Katawa Shoujo Forums

K, now this is the dreaded backstory chapter. Not sure how I feel about it, but I dropped in something I'll refer too later on in the story, so I guess it has its uses. This part's mainly for the TF2 uninitiated though. But now think about it, I'm not sure why I made this story a self-insertion to begin with. I guess so it's easier to write since I know who I am, for the most part anyways.

Two days before the first day of school

I was touring the new school I was soon going to be a student in as part of my foreign exchange program. Yamaku Academy, or something like that, is a school for the disabled, and of course I had to roll exchanging places with one of the students from there. Luckily, his desire to travel abroad was so high that he paid for all my travel and boarding expenses, all in a pretty small amount of time. Looking back, I definitely got lucky there, or I wouldn’t be able to go here to begin with. Ah well. At least I’ll get to use my Japanese classes for once. I've managed to get pretty fluent in it, even if the occasional word flies by me.

I take a seat on one of the school’s park benches, a bit worn out from the trip here to begin with. I’ve only been able to look around the park so far, and I had plans to check out the buildings before it got dark. However, I’m soon joined by a tall kid who sits on the opposite end of the bench. He’s wearing brown pants with the bottom part pulled up to show off his socks and shoes, as well as a red t-shirt and a brown rucksack slung across his shoulders. For some odd reason though, his hands were bandaged, and he wears a headset over his black baseball cap. Since today’s mainly to get the new students situated in their dorms, he looks like one of the new transfers, although there’s something off about him...

“Hey, you transferring here too?” The guys Boston accent finally clues me in; he’s from the U.S. as well. Huh, talk about lucky! I won’t be the only guy here who can speak English. Choosing to be polite, I respond back.

“Yeah, one of them foreign exchange students looking to perfect my Japanese. Gonna spend a couple of trimesters here before I head back. What you doing here?”

“Uhh, I, uhh, never really finished high school and my employers just found out so they’re sending me here...” The guy says quickly, as if ashamed of it.

“No worries, at least they’re paying for it right?” I ask. If he’s getting some free foreign schooling from his job, he is one lucky SOB. That or he must be really good at his job.

“Yeah, dumbasses at RED can’t find no one to replace me. I dropped out with 1 semester left, so I just gotta hold out for only two trimesters here and bang! I go back to doing what I do best.” He says back in his normal tone of voice. That Boston accent is getting a bit grating though. Wait wut? Did he just say RED?

“You wouldn’t happen to be talking about RED from Team Fortress 2 right?” I ask jokingly. I’ve logged a couple hundred hours on TF2, and so far I’ve only seen one company called RED for short, both in real life and in a game, Reliable Excavation and Demolition.

“No, nope, not really. Dunno what you talking about pal.” The stranger says in a nervous ton. Now to think of it, there’s only one person I’ve seen that looks like him...

“Yes he’s the Scout. And no, we weren’t expecting anyone from the West to transfer as well.” A female voice said from behind me. She definitely sounded old, but her tone definitely yelled out insidious. Than a woman walked around the bench and stood in front of us. Yep, definitely old, with graying hair, but not who I expected, or I did expect once I heard her voice; the Announcer. Another woman pulled up behind her, a shy looking one with glasses and appearing to hide behind a clipboard. I guess she must be Miss Pauling.

“Scout, out of the whole team, I considered you the most mentally challenged, and you proved it yet again. You already know how I feel about...friendship,” The Announcer spits out that word with a slight cringe, as if she abhors the very idea of it, “And you’ve already broken your cover BEFORE your remedial schooling begins! Honestly, I swear Heavy could have done a better job blending in than you.” She finishes her little tirade to Scout, then turns to me.

“Well, about you. You now know that RED and BLU are actually real, as well as everything else you’ve seen and played in TF2. Hell, we weren’t even expecting anyone from the U.S. to transfer here as well, as I said earlier. These Japanese only play their silly Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest, so there would be no chance of any of them recognizing Scout for who he really is.” the Announcer explains while pacing back and forth. Oddly enough, Miss Pauling is scribbling down everything she says, almost like one of these people who copy down every word said in a courtroom. Snapping back into reality, I realize this is a very dangerous situation. The Announcer is known to be a ruthless bitch, going so far to break a friendship between the RED demoman and BLU soldier by claiming one is betraying the other and giving them weapons to kill each other. For all I know, she could kill me on the spot.

“And why are you telling me all this? Is this one of those scenes where you explain everything because I’m going to die anyways? I was only sitting down for God’s sake!” I say in a calm voice, attempting to keep my cool. While there appears to be no one else here, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Sniper hiding somewhere.

“Um, the kid has a point. He kinda got dragged into this thanks to y’know...” Miss Pauling suddenly adds in, gesturing towards Scout at the end of her sentence. I’m actually kinda relieved that someone’s defending me, maybe I’ll live through this encounter. “He doesn’t deserve to die just because of someone else’s actions. And Scout could use some companionship, he’s not really smart.”

“Heyyyy! Scout whines, but the Announcer ignores him.

“Hmmmmm. I might be going soft, because for once I’m actually agreeing with you, Miss Pauling.” The Announcer then turns back to me, “Anyways, even if I wanted to take you out, the Japanese authorities would be all over me, drawing unnecessary scrutiny towards my...occupation, which you already know. I have no moles inside the Japanese government...something I’ll have to remedy later, but consider yourself extremely lucky....” She drops off, realizing she doesn’t know my name.

“Guido. Call me Guido.” I finished for her. Inside my head, I’m doing a jig because I won’t die. But outside, I keep a mostly passive face. Gotta keep the cards close.

“Well, since you know all this now, you may as well do something good for me. You didn’t want to run off the very minute Scout opened his mouth?”

“No, not really. Hell, if anything, I was pleased that there was another foreign exchange student from the U.S. here. At least there’s one person I can kinda relate to straight off the bat. That and running away from someone who tries talking to you is considered weird. Also, pretty sure you’ve been watching Scout the entire time” I add the last part as more of an afterthought than anything else, but why would she ask me an obvious question?

“Good, than you’re perfect for the task. As you know from all the backstory, Scout here, along with all his teammates and foes, are barred from having friendships within his job. You obviously aren’t bound by this, so I suppose you and Scout could be...friends. Friends do help each other when one is struggling with class right, Miss Pauling?”

“Umm, yes, they should, at any rate.” Miss Pauling quickly says while trying to keep pace of the conversation.

“Well, Scout, looks like I found a friend. At any rate, you shouldn’t be here any longer than the two trimesters you’re missing from graduation. You do have no objection to this?” The Announcer stares at Scout menacingly with that last question, as if daring him to defy her authority.

“Err no ma’am. The reasons why Guido didn’t run off straight away are the exact same reasons why i approached him to b-begin with.” Scout responds with a slightly stutter, clearly unnerved by this.

“Good, you never had any choice in the matter to begin with. Anyways, I’m going back to Teufort to fabricate an excuse for the ceasefire for the BLU team. Miss Pauling, I’m leaving you here to help finish the rest of Scout’s unpacking, along with Heavy. Fly back to Teufort when you’ve finished your task.” The Announcer says while already starting to walk away. But then suddenly, she turns around and gives me the same look she had just given Scout. “Guido, you already know what’ll happen if you breathe a word of this to anyone outside RED team. But as I can tell, you’re no fool, so as long as you keep your mouth shut, we won’t have any problems.”

“Really? No attempts at assassination once I finish my time here? After all, you did off the Director after you got the intel from him.” I ask. I have to confirm my immunity; I’d rather not live the rest of my life in fear, thank you very much.

“No, no strings attached this time. Even I recognize that you had no control over this situation to start with. Just consider yourself lucky this happened in one of my good moods. Well, if you’re done asking inane questions, I’ll be off than.” With that, the Announcer starts to leisurely walk down the park path again. As the three of us watch her leave though, it’s obvious her aura of evil is out in full force though as a cane-wielding girl took one look at the Announcer and hastily altered her path so she wouldn’t have to pass her.

“Alright then, Scout, I’ll head back to the car and get the rest of your stuff. You should do fine here.” Miss Pauling says as she lets her clipboard arm drop to one side. With that, she also walks off in the same direction the Announcer went. Looking over at Scout, I see that he’s staring off into the woods. I guess he didn’t really expect this to happen. Suddenly, he turns to me with a remorseful look.

“Uhh, Guido, I just want to say...sorry for dragging you into this. It’s just that I haven’t been to school ever since I dropped out, and y’know actually learning shit and making actual school friends is a pretty good break from shooting dumbasses apart everyday. Not that I don’t like my teammates and all, but still...” He drops the end of his sentence, unsure of what to say next.

I’m not sure how to respond to this. The Scout I’m seeing right now is way off character than what I’d expect from the in-game Scout. I was expecting him to be all brash and arrogant, and while I did see that when he introduced himself, I’m sensing this of him that isn’t shown very often, and he wouldn’t waste it on random strangers.. Pulling myself together, I force myself to speak.

“Well, what’s done is done ehh? Anyways, it’s not all bad. We’re two people in a strange land, it’s only common that we’d try to find people who could band together. I’m also kinda honored that THE Scout would approach me with the intentions of friendship. No need to kick yourself trying to act on natural instinct.”

I get up from the bench, looking at the darkening sky. It seems I won’t have time to check out the facilities after all.

“I gotta go, gonna crash at my dorm. Brighten up Scout, you hafta learn to enjoy this while you can.” I say as I dust myself off. Scout, however, is already back towards staring off, this time looking at the plains in front of him. I guess nearly causing an innocent person to die just because he wanted to talk with him must have rattled him more than I thought. “We can meet up before school starts, y’know talk a bit. Lessen the impact the first day always has. My dorm room is 119 if I recall correctly. If you wanna talk, just knock. And no I’m not doing this just because of your boss, you seem like a cool guy, Scout.”

With a gentle fist bump to his shoulder, I stroll off as well to leave Scout with his thoughts.Even though we’ve known each other for about 20 minutes, it seems a near-death experience on my part brought us both closer in a relatively fast pace. I’m kinda surprised I’m not reeling at the fact that weapons that defy the laws of physics and Respawning is real. I guess I can go into shock about those later. For now, I’ll just enjoy the fresh air.

Couldn't read it. Tried a few times, but just couldn't do it.

Homeless wrote:Couldn't read it. Tried a few times, but just couldn't do it.

Why not? It seems okay to me.

Nakasaro-San wrote:

Homeless wrote:Couldn't read it. Tried a few times, but just couldn't do it.

Why not? It seems okay to me.

Honestly? TF2 isn't a crossover game. It's a shoot'em up game. You blow shit up, shit happens.. ect.. ect.

Doesn't work well with KS. His story line was weak, and well just copied anything he could basically. Not worth the effort.

Nakasaro-San wrote:

Homeless wrote:Couldn't read it. Tried a few times, but just couldn't do it.

Why not? It seems okay to me.

Okay, lets put it to you this way, You have a story, it's a good story, so you make a game about it. It's a feel good kinda story.

Then someone else has a story, it's a blow shit up story. That's cool right? Good in my books.

Wait, lets join those two together, hmmm a bunch of feelfags up against a bunch of tf2 fags.. Yeah, wonderful story lines there...

This isn't the greatest story about anything. Not by any stretch.
But it's entertaining enough and not horrifically written, so I'm following it.

Gamera Ramen wrote:This isn't the greatest story about anything. Not by any stretch.
But it's entertaining enough and not horrifically written, so I'm following it.

I second this, I will be following this because while the story isn't too great, I do enjoy the references and the occasional leet speak moments as well as the characters.

if this feels like a half-assed chapter, it is. I honestly couldn't come up with a bridge between these two ideas I had, so excuse the rushiness of the chapter. The next chapter will be loads better, I really needed to get the new character introduced though, as he'll become critical to the plot later on.

The sound of my alarm jerks me from yet another peaceful sleep. Blah. I quickly go through my morning routine, pausing only to grab a can of Milo on the way out. Unfortunately, the chocolate energy drink has no effect on me, as I slump over my desk the minute I sit down. As I mindlessly stare at the door, I see the two girls I’ve definitely didn’t want to see.

“Guids! Where were you yesterday~?!” Misha yells as she skips inside the classroom, Shizune closely behind her. Somehow, I was the first person here, so I don’t mind the yelling too much.

“Umm, lemme think. Oh yeah, me and Scout went upstairs to play some TF2...er...” Crap, it’s gonna come to me eventually.

“Did you forget about the message I sent you?” Misha asks with an angry expression. I’m still trying to recall yesterday’s events, so her attempt scare me fails miserably.

“Oh yeah, I remember now, than this girl Lilly came in and made us some tea. Than we talked for a bit, then I left to go do homework. That sounds just about right.”

When Misha signs my response to Shizune, she immediately takes on an angry face similar to what Misha just had on. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t scare me.Shizune’s signs come in all rapid-fire, and Misha’s having trouble keeping up.

“Err, why were you hanging around with that delinquent representative Lilly? You specifically...umm received a note asking to meet us at the Student Council room right after school!” Misha says.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that note! Failboat.

“Well, I had a lot on my mind! What did you need me for anyways?”

“Nothing important, we found someone else to help us luckily.”

As if on cue, Scout walks in, somehow looking even more drained than I am, and that’s saying something. Not even bothering to greet the three of us, he crashes down on his desk.

“Oy, Scout! Where the hell were you yesterday? You leave for a drink and don’t even come back!” I shout at him. Seriously, what was up with that?

“I...got lost and ended up in the wrong room at the wrong time. These two,” Scout gestures to the glaring Shizune and Misha “managed to sneak up on me while I was looking for someone to fix the damn vending machines.”

He must be really tired, as he doesn’t even bother to face me when he talked. Shizune and Misha somehow look happier than the last time I saw them.
“Yep, Scout here was so kind to volunteer to help us! Wahaha~!” Misha says with a laugh.

“Fuck you Misha! I didn’t volunteer for shit!” Scout’s muffled voice says from the desk.

“Such language! You don’t talk to the Student Council like that!” Misha gasps as she signs his sentence, curses and all, to Shizune. I probably thought of this before, but how does she do it so fast?

“Wait...so you told me to come to the Council room after class so I could help you with your stuff? Hahahaha!” I start laughing because it’s funny how they think they’d corral me into helping them. Taking my response as their cue to leave, the duo take their respective seats and start to sign. Looking back at Scout, it seems like he fell asleep, judging by the loud snores. I should press him about finding his crap and talking to Lilly, but I think it can wait.

Mutou enters the room, looking a bit haggard. He mumbles something about a substitute teacher, then proceeds to start scribbling complicated equations on the board. He must be really off if he’s not excitedly (and by that I mean droning on) talking about science. While I try to get excited about the idea of a substitute teacher, the fact that I might actually be called out for zoning out on class tempers that thought.

After a couple of hours of boring lectures, the lunch bell rings, starting our brief reprieve. Looking around at the kids rushing out of the classroom, I recall that I’m supposed to meet with Lilly and her mystery friend at that same room again. Then I see Scout expectedly walking towards me, he’s about to be disappointed

“Yo, Guido, I’m going to lunch with these two chicks from track, you wanna come?” Scout asks as we fistbump.

“Nahh, man. I gots a mystery date! Ok, not really, but seriously remember Lilly from yesterday?”

“Yeah I remember, blind chick with the tea? She was still in the room when I came back from that Student Council crap.”

“Yepp, while you were away, she invited me to lunch today. So I can’t go with you mate, sorry.” I say with a dramatic sigh. Scout seems unperturbed by this though.

“It’s cool, more girls for me than! I’ll see ya later!” With that, Scout bounds off into the hallway, leaving me alone in the classroom. Wait...How the hell did he get a lunch with those girls?

I gather my things and make my way towards what I shall now dub the tea room. When I arrive, the door is closed. So being the polite guy I am, I knock at the door, using my signature knock. I hear the sounds of tinkling porcelain, and a voice calls out from within.

“Is that you, Guido?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” With that, I hear someone approach the door, and am greeted by the sight of Lilly once it’s opened. Looking around the room for her friend, it appears she hasn’t arrived yet, so I take a seat next to the table. It appears that Lilly’s already made the tea, as I noticed three teacups placed in a triangle around the teapot. I decide to help myself to some tea as Lilly sits down across from me.

“Hello Guido, how’s your day so far?” She asks. Gotta love small talk.

“It was uneventful...for the most part. If you count Shizune and Misha chewing your ear off for not meeting up with them an event.”

On hearing about Shizune, Lilly frowns.

“I take it that Shizune’s been trying to recruit you into the Student Council?”

“Yep, I got a note asking me to head to their room after class the day before yesterday. Than I kinda forgot about it. “

“Oh my, I can see how peeved they would be when you didn’t show up.”

“Scout accidentally filled in my spot for me yesterday. That’s why he was late in coming back. Somehow he wandered into the Student Council room and he got conscripted. When did he come back anyways?” I hope he didn’t keep Lilly waiting for too long.

“About fifteen minutes after you left. I was cleaning up when I heard him walk in.. He didn’t even say anything. He just came in, got his stuff, and left.”

“Well that’s Scout for ya. He’s not really the kinda guy to say ‘Thanks’. Either that, or he was just bum tired from helping those two with whatever the hell they needed help with.”

A small knock on the door grabs my attention, and it opens to reveal...aww crap. It’s that girl I bumped into the other day. I didn’t even realize she wasn’t in class today.

“Hey Lilly...” When she sees me sitting at the table, she freezes in mid-step, unsure of what to do.

“Hello again. Would you like some tea?” Lilly asks in an attempt to break the silence.

“S-sure.” The girl whose name I don’t know takes the chair next to me, looking very nervous. To appear friendly, I decide to make the first move.

“Hey, aren’t you in my class? I think I’ve seen you in the room before, but I’m usually more asleep than awake so I can’t really tell.”

“U-um yeah I am. I’m...Hanako.” She says her name hesitantly, as if not sure whether it’s a good idea to introduce herself. Apparently that little incident came into mind when she saw me. Seems like it’s best to pretend it never happened for now.

“Well, I’d introduce myself, but I already did that on my first day.” Looking over at Hanako, she seems distraught, her hands trembling as he picks up the last cup of tea on the table. Lilly seems as calm and complacent as yesterday, silently sipping her cup of tea. Draining the rest of my cup, I get up to put it in the sink. Then on an impulse, I decide to rummage through the shelves.

As I inspect the shelves, I notice an box with a checkerboard top that I recognize as well..a board for either chess or checkers. Taking it out, I notice that there are some weird markings on the board.

“Hey, do either of you play chess? I found a chess set.” I ask while putting back all the other things I moved around.

“You play chess?” Both Lilly and Hanako ask back at the same time with a surprised tone. It’s like they think chess isn’t something a normal teenager would at least know how to play.

“Ermm, yeah? Not particularly good at it, but I know how to play and stuff.” I place the box down on the chair and start to take the pieces out.

“Well that’s good then, it’s a chess set made specifically for blind players. Hanako and I play it on occasion during our lunch breaks. Would you like to play one of us?”

Well that’s an interesting offer. It’s always fun to play games of strategy, which explains why I play everything from Advance Wars to Age of Empires to Checkers. Not sure who to face though. I guess I’ll go against Lilly, it is a chess set designed for blind people after all. I’d like to see how it works.

“I think I’ll go up against you, Lilly.” I declare as I set up my pieces.

“Very well then. I accept your challenge.”

After setting up our pieces, we start, Hanako watching us from the other side of the table. I don’t have much of a strategy; I’m just moving pieces out of position to bait Lilly, than swoop in for the kill if she does take it. Soon enough, Lilly catches on to this strategy, and starts making safe plays unless I start moving aggressively. Fifteen minutes later, I manage to whittle her pieces down to just her knight and a pawn, while I somehow still have a queen, bishop, and rook.

“Alright, I admit defeat. You win, Guido.” Lilly says with a sigh of defeat.

“Really? Oh wait, I do have the better pieces. Well played, Lilly.” I reply.

“T-that was a good game.” Hanako says, startling me a bit. I completely forgot she was there. Damn. If she was a spy, I would’ve been dead by now. The bell interrupts my flow of thought, and I scramble to get everything put away. After everything’s been cleaned up, the three of us depart back to our classes.

“That was pretty fun, drinking and playing with you too.” I remark as we turn the corner towards the hallway with our classrooms.

“That’s nice to know. You’re welcome to stop by again if you want. Hanako, is that alright with you?” Lilly says.

Hanako fidgets a bit at that question before making up her mind.

“S-sure, it’s alright if you stop by again, Guido.”

Huh, so maybe there is some hope in salvaging something out of this. Hanako and I head to our classroom, when a giddy Scout greets me when I get to my seat.

“Yo, one of the girls I ate lunch with is totally into me!” Scout says, apparently excited about this event.

“Yeah, sure...what’d she do? Accidentally touch you or something? How’d you even get a lunch with girls to begin with?” I ask. This is an odd situation.

“Well I got up early somehow to find the track coach, than on my way out of the gym, these two girls saw me leaving and started talking to me. Than they were like all ‘Woah you’re a foreigner!’ (In a mock girl voice), than they invited me to lunch. Yep.” Scouts says in a lightning-fast pace.

“Ok...what were their names than?” Let’s see if he’s trying to impress me or not.

“Huh, well one o’ them is Emi, she’s the one who gave me her number.” Scout pulls out his phone and shows me her number for emphasis. “Kinda forgot about the other one though. She had no arms, I remember that much. Oh, and speaking of no limbs, Emi has no legs too. “ Scout remarks with the air of one commenting on the weather. I guess after exploding into gibs so many times, missing limbs don’t seem to shock him so much.

“Well, good job Scout,” I pat his shoulder encouragingly. “Now don’t fuck it up.”

“Yeah yeah, I ain’t dat stupid.”

The teacher arrives soon after, putting an end to our conversation. After class, Scout and I head back to our dorm, discussing our day’s lunch arrangements. Apparently, Scout’s never heard of chess, as he makes a confused face when I mention playing it with Lilly. God, what a dumbass.
We split up once we make it back to our hallway, the piles of homework beckoning at us to do its bidding.

A few hours later, I drop my tiny nub of a pencil on my desk, letting out a sigh of relief for finishing. Getting up and staring out the window, I ponder on my social situation. For a normal kid, it seems that the students here seem to bear no grudges against people like me. No rants about how I’ve got it so good or anything like that. Yet, anyways. There’s always the chance of running across someone like that. Soon after, I lay on my bed and drift off to sleep.

The next day, I feel horrible. Doing the homework must’ve took me longer than I expected. I barely even notice Kenji when he tries to corner me for one of his feminist rants. Scout seems just about as listless as me, not even having the strength for one smartass remark as we trudge towards the campus. Knowing him, he probably didn’t even get any sleep last night. Heading into our classroom, we still somehow end up being the first ones here. Maybe we should start setting our alarm clocks for LATER!

Attempting to get a nap in before class, the sound of a rustling container comes from the hallway. It gets louder, until the sound comes into our room, than abruptly stops. Looking up from my desk, a short man wearing knee pads, overalls, and a hard hat is standing at the front of the room, giving me and Scout an amused look. He’s carrying a red toolbox with one hand, and the red shirt under his overalls has an insignia of a wrench emblazoned on the upper arm of the sleeve. Glancing over at Scout, he finally lifts his head, only to literally stand at attention and say the thing both he and I were thinking of, in English.

“Engineer???”

Engineer? Well, that's... interesting. Though I wonder what he'll talk about as a teacher. Probably just something about sentries and the like.

Roamin12 wrote:Engineer? Well, that's... interesting. Though I wonder what he'll talk about as a teacher. Probably just something about sentries and the like.

Well, the man has 11 PhDs, I'm pretty sure he'll have more to say than that. And there's a reason I introduced him into the story to begin with. He is the sanest member of the team, after all. Also, his role in the games is obvious (Hint: It starts with an S), so yeah I think it should be obvious what his role in the story might or might not be.

BobBobberson wrote:

Roamin12 wrote:Engineer? Well, that's... interesting. Though I wonder what he'll talk about as a teacher. Probably just something about sentries and the like.

Well, the man has 11 PhDs, I'm pretty sure he'll have more to say than that. And there's a reason I introduced him into the story to begin with. He is the sanest member of the team, after all. Also, his role in the games is obvious (Hint: It starts with an S), so yeah I think it should be obvious what his role in the story might or might not be.

Yeah I get what you mean, I'm just curious if any of the others will make an appearance soon. I'm pretty sure they will, it's when I'm wondering.