Katawa Shoujo Forums

I agree with Bry, this is on track to being one of the best fics I've read on here.

Wow. Thank you so much for the kind words, people. It really means a lot that you’re enjoying this. And I’m extremely pleased that my take on the characters is going down well – after all, the originals inspire so much genuine love and affection. I’d hate to get them wrong!

(Silly point – my desktop wallpaper at the moment is a picture of Emi being enthusiastic and Rin at her most magnificently unimpressed. So I have them looking at me like that every time I close Word down… It’s a pretty good motivator!)

Anyway, have some more words…

10. Still Small Voice

Over the next few minutes Lilly typed the whole story to Shizune; from receiving the death threats, to the attacks on Emi and Rin, to the origin of the photographs. At her end of the line, Shizune sat and took copious notes, writing on the legal pad with her right hand and occasionally tapping out questions with her left. Did the car have any damage to the bodywork? Any word on the make of the rifle? Did the man who spoke to Emi’s mother have a definable accent?

Finally she sat back, fingers tented and tapping one another in sequence. She remained like that for maybe half a minute, until Emi began to imagine what she’d look like with a white Persian cat on her lap. Then she moved to the keyboard again. “You’ll not be surprised to learn I received one of these letters too.”

“Son of a bitch really gets around,” said Emi. “What did you do with it?”

“Passed it to the police with the rest of the week’s hate mail.” Shizune must have seen Lilly’s expression when Emi read that out. She smiled grimly. “Occupational hazard. There are people who don’t like what I do. Websearch disability hate crime if you really want to depress yourself.”

“A man in the park tried to push me over,” said Rin.

“What?” Emi scowled. “Aw, Rin…”

“I asked him to stop. I said please stop trying to push me over, but he wouldn’t. I tried to walk away but he kept following me.” Rin shrugged. “So I kicked him in the balls.”

Emi covered her mouth, heard Lilly’s fingers stumble fractionally on the keyboard. Rin could kick like a mule when she was eighteen and underfed. In her twenties and looking after herself… Damn, they must have ended up in his throat. “Ah, Shizune refuses to legally condone an act of physical violence. Although she is giggling and don’t type that Lilly.”

“Thank you, Rin.” Emi saw Shizune take a deep breath, supressing her silent laughter, then square her shoulders. “Anyway, moving on… You have all done the right thing in coming to me with this. Some police departments have an aversion to evidence that might complicate an existing investigation. They will let everything that has happened remain a footnote unless we make ourselves heard.” A tiny smile quirked briefly at her lips. “If you know what I mean.”

“Namba was sending the letters over to Inspector Yagi,” said Lilly. “Do you think they might be ignored?”

“It is possible. However, I have contacts in Yagi’s department, some of whom owe me favours. Leave this with me.“

“Thank you so much, Shizune,” Lilly replied. “I can only apologise for burdening you with our troubles.”

“It’s the least I can do. Besides, if these incidents are as connected as we fear, then I’m in danger too.” The stream of characters ceased. Emi looked up to see Shizune sitting with a strange, pensive expression on her face, her hands rubbing together absently.

“Would you please do one thing for me?”

“Anything,” said Lilly.

“Check on…” Emi faltered, suddenly unsure of her ability to read. “Check on Misha. She won’t answer my calls, but I need to know she is all right.” She looked up at Shizune. “Of course, I’ll do that right now. Have you got her number?”

A series of digits appeared in the window. Emi tapped them into her phone, got up and walked to an unoccupied corner of the café while the dial tones sounded.

Within a few seconds, a soft click. “Hello?”

Emi nibbled her lower lip. The reply wasn’t at all what she was expecting; a girl’s voice, quiet and controlled, almost nervous. Maybe she’d misdialled. “Hi... Is Misha there?”

There was a faint sound on the other end of the line, as if the girl had started to speak, but had cut herself off immediately. “I- I- I’m sorry, could I ask who’s speaking, please?”

“My name’s Emi Takada. Oh, but it was Ibarazaki when she knew me.”

“Emi!”

She cringed slightly away from the phone. The rise in volume had been startling. “Hey Misha.”

“I’m so sorry…” Suddenly the voice was so quiet she could barely hear it. “Aw, now everyone’s looking at me. I shouldn’t really take personal calls at work, Emi-chan.”

“Oops. Sorry. Not getting you into trouble, am I?”

“I don’t care, it’s just so good to hear from you… I watched you on TV, at the Asian Para Games last year, I pointed you out to everyone!”

Emi blinked in surprise. “You did?”

“Of course I did! Your second gold medal, I was so happy for you!”

“Thanks so much!” Emi couldn’t remember the last time anyone had sounded this pleased to talk to her. She turned back to the monitor, gave Rin a wink and a victory sign. “It’s good to hear you too. I’ve got to apologise, I didn’t recognise your voice at first, there.”

“It’s okay. Sorry for getting so confused, but no-one’s called me Misha for years. How are you? Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine. Look, Mish- Sorry, Shiina… I shouldn’t stay on long, we’ll catch up properly real soon, I promise. But I need to know if everything’s all right with you.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well… Some of us, you know, who were at Yamaku? We’ve been getting things through the post in the past few days. Hate mail, really mean stuff.” She decided against mentioning the attacks for now, mainly for the sake of her eardrums. “I got one, Rin did, Lilly…”

“Oh, that sounds horrible. I don’t think I got anything like that, though. No, no-one’s been mean to me, Emi-chan.”

“Nothing cut out of newspapers, anything like that?”

“Nope!”

Emi couldn’t help grinning. “Shiina, that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Listen, I know you’re at work. But I’ll call you back in the next couple of days, yeah?”

“Sure, I’d love that!” Then Shiina’s voice became even quieter. “Hey, Emi?”

“Hm?”

“Do you know, um… Has someone sent mean things to Shicchan?”

That was unexpected. For a moment Emi floundered, wondering what to say, but then decided that the truth was probably best. “Yeah. Yeah, they have.”

“Oh no.” There was a long pause. “She’s okay, though, right?”

“I think so.”

“Thank you for telling me, Emi. Please look after her.”

The line went dead.

“Er, bye?” said Emi.

She took the phone from her ear and stared at it, completely perplexed. Despite what Lilly had said, there was plainly still something between Shizune and Misha. Each cared enough about the other to ask about her welfare, unprompted, even though it sounded like there had been no contact between them in years.

Then she saw her own face, reflected in the black glass mirror of the phone. Back off, Takada, she told herself. Try getting your own issues untangled before you go blundering into anyone else’s.

She went back to the desk and sat down. “She’s fine,” she told Shizune. “No-one sent her anything. She-“

Shizune held up a hand, then stood up and quickly walked out of shot.

“Oh.” Emi touched Lilly’s arm. “Shizune’s just taking a moment.”

“I understand.” Lilly put her fingers over Emi’s and squeezed her hand. “Thank you, Emi. That was a kind thing to do.”

“No, I wanted to.” Emi knew what it felt like to have her calls go unanswered. She wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

“So how did Misha sound?”

“It’s just Shiina now, I think. And, um, she sounds okay. Happy. Quiet, though.” She chuckled. “Can you imagine a quiet Misha?”

Lilly’s eyebrows went high. “I don’t think I can, no.”

Shizune was sitting back down. “Thank you, Emi. I appreciate that a great deal.”

“No problem. So what do we do now? Do you want us to stay here?”

“Our first proper reunion should not be held in an internet café.” Shizune appeared to ponder this for a few moments, then snapped her fingers so loudly that the computer speakers crackled. “There's a restaurant bar in Roppongi, Accelerando on Hillside. Can you get there in two hours?”

Emi made a swift mental calculation. Even if she hit roadworks or rush-hour traffic, two hours was easily long enough. “Sure. Roppongi Hills, though? That’s high-end, what if we can’t get in?”

“I’ll make reservations.” Shizune grinned wickedly. “My treat. We can write it off as a legal consultation, don’t you think?”

Misha's the killer, Misha's next, or she's tooling up for a manhunt. Only one of these scenarios would be not-okay.

Sharp-O wrote:Misha's the killer, Misha's next, or she's tooling up for a manhunt. Only one of these scenarios would be not-okay.

The trick is in finding out which one is not okay .

My thought is Misha too, to get revenge on Shizune. Not sure why.

Loving this fic quite a bit. Sad what Emi did to Rin, but this Rin I like as well. Really reminds me of a movie thriller, si that's awesome.

Sharp-O wrote:Misha's the killer, Misha's next, or she's tooling up for a manhunt. Only one of these scenarios would be not-okay.

I'm thinking she or Hanako is the next victim. 4 of the 6 girls introduce so far, with 2 of them having close calls, it make sense for Misha or Hanako to bite the dust.

While it's depressing to see Misha and Shizune grow apart like that, at least it seems like there's hope for them becoming friends again. Assuming nothing happens to Misha first(or she turns out to be the killer or something )

Maybe it's the quiet one with osteoporosis who sits at the back of the class and watches everyone succeed while he thinks he's living a lousy life.

brythain wrote:Maybe it's the quiet one with osteoporosis who sits at the back of the class and watches everyone succeed while he thinks he's living a lousy life.

Cut Akio some slack, man. His father was a drinker.

... And now my characterisation of Akio totally makes him The Joker.

"Hanako, you wanna know how I got these scars?"

Sharp-O wrote:

brythain wrote:Maybe it's the quiet one with osteoporosis who sits at the back of the class and watches everyone succeed while he thinks he's living a lousy life.

Cut Akio some slack, man. His father was a drinker.

... And now my characterisation of Akio totally makes him The Joker.

"Hanako, you wanna know how I got these scars?"

I already have Akio Hayashi pegged as the super villain of all the stories.

I am so glad I was curious enough to read this because this is wonderful.

I will be eagerly waiting for the next update.

I'll confess, I initially decided that I wasn't interested in this story. I have no idea why. Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention when I first looked on the forums that day. Perhaps it's because your avatar is a picture of the girl from Ringu which freaks me out and I haven't even watched the film.

Whatever the reason, Having spent about two hours reading through this, I must say I WAS SO GOD DAMN WRONG, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!

Ahem.

Anyway, I'm loving this right now. You've managed to set up a very intriguing thriller of a story that's an absolute joy to read. I also like the character interactions and the fact that their relationships all seem very believable to me.

Thank you for being awesome enough to write this! I shall be eagerly awaiting the next update.

Sharp-O wrote:Misha's the killer, Misha's next, or she's tooling up for a manhunt. Only one of these scenarios would be not-okay.

My mind sometimes goes in directions that would make Rin tilt her head ever so slightly. Case in point: I now have Matrix Misha in my head.

“We’re gonna need guns, Shicchan. Lots of guns.”

AntonSlavik020 wrote:While it's depressing to see Misha and Shizune grow apart like that, at least it seems like there's hope for them becoming friends again. Assuming nothing happens to Misha first(or she turns out to be the killer or something )

The story of Shizune and Misha’s estrangement is, for me, the saddest in all of Fractures, for reasons I can’t go into before I’ve written the next couple of chapters.

But there is always hope. If this story has an arc question at all, it is this:

Can you repair what you’ve broken?

Yukarin wrote:I am so glad I was curious enough to read this because this is wonderful.

I will be eagerly waiting for the next update.

That’s very kind of you to say, thank you! Very happy to have you along for the ride.

Alpacalypse wrote:Perhaps it's because your avatar is a picture of the girl from Ringu which freaks me out and I haven't even watched the film.

I first watched that movie at night, in an empty house on my own, without knowing anything about it in advance. First sleepless night of my adult life that didn’t involve toothache.

Alpacalypse wrote:Anyway, I'm loving this right now. You've managed to set up a very intriguing thriller of a story that's an absolute joy to read. I also like the character interactions and the fact that their relationships all seem very believable to me.

Thanks very much, and I’m really glad you decided to start reading! Nice of you to say that the relationships seem believable – I’m trying to make Fractures as ‘real’ as possible, especially in the way that the characters relate to each other.

Anyway, more to come soon!