Reunion - A Hanako Bad Ending Epilogue

[TyronePotato]

OOOH MAN! I LOVE WRITING ME SOME ONE SHOTS!

Again, as always, criticism is highly encouraged.

Reunion

‘Mr. Nakai, room 102, the Science room’…

I take a quick look at the sheet of paper given to me at the sign in desk of Yamaku Academy. It definitely has been a while, and things are a lot more different than what they were. The old walls of the school look newly painted, and they smell like it too. After all these years, this school is still in business.

Before I go to my destination, I head to the girl’s dormitories to take a look at my old room. That is, if it isn’t taken. Sure enough, the slide where there should be a nameplate is empty, and the door was left unlocked. I open it and step inside.

When I first enter the room, memories come back to me.

Not many of the memories were good, in fact, I can’t think of a good memory in this room.

The only one I can think of was that afternoon with Hisao.

I screamed, I shouted, I cursed his name. I loved him, but he broke my heart, doing the exact thing that I hated. I know he only wanted to protect me, but that’s all anyone ever wanted to do. They either ignored me, or tried to ‘protect’ me. Both Lilly and Hisao never talked to me afterwards. We lost contact. Hisao told Lilly about what happened, and she was horrified. I don’t blame her at all.

After thirty years…

I go ahead and start my trek to the school’s main building, as I did every morning in high school.

Hisao had been teaching at Yamaku for five years, and he took Mutou’s old room when he retired.

I wonder if Mutou is still alive…

If he still is, that would be great. He was the best teacher I ever had.

Hisao loved Mutou’s classes.

I shake my head to get the image of back then out. High school here was nice for a while, but I genuinely ruined it.






I near the room that Hisao should be teaching in and I peek through a crack in the door. And the sight of him takes my breath away.

His hair, which used to be a light shade of brown and always messy, is straight, clean and black, with a few gray strands sticking out.

His light skin got darker, and he probably still towers over me in height. He stayed in shape too, he is just as slender as before, not to mention as handsome, too.

The door opens a little and it makes a squeaking noise. He looks up from his desk and stares into my eyes, a look of expected surprise in his. He slowly rises and walks to me, like his legs were made of sticks. I would have found it comical if I wasn’t doing the same thing.

When we get close enough, I open my arms for a large embrace, which he quickly returns as he takes me in his arms. As expected, he is still several inches taller than me, and his arms are much more firm than what they were. I let out a quiet sob and hold him even tighter, taking his full figure into my arms.

“Hisao…”

He looks down at me.

“Hanako, where have you been?”

He looks at me questioningly. Was I supposed to go to him?

“W-What do you mean?”

He looks at me with a sad expression. He takes me in his arms again and whispers in my ear.

“We missed you, Hanako.”

We?

Who is we?

“W-We?”

“Lilly and I, we missed you so much. We had hoped you would soon come to us, but, we were wrong.”

Lilly… and… Hisao?
Oh god.

I think I get it now.

“Are you two together now?” I ask him with a slight stutter, which I have not done in years.

He holds up his left hand. A gold band enveloping his ring finger. “Twenty years… Happily married.”

I want to cry, I really do. Lilly knew I liked Hisao. She knew!

But I can’t. I know I caused this. This is my own fault. I should embrace their relationship.

“That’s amazing, Hisao!”

He is a little surprised at my reply, I am too.

“Yeah, we started dating a few months after… that… happened.”

The sound of discomfort in his voice mentioning that moment in our lives makes me cringe, and I bury my face in his chest.

“I am so sorry, Hisao, I shouldn’t have gone off like that.”

“No, Hanako, you were right, we had no right to treat you like a child like that. We should have treated you different, not like someone that can’t handle themselves for a few minutes without a wet-nurse. The truth is, Hanako, we loved you. And we were worried about you.”

I am shocked by the words he just spoke. Am I dreaming? Is this some cruel ruse being played on me by the Gods?

“R-Really?”

“Yes, Hanako, really. Lilly loved you. I loved you. We both felt the exact same way about you. Well, maybe a little different in… some aspects, but it was all the same.”

An odd way to confess, but I’ve heard worse.

“I thought you two would hate me?”

He frowns, “Of course not, Hanako. Nothing in this world could possibly make us hate you. You were the only thing in this world we ever thought about. Hell, we still talk about you sometimes.”

“Can I… see her?”

“Of course, Hanako.”


We drive to the house that Lilly and Hisao have been living in for the past five years. It’s a bit bigger than what I had expected, but seeing as though Lilly’s father is the second richest man in Scotland, I can see how I would have been wrong.

“Here we are.”

I look in amazement at the well kept lawn, and the beautiful scenery around the house. They must have spent a lot of money on it. It’s pretty huge, and a bit unusual for a Science teacher’s salary.

“It’s beautiful…”

“Come on, Lilly will freak out when she meets you again.”

I see he has gotten used to Lilly’s condition. That’s good, if he had said, ‘sees’ I wouldn’t have been able to suppress a giggle.

He opens the door to his home where Lilly is visible from the front. Seeing her long, blonde hair hang down past her shoulders, her pale, porcelain skin on her arms and neck, makes me want to cry.

“Oh, Hisao, are you home?”

A slight rustling from behind Lilly comes into vision.

A blonde little girl comes from behind the island counter in the kitchen.

“Daddy~!”

She runs to hug Hisao, but comes to a dead stop when she sees me, though. Obviously staring at the scars on my face, and the rest of the right side of my body.

“Who’s this?”

She looks up at me, puts on a huge grin, and waves.

“Do we have company, Hisao?”

I walk slowly over to Lilly and take her in my arms.

“Oh, who is this?”

I can’t even speak, because of the light sobs coming out of my mouth.

“I-Is this…?”

She takes me back in her arms and starts to cry too. She has a big smile on her face though, which makes me even happier.

“Hanako, it has been so long…”

“Lilly… I missed you so much!”

I can no longer suppress any of my sobs and tears dampen the fabric on her shoulder.

Hisao picks up the girl and walks over to us.

“Hannah, this is your aunt Hanako. Say ‘hi’.”

“Hi, Aunt Hanako, it’s nice to meet you.”

I reach over to take the child in my hands, but Lilly still refuses to let go. It kind of reminds me of me when we had similar situations.

“Lilly, uh, you’re still on me.”

When she hears my voice, she reluctantly detaches from me. And I take Hannah in my hands.

“She was born in Scotland. We were living there before I got pregnant, and when she was born, we moved back to Japan, so that Hisao could start his teaching career at Yamaku.”

I’m taken aback by how much resemblance there is between Hannah and Lilly. She really is a spitting image of her.

“Hey, there, Hannah.”

I look over to Hisao.

“The name Hannah… it it…?”

“Yes. It is. We named her that because of you.”

Just knowing that makes me all the more happy.

After a few more hours of catching up with Hisao and Lilly, I get up to leave.

“Well, I have a hotel to get to. I have to fly back to New York tomorrow afternoon.”

“You live in New York? That’s awesome, Kenji moved there last year!”

Oh god, a reason not to go back home.

“Well, I’ll be going then. I will visit again soon. Be good, Hannah. And you too, Hisao!”

“Bye!”

I close the door and pull out my phone. Before I have the chance to dial the phone for the local taxi service, the door opens behind me.

Both Lilly and Hisao come out together, hand in hand.

“Hanako… we were wondering… would you like to spend the night? We have enough guest rooms, and it’s already 11:00.”

“I’d love to.”

“Great, we’ll get the room settled for you.”

Lilly, Hisao and I go back into the house together, and I feel happy for the first time in thirty years.

[Blasphemy]

A one shot titled "Reunion" that doesn't end on an extremely sad note? Color me surprised!

I take a quick look at the sheet of paper given to me at the sign in desk of Yamaku Academy.

Should be sign-in desk I think.

It definitely has been a while, and things are a lot more different than what they were.

I think "was they used to be" sounds better. Or just "than they were".

Wasn't interesting in pointing out these issues so I stopped paying attention after the first two.

I was confused with the classroom scene as I was expecting Hisao to teach or at least have students in there. So when they each just move towards the other and start talking I was wondering what the class' reaction would be. But then I figured it was probably only Hisao in there that moment? Should be clarified perhaps.

Overall I would've liked to know what motivated Hanako to meet Hisao after all that time.

Then I'm not sure if their reactions for god darn 30 years apart was emotional enough but it's hard to comment on that without really knowing what's been going on with the characters.

I'm also a bit surprised at "the blonde little girl". It's 30 years later and it seems like Hisao and Lilly really took it slowly. They got together a few months after the Hanako bad end but took another 10 years before marrying and then only have a little girl (sounds like 5-12 years) now? So they waited with that quite a few more years after marriage?

Now nothing of that is too unlikely if we're given some rough explanation. I mean, for example, who says it's their first and only child? It's just when this information is missing, which is fine if you don't want to focus on all that too much, it may be better to just go with a timeline that doesn't cause me to question some of the stuff. If Lilly and Hisao were married for 23 years and they had two daughters, the older one being 20 already, I wouldn't wonder about that at all.

[Mirage_GSM]

It definitely has been a while, and things are a lot more different than what they were.

If things are more different that implies there is another set of differences you are comparing this to...

The truth is, Hanako, we loved you. And we were worried about you.”

All in all the premise - all three of them feeling bad and none of them making an effort to apologize for thirty years - it is a bit (okay very) unbelievable!
That said, thirty years is a bit over the top. As Blasphemy noted it doesn't mesh up very well with the age of the child. For that fifteen would be more appropriate.

[TyronePotato]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Okay, let's get down to it.

The reason I made them wait so long for a child is because I think they would have waited until marriage, and to get into a good economic state, as well as a place they could call their permanent home. The baby wasn't 'planned', really, I figured they would wait a bit instead of just jumping the gun and having a kid. Being blind and all, it's hard to raise a child at home alone while Hisao is teaching all day. They would have saw that ahead of time, and they would obviously want to wait until they thought they were ready.

Also, I was planning on writing a fic for the week before this, but it got deleted. So I decided to just post this one.

The reason Hanako was pushed to see Hisao, is because she was moving apartments in New York, and she saw the chess-set that Hisao gave her on her eighteenth birthday. When she saw it, she started doing research about Hisao, later finding he was a scientist in Scotland. After a few days and tow bottles of wine, she finally got the nerve to track Hisao in Scotland. When she finds the Satou residence, Akira informs her that Lilly and Hisao moved to Japan, where Hisao would be teaching at Yamaku.

Now you are wondering, "Why was Hanako surprised when she found Hisao and Lilly were married?" I didn't feel like writing the whole damn fic over after it's deletion, so i just changed the story up a bit. Tyrone's genius strikes again!


I will change the wording in an edit in a few minutes.

[Mirage_GSM]

For future reference: If additional information is needed for the reader to understand what is going on in the story, that explanation should go in the story.
Your explanation doesn't really address the point I was making, though: You explained why Hanako finally initiated contact after 30 years, not why all of them neglected to do so for so long.

I'm not sure how old you are, but 30 years is a really long time to not have any contact at all. If their feelings are still so strong after all this time it makes it all the more unbelievable that none of them tried to apologize earlier.
There would have been plenty of occasions to do so.

[Oddball]

I must have missed the 30 year part when reading it. For me what stood out most was that they immediately went into apologizes and explanations about what was going on. No small talk, no, "Hey! It's great to see you! It's been a long time!" In fact the emmotional response they have to that makes it seem more like they're reacting to something that recently happened rather than something they've had decades to get used to.

Still, otherwise it's pretty good.

[Mournful3ch0]

I'm not sure how old you are, but 30 years is a really long time to not have any contact at all. If their feelings are still so strong after all this time it makes it all the more unbelievable that none of them tried to apologize earlier.

I see Hisao as he opens the door and studies my face. I'm shocked into stillness as his features shift into a portrait of shock and recognition. He moves to speak, but can't seem to find the words as his eyes search my face for clues.

"Er, Miss... Ikizukuri? No, no that's not right..."

[TyronePotato]

*ahem*

WHO ELSE IN THAT SCHOOL HAS SCARS RUNNING UP AND DOWN HER BODY AND FACE WITH PURPLE HAIR?

Ok, I'm done.

[Helbereth]

Okay, let's start with the premise:
Hisao and Lilly both completely cut ties to Hanako following her outburst. That's... ridiculous, especially in the case of Lilly. Maybe Hisao would keep his distance afterward, but Lilly would have sought an opportunity to hear Hanako's side of the story, at least. It probably would have made their friendship stronger in the long run; grievances aired, they could approach their relationship on more equal footing. It would take adjustments, especially for Lilly, but there's no indication that she's incapable of handling a few harsh words and an ultimatum or two.

30 years? Assuming there's any validity to your premise, which I don't think there is, after thirty years of no contact there would have to be a monumental happening for someone to seek out a former friend who might not even remember you, especially going to the lengths of travel you described took place prior to the one-shot. Finding an old chess set from a birthday party 30 years ago is unlikely to spark a flight all the way across the ocean to Scotland, followed by another flight to Japan.

How did Hisao's hair turn black? Does he dye it now? Graying doesn't turn your existing hair color black first, it just turns your existing hair gray.

These two are 48 years old at this point, so why are they dodging around each other like they just met at a high school dance? If Hanako is the world traveler you seem to have implied, I seriously doubt the stutter would have survived, and the conversation would have started with a lot more subtlety, rather than an immediate outpouring.

This story really suffers from its premise...

[TyronePotato]

Your words......


Like a dagger....

THROUGH MY HEART.


I get what you mean. Really, I do. And now that you mention it, I feel really retarded.

Lilly honestly would at least try to remain in contact with Hanako even after so what happened, now that I think about it. Damn it I'm so stupid.

OH MY GOD YOUR POINTS IN THE ARGUMENT ARE SO SHARP THEY ARE DRAWING BLOOD

aaAHHHH

I have dishonored my family by not thinking of the time difference. But other than that, I think I did ok. That's if I stretch the truth a bit. (okay, a lot)

i love you and temerahs dehrm

[monkeywitha6pack]

I really liked the idea of bad end hanako leading to Hisao and Lilly together, I just feel this went way to fast and by doing so you missed some details

[TyronePotato]

Well I saw Lilly and Hisao getting together by nature. Also I have read multiple Hanako Bad End epilogue and it usually ends with them being together anyways.

[Mournful3ch0]

Ah yes, I forgot to add my other comments. I agree with what Helbereth said for the most part, but I disagree with his first statement of how there is no way that Lilly would just sever ties with Hanako and leave it as is.

As we know nothing about what Hanako does after she kicks Hisao out, how do we know that she will even talk to Lilly either? Now, it's clear that she doesn't actually hate Lilly as she said before, but I don't know if she'd be willing to face them. With Lilly's departure a mere 4 weeks or so away and the lack of a classroom that they both have to attend, I think avoidance is feasible. Would Hanako do that? Probably not, but she could and that's what matters to me. Speculation and extrapolation makes for good fanfiction.

Now, that said, I agree with his points about their personal relationship, which was why I made the joke about Hisao forgetting her name. It has been, after all, 30 years. Also, I have no idea why his hair is black. Pls explain.

[TyronePotato]

Do you people not understand that hair color can naturally change over long periods of time?

Ehr mah gehrd.

(My hair was red at birth, and it slowly changed to blonde, and now it is brown.)

[Mournful3ch0]

Do you people not understand that hair color can naturally change over long periods of time?

Past adulthood, it's not likely to get any darker, especially not brown to black. Just my $0.02.