Five Drabbles, Post-Hisao

[themocaw]

A drabble is a story in one hundred words.

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When Emi Ibarazaki took the track for the hundred meters at the 2012 Summer Paralympic games, she had just found out that her husband, Hisao Nakai, had died of a sudden heart attack.

Then disaster struck: an equipment malfunction resulted in a collision with another runner and a broken wrist, sending her home to Japan.

Four years later, she took the gold in the four hundred meters at the 2016 Paralympics. When she took the stand, she carried with her a baby boy: her son, Hisao, born nine months after the 2012 games.

Visa: The Official Sponsor of the Paralympics

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“Mrs. Nakai, your novel has received some controversy due to its unusual. . . some would even say offensive. . . title.”

“I chose the title very deliberately, for the same reason why I cut my hair and began allowing photographs several years ago: to cut through the pretty, happy delusions society creates and tell my stories honestly. Too often, Japan has tried to avoid confronting its imperfections directly. People like me and my late husband are either ignored as pariahs or placed on pedestals as saints. Katawa Shoujo Monogatari isn’t interested in either. In the end, it’s just a love story. Nothing more.”

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For Hisao

I have seen the golden color of the wheat fields.
I have gazed upon the brilliance of the night.
I have seen the blood red sunset cast its fire over the mountains.
I have witnessed all these things because you showed me through your eyes.

Now the jewels have fallen from the velvet heavens,
The sunset’s fire’s quenched in bitter tears.
The brilliant sky has faded into darkness once again.
But I’m holding to the color of the wheat fields through your eyes.

“Through your Eyes,” from the poetry collection “Colors of the Wheat Fields,” by Lilly Satou-Nakai.


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Tezuka’s “Rainy Period” is one of the more controversial periods of her career: this ten-year stretch is unique in that it is the only time in which she moved away from her trademark abstractionism towards portraiture, as well as a soft, Monet-like impressionism.

These works are also the only Tezuka paintings to have actual titles: all of the extant paintings have the same title: “Hisao,” after Tezuka’s long-time lover and companion. “All of my other paintings are me,” she said, in an interview carried out shortly before her death. “With these, I was trying to show the world Hisao.”

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Hello,

Thank you for your generous donation to the Nakai Foundation. Since its founding, the Nakai Foundation has been the foremost philanthropic organization in the field of cardiac research. Since then, we have funded research leading into great advances in the field, awarded hundreds of scholarships for medical and scientific students, and provided grants to help defray the costs of treatment for countless children in need.

It is only through generous donations like yours that we are able to continue this important work. Thank you, and have a very happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Shizune Nakai

President, Hisao Nakai Memorial Foundation

[Guest]

You get a lot of impact across for only 100 or so words each. Really bittersweet, but still great work.

[xaolindragon]

It's amazing what people can create and how powerful a message can be with only 100 words. That being said, I have something to say about Emi's drabble.

Does that mean she ran/participated in the 2012 Paraolympics while she was technically pregnant? Because the baby was born 9 months after the 2012 games and Hisao "died" while she was at the games.

Anyway, this is pretty good. Nice job.

[themocaw]

It's amazing what people can create and how powerful a message can be with only 100 words. That being said, I have something to say about Emi's drabble.

Does that mean she ran/participated in the 2012 Paraolympics while she was technically pregnant? Because the baby was born 9 months after the 2012 games and Hisao "died" while she was at the games.

Anyway, this is pretty good. Nice job.

I imagine she only found out a few weeks after, yeah. Sure, I know all sorts of reasons why that wouldn't be, but you know. . . >_>

[GG Crono]

You are giving me all the feels, man. You're an excellent writer, to be sure.

[sabre98]

That was great especially Emi´s and Lilly´s story. I´ve got tears in my eyes, which happens quite often to me since I finished KS

[Guest]

It took me a second to realize that the second one was about Hanako, but once I did and re-read the"cut my hair" part I got caught in a tornado of feels.

[bradpara]

Very Beautiful, very well done. I was going "yes, this is how they would cope with it" for each one.

[lblf]

as always, your work makes for a great read, themocaw

[Demoneq]

Nicely written, though I had a bit of trouble figuring out the second part is about Hanako, too. (mostly found out after reading everything else, and so Hanako was the only one left)
BTW, what does "Monogatari" in Hanako's book's title mean?

[Mirage_GSM]

It simply means "story" - so the full title would be "The Story of the Crippled Girl"

[U.T. Raptor]

at Lilly and Rin's in particular...

Nicely written, though I had a bit of trouble figuring out the second part is about Hanako, too. (mostly found out after reading everything else, and so Hanako was the only one left)
BTW, what does "Monogatari" in Hanako's book's title means?

"Story", basically.

[Ryto]

These were all really great. I think I especially liked the Hanako and Rin ones.

[charmisokay]

Wow Lilly's part almost made me cry.
The game didnt even do that.
Damn this is great

[gecko]

Yes, I really liked Hanako's and Rin's.
Shizune's bothered me a bit, because I think she would find a more efficient name for her foundation than an obscure student, she'd probably think about him, find ways to remember him, but giving her foundation his name?
Emi's bothered me for the nine months. As that's the maximum pregnancy time, it got me into thinking how they'd made love just the day before, just before he died... Eight months would have covered the time frame nicely enough with more wiggle room, allowing to concentrate more on the global story. (or can we think it's the press release that's been written too quickly? But it also detracts from the main story)