myself.

[Blasphemy]

Since I despite getting spoiled I often intentionally avoid reading chapter titles. I mean it's possible to come up with clever titles that you cannot derive much information from until after you've read the chapter and make you go "Ah, I get it now!" but that's hard to do when you've got numerous chapters.

Well and if you can't come up with all too clever titles then you'll either spoil some of the plot or you're so vague at which point it's hard to associate a chapter with it's title anyways.

[dewelar]

This is the only excellent neutral ending continuation out there. Definitely the only one I'd recommend to anybody.

Wow...high praise indeed! If I keep getting this kind of feedback from people whose work I respect my head might be twelve sizes too big instead of ten .

(Gonna have to disagree with the thread title here and insist that Lilly's non-good ending was merely a neutral end, and that her route doesn't have a bad end. The only really great bad ending continuation is Reconciliation, but this fic is better than that one.)

Heh...I actually agonized a bit over that choice (I even briefly went with "Non-Good," which as a choice was...non-good), and asked a couple people what the consensus was on Bad vs. Neutral. Since there was none, I went with "Bad" because it has fewer characters, thus I could fit more in the thread title .

As far as bad/neutral ending continuations, I'm quite partial to Direction, which is also the best Rin story I've seen to date.

My only qualm right now is that your OP is kind of lame. You don't name scenes and you don't do blurbs or anything like Tomorrow's Doom, so as somebody who accessed this thread from several different computers and mobile devices, I was constantly losing my place. Believe me, I get that naming chapters is hard, but I hate the numbering convention for fanfic. There's gotta be some kind of middle ground. (Sisterhood doesn't do it either, and I had a huge problem losing my place with that one as well, so you're in good company. :-\)

I totally understand this. But I also know how my thought processes work, and if I were to start naming chapters, I would be sitting here for hours coming up with one that was juuuuust right. I went with numbers for the sake of my own sanity.

I try to keep my affection for non-Meiko characters in KS ambiguous to keep my fic less predictable, but I'm going to root for the underdog here and say I want Hisao to end up with Yoshi. Time to go big or go home.

*goes home*



And thanks for reading!

[Leaty]

I guess that it's possible for some people to come up with a dozen or more non-phrases that are really, really vague, but...I've never really been big on poetry myself.

Even if your chapters were titled Heart, Star, Horseshoe, Clover, Blue-moon, Pot of Gold, Rainbow, and Red Balloon, it would make the OP easier to navigate than it is.

Since I despite getting spoiled I often intentionally avoid reading chapter titles. I mean it's possible to come up with clever titles that you cannot derive much information from until after you've read the chapter and make you go "Ah, I get it now!" but that's hard to do when you've got numerous chapters.

I don't always toot my own horn, but if I haven't succeeded in doing this with my own fic, I'll eat my cat.

[Blasphemy]

Not gonna lie, looked at yours and Tomorrow's Doom's titles after writing the comment and yeh, looks like the two of you are doing a pretty darn good job at that. That said, some of the stuff seems to be too sophisticated for me and purposely not paying attention to the titles didn't make me think about them much so far. Guess that's gonna change now heh; just googled for Bathory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) and "ah!" ;p

[forgetmenot]

I think chapter titles are important moreso for serial fiction simply because it's easier to distinguish "red herring" from "snake in the grass" than it is "chapter 25" from "chapter 26". When you're checking an OP for updates rather frequently, this is by far the easiest method for readers. When you're reading sequentially the need is less pronounced, because you can just click "next chapter" at the bottom of the post (which should be standard etiquette for serial fiction posted online anyhow).

I decided to do it for the Kagami route primarily because it afforded me opportunity to make horrible puns out of the chapter names sometimes. But to each his or her own.

[dewelar]

For the time being, I have gone back and edited the OP to indicate the PoV for each chapter, per Tripping. It should be useful, and mostly spoiler-free. I'm still open to other suggestions, of course.