AWKWARD ZOMBIE

An extra special "fuck you" to imgur for freezing my browser and costing my shitty computer 5 minutes before I could do anything.

PROLOGUE- Bundle of Hisao










My parents are here. It’s been a few days since I’ve last seen them. Both of them are even sort of dressed up. Is this supposed to be some kind of special occasion? It’s not a party. There is this ritual the head cardiologist has. He takes his time, sorting his papers, then setting them aside as if to make a point of the pointlessness of what he just did. Then he casually sits down on the edge of the bed next to mine. He looks me in the eyes for a moment.


I don’t answer him but I smile a little, back at him.

Doctor: I believe that you can go home; your heart is stronger now, and with some precautions, you should be fine. We have all your medication sorted out. I’ll give your father the prescription.

The doctor hands a sheet of paper to my dad, whose expression turns wooden as he reads it quickly.


I take it from his hand and take a look myself, feeling numb. How am I supposed to react to this?







And fuck you, words, for slowing it down and aiding the freeze in the first place.


Doctor: However, new medications are always being developed, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that list fade over the years.

Years… What kind of confidence booster is that? I’d have felt better if he hadn’t said anything at all…


What!?

Dad: Please, calm down, Hisao. Listen to what the doctor has to say…

Calm down? The way he says it tells me he knew full well that I wouldn’t like it. Am I going to be home schooled? Whatever of my concern shows, it’s ignored.
no fuck you dad


Doctor: At least not until we’re sure that your medication is suitable. So, I’ve spoken to your parents about a transfer. It’s a school called Yamaku Academy that specializes in dealing with disabled students.


Yup.


Doctor: Think of it as a boarding school of sorts. It’s designed to give students a degree of independence, while keeping help nearby.

Independence? It’s a school for disabled kids. Don’t try to disguise that fact. If it was really that “free,” there wouldn’t be a 24-hour nursing staff, and you wouldn’t make a hospital being nearby a selling point.


Dad: We went out there and had a look a couple of weeks back; I think you’d like it.
There's all these anime chicks and everything

It looks like I really don’t have a choice.

Doctor: Compared to other heart problems, people with your condition usually tend to live long lives. You’ll need a job one day and this is a good opportunity to continue your education.


I'd call being alive and still being able to learn to provide to society an opportunity, but whatever, kid's gone through something rough.
Doctor: Well, you should be excited at the chance to go back to school. I remember you wanted to return to school, and while it’s not the same one…

A special school. That’s…


Dad: It’s not what you think. All of the students there are pretty active, in their own sort of way. It’s geared towards students that can still get around and learn, but just need a little help… in one way or another.
Yeah, active. One in particular.

Doctor: Your father’s right. And many of the graduates of the school have gone on to do amazing things. A person doesn’t have to be help back by their disability. One of my colleagues in another hospital is a graduate.


I really hate that something so important was decided for me. But what can I do about it? A “normal” life is out of the question now. It’s funny, I had always thought my life was actually kind of boring, but now I miss it. I want to protest. I want to blame this lack of reaction on shock, or fatigue. I could easily yell out something now – something about how I can go back to school anyway. But, no.


I look around the room, feeling very tired of all this. The hospital, doctors, my condition, everything. I don’t see anything that would make me feel any different.


But let me try. A clean slate isn’t a bad thing. That is all I can think of to get me through this. At least I still have something; even if it’s a “special school,” it’s something. It’s a fresh start, and my life isn’t over. It would be a mistake to just resign myself to thinking that.
Now you're getting it!


And so, Hisao is to be sent to Yamaku Academy. Hopefully that pans out for him.

At this rate, a few months.

Wait wouldn't that speed up his heart and make him have a whatever the hell that was?

I'm just going to answer this and say yeah, it beats faster but he and his partner are aware of that and they try to be careful.

Fuck them gently and slowly. Take your time.

Imgur was down but now it isn't and I'm also going to start putting in the titles of each of the scene.

ACT 1- Gateway Effect


In fact, gates in general seem to do that, but this one especially so. Red bricks, black wrought iron and gray plaster, assembled into a whole that didn’t feel welcoming at all. I wondered if it looked like what a gate for a school should look like, but couldn’t really decide. Probably no.
Apparently, all of these school-related photos are of Brown University. I don't know for sure and I doubt you care.


Moving forward feels good.


The grounds are incredibly lush, filled with green. It doesn’t feel like the kind of grouns a school would have, more like a park, with a clean walkway going past trees and the smell of fresh-cut grass and all other park-like things. Words like “clean and “hygienic” pop into my mind. It makes me shudder. I shake them off. Stay open-minded now. It’s your new life. You have to take it as it comes.
That's the spirit!


oh
A few big buildings loom behind the leafy canopies, too big and too many for just a school. Everything seems off; it’s different from what I thought I knew about schools. It’s an uncanny valley. Even though I was told this is my new school, in the back of my head it doesn’t feel like one. I wonder if the feeling is real or caused by my expectations of a school for the disabled.


It makes me wish there was somebody here so I could anchor myself to something tangible instead of having this feeling that I stepped into another dimension. The trees hum with the wind and the green hues flashing all around me catch my attention. It makes me think about hospitals again, how they say that the operating rooms are painted green because green is a calming color. So why am I feeling so anxious, despite all this greenery?


First ellipses!
Only after I stand in front of the haughty main building, I surprise myself by realizing why the gate bothered me: It was the last chance I had to turn back, even if I had no life I could return to. But still, after entering, there was absolutely no way I could go back any more. Feeling nervous and with this realization set in my head, I open the front door.



I've had a lot of people mess up my last name, too. So far, only about 10 people get it right on the first try.
Hisao: Nakai.
Mutou: So you are. Excellent. I’m your homeroom and science teacher. My name is Mutou. Welcome.

We exchange a handshake that is neither firm nor sloppy, and he looks at his watch.


Hisao: Oh. Should I go later?
Mutou: Yes, afternoon is probably fine. We should get going and introduce you to the rest of the class. They’re waiting already.

Waiting for me? I don’t really like being the center of attention, but I guess it’s inevitable in a situation like this. Somehow, not knowing what is waiting for me makes me feel really nervous. Thinking of this, I almost miss what the teacher is saying.


Well, I'm sure Hisao isn't really feeling up to it right now, so maybe he doesn't want to embarass himself on his first day.
>Why?
Hisao: Why? Do I have to?
Mutou: Of course not. That’s why I asked.
Hisao: Right.
Mutou: Let’s go then.



Mutou opens the door and enters.

Mutou: Good morning everyone, sorry I’m late again.


God, Hisao.

Next time, Hisao meets his classmates. Two in particular.

Sorry for not updating in a while. School's burning me out and finals are getting pretty daisies close, so I've been putting all my time into that. There's going to be an update later tonight and there won't be another one until about next week, so there's that.

On a related note, thanks for the responses. Terraem's post with Sol's follow-up made me chuckle for a while.

That face is enough to make anyone freeze on the spot

ACT 1- Enter Stage Left


That's right, Hisao! Be brave.


It’s pretty spacious; the ceiling is unusually high and there’s lots of space left over around and inbetween the desks. An entire wall taken up by blackboards and the high, old fashioned windows only make it seem larger. The students’ desks are just standard wooden desks with a shelf underneath for books and wooden chairs with metal frames. Simple and efficient.



Despite the natural tendency to listen when someone’s talking about you, I tune out the teacher’s speech halfway through while he introduces me to the class. I notice a flash of dark hair and see that someone is looking at me. A girl with really long, straight hair that is pretty eye-catching. As she sees me looking back at her, she covers her face with her hands as if it will make her invisible. There is one boy with a cane leaning against the lockers at the rear of the class. It’s weird seeing someone so young with a cane.
Somewhere on the KS shimmie, there's a picture of this yearbook thing where it lists this class' disabilities under their names. The smiling one on Mr. Bandaged Ear's right was a reference to Code Geass but they changed that in the final version to what you see here.


She’s kind of cute. So is the cheery-looking girl with PANK hair sitting next to her. She’s really hard to miss; I don’t know how I didn’t notice her the moment I walked in…
Hisao, come on.


He claps his hands and so does everyone else, except one girl in the first row who has only one hand. I cringe a little, but hide it by bowing in thanks for this applause I did not deserve. A collective silence tells me that I should open my mouth now.
Don't mess this up, Hisao.


And after that?
Hisao: My hobbies are reading and soccer. I hope to get along well with everyone even though I’m a new student.
And after that? I’m being so boring. This is exactly like every self-introduction ever. I should say something more. Something more exciting. I end up saying nothing, and the teaching picks up from there.


…
I listen to the teacher as he drones about getting along while letting my gaze sweep across the classroom. Everyone seems to be listening to him intently and when he’s done, they clap their hands again which feels like a weird thing to do. The first row girl claps on this round, with her one hand against her other wrist that ends in a bandaged stump. It makes me feel a little bad.


Hisao: Yeah, it’s fine with me.
Mutou: That’s good, you can work with Hakamichi. She is the class representative. She can explain anything you might want to know. And who else would be able to do that better, right?

How could I know? The teacher passes out the day’s assignments and announces that we will be working in groups of three. It hits me that I don’t know who Hakamichi is. Slow. The teacher seems to catch my helpless expression.



Hisao: Hey, I guess you’re Hakamichi, right? It’s nice to meet you.
Hey, it's Shizune. Awesome!


What? I’m caught off guard by her laughter.
wait




She has short, yet carefully, neatly brushed hair, a pair of oval-shaped glasses balanced on the tip of a dainty nose, and dark blue eyes that seem to alternate every few seconds between analytical and slightly bored.
Hisao: It’s nice to meet you.


She immediately looks at Misha, who smiles and makes a few quick gestures with her hands. Hakamichi nods and makes a few gestures of her own.


It's things like this that make me like Mutou.


Misha: Shicchan is deaf, so I’m the person who translates things back and forth for her. I’m like an interpreter~! She says it’s nice to meet you, too!


Misha: You’re the new student, aren’t you? Well, Shicchan, of course he is! If he wasn’t, he would have been standing up there for no reason, right? Right~! He seems like a very interesting person, doesn’t he~! We knew there was going to be a new student, but we didn’t know you would be here today. So soon! Hicchan, right?
If it seems confusing who's really saying what, don't worry. You'll get used to it.



Did I say it out loud? It’s just a surprise. I’ve never liked that nickname.
Hisao: I don’t really see how.
Misha: It fits~! You look just like I imagined!


Misha: Hahahaha~! Yeah, you look just like a Hicchan!
Hisao: I wonder why everyone seems to think so…
Shizune: …

Hakamichi taps her fingers on the desk to get Misha’s attention. They gesture back and forth to each other excitedly, their hands a blur.
The sprites change quickly in order to show motion. It's only done in this scene, I think, because Hisao probably stopped looking at the gestures.


Misha: Ahaha~! Er, sorry about that! Shicchan wants you to know that she’s the class rep, so if there is anything you need to know, you cal feel free to ask her.
Shizune: …


Misha stumbles with the hard word a bit, making it stick out in her otherwise fluid translation.

Hisao: Thanks, that would be pretty helpful. Yeah, I just kind of came straight to class today.


Misha: Hahaha~! That’s no good! You should always try to learn as much as you can about where you’re going before you go there. Not just with school, either~! Always! Even if it’s a trip to the convenience store! Really, Shicchan? Hahaha~!


I didn’t look forward to this, even if I committed myself to go along with it half-assedly, but anyway. I don’t say anything, and Misha signs something that ends in a shrug. What was that? It seems like it was about me. I feel like slumping over in my seat. Both of them are smiling, but that shrug hit me unexpectedly deeply.


Shizune:…
Misha: Don’t take it the wrong way, please~! I hate it when people are afraid to ask questions! That’s how people learn things, by asking~! Asking for help is perfectly normal, as much as needing help! Stop looking like you just failed a test!
This is probably the only sound thing to come from Misha that we're going to get for a while and I'm not really sure if it's all her.


Hisao: All right.


Misha: Ah and another thing, you don’t have to call Shicchan something so formal like “ Hakamichi” or “class rep” all the time! Just call her Shicchan~!


How adorable, I guess or something. Don't think she's used to anyone but Misha being close to her.
Misha: Ahaha~! Okay, maybe that’s too casual. Maybe “Shizune” would be more appropriate?
Shizune: …
Misha: Yup, yup~! “Shizune” is fine!
Hisao: Heh. Okay, that would be a lot easier for me.


Well, she still seems like that. Just less so, I guess.
heh


Misha: Huh? Oh, right, we haven’t even touched the assignment! We should start work now, or Shicchan will get mad.
Hisao: The assignment is also kind of long, so we should start now if we want to finish it before the end of class.
Misha: Wahaha~! That too!


Shiznue glares at the two of us impatiently. I don’t need to know sign language to understand that.

Hisao: Okay, okay, I get the message.


Misha: After class, we can take a walk around the grounds together. It’s a nice day today! Okay~?

The assignment is actually very challenging to get through, combining aspects of being both difficult and unnecessarily long.


They’re quite different, though. The class rep is as calm and professional as she looks, while Misha is a lot more playful and girlish. Not to mention a little more easily distracted. To be honest, the two of them did most of the work. I feel guilty about that.


I know no one will really care about this, but how I write updates is by using placeholding words for screenshots. Thanks to a KC Green comic, the placeholder here was "luncharoo".


Maybe the three of them will shoot the shit about something cool, who knows.

See you all next week.

Hey there. The next update's ready to be posted but I'd rather wait for a new page so that there's not so many images at once. To make up for this, I'd like to explain my process step-by-step so that you know how I do things.

Step 1. Boot up the game and go through the scene I'm on. This is so that I know where the scene starts, where important lines are, and where the scene ends. This takes me about five minutes of skimming to do.

Step 2. Start transcribing the lines and grabbing screenshots. Not too difficult as I type at a decent enough pace to not drive me crazy. I place certain words so that I know where to place the screenshots at a later point in time. This takes me about half an hour.

Step 3. Upload to imgur. Imgur and my computer don't really like each other all that much. It's around this point where my computer is going, "fuck you," and imgur doesn't take any sass. Uploading the screenshots takes about five minutes. That's the simple part. I have to get the links for these screenshots so that I can replace the placeholder words in the update and that's where everything goes to shit. You have to view each picture individually to get the BBCode link, but the way that it's presented causes my browser to freeze once I'm halfway there. So I have to close the browser, wait a while, and continue from where I left off. This part of the step can take from twenty minutes (if I'm lucky) to forty-five.

Step 4. Take a 5-minute break.

Step 5. Copy-paste the update for posting. It's here where I add my commentary and fix any errors. This takes about ten minutes of me being careful.

Step 6. Post the update.

All of that work for an update that shouldn't take more than a few minutes to read through. Oh well, it's not like it really bothers me. I mean, if it did, I wouldn't have even started this LP. Anyway, like I said, the next update's ready.

Do you use Chrome? If so I know a neato imgur addon that lets you just drag-n-drop upload, and then you can just mouse over each thumbnail and click "copy link" to grab a picture link, no opening of the photos necessary.

No I use Internet Explorer (LAUGH TRACK, MAYBE SOME WHISTLING) but I've got Chrome installed already, I think. I've just never had any other problems with IE.

IE tends to get bogged down with things even if you don't actively install them; I find Chrome simpler and quicker to use, but a lot of people I know also opt for Firefox. It's almost universally agreed that IE is worst browser.


Also I've beaten 100% completion on this game here
I am KS expert

It's comical to me because, out of all of my friends, I'm the one who has the least browser-related problems and I'm also the only one who still sticks with IE no matter what.

also no goddammit that is my job what are you doing