OK, this is my first KS fanfic - and incidentally the first fanfic I've written in about five years. I'm not going to comment at this point, so please enjoy
Thanks to Kosherbacon for pre- and proofreading.
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Emi bursts onto the roof grinning widely, all but dragging Hisao behind her. "Sorry we're late. We almost ran into Shizune and Misha on my way here and we had to shake them first before coming here."
So they died. An accident of course, but still tragic.
Hisao is breathing hard, his face is red. It seems like shaking those two took his toll on him. “You’re not looking too good. Is your heart going to give out?”
Emi’s smile freezes as she turns back to Hisao. “Oh my god, Hisao, I’m sorry, did I push you too hard? Are you alright?”
“Calm down Emi, my heart is okay. Just give me a moment to catch my breath. I haven’t gotten used to the heat yet.” And then he died as well. So sad. She had to be heartbroken.
“You’re in heat Hisao?” Well, I guess I should have expected that, the way he and Emi are constantly hanging out lately. I wonder what I should do next. Breasts would be obvious of course. I already have three of them in there though…
If possible his face gets even redder. “That’s not what I… I was talking about the weather Rin.”
“Oh.” Yes, that would be another explanation. Yes, the weather has gotten a lot warmer in the two weeks since the school festival. It’s supposed to. Mom’s birthday is coming up, and it’s always hot on mum’s birthday.
“Say, why don’t we start lunch already?” Emi breaks the silence that was starting to creep up on us. Creepy. I wonder why I didn’t notice. No more breasts then. Faces?
We head over to the bench and Emi breaks out three lunchboxes. “Here you go, Hisao, Rin.”
“I’d rather we sit down to eat. I’m not so good eating while walking.” Emi seems to accept my reasoning as she follows my advice without arguing. We get comfortable and start to eat. Come to think of it, I didn't get her a present yet.
Emi turns to Hisao. “I really think you are making great progress. You ran six laps this morning. That’s your new record.” I've seen that actor before in other movies. But those were more funny.
“Well, it’s not like I was always this out of shape. I’ve just spent four months cooped up in a hospital bed. I’ll never be as good a runner as you are, though.” I suppose it needs a couple more faces. Angry faces.
Emi shudders at the thought of being confined in a room for any length of time. “I’m sorry Hisao. I didn’t know it was that long. When I lost my legs they had me exercise regularly until I learned to use those.” She points at her prosthetics. She didn't have to go and poison herself though.
“They told me any kind of strain was very dangerous until they knew how I would react to my medications.” Last year I got a pair of gloves, but she got all weepy-eyed and hugged me and cried. What should they be angry about? That's an important question. They should have a reason to be angry. For some reason, Hisao seems to be a bit down. I think the weather is really getting to him. He takes a deep breath. “So, have you decided where to go on the school trip yet?”
“What school trip?” I have no idea what he is talking about.
Emi rolls her eyes. Of course she didn't know she'd go to hell because of it... “Rin, Everyone's been talking about nothing but the trip for days now. How did you not hear about it. Have you been sleeping in class when the teacher told us about it?” I still don't understand. They were nice gloves.
“Probably.” It is as good an explanation as any. “So where are we going?”
“You can choose actually,” Hisao starts to explain. “There are some students who have problems with some destinations, so it doesn't make sense to divide the groups by classes.”
“This year there's three options,” Emi chimes in. “A cultural trip to Kyoto, a trip to the beach to Okinawa and finally a trip to Akan National Park on Hokkaido.”
I wonder if you really do go to heaven if you die and if it's just like in the movie. “Let's go to Okinawa,” I decide impulsively.
“Yeah right, as soon as I find my aquatic legs. These aren't exactly made for swimming you know?”
Cramps. Cramps are always a good reason to be angry. Few people feel sorry for them. But that is news to me. “You've got aquatic legs? I've never seen those before.”
“I don't. Besides you're not the best swimmer either, are you?” Of course! I'm so stupid. Why would she need gloves in the summer?
I ponder the question for a while. “I don't know. I never tried before. I could be really good at it.”
“So where do you want to go?” Hisao looks at Emi expectantly.
A wide grin spreads across Emi's face. “I'd like to go to Hokkaido.” …Though I'd be bored out of my mind in such a place.
“To that park?” Hisao seems surprised. “Why? What's so special about it?” I'm going to need more violet colour for cramps. Is there enough violet left in the art room?
“I studied the brochures.” Emi is really enthusiastic about this. “There are many forests and lakes and the area is perfect for hiking. I've talked about it with the nurse and he thinks it would be very good for you to build up your endurance.” Hisao seems a bit less than happy about this, but Emi is not finished yet. “You can also go canoeing and there are even some hot springs nearby.” She blinks at Hisao with a face that almost makes me giggle. “Please, Hisao, you will come with us, won't you?”
Hisao looks at me helplessly. “Hey what about Rin? Aren't you going to ask her if she wants to go?”
They both look at me. Hell might be more interesting, but much too dreary. “Sure why not. Sounds like it would be fun.”
Hisao sighs. “Ok, you win. I'll go to Hokkaido and have you chase me along miles upon miles of hiking paths until I collapse.” I'll get her another pair for Christmas. I bet she'll be happy about that.
“Hey Hisao, you shouldn't joke about this,” Emi says with a pout. “Besides”, she adds with a mischievous grin, “There's nothing to worry about. The Nurse will go along this trip as well, and he'll take good care of you.” I don't think so... Well I can mix the hue I need. I should be finished with the whole thing by Saturday.
This elicits a groan from Hisao. “Don't tell me Mutou is coming along as well?”
“I don't think so.” She frowns. “Mutou is going with the Kyoto group. Mr. Nomiya from the art club will be in charge of the Hokkaido group.” That still doesn't solve the birthday problem though... Maybe a book.
“Nomiya, huh? I think I met him once, but he doesn’t teach any of my classes. What’s he like?” 'Genesis of Pride'... That's what I'll call it. Mr. Nomiya says every painting should have a name.
“He has a strange sense of humour. Most of the time he is the only one laughing at his own jokes.” Emi smiles. “Most students like him though. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the art club were to go to Hokkaido, just because of him.” If I have the choice, I think I'll go for reincarnation. I'd like to try out another life, once I'm done with this one. Mom always liked to read biographies... She might be right about Mr. Nomiya. He always reminds me a bit of my grandfather. Except he has no beard… And his voice is different… And grandpa was bald… And he didn’t need glasses…
“Do you know of any others who might go to Hokkaido?” Emi interrupts my thoughts with her question.
“Actually yes. Lilly told me she and Hanako were going there. She said Kyoto would be bad because it would be hard for Hanako to avoid walking among lots of people, and of course the beach is completely out of the question.” That's stupid. Every painting has as many names as there are people looking at it.
Emi and Hisao are sharing a sympathetic look. “Yes. No way, she’d wear a bathing suit. Oh yes, I overheard the nurse persuading Ooki to come along as well. He’s in your class, isn’t he?”
I don’t know anyone by that name. “Ooki? Who’s that? Another new exchange student?” The english teacher talked about that american author last week.
“Yes, he is in my class. His real name is Motoki Matsumoto,” Hisao explains. “Ooki is only his nickname. It’s because of… well, because he’s so fat.” Hisao would probably call it „Violet Faces and Green Breasts on Red Background“ I know who they are talking about, and talking about Motoki adjectives like ‘corpulent’ or ‘rotund’ just don’t cut it, but still… “Isn’t it kind of rude to call him a name like that?”
“Normally it would be, but he’s the one who insisted on keeping the nickname once Misha came up with it. He’s really a cool guy when you get to know him. I used to help him find his way around the gym when he transferred here last year.” Hemmingway! That was his name. Now what was the book called?
“They say, nobody is making fun of him, because he’s done all the bad jokes himself already,” Hisao adds laughing. I wonder how he gets the inspiration for those titles...
By now I’ve reached the bottom of my lunchbox. Hisao is finished as well, but Emi still has a bit left. “Are you going to eat the rest of your lunch?” Would I meet Emi, Hisao and all my other friends in that next life as well.
Emi picks three more bites out of her box and hands the rest to me. “Did you skip breakfast again this morning?”
“Yup. I forgot.” I quickly finish Emi’s lunchbox. I’m still a bit hungry, but I’ll survive till after school is over… Probably. You never know though… Oh, well... I'll just have to find out in the next life.
"A Farewell to Arms" I'll see if there's a Japanese translation available. I'm sure she'll be happy this time.
Hisao stands up. “Guess it’s time to return to class, if we don’t want to run to get there on time.” With that he shoots Emi a sly grin. Emi pretends not to notice. Maybe she didn’t.
We pack up our stuff and head for the stairs. I find myself really looking forward to that trip. I usually don’t try to predict the future, but I am certain it will be very interesting.
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OK, now, I'm going to comment
I got the idea for this fic when I noticed that there were a lot of fics on this forum and quite many were the girls' PoV, but very few were Rin's PoV. The one I read so far had her think pretty normal.
The second part for my inspiration was the following quote from Rin's path in the game:
Tezuka Rin wrote:Did you know I can only think of four things at the same time?
(Thursday - "Things you can do")
About the class trip they talk about in this scene - that is an idea for a fanfic, which is in my ideas folder. I contemplated where to set this scene and thought I could make it sort of a prologue for that other fic. That one is going to be multichapter and NOT Rin PoV (Maybe except for one or two short scenes.) I can't keep this up for long and stay sane^^°
Don't expect that other fic soon though. I just started working on the german translation of KS, and that will take precedence over my own fic-writing. I'll still be able to fit in proofreading other fics, if someone is interested.
By the way, this is really how I picture Rin's thoughts. That's one of the reasons I think she's awesome.
But I do think it was worth the effort (though I tend to prefer things which are a bit experimental, so I may be biased).