Dead Heat, an Emilogue (A Post Bad End Emi Epilogue short)
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 9:06 pm
Hello all, I'm new here and I'd like to share what will be my first piece of published fan fiction regarding Katawa Shoujo.
A post Bad Ending Emi Epilogue. Which assumed that Hisao had gotten Shizune's attention during Act 1 and obtained "Slow Recovery" only to return to Emi's main path. That I've titled;
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Dead Heat, an Emilogue.
It's been ten years since we broke up on that day at the track. It has been a decade since you tried to apologize, and I didn't want anything to do with it. When I ran from you down a path that ended with us never speaking again at Yamaku. You wanted to help me... You said it over and over during our time together, but I was stubborn and afraid. I was afraid of letting you get close to me, fearful that you'd just be ripped away from me like my father was. I liked you. I think I even loved you then. It was how genuine and kind you were to me. I think that's what scared me the most. Someone that wanted to share in my pain and wanted to help me. But all I did was run away from that pain, and ultimately away from you.
Misha and I talked about... about our breakup. I remember her words clearly, "You should give Hicchan another chance, Emi. I think he really loves you." Misha's words weren't even out of her mouth when I laughed at the idea. "That white knight is in love with me. You can't be serious, Misha." It's what I said to her. I think she could tell that my response was a lie to deny what I felt then. I was denying it to her and denying it to myself even then. I only wished you stopped trying so hard, and just enjoyed what we had then. My stubbornness, however, got the better of me. Would it really have been that hard to tell you? About the accident, about my father, and the full extent of the nightmares that still haunt my sleep even now?
Misha kept in touch with me, when she and Shizune went to college in Tokyo. She even told me they ran into you on their campus. You've gone and gotten yourself into the science program. I remember telling Misha that, "He is such a nerd after all." This elicited a laugh from her. She told me that Shizune was in love with you. I guess that's why they tried so hard to get you onto the Student Council. Typical Shizune, I thought. She's always one to try and win any contest. However, in high school, I won the sprint. Shizune, however, would win the resulting relay race. Oddly enough, I saw Misha about a month ago. She actually came back to Yamaku and is teaching sign language at the school now. We got to talking about old times and then her face turned sad. As if she didn't want to speak anymore, but I pressed her on the issue. Then she told me that you had suffered a massive heart attack and you were... gone. Misha told me when she was helping Shizune with making preparations for your funeral, they felt they didn't know if they should invite me or not. Just due to Misha knowing what I had told her, they figured I wouldn't have wanted to come.
But now, I'm standing at the grave of Hisao Nakai, looking down on this stone. This one reminds me of my father's, a simple marker with only his name etched into it. I've had a few men over the years, but nothing ever lasted. I kept them all out too, and none of them ever tried to reach me as hard as a broken-hearted boy did in my last year of high school. Finally, looking at this stone, I broke down and cried. It's been so long since I last saw you, yet my buried feelings came to the surface and washed over me. Why didn't I give you that second chance? Why didn't I swallow my pride and let you get closer to me? I was too afraid of losing the only man I ever wanted to love. That's when I realized it... in all the time we were together, we never once said "I love you" to each other. But now I can't hear those words from you, from your lips that once kissed me on the rooftop of Yamaku ten summers ago.
I think that I'll let myself say them now; "You were a boy with a broken heart who tried so hard to reach out and help mend my own, and now I'm a woman with a heart that's breaking. I love you, Hisao Nakai. "
A post Bad Ending Emi Epilogue. Which assumed that Hisao had gotten Shizune's attention during Act 1 and obtained "Slow Recovery" only to return to Emi's main path. That I've titled;
-----------------------------
Dead Heat, an Emilogue.
It's been ten years since we broke up on that day at the track. It has been a decade since you tried to apologize, and I didn't want anything to do with it. When I ran from you down a path that ended with us never speaking again at Yamaku. You wanted to help me... You said it over and over during our time together, but I was stubborn and afraid. I was afraid of letting you get close to me, fearful that you'd just be ripped away from me like my father was. I liked you. I think I even loved you then. It was how genuine and kind you were to me. I think that's what scared me the most. Someone that wanted to share in my pain and wanted to help me. But all I did was run away from that pain, and ultimately away from you.
Misha and I talked about... about our breakup. I remember her words clearly, "You should give Hicchan another chance, Emi. I think he really loves you." Misha's words weren't even out of her mouth when I laughed at the idea. "That white knight is in love with me. You can't be serious, Misha." It's what I said to her. I think she could tell that my response was a lie to deny what I felt then. I was denying it to her and denying it to myself even then. I only wished you stopped trying so hard, and just enjoyed what we had then. My stubbornness, however, got the better of me. Would it really have been that hard to tell you? About the accident, about my father, and the full extent of the nightmares that still haunt my sleep even now?
Misha kept in touch with me, when she and Shizune went to college in Tokyo. She even told me they ran into you on their campus. You've gone and gotten yourself into the science program. I remember telling Misha that, "He is such a nerd after all." This elicited a laugh from her. She told me that Shizune was in love with you. I guess that's why they tried so hard to get you onto the Student Council. Typical Shizune, I thought. She's always one to try and win any contest. However, in high school, I won the sprint. Shizune, however, would win the resulting relay race. Oddly enough, I saw Misha about a month ago. She actually came back to Yamaku and is teaching sign language at the school now. We got to talking about old times and then her face turned sad. As if she didn't want to speak anymore, but I pressed her on the issue. Then she told me that you had suffered a massive heart attack and you were... gone. Misha told me when she was helping Shizune with making preparations for your funeral, they felt they didn't know if they should invite me or not. Just due to Misha knowing what I had told her, they figured I wouldn't have wanted to come.
But now, I'm standing at the grave of Hisao Nakai, looking down on this stone. This one reminds me of my father's, a simple marker with only his name etched into it. I've had a few men over the years, but nothing ever lasted. I kept them all out too, and none of them ever tried to reach me as hard as a broken-hearted boy did in my last year of high school. Finally, looking at this stone, I broke down and cried. It's been so long since I last saw you, yet my buried feelings came to the surface and washed over me. Why didn't I give you that second chance? Why didn't I swallow my pride and let you get closer to me? I was too afraid of losing the only man I ever wanted to love. That's when I realized it... in all the time we were together, we never once said "I love you" to each other. But now I can't hear those words from you, from your lips that once kissed me on the rooftop of Yamaku ten summers ago.
I think that I'll let myself say them now; "You were a boy with a broken heart who tried so hard to reach out and help mend my own, and now I'm a woman with a heart that's breaking. I love you, Hisao Nakai. "