Some Positive Feedback, and more...

[bahamit_147]

As this is my first post on this forum, without an introductory section I feel I should offer some form of introduction at the start of my post. I discovered KS a few years ago actually, I believe it was in my college years, personality wise still an outcast. I quickly became enthralled by the story, the graphic, everything, it was a temporary escape, all that was available was act one but I do believe time slipped my mind as I went through the various stories, wanting more and more. A discovery from my evening class enthralling me through the night and past the start of my first class. Needless to say I loved what you had done, possibly more than most considering my, "Unique" youth. That's something I'll explain shortly. I know ahead of time that many people won't read a sentence or two into this, however I do hope at least someone from the development team does as in the end this will be a mix of myself congratulating for an amazing job and i do suppose thanking them for sticking it out, I know both writers block and a stalemate in the face of an artists project are neither simple nor easy to overcome. As of now I'm typing this over my phone in the middle of a work drive, not driving but riding. That being said please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors you find as I certainly prefer to type on my laptop. Now for an explanation as to why I may have enjoyed this more than the "average" person, a term I use quite loosely.

I can relate, a simple term with a vast expanse of meanings. So vast that it requires much explanation to truly make sense. I am unsure where to start, a feeling I do not enjoy, so I should start with my youngest point. I grew up with a mental disorder a mild form of autism but not autism, as well as ADD and like Bamako I was bullies for much of my life my friends list was smaller than hers. There was however no time for misery over that as there was never a father figure in my life and at a young age I lived with my aunt and cousins on the farm, still at a young age they left for college and university. Most would think that left me to enjoy the rest of my childhood as an only child but they would be wrong, my aunt had/has MS causing me to quickly upgrade to man of the farm small as it was, a simple poultry and bird (unique birds such as peafowl etc) breeding. A lot of responsibility on my young shoulders but it was the only life I knew, I was an adult before I was a teen. This wasn't the only reason I enjoyed KS not by a long shot however. I was introverted, that or I became introverted, I'm not sure which, either was I had time to pass in school and my study of piano wasn't my only passion as I quickly became engrossed in art class. Sure I liked the silence, the lack of pressure, I chuckle as I write that word with the meaning behind it that stands. I refer to hanging out with friends, making plans, most children and such would not find pressure behind this, it would be a simple fun activity, something that comes naturally, not myself however, it was pressure and the lack of that... I enjoyed... For the most part. I needed more to fill in the gap, another passion, so I started drawing more, however as is in an art class, there was always chatter, and with my two, how should I put them, not disabilities as much, I do not consider myself so, they were still, a handicap, so my two negative mental handicaps, I could not focus, something that caused much frustration. Though headphones blocked that out, allowing myself to grow and flourish as an artist (now I sound more like Rin than Hanako, though I never became a true artist, it was simply a passion, a release of all I could not communicate). I grew as a person when I painted, or drew, however life throws curve balls at you and like that, I was uprooted from the school that made me feel all but welcome to another one, in a small town, a K-12 school, one supposedly free of bullying etc. It was not just my mental differences that caused me to be bullied and alone, I had health conditions as well, severe allergies for one, and not just one allergy, but many, pollen, animal dander, seafood, nuts, among others, something with an isolating effect, all through grade school, I became known as "peanut boy" a fitting name considering in grade two I had what I believe to be my first brush with death, being told by doctors that if I was five minutes later leaving the bus, I would have passed out and died in the street, my aunt a retired nurse rushing me to the hospital, herself knowing what was happening, myself not as much. The cause of this near death experience, well, as my allergies are not as bad as they ended up becoming later, a friend, my only friend, ate a peanut butter sandwich near me, its funny something the size of a fingernail could kill me. On top of this was my second type of "internal problem" that separated me from the others. Unlike Hisao, it wasn't my heart, rather, very close in terms of distance, my lungs, severe asthma. A simple jolt of running unlike being able to kill him, would simple cripple me, leave me unable to breath and unable to move, limits were something that took a long time to discover. Getting on, maybe as I transferred I wasn't bullied as a traditional sense of the word, however I was too introverted at this point to make friends (still like hanako though I could never relate to the severe burns). I continued to draw and play piano, picking up and dropping other instruments constantly. Half the time being on the sidelines of the one thing everyone else seemed to enjoy, sports, small town as it was. I did what I could, went through the motions, and when I was fifteen was involved in a fairly bad single vehicle car accident. The amount of blood I lost led the police when they got to the hospital to believe someone had died, I did return, and there was a path, when I climbed out the drivers door considering the roof was against a tree as was the front of the vehicle, the passenger side on the ground, I climbed up and jumped out, looking down, is a sight I will never forget, I was looking down at the ground and from my face it was like a low flow shower faucet, blood practically pouring from my face, my senses numbed by shock at the time, but the memories still lingered. Sure it was a car accident, though it wasn't something that did damage like Emi, I nearly lost my sight. My eyelids had nicks from glass and bruises from branches, a particularly large piece of glass, struck myself near my tear duct, causing a small fracture around my eye socket, even the doctor told me I was lucky to be alive. The measurement he gave me, an eighth of an inch, that was the difference between living, and being brain dead, or simply dead. High school carried on, and I remained my own person, for the most part separated from the world, carrying on, following the motions, eventually ending up in college for engineering, where I found this. Another hobby I had picked up, another escape was to write, putting my own life experiences into every page, though life always throws curve balls at you, I never intended to be an author, nor do I though I still write. I had nearly two hundred pages in word of it, though while typing at the farm, an ill placed electric shock, fried computer, both internal drive an external, loosing all but the thirty pages of a rough draft for a friend to read.

The last comment there, was an addition with a point, I truly hope you may be considering furthering the future of KS, or another project, I would love to read it, or possibly contribute to it with what time I have. If not, I do have enough writing I can keep myself busy. However that is besides the point, not the reason I am writing this. I want to thank you, the first times I read this, it was simply something to do, however now the full version, its more. As I read every story line, I feel like I am reminded of parts of myself, parts of my growing up, and odd as it sounds, I've found myself growing even at 23. The point is, when someone creates something profound, I think they deserve to know a little about someone that has been affected by it. Hence this post, again, I hope someone from the development team takes a bit of time to actually read through my ramblings.