Reconciliation - (a Hanako bad-end story)

[Robnonymous]

Reconciliation:
Retelling the ending from Hanako's perspective...interesting
Hanako's a writer now? I guess it is easier to type things than it is to actually say them (considering how hard it is for er to talk to people most of the time.

That was more-or-less my way of thinking about it. Plus I figured it made a certain kind of sense given her love of reading.

The Hotel Room:
I think I know where this story is going now. Hanako will meet up with Hisao and they will be together again.

Yeah, I'm very satisfied with how well I managed to mislead people at first.

Bad Connection:
So Hisao is going to call Hanako now...Oh, I guess not...OH YOU BASTARD!

Yup!

Flight:
To me, this part seemed like filler (no offense)

None taken. It was actually attached to Bad Connection at first, but it wasn't totally finished at the time and I wanted to keep the updates consistent so I split the two.

Arrival:
I feel like this is exactly how those characters would react in those situations.
It seems like Sho has the greatest sense of logic of any of the characters in the Katawa Shoujo universe (aside from Kenji, of course).

That's a compliment I most certainly enjoy reading.

Reunion:
They got married...I see a conspiracy here...
So Lilly doesn't always have complete control over the tone of her voice...

Conspiracy?

Letting Go:
The entire time I expected everything to just be some elaborate plan to get to see Hanako again.
I hate funerals. Even if they're for someone I hardly knew, I still start to cry...

Oh my god, if Hisao "faked" his own death just so he could see Hanako again I'd have to write in him getting killed out of principle. And pure, unfiltered hatred.

Breakdown:
Wow, you're really good at characterization.
I'm still half expecting Hisao to show up out of nowhere, that is what tends to happen.
Twilight hate...You win

Thanks! And yeah, Twilight is awful.

Departure:
And still, not enough closure for me. Maybe I actually like having an ending like, "and they lived happily ever after."

I'm perfectly okay with that. I knew not everyone would be happy with it ending openly like that, but it's what I planned from the start. As long as I ended it on a positive note, with Hanako's future looking much less bleak and lonely, I knew I'd be content.

Your fic here has made me cry. That is a good thing, since you managed to keep emotional investment in all of the characters throughout.

Sorry about the rambling, I tend to type a lot...

Thanks, I really appreciate that.

And I don't consider it rambling at all. I'm perfectly happy reading anyone's feedback or feelings on the story, no matter how much or how little text it may involve.

[humhorse]

I've only just finished reading this, and it was good stuff. I don't really have anything new to add that hasn't already been said, the key points being:

- the plot twist at the hotel room was a good one. I didn't see it coming, despite the warning in your sig that the story is "not all that happy".
- the Flight was a bit filler-ish. It wasn't terrible, but I felt it lost momentum slightly.
- the fight with Lilly was well done. The 'all sweetness and light' facade when they first met that masked things that needed to be said was extremely realistic and believable.

I noticed that in between chapters there were several suggestions and comments, especially from some people who supported you from the beginning. I'd like to ask you if you significantly changed the story as you went along based on (or even trying to avoid) these suggestions, or whether you had already had it all planned out in your head?

[Robnonymous]

I noticed that in between chapters there were several suggestions and comments, especially from some people who supported you from the beginning. I'd like to ask you if you significantly changed the story as you went along based on (or even trying to avoid) these suggestions, or whether you had already had it all planned out in your head?

First of all, thanks!

As for the comments and such, they did influence a little of the story, to be honest. I had some definite plans from the very beginning which I saw through to the end, but I did indeed use some of the feedback to adjust certain elements along the way. For example, the worry about too much melodrama helped me to decide to dial-down some of the conflicts I'd originally planned to include. Some of the stuff I was thinking about would've been borderline cheesy in retrospect and I'm glad I decided against it. Giving Sho a little more character was another product of feedback. I never wanted to make the story about him, because it isn't, but after it was pointed out I had to agree that he needed a little more... detail.

One interesting note; I was considering making Sho gay at one point, but when people started guessing he might be I figured I should avoid it. For one thing it might seem like I was playing to the crowd, and for another it felt like sort of a cop-out to me.

So I suppose the TLDNR answer to your question is that the comments influenced some of the overall "feel" of the story, but most of the details were planned out in advance.

[Mahorfeus]

One interesting note; I was considering making Sho gay at one point, but when people started guessing he might be I figured I should avoid it. For one thing it might seem like I was playing to the crowd, and for another it felt like sort of a cop-out to me.

I think I joked about this a little too much for my own good. Though in all honesty, I think I would have been fine with it up until "Breakdown."

[Robnonymous]

And that's it. The epilogue is finished and posted, and I've added it into the "table of contents" for this fic as well. I've set it up as its own post, though. It's a one-off, and I still wanted to keep Reconciliation self-contained. This way people can enjoy the original story as it was intended, but can also check out the follow-up if they REALLY want to know a little more about what happens next.

Checkmate

[Elcor]

Robnonymous,
Pt 7 - Letting Go When Lilly just breaks down like that. It was hard to read, you it wrote so vividly it was like being there.
I look forward to reading more of you're stories.

[Robnonymous]

Wow, thanks! That's really cool to hear (or read, rather).

At the moment I've got Bad Dreams (linked in my sig) floating around as well if you'd like to see a Hanako happy ending fic. I've also got another kicking around in my noodle for her neutral ending, but I need to find the time to actually start writing.

[Elcor]

I read that one, ^^ it was an amazingly sweet story,the back story, visit to Hisao's family, the proposal (was hoping for a wedding and maybe a little copy of her and Hisao running around, sorry lost in ideas) All and all another great story.

I'm a hopeless romantic and sucker for a happy ending and the epilogues, even more so now since I have played Katawa Shoujo.
I have only gotten the bad ending for Emi because I was trying to be there for her (ended up being White Knight syndrome) I could not believe when HIsao said those things to Emi, I'm like O.O dude you did not just say that.... I don't have the heart to get the other bad ending, odd thing to say I know.

I hope you don't take offense to this question as that is not my intent.
Have you came across any fan ficitions that have Hisao and Lilly going the whole 9 yards. Proposal, Wedding then kid(s)? (Maybe the other girls too?)
I have read one with a Hisao/Lilly/Hanako threesome theme that was interestingly written (last chapter I read confused me way to much, not sure why).

[Robnonymous]

No offense taken.

I can't recall any fics that I've read that include all of that, but I know themocaw's At the Train Station covers most of it. Minus the kids. To be honest I never even considered doing one involving kids since my wife and I have zero interest in having any ourselves. I suppose I'm projecting too much but I have a hard time imagining any of these girls with kids of their own. Not to say I wouldn't appreciate another person's interpretation of the concept.

[William Syler]

I found this story from a TvTropes recommendation, and I'm quite glad i did! Your take on the characters felt accurate and the story was well executed.

Sorry for generic praise, but I just wanted to comment on how awesome this story was. It always makes me glad to see that intelligent writers still exist.

[Robnonymous]

Wow, a link from TvTropes? Cool! And I've yet to encounter any praise I didn't like. Thanks a lot for the kind words.

[Atario]

Holy Weapons of Mass Tearjerking, Batman.

I used so many tissues crying at this, I feel like you owe me money.

[Carighan]

Yeah, sorry to support the necro, but this is amazingly well-written and a really really well executed idea.

It's also mindfuck because this is nearly perfectly the headcanon I've established after reading the VN. O.o
Get out of my head, Charles!


(I do sorta agree that the epilogue is weird in that the ending before it is ~perfect, but it's still cute. The tone is just very different.)

[Command13]

Gah, you have stolen all of my manly tears, now what will I do? This was amazing.

[Robnonymous]

Wow, it's incredible that it's been over a year already. Even more incredible is that this has had more than 16,000 views and gotten its own TV Tropes analysis! Thanks for enjoying it, everybody!

That said, I think I need to clean it up a little here and there.