I used to run cross country in high school (2 years ago) and playing emi's story (my favorite of course) made me want to start running again..she seemed so strong and it makes me want to pickup the same attitude as her and just go for it. I really enjoyed emi's story itself and this is probably the first time i'v ever grown so attached to a fictional character. I must have gotten "the feels" aswell . Plus her story really opened my eyes to seeing people with disabilities as still being the same person inside, even if some limbs are gone. Its a good lesson and I hope to have her view on life from now on, she takes it quite well. I think her story appealed to me so much because she seemed the most "high schoolish" to me too though.
As the first VN I ever read, I wasn't expecting anything of this scale and it threw me way off for a few days. Since I have part-time work and school, it took me longer to finish everything (10 days I think?) and I was able to see myself or parts of myself in every character. I see myself in Hisao because I too have a heart condition, Tetralogy of Fallot (but I am completely fine) and a few other things besides, my mind is geared towards the logical side so I view my surroundings and situations objectively like Shizune, I tend to be friendly towards others yet emotionally distant like Emi, I also tend to avoid people like Hanako (though no where near as much), I take no shame in my conditions like Lilly, and I have known myself to experience fits of melancholy then things around me change too much like Rin. This visual novel... this experience... hit home and hard. While I was reading all of the story arcs for the first time, I couldn't for the life of me focus on anything else for very long and that threw my homework off for a while but I eventually managed to get it done. I lost what little apatite I did have and I never wanted to eat. I don't even recall feeling hungry at all while I was reading KS now that I think about it. When I finished one girl's arc, I would immediately jump into the next one I found interesting even if it was late at night and that threw off my sleep schedule for a while. When I finally finished reading everybody's story arc, for a good 2 days I had the feeling of "what the heck can come after that?" I even found a pic on these forums that accurately shows that feeling:
I barely managed to pick up my life after that feeling just a few days ago. This as a VN that changes the reader and stays with the reader.
. Plus her story really opened my eyes to seeing people with disabilities as still being the same person inside, even if some limbs are gone. Its a good lesson and I hope to have her view on life from now on, she takes it quite well. I think her story appealed to me so much because she seemed the most "high schoolish" to me too though. 
