Phantom Pains: Mirror Shoujo

[Silentcook]

Excuse me, but you're doing it wrong.

When that part comes out, do you want to know what choice leads to what girl, or would you just like the choice to be "blind"

This is already a vote. Don't put voting in here. Use your strawpoll or whatever.

Someone else already tried this week and things got cleared up, but if this is the result of letting you all toe the line as closely as possible, in the end I'll have to be less lenient about things.

[swampie2]

This chapter has been scrapped. I'm not really happy with it. I'll leave it here for the sake of it, but It's no longer part of this fiction

Act 2: The wonders of medical science
Part 4: It's been a while...

And once again I find myself stood before the large notice board in the hallway for the second time this afternoon. Perhaps I should join a club to free myself of all this free time with nothing to do. My attention wavers from the overwhelming colours of the board and to the slightly open door to the left.

As I glance through the slightly ajar door, I notice something I haven't seen in a long, long time. A Piano. It stands upright against the wall, it's dark stained wood almost sucking in sunlight. It's been a couple months since I played, maybe this is the way I can spend my time. After my accident the doctors weren't even sure I was going to be able to pick up things with my left hand, let alone play anymore. Even though their diagnosis wasn't all that accurate I still found myself drifting away from my piano; When faced with morality and hospital time you have a lot of dark things on your mind. Unfortunately I couldn't play when I was in the hospital due to the lack of even keyboard, but once I was out I just felt different, that crash didn't just change me physically.

I slowly push the door open and make my way into the room, almost on autopilot.

"Hello?" A feminine voice breaks the silence in the room.

"Hey, do you mind?" I gesture towards the piano ahead of me. Now taking in the sight of the girl, I see her shoulder length, light blonde hair glisten in evening sun that's now filling the room. She's leaning on a desk, taking me in with her eyes as I am her. "I haven't played for... a while."

"That's okay. Do you read?" She carefully holds forward a couple sheets of paper after fishing them from her case that's resting on the desk behind her, music sheets. After carefully examining them I place them on the piano's small shelf and sit myself down. It's been a while.

As I carefully find the first chord I notice that there is a third stave following the piano's bass and treble. A violin part. Almost instantly after this thought, a high melodic note sounds out behind me mirroring the notes sung out by the piano. Violin. I glance behind me, and now the girl is stood a couple of feet away from me, her violin lightly rested between her shoulder and cheek with a bow in her hand.

There is a look in her eyes that I can't quite put into words. A mischievous look, almost a dare. Keep playing.



After a second of hesitation I set my tempo and begin playing the piece as best as I can given my current state of non-practice. The room is suddenly filled with the sounds of music. Our notes reflect each-other, melding quite well aside from the usual slipped finger on my part. We each adjust our volume at various points, moving from front of stage to back again with elegance you could only expect from a piece of classical music. Each stroke of a key sending a shiver down my spine, It's been a long time since I've played.

She's a damn good violinist, each note perfectly timed and intonated. The song is wistful and sad, yet shows small promises of a major key like stones being dropped into water, making large ripples throughout it's surface. As the song unfolds before me, I'm filled with a feeling that I haven't felt since before my accident. The feeling of adrenaline without sport, the feeling of happiness without a victory and the feeling of sadness without a loss.

Every key lies before me (aside from the broken C6 key), patiently waiting to become part of the music. The sounds wave through the room elegantly touching every wall and corner as if it were inspecting the room we're inside. I carefully place each note, making sure not to slip up as best as I can, running up and down the scale with only muscle memory guiding me.

Each not lies on the stave with precision, written with purpose, intended to be played with purpose as well. Each stave seems to stretch into infinity as the notes roll from the case into the slightly dusty air that fills the room.

Even though I'm slipping up quite regularly It's still clear enough that it can beat the precision of any pair of headphones or speakers without ever stepping into the ring.

As we reach the middle of the song our intensity escalates, only adding to the already defined peak of the song. Each carefully placed note from the violin harmonises with the piano incredibly, only to be quickly replaced with another and another. I follow the page with my eyes and feel out the keys beneath my fingers, very carefully pressing down each at it's respective time.

The number of pages quickly becomes less and less, we both know the end is nearing. I know as song has to end, but if I could just sit here forever I wouldn't be all that unhappy.

We reach the final page all too quickly, and the song opens up allowing space for the violin to fill the room with saddening notes that spell the end of our small time together. All this and I don't even know her name. The final chord flourishes into a major and I attempt to delicately draw and end to the song with a small flourish, luckily I was close, as does she, though with more accuracy than myself and I turn to face her.

"I'm Kazuko. Sorry about the slip ups, I usually use my leg" I gesture both hands towards my stump, the adrenaline and euphoria still flushing from my system allowing me to talk so lightly about my leg.

"It sounded okay on my end. Saki, nice to meet you." We share a pleasant moment together, both flinging ourselves back to the memories we made moments ago. She suddenly turns and places her violin back into it's case with precise moments "You need to work on your left hand though." She adds with an all too honest tone before snapping her case shut and turning back to me.

"Ouch." I jokingly place my hands over my chest. She meets my eyes with a deadpan face. Oops.

This chapter has been scrapped. I'm not really happy with it. I'll leave it here for the sake of it, but It's no longer part of this fiction

[swampie2]

Excuse me, but you're doing it wrong.

When that part comes out, do you want to know what choice leads to what girl, or would you just like the choice to be "blind"

This is already a vote. Don't put voting in here. Use your strawpoll or whatever.

Someone else already tried this week and things got cleared up, but if this is the result of letting you all toe the line as closely as possible, in the end I'll have to be less lenient about things.

Sorry about that Silent, I think I just worded it wrong. The decision is on strawpoll now

[danfs]

I really nice text, and I wasn't expecting you to use Saki on your history.. And since I don't know her almost at all, I don't know what to expect
Also, after this part of the chapter you almost obligated me to vote on what I voted (BTW, the first vote /o/)

[Alpacalypse]

Saki showed up; this is relevant to my interests (you can probably guess what I voted for )

Anyway, much fewer mistakes here. I didn't notice any, but it is 9am here and I haven't had breakfast yet (next on my to-do list)

Pretty good, this - continue.

[swampie2]

Saki showed up; this is relevant to my interests (you can probably guess what I voted for )

Anyway, much fewer mistakes here. I didn't notice any, but it is 9am here and I haven't had breakfast yet (next on my to-do list)

Pretty good, this - continue.

I'm glad that my fiction game before breakfast

[Sharp-O]

I don't know how thoroughly you tried pacing but I found that I could quite easily take a slow read of the performance while the music played. Scripting something like that must be incredibly difficult so I applaud you for that

[swampie2]

I don't know how thoroughly you tried pacing but I found that I could quite easily take a slow read of the performance while the music played. Scripting something like that must be incredibly difficult so I applaud you for that

I spent some time trying to get it just right, thanks!

[Mirage_GSM]

This is important

If it is important, put it in the text.
Musical cues can supplement a story for those who are into that kind of thing, but if the story is relying on them it's lazy writing.

So you decided out of the blue to make your OC a virtuoso pianist... Why? Just so you had an excuse to make him meet Saki? If playing the piano was really such a large part of his life before the accident, wouldn't he have at least thought about it in one of the previous chapters? Besides OCs with extraordinary talents such as this always reek of Mary Sues...

Regarding that choice... This is one of the reasons I don't like stories with choices.
Joining the student concil or the track team would make sense, because he spent the last few chapters hanging out with the respctive characters and befriended them.
As for the music club he just spent maybe ten minutes playing a duet with a girl he otherwise knows nothing about.

Yet, depending on the outcome of the poll you might be stuck with writing something that makes absolutely no sense from a story standpoint, because some people prefer Saki over Hanako.

[swampie2]

Chapter List
Part 8: Just a man and his legs

I was never and early morning person, especially on weekends, so how I was convinced to forgo my lie in for a visit with the nurse is beyond me. I slowly flop from the bed with all the elegance of an eagle piloting a blimp, promptly causing my face to hit the carpeted ground, forcing me to wake up. I take my daily regimen of medications for my back and hastily clad myself In a T-shirt and sweatpants as I know today is not going to be pretty judging by how I feel at the moment.

I quickly glance up at my calendar that lies just above my desk, attempting to make out what's written on today's square:

"First Freewalk" The nurse has been building me up to this since September, and I'm finally going to tackle it;

1.5 meters with no crutches, supports or rails. Just a man and his legs.

I guess this is how the nurse got me up this early.

---

After donning my prosthetic with now practised ease, I take my crutches and make my way into the adjoining room. Inside waits the nurse and his lackey, ready to retrieve my body if I can't stop walking in some horrible, forest gump twist ending. I take my seat before the small padded area and notice that the nurse has been talking most of this time and I've been lost in my thoughts. I decide to forgo asking him what he said, and simply lever myself to my feet.

I wobble slightly as I slowly judge my own capability for balance, luckily finding the correct weight to rest on each leg after only a second. I take a deep breath and release it slowly before tentatively lifting my left leg from the ground, ready to begin my first step into life without crutches.

---

I carefully push the cafeteria doors open with my crutches. Sigh. At least the nurse let me hold onto my prosthetic so I can rest some weight on it, even when I'm on my crutches. I focus on the smell of the food, a very generic smell that smells like cafeteria food. At this point anything is good enough to satiate my hunger.

I wander over to the cue, and find myself stood behind a girl that's not much shorter than me with short cut red hair. After a couple of students leave the que with their slop and soured moods the line moves forward, but the girl doesn't. I briefly wonder if I should poke her with my crutch, but decide that It'd make me look a little bit too eager to get some slop. Almost on cue, she releases a large, comedy style snoring sound. Is the really sleeping while stood up or is she just messing with me? I take a quick glance around the room and see nobody laughing directly at me, so decide I'll have to use my crutches after all.

"Oh. Hello." She swivels on her heels, swaying dizzily. As she turns I notice that her sleeves are tied off where her elbows would be, meaning that she must be missing her arms.

"Uhh... Hey there." I attempt to stop staring at where her arms should be but ultimately fail. I wonder if people do that with my leg?

"It grew back?" She beams an earnest smile at me, her eyes still filled with tiredness.

"Excuse me?"

"Your leg, it grew back." She nods downward towards my prosthesis as if she'd discovered it before I would have.

"Oh damn, It has!" I decide to joke a little, I'm still in a great mood that I managed to convince the nurse to let me keep a hold of it.

She takes a tentative step backwards without checking, then a couple more until her back touches the edge of the tray rail that lines the cooks station. She turns again and orders a tray of something, before completing her 360 and facing me again.

"Can I borrow your wallet?" Her smile from our recent discovery of human limb regrowth still evident on her face.

"You could just ask me if you want me to get your lunch?"

"Thanks. You can carry it too."

"Um... Sure?" I'm too kind sometimes. The cook chuckles as I fork over a couple of notes and scoop up our trays. Luckily she walks slow enough that I can catch up to her juggling two trays of food and my crutches.

She leads me to a corner and seats herself, gesturing for me to do the same. Once I sit, I notice Emi carefully picking out peices of meat from her rice before noticing me, looking to the girl and sighing loudly, rolling her eyes as hard as she can.

"Rin."

"... Sorry?"

"I'm Rin, you're Kazuko."

"Correct..." I make sure to lace these words with concern. At this point Emi is doing her best to not show that she's enjoying this situation.

"Can I trust you Kazuko?"

"With what?"

"Great, listen, I'm about to blow your mind okay." She leans forward in her seat, her tie idly dangling in her food.

"Okay?" I'm still very apprehensive about what's happening here.

"Have you noticed how this school has a 60/40 gender split, in the females favour?"

I'm completely shut down by this, what is she trying to tell me? "Um?"

"Right, it's crazy!" If she could throw her arms into the air then she would right now. "I have reason to believe that this school is..." She checks over her shoulders, and then over mind before opening her mouth to speak, before releasing only a single sound.

"Huh..."

"Rrrright... I'm not really following you."

"Neither am I" She once again grins a grin that could power all of japan before digging into her meal face first.

At this point Emi's façade is completely destroyed as she bursts into laughter. Rin doesn't seem to mind, as she just continues to eat.

"Well now you have met Rin, have you not?" Her laughs becoming more subdued as she wrestles them into submission to keep her prim and proper air about her.

Huh...

---

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[Mirage_GSM]

It's a bit strange that he doesn't even notice/mention Rin's missing arms - or does this Rin have arms? All the other girls' disabilities stayed the same...
I'm not sure how he manages two trays of food with his crutches. I'd have trouble with one if I had to use them.
And did you really insert a four month + time skip in there or am I missing something?

[swampie2]

It's a bit strange that he doesn't even notice/mention Rin's missing arms - or does this Rin have arms? All the other girls' disabilities stayed the same...
I'm not sure how he manages two trays of food with his crutches. I'd have trouble with one if I had to use them.
And did you really insert a four month + time skip in there or am I missing something?

I actually wrote this up twice so I must have missed that section this time round, I'll sort in in asecond aha

I'm assuming that each tray has a small plastic cover that you can open, so he just stacks them on top of each-other and uses one crutch in his spare hand to support his prosthetic leg.

Kazuko join Yamaku in September, this chapter takes place mid November, so he's been in therapy for over 10 weeks Remember that this Yamaku takes place further into the future than the VN, so prosthesis therapy has advanced quite far.

[Mirage_GSM]

Ah, okay, I assumed he joined in June like in the VN. I may have forgotten that... Did you mention it anywhere?

[swampie2]

Ah, okay, I assumed he joined in June like in the VN. I may have forgotten that... Did you mention it anywhere?

The doctor at the start mentioned September, but aside from that no, so I can't really blame you

[swampie2]

Chapter List
Part 9: Saki for the second time

"Can I sit wif you guys? Misha is busy today I guess." Shizune stands at the edge of our table with a large tray of food in her hands. She looks a lot more awake today, instead of looking perpetually tired she seems to have some energy for once. It's nice to see her wanting company instead of sleeping.

"Of course." Emi enunciates her words more than usual, presumably to make it easier for our deaf counterpart can read from her lips a little easier. Shizune quickly places her tray next to Rin and seats herself after a quick nod, then looks over to me before speaking with her strange timbre that I still haven't gotten used to.

"I saw you got your leg, congrahts." Her accent still strikes me as strange, it seems like some words she can pronounce fine, but others she has real trouble with.

"Thanks Shizune." It's nice that someone who's shown no previous interest in anything congratulate you on something, It's nothing huge but it still draws a smile on my face.

"How is the nurse treating you Kauzko?" Emi dabs her mouth with a tissue before speaking as always. I release and exasperated sigh that draws a grin from her.

"He's been driving me like a sled-dog the last couple of weeks, but It's paid off."

And that's no lie either; Almost every day I'd make a meter or three before I'd fall and get picked back up again. I'm sure I'll look back on those times and be thankful, but right now the feeling in my leg disagrees.

Emi's eyes glisten with excitement "I'm glad to hear that." She actually seems happy about it, though she doesn't want to show it in front of Shizune. She always done her best to seem prim and proper around everyone she meets, the only people I've seen her let her facade down in front of are Rin and me when I had my attack in the cafeteria. It kind of makes me want to get to see the "real her" more often.

"Does it hurt? Therahpy, I mean", Shizune clarifies, slurring the longer word along the way.

"Mhmm" I clear my throat from the food I've been digging into "Not the most fun experience, I'll leave it at that." This draws a tiny smirk from Emi and she does her best to hide it.

Rin peeks up from her meal "Do you think they'd let me walk on prosthetic hands?"

All three of us burst into laughter at the thought of Rin hand-standing her way around campus on prosthetic arms.

"I say It's worth a try!" I chip in, and all we can do is laugh harder.

"You never cease to amaze me Rin" Emi is the first to speak up, and Shizune nods to agree before we all continue on our meals.


---


"Hey Kazuko, can you help me out by any chance?"

"Hmm? sorry, I zoned out there, what's up?" I've been sat on this bench in the sun for at least a half hour, It's a good thing there is a vending machine nearby. Before me stands Hanako with a large stack of paper filling her arms.

"I uh... I can't open the doors while I'm carrying these," She releases a nervous giggle and a blush.

"No worries, You're going to the student council room?"

"Right! How'd you guess?"

"Luck I suppose. I'll walk up there with you" I stand and attempt to throw my empty juice-box into the open basket a couple of meters away from the bench, it bounces from the rim and cleanly falls to the bottom of the bin.

"Thanks! Nice shot too." She adds the last part with a wink before spinning on her heels and beginning to walk towards the main building.

"So how are you finding the school so far?" She asks.

"It's just like my old school really, the only difference is that people are more unique in their own ways. Plus I'm doing therapy now"

"Right! and it looks like it's paying off too." She briefly attempts to juggle the papers in one hand while using the other to point to my leg.

"I've still got some distance to go, but thanks anyway Hanako."

"Bah, you'll be off the crutches by the end of the month." She winks this time, not wanting to repeat her juggling act.

"How do you know that?"

"Ohhh, I uhhh... I" She stutters heavily looking for an answer, I guess I caught her out.

"I know the student council get's access to all that stuff, I think I was the only person that read the application form. I just wanted to see what you'd do." My turn to wink this time.

"Ass." She pouts for a second before returning to her usual self. "Oh! I got some mail in for your but you weren't in your dorm, I'll get it to you once we're at the council room okay?"

"Okay then."


---


I check my watch as I leave the student council room. I can't believe Hanako forced me to do all that work, I need to stop being so kind. At least I got my letter after being blackmailed for it.

"Dear Kazuko,

How are you? I hope you are well and happy at your new school. Everyone here misses you..."

Well this one doesn't look like a school project at least.

"Almost all of our second-year class got put together in class 3-1 for the final year, so we are pretty comfortable right from the beginning of the year. I'm sure you would've been assigned to this class as well."

That would have been fun, I probably wouldn't have gotten much done if Mai, Takumi, and Shin were all in the class as me again, maybe it's best I wound up here.

"The mood among third-years seems to be very anxious about the final exams, even though they are so far away."

It's starting to get that way here, everyone is worried about some exam or another. For once I think I actually have a decent chance at passing.

"The teachers are badgering us about it all the time - even old Mr. Tachibana who is, by the way, out homeroom teacher this year. Would you believe it? I was sure that he'd retire after our second year, but here he is, nagging everyone about studying for exams."

Ahh, Mr. Tachibana, one of the grumpiest old man on the planet. Sounds like they'll be forced to pass if he's their homeroom teacher.

"I think things like that are the main reason why the mood among the third-years is so nervous. I-"

My letter reading is cut short as I suddenly hit something. The first 3 observations that rise to the top of my mind are as follow; This is a person, this person has a cane, and this person is about to fall down the stairs because I wasn't looking where I was going. That's not a good combination at all. I almost instantly reach forward and grab at the person, embracing them in a hug while throwing myself backwards.

After landing on the ground with a fair amount of force, and then having the person I almost killed then saved land on top of me, I open my eyes.


Art by cometodaddycome on Deviantart

Now sitting on my lap is a very thin, very light girl with flowing blonde hair and a large strip of rose red adoring her cheeks. She trying her best to stifle her smile.

"Hey there, are you okay?"

"Thanks for saving me" She pokes me in the ribs.

"I'm really, really sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"I wasn't either, don't worry." She blushes even harder and tries to cover it with her hand "Can you help me up? You did get us down here after allll."

"I'd love too, but you're kind of... on my lap a little bit." She quickly looks down and realizes where she's sat before releasing an incredibly cute squeak and covering her mouth with both hands, It's a good thing I don't have a heart condition or she could have easily killed me with that.

"Well... Is that a complaint?" She slowly dances her fingertips over her lips, and my mind begins to race.

I really am thankful that I don't have that heart condition.

---

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