A Day In the Life

[Oddball]

A Day in the Life


There's a certain point where you're not really asleep anymore, yet not yet awake. At that point, you realize you're dreaming and can steer it the way you want, but the problem is, once you know it's a dream you've already started to forget the good parts.

Such is life.

Does that sound profound? I try to do that once a day. It's a good habit. I have lots of good habits... or ya' know, I try to.

Back to the dream, today's (or was that last night's?) dream involved me being declared the Bikini Queen of Mars and ruling over a kingdom composed entirely of boy bands.

Shut up. It wasn't that bad. It was actually much better than it sounds.

And much much sexier.

That brings me to my tip of the day: Start the day off by masturbating. End the day by masturbating. It is one hell of a stress reliever.

… and people always ask why I'm so upbeat all the time. Ya' gotta live for the moment, you know?

After that morning ritual is taken care of, it's time to actually start the day for real. Take a shower, get dressed, medicine, all that fun stuff. I have to say this; there are a lot of things I like about this school but the uniform is not one of them. I don't know who designed the blouse, but it's horrible. The high collar is especially detestable. I'd kill somebody if I could talk them into switching to classic sailor fukus. Nothing says sassy school girl like a sailor collar and I am nothing if not sassy.

Thankfully, socks are not covered anywhere in the dress code. Trust me. I looked. I got into a major argument with some … I don't know who it was. Class representative? Student council? Teacher's pet suck-up? Whoever she was, her and her friend were giving me a hard time, so I got a hold of a handbook, looked it up, and hunted them back down to prove them wrong. I can wear any pattern, color, or length of socks I want and the school can't say anything about it. Today, I wear pink socks with little cartoon penguins on them.

I like penguins. They're cute.

It's still a while until school starts but I take my books and all that fun stuff with me when I go. Once I leave for breakfast I don't plan on coming back to my room until the days over. There's just too much to do to waste the time.

Leaving the dorms, I head out to meet Yuri by the front gate like I do every morning. The rooms on campus aren't really set up for somebody like her, so she lives at home. Every morning her mom drops her off at the gate. Today I end up waiting longer than I usually do. She's running late for whatever reason. I hope it's not anything life threatening. It's not like that sort of thing happens everyday but at least every few months you hear about something that happened to somebody.

You don't get used to it.

With nothing else to do to occupy my time I look through my bags. It's too early for studying, But I did see some wicked weird stuff skimming ahead in the science textbook the other day. Sadly, I haven't been able to find since and that bugs me. I'm not big into science, but I can admit that there are some neat things in there. Digging through my bag o' books I do find something else that catches my attention. There's the book on learning to play guitar.

I'm going to have to return that. I can actually play two different songs now. Oh sure, one of them is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but still, it's two songs. That's enough to say that I can play guitar. I can check that off the list and give the club back the spare instrument I borrowed.

While I'm thinking of this, the dirt-yellow van that I've been waiting for pulls up. I wave to Yuri's mom and help her out of the car. It's funny watching Yuri get out a vehicle. She is, like, 200 cm and claims she's still growing. That's almost literally twice my height. Supposedly, it's one of those conditions that just keeps going. I can just imagine her coming back to the class reunion years later and standing 300 cm tall.

Still, being a living giant isn't as cool as you might think. They just did not make this country with people her height in mind. There are a lot of people that don't fit in at this school, but she does not fit in. She's constantly ducking and having to squeeze into spaces meant for girls much smaller than her … which I suppose means everybody.

She also wears leg braces to help support her weight and … something about circulation issues. She mentioned it once. I don't remember what she said and I'm not going back and asking her about it because that's her business.

On the flip-side, she's been on TV before for her thing. That's pretty awesome. I've never been on TV. She showed me a tape of it once. It was some talk show about teenagers with unusual problems. She was by far the most interesting of the group. She also had long hair back then; it did not suit her at all.

“Morning, how's the weather up there?” I say. It's my usual morning greeting to her.

“A bird hit me in the face earlier,” she says with a smile. I sigh. She tries, but her jokes suck. Now that she's exited the vehicle, she takes a moment to straighten out her skirt. She doesn't wear the Yamaku uniform. They don't make them in Super-Extra-Giant size, so she just tries to match the white top, green bottom scheme as best she can. It's not like she could fit in if she was dressed right anyway. There are lot of people here that can hide their disability and a lot that you just over look the first time you see them, but a girl that has to duck every time she walks through a door isn't one of them.

As the routine goes, we head towards the cafeteria. Breakfast is one of the three most important meals of the day ya' know. As we walk in the door we noticed our normal table is occupied.

“Well, this is different,” Yuri says.

“Seriously. That is, like, our table. We always sit there. Want to go tell them that's where we sit?” I ask.

“Then we'd just look like jerks,” she says.

“Nope. I'd look like a jerk if I did it. You'd look like a big scary person,” I reply.

“Gee, thanks,” she say sarcastically. “Did you ever think maybe one of them just couldn't walk further and had to take the first seat they could?”

“I hate when you have a good point,” I say and stick my tongue out at her. “Okay. You find us a new table and I'll get us food.” I split the duties like this because her walking is a bit clumsy and because I know I'll be able to find her easily when I go looking.

While I'm walking to line, I happen to pass by Rika. No, not Creepy Rika, the other one, Slutty Rika. She thinks she's all that because the boys are all over her. She's not even that hot. She's like, average at best. They just say she's so hot because she puts out. I flick her in the back of the head as I walk past. She can't actually feel pain so she doesn't notice but it makes me feel better.

She's such a bitch.

By the time I've got our food, the rest of our little meal time group has found Yuri.

I grab the empty seat between Kururi and Kanae. Kururi joins us for breakfast every morning, but she doesn't talk with us and she doesn't eat. Instead, she doodles pictures while the rest of us talk. She calls them doodles anyway. Frankly, her quick doodles are better than my best efforts, and it takes her, like, no time at all to do it. This is one of those things I'm totally jealous of.

The other thing she's got going for her is that she's got the most kick ass bodacious bod of any girl I've ever met. Not that I'm gay or anything, but she's a a total babe. She wears her clothes loose and baggy and keeps that scarf pulled up so most people can't tell, but she's got looks. The only area she's lacking in is the face. Specifically, the fact that she doesn't have a bottom jaw. That kind of thing is a major turn off for most people. It's part of the reason she tends to dress mondo tacky and wears the scarf. It keeps most people from hitting on her then fleeing in horror once they see what she looks like.

I watched that once. God that was just … I mean... I don't have words. There was this guy that was flirting with her, he grabbed her scarf and pulled it down and his face just looked like all the joy had been drained out of his life. He looked past being sick. Then she started crying and ran away so I had to run after her and … the whole thing was just horrible.

Lacking the jaw, she doesn't eat or talk. Well, she can eat and talk, but she usually spares us both of those. Now, she does have a voice. It's not like she can't talk, but it really doesn't sound plesant. Not even she likes to hear it, so she doesn't talk. She doesn't want to talk and we don't make her talk, but she still gets to hang out, so she's cool with that.

Okay. Okay. Let me be honest here. Yuri is the one that made friends with her first. She used to freak me the freak-out. I mean, no jaw. How does that happen? How do you even, like, anything? It was a while before I warmed up to her.

I'm glad I did too. She's actually really cool once you get past all that.

Suddenly, a loud bicycle horn honks right next to my ear and I almost shove scrambled eggs up my nose.

This would be Reimi. She's mute.

One of these days I'm going to find out who showed Reimi those weird old movies and I'm going to murder that slut. I will shove her ass up her own ass. I'm not even sure how that would work, but I'm going to figure it out. Since she started watching those things, she's started wearing this ugly old coat that she fills with all sorts of noise making stuff and wearing this really stupid looking hat. The others may humor her, but me? No.

Well maybe.

At least sometimes.

More often than I'd like to admit.

But I draw the line at calling her Harpo-chan. I don't care if she likes it. It's stupid and it doesn't make sense.

While Reimi and Kururi both can hear, but can't talk (for different reasons natch') they're actually pretty cool to hang around with. You'd be surprised how expressive a person can learn to be without words. I tried learning sign language in secret to be able to talk to them better, but it turns out neither of them are really fluent in it either.

Still, I learned sign language. Partially. To an extent.

Enough to count.

A piece of paper is pushed in front of me showing a picture of me (I guess) riding a skateboard with a big question mark in front of it. I turn to Kururi who's looking at me curiously.

“That's was, like, three weeks ago,” Yuri says. It's pretty much expected that she'll read over everyone's shoulders just because of how big she is.

“I've learned skateboarding. I'm on learning guitar now,” I add.

“Even I've kept track of that much,” Kanae adds.

“If you call what she does skateboarding,” Yuri laughs.

Reimi moves her fingers and hands in a way that look like somebody falling off a skateboard and then chuckles. She has the weirdest laugh. It's somewhere in between a chuckle and a cough. It's even funnier because it does not sound like the kind of thing that should be coming out of a person that looks like that.

She knows. It doesn't bother her.

“Yeah, whatever guys. You're just upset because --” my words break are interrupted by a long series of hacking and coughing, the kind of painful coughs that burn at your throat and make you feel like you're never going to be able to breath again.

They eventually pass. During that time, the conversation has stopped and everybody has just kept on eating like normal. That's just how you have to live it here. There's no, “hey, are you alright?" because you're not and everybody knows. If it's serious, then you let somebody know.

“You were saying?” Yuri asks once I finally catch my breath.

“I can skateboard. You can't,” I tell her.

“Man, I wish I could skateboard. I'm just afraid of the mess I'd make if I wiped out,” said Kanae. She was actually being so quiet this morning I'd even forgot she was here. Being the quietest person at the table is impressive when you're seated with two people that can't talk. The image of her falling off her skateboard and having her ostomy bag burst is not one I wanted while I was eating. I tell her this. “If you think hearing about this is rough, you should trying having to put up with it,” she says with a laugh.

The loud bike horn goes off again nearly causing me to jump out of my chair. Several other tables start looking at us as well. One of the teachers walks up. She got away with it last time, but this time she's caught. Thankfully, Reimi is able to pull her whole “You don't know what it's like having no language abilities” sob story and we don't get into any kind of trouble. The bike horn does get taken away, but I don't consider that a loss. She'll find a way to get it back soon enough, either that or she'll replace it with something even more annoying.

Soon enough we've all finished eating what we're going to eat and head our separate ways to classes. I make a quick detour to the baseball club's meeting room, but nobody is there this morning. I do need to catch up with them to see if they'll let me play a few games later. I've never played baseball.

With more time than I expected to have on my hands, I end up in homeroom early and chat with various classmates. When our teacher gives the morning announcements, I learn that the guy who sits next to me will be out for the remainder of the year due to flare ups. I'll miss the little dude. He was a geek, but he'd let me copy his math homework if I flirted with him just a little, and he did teach me a few good dirty jokes.

I never even knew what was wrong with him.

“Excuse me, teacher?” I say raising my hand. Once she finally calls on me, I ask about sending cards, letters, and what-not. The guy always did like me, at least I could do is send him something to cheer him up. I'm thinking a few nice pictures. Maybe one with me in a sexy gym uniform with the shirt tied up just under my boobs.

I just have to get somebody to take the picture now.

I refuse to take selfies. Selfies are gay. What kind of person doesn't have a friend that can take their picture? If it's one of those pictures you don't feel comfortable having somebody take, then you probably shouldn't be taking it to begin with.

Sigh, kids these days … says the 16 year old. I can't help it if I had to grow up fast. But, ya' know, still too young to care. … Even my thoughts are being stupid now. Lunch can't come soon enough.

My English teacher surprises us all with a quiz and I repeat to myself mentally, lunch can't come soon enough. English is the Frankenstein of languages. It's a monstrosity sewed together from parts that were never meant to be connected and now that it's loose, there's no stopping it.

Of course, I can do good on a written test for it. It's the spoken part that kills me. I can only imagine what an idiot I sound like to those poor individuals that have it as a first language. Good thing I'll never actually need it. It's not like I'm going traveling anytime soon.

Knowing that there are certain parts of the test I'm going to get wrong, I write down the first thing that comes to mind and hope for the best. With my test finished quicker than most of the class, I hand it in and leave the classroom. The teacher knows me by now. They aren't going to make me just sit here and wait when there's other stuff to do.

I head to the library, scare Yuuko half to death (I swear, I do not get that woman) and head over to the tables to get a few more chapters into the book I'm listening to on tape. I'm not a big reader, but I think everyone should check out the classics.

I'm not sure if Moju: The Blind Beast is a classic, but I've heard people say it is. They know the classics better than me.

Whoever “they” is.

The library doesn't have a bell in it but the classes that do have one are close enough that you can still hear it when it goes off. This means it's time to go back to class.... Almost time. I've got ten minutes and there's no use wasting ten minutes. I've got people I've to talk to.

*sigh*

Walk slowly down the halls.
Pause at intersections.
Stay to the right.
Single file down the stairs.

Stupid rules! You're slowing me down rules!

One floor and two hallways away, I catch up with who I'm looking for. Well, one of them. I guess either one would have worked. They're both almost the same person. Aki and her sister Akiko were born conjoined twins. They were … separated at birth? Cut apart? Un-conjoined? Whatever you call it. They were separated when they were born, but because of the way they were joined, they only have one arm each. One has a left arm, one has a right. I don't remember which is which. It doesn't help that they have the same hairstyle.

“Hey, Mori?” I say. I can't remember if this is Aki or Akiko, so I use their family name.

She turns to look at me and smiles. “Hey, what's up?” she says smiling.

“I just wanted to get with you real quick about yearbook,” this catches her attention. The twins love their yearbook work.

“Sure, what did you need?” she asks.

“I know I'm not part of it now, but I was really hoping to be included with the computer club in the year book. I was with them for three weeks and helped out with the festival booth, so I kinda grew a little bit attached,” I explain.

“It's no problem, as long as it's okay with the club,” she says.

“Cool. So, do I need to get written permission or temporarily rejoin the club or anything first?” I ask.

“You just need to be there when they take the picture. Oh, and answer one question for me first,” she says.

“What?”

“What is my name?” she asks.

“Why are you asking me for? It's your name. I'd think you could remember your own name,” I try to play it off.

“You don't remember, do you?” she says.

“Of course I remember, it's …” I make a show of taking out a coin and flipping it. If you're going to fail, might as well crash and burn with style. “Akiko,” I say when the coin lands heads up.

She smiles. “I'm going to let you get away with that, because the coin thing, that was cute. I like that,” she says. “Here's an easy way to remember it. There's Aki and there's Akiko. Either way, Aki is always right.” As she says this, she taps the empty left sleeve that's been carefully folded and then safety pinned to the shoulder of her blouse.

“This would make you, Aki,” I say.

“That would,” she says. The conversation was reached a screeching halt at this point. With nothing else to say, it's time to move on.

“Okay. I'll talk to the club,” I say using that as an excuse to get out of there. I can catch up with them after class. Speaking of that, it's time to make it back to my class room. Science is next, so I'll probably have a few minutes to spare even after the bell rings.

I like science class. Mutou is an adorable kind of weird. If he was like a bazillion years younger, he might even be cute. … Nah. That's not fair. He's cute, but he's like “old-guy cute,” not “hot guy” cute. There's a big difference. I think what I like most about the guy is that he doesn't talk down to anyone. He treats you just like you're as smart as he is. I've actually had to go look up stuff that he was talking about because he just assumed I already knew and I didn't want to disappoint him.

He's only two minutes late today. That's not too shabby for him. Class goes without a hitch. It's mostly just him lecturing today. Except he doesn't lecture. He just talks like it's casual conversation. Something tells me that people who know him outside of school are just as used to his long rambling talks on science things as us students are.

After science, it's gym. They don't let me do gym class. I mean, you collapse and start throwing up blood and everybody makes a huge deal out of it. It was only one time! A few days later I was fine again! It hasn't happened since and I'm always doing stuff to exert myself! So instead of having fun, I have “Study Period” with the other students that don't get to do gym. The teacher assigned to study period rotates each day. Some of my fellow inmates rotate as well, since a few of them can do gym “if they feel like it.”

Still, it does give me an excuse to get more homework done before school is over with.

Usually.

Miracle of miracles, I'm actually caught up today. We're supposed to study if we don't have any class work to do. Some teachers enforce that more than others. Today, we have Mr. Bottin. He does not.

Yuri and Kururi both share study period with me. Yuri is one of those “if you feel like gym” people while Kururi's parents insisted she not physically exert herself. It's actually where we all met the first time.

I think.

Somebody mixed up the dosage on my medicine and I was taking stuff a lot stronger than I needed to when I first got here. Once they got that figured out, they also noticed another of the pills I was taking really wasn't helping me and the side effects where worse than what they treated, so I was taken off those too. I've actually got my head together a lot better these days. There was like a gauze over my thoughts that's gone now. Mostly gone. I have my moments, but if I was a normal kid, I wouldn't be here.

Yuri gets up and walks back and forth around the room a little bit. She gets a bit cramped sitting in these seats too long.

A note lands on my desk. I turn to see Kururi drawing a smile in the air with her fingers. “Talked to computer club yet?” is written on the paper.

“Not yet,” I start to write back before remembering that the teacher just doesn't care. “Not yet,” I say.

She passes me another paper that shows a quick doodle of me going ga-ga over some long haired boy. “No. You are not starting that,” I say to her.

“Starting what?” Yuri asks looking down at my desk. She reaches for the paper, but I yank it away before she can get it. “Was that supposed to be Yuudai?” she asks.

“We didn't work out, let it drop,” I say.

“But you two were so cute together,” Yuri says. “You were little cutie pies!”

I sigh, shrug, and refuse to comment on that. My very short lived relationship with Yuudai was complicated. For starters, he wasn't disabled. That automatically made him very popular with certain crowds and very unpopular with others. Both sides were mad at me. He had only come to this school because his sister was in a wheelchair and he wanted to give her moral support. The really weird thing is, she adjusted to the place quicker than he did. Maybe that's why I started talking to him in the first place ... but he wanted a long term relationship. That … that just wouldn't happen with me.

“He is in computer club,” says the writing on another piece of paper that's being held in front of me. Various hearts and something that might be computer screens are drawn around it. Kururi gestures as if to ask “What are you going to do?”

“It's not like we broke up or anything, we just agreed to separate,” I say.

“That's breaking up. Literally. That is exactly what breaking up is,” Yuri says.

Kururi shakes her head to agree.

“I'm done with this conversation. Let's talk about something else,” I say more cheerfully than I feel. With that, the conversation changes. They know I won't waste time on anything I don't want to waste time on. Anyone who knows me knows that.

Once the bell rings, I decide to eschew our normal lunch to go track down the computer club.

Eschew is a nice word. People don't use it enough.

...

Oh, freaking fiddlesticks! I forgot to do a 'word of the day' today! What use is even having a word of the day calendar if I'm not going to follow it? Now I'm going to have to do two of them tomorrow. I hope I don't get two really weird ones.

Yesterday's word was “Swagman”. Apparently, it's Australian for “hobo.”

Try working THAT into a conversation. … I don't get nearly enough credit for my interesting conversation topics.

I arrive at the computer club to see Rika practically drooling over Yuudai. Thankfully he seems a bit uncomfortable with it. Good. He's way too good for that slut.

“Yuudai!” I call out, getting the whole room's attention. Some of them start to gossip with each other, but everyone seems excited to see me. I am awesome after all.

Almost everyone seems excited to see me. Rika is firing invisible beams of pure scorn and hatred at me from her eyes. “Fancy seeing you here,” Rika says in a tone that suggests she'd rather rip out my guts than look at me.

“It's been a while,” Yuudai says. He's much happier to see me. He separates himself from Rika and walks over in my direction.

“I'm only here for club business,” I say, cutting him off before he tries to get back together or apologize to me again. He looks disappointed.

Still holding out hope that we'll get back together I guess.

“You left the club. If you're asking to rejoin it, we've already reached our membership cap,” Rika says.

Yuudai sighs. “Former members are welcome back at anytime,” he says. Rika starts to say something but he cuts her off. “Even if it's only at an unofficial level, they're welcome back,” he says firmly.

“I'm really not here to be welcomed back. I'm sorry,” I say. “I just … you know, I kinda wanted to be in the yearbook club photo with you.” It feels stupid now that I explain it. I think even Rika knows that she was picking a fight for no reason.

“That's a shame. We all miss you here, you know, in the club."

Sigh. I think I'm going to make a scene now. What is it about this guy that makes me stupid? Am I really going to do this?... yeah. I'm really going to say this in front of everyone.

“Yuudai, you are a great person. You're smart, and funny, and athletic, wonderfully romantic, and, well, okay you're not a snappy dresser, but you dress dorkily in such a cute way. You're practically perfect and you have a real future ahead of you. I'm on a dead end street speeding right into a brick wall in a car with no brakes. You deserve better than that and I'm not it.” He looks like he's about to argue the point with me, but stops. He knows better. My mind doesn't change easily, especially when I'm telling the truth. “She's not better either,” I say tossing out a quick jab at Rika.

Rika seems to appreciate the execution of the cheap shot, even if it is at her expense and nods approvingly. It's a faint nod, but it's appreciated. I actually feel bad for some of the stuff that I've done to her since we've met. I'm sure that will go away the next time she opens her mouth.

“I suppose we can tolerate you for as long as it takes the photographer to snap a picture,” she says. Well, that didn't take long.

Part of me wants to reassure the guy and say that you never know what the future might bring and you should always have hope. I'd be lying, but I firmly believe that lying is okay if it makes somebody feel better.

“Awesome. Who knows, maybe I'll check back in on your little gang from time to time. Somebody has to keep you guys out of trouble after all,” I say.

“What fun is staying out of trouble?” he says back to me. I laugh. Not a quick cute girly laugh, but a long loud belly laugh. That's totally one of my lines he just stole and he used it perfectly.

The warning bell rings out, telling us to cut our conversation short and head to class quickly. It's just as well, I think we'd reached the point where we'd said everything that we needed to say. At least I had.

After all that, afternoon classes are anti-climatic. Sometimes it feels like nothing interesting happens here unless I go out of my way to make it interesting. One day I'll be gone and everyone will just wonder how things got so boring all of a sudden.

Finally the bell rings to release us for the day. I'll still never get used to the fact that we don't all stay behind and clean up the classrooms after school. Instead, everyone is simply .. released. It's weird.

Some people go to their clubs. Some go back to the dorms. Some head for the gates to go home.

Me and my friends, we usually meet outside by the side of the building.

“You'll never guess who has a date this weekend?” Yuri is practically glowing as she walks up to me after class.

So I was wrong about exciting things only happening because of me. I didn't have anything to do with this one.

Kururi pulls out an index card with a large question mark drawn on it. She keeps a few frequently used reactions handy for times like this. She flips though her cards and then shows us the 'please explain further' card.

“You know Junichi?” Yuri asks.

“Nope,” I reply.

“He's just a littler taller than you, spiky black hair, wears glasses, big freckle right here,” she touches a spot on her face.

“Sorry. It's not ringing any bells,” I say.

Yuri sighs. “He's got six fingers if you add both his hands together,” she says. That's what I needed. Now I know who she's talking about.

Kururi pulls on Yuri's skirt to catch here and attention and gives her a enthusiastic thumbs up. She'd probably be smiling really big right now if she could.

…

Ouch. That just hit me. The girl can't smile. That's just tragic. How did I never think of that before?

Reimi claps really loud to get everybody's attention, then points back and forth between her and Kururi before holding up her own hand with a thumbs up. For a brief second, I thought she was trying to say that they were going out on a date. The I realized she probably just meant she agreed.

“What's everybody so excited about?” Kanae asks as she catches up with us.

“Don't say anything,” I blurt out just to tease Kanae. Reimi crosses her arms and glares at me, and Kururi flips me off. “Okay. Poor choice of words.”

“Stop being a jerk, jerk!” Kanae lightly slaps me across the back of the head. “Really, what's going on?”

“I have a date!” Yuri squeals in glee.

“Oh, he's probably just after you because you have the biggest boobs in school. Like, literally,” Kanae jokes.

“Seriously, they're the size of basketballs,” I add. Kururi and Reimi are both making motions over their chest indicating overly sized boobs, going larger each time in an effort to out do the other.

“Ha ha, guys. I don't care. Nothing you can say can get me down now. Although I will say this; you girls being able to buy your bras off the rack have it easy.”

“Congratulations anyway,” Kanae says. “You're going to have to tell us how it went."

“You say that like I'm going to be able to stop talking about it,” she laughs.

We hang out and talk for an hour before Yuri's mom comes to get her. There's no clubs today, so we can do that without any of us having to break away. At least, I don't think I'm part of any clubs this week. I check my schedule. Yup. I'm cool.

Once Yuri's gone, we all head back to the dorms. That always feels like when the school day is officially over, when she goes home. Except for Saturdays of course when we get to hang out most of the day. Oh, and Tuesdays when her mom works late so we get an extra hour and half with her.

The first thing I do is get out of this uniform and swap it for some comfortable shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Really, I just want out of this blouse. I have no problems with the skirt. The material is nice and it flows well when you move, plus green really brings out my eyes. Still, I can't change just my top and not my bottoms. You just don't do that kind of thing.

I've thought about going to class like that just for the sake of doing it, but it's really a lame sort of rebellion. You want to save your rebellious behavior for the big stuff.

We all break for Reimi's room for our usual after school homework sections and the usual gossip. Kanae joins us a bit later. She has her medical stuff to do first. I don't ask what it is, I don't want to know. I just assume it has something to do with that bag that hooks into her guts.

Homework is actually really light tonight, so it doesn't take long to finish. Once it is, like some unspoken code we all split up to do our own things for the rest of the night. I flip my to-do book open to a random page and find my next project. I'm going to paint a self portrait. I find some unlined typing paper and begin work on a sketch to serve as the basis of my painting. I spend the rest of the night realizing that I really can't draw. Tomorrow, I join the art club.

With bedtime coming, I hit the showers. No shampoo tonight. You don't want to do that too often. It damages you hair and lord knows I'm going to go bald before my time anyway. I might as well just let it go and keep that natural look.

Today was a good day. I pick up my calendar and scan over the days I've already marked off, looking at where I've written down past interesting events and accomplishments. I write down, “finished learning guitar” here. I might not have learned how to play today, but it's the day I realized I knew how to play when I thought about it. That's close enough.


I mark today off my calendar and change the number I've written in the corner.

One thousand five hundred twenty three becomes one thousand five hundred twenty two.

It was one thousand eight hundred twenty five days when I started keeping track. That's five years. That's what the doctor said I had. Oh sure, it's not going to be an exact count, but it keeps things in perspective. I've got another one thousand five hundred twenty two days to be alive.

It really is a lot of days when you think about it.
There's so much you can accomplish in that time.

An idea pops into my head and I send a text to Kururi, Reimi, Yuri, and Kanae. Tomorrow I skip school and go to the city. I've never skipped before. Not on purpose.

Tomorrow will be a good day too.

[calcifer]

This was lovely Oddball! Your main character is great, kind of like a mix of Emi (the upbeat attitude and sassiness) and Suzu from Scissorlips' route (the low attention span internal monologues).

You didn't use a single canon girl (well, Yuuko) and have still managed to create an entire world full of interesting characters. It feels alive - it makes me want to read more!

Given the last few paragraphs, is she Saki or an OC?

Now, some quick thoughts:

Still, I learned sign language. Partially. To an extent.

Enough to count.

Count as in be meaningful, or literally 1 to 10?

I make a quick detour to the baseball club's meeting room

I didn't know baseball was a thing in Japan but a quick search suggests it's quite big and popular. Huh.

What kind of person doesn't have a friend that can take their picture? If it's one of those pictures you don't feel comfortable having somebody take, then you probably shouldn't be taking it to begin with.

Ah, wisdom beyond her years.

English is the Frankenstein of languages. It's a monstrosity sewed together from parts that were never meant to be connected and now that it's loose, there's no stopping it.

Very, very true sadly. Also Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster, so the correct form would be English is the Frankenstein's monster of languages.

I'll still never get used to the fact that we don't all stay behind and clean up the classrooms after school. Instead, everyone is simply .. released. It's weird.

Is that... a thing? In what country?

I hit the showers. No shampoo tonight. You don't want to do that too often. It damages you hair and lord knows I'm going to go bald before my time anyway.

Again, soo wise!

---

Finally, some SPaG issues:

While I walking to line

I'm

Since she started watching those things, she's started wearing this ugly old coat

Double "started" sounds a bit clunky.

for different reasons natch'

Is that what the cool kids use for "naturally" nowadays?

I'm on learning guitar now,” I ad.

add

They eventually they pass.

One too many.

“hey, are you alright?' because you're not and everybody knows.

Mismatched quotes.

It's the spoke part that kills me.

spoken

because of the way they were joined, the only have one arm each

they only have one

people who know him out side of school

outside

My very short lived relationship with Yundai was complicated

Yuudai

He's way to good for that slut.

too

Rika is firing invisible beams to pure scorn and hatred at me from her eyes.

beams of pure scorn

“That's a shame. We all miss you here, you know, in the club

Unmatched quote.

I'm sure that will go away the net time she opens her mouth.

next time

I'd by lying, but I firmly believe that lying is okay if it makes somebody feel better.

I'd be lying

... then points back and forth between her and Kururi before hold up her own hand

holding up her own hand

You girls being able top buy your bras off the wrack have it easy.

to buy

“You're going to have to tell us how it went.

Unmatched quote.

You ant to save your rebellious behavior for the big stuff.

You want to

We all break for Reimi's room for our usual after school homework sections and the usual gossip.

Double "usual" sounds a bit clunky. Maybe the first one can go.

Homework is actually really light right tonight

right?

It was one thousand eight hundred twenty five days when I started keeping track.

one thousand eight hundred twenty five days ago

I think that about covers it

[Oddball]

Fixed a good deal of errors. I didn't agree with everything you considered an error though.

Is that... a thing? In what country?

Japan.

Is that what the cool kids use for "naturally" nowadays?

It's a bit dated slang but I felt it fit the character.

Count as in be meaningful, or literally 1 to 10?

Enough that she can say she's learned sign language.

Homework is actually really light right tonight

This was just meant to be a case of her talking funny, but I took it out since it looks more like an actual error.

one thousand eight hundred twenty five days ago

That would work as well, but she was referring to the number of days it was when she started not how long ago it was when she started.

Also, the double use of some words was intentional, it just seemed like how she should talk when I was writing her.

Very, very true sadly. Also Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster, so the correct form would be English is the Frankenstein's monster of languages.

If you want to nitpick that one, the monster referred to the doctor as "father". Being his father, the monster would share his family name.
Also, the guy who put him together wasn't a doctor in the original story.

As for who she is... she was intended to be an original character, but in the end it doesn't really matter.

[calcifer]

I didn't agree with everything you considered an error though.

Fair enough, some of them were subjective I suppose.

It's a bit dated slang but I felt it fit the character.

Oh it definitely fits, I just thought it was something new, definitely not dated.

That would work as well, but she was referring to the number of days it was when she started not how long ago it was when she started.

Reading it again you are right, that makes sense as well.

If you want to nitpick that one, the monster referred to the doctor as "father". Being his father, the monster would share his family name.

That.. works I guess.

Also, the guy who put him together wasn't a doctor in the original story.

This I didn't know. I should probably read up on it.

As for who she is... she was intended to be an original character, but in the end it doesn't really matter.

No it doesn't. The fixed remaining time just reminded me of her.

Anyway, great story!

[brythain]

That was lovely, Oddball. You're really good at developing odd characters in a very detailed and personal way. It was 'Freaks and Friends' with a whole different class of lovable new people. Much appreciated and very enjoyable.

[Hanako Fancopter]

This was fun to read, I like your main character (but damn she did that one dude dirty calling him out in front of the whole club). It's a refreshing change from having Hisao as the POV. Double refreshing for having pretty much a full cast of OCs who still feel very appropriate to Katawa Shoujo. You have quite a few stylistic errors but it looks like another poster is already on top of those. Now I'm just wondering which route your character will take (personally I'm rooting for Yuri).

Oh, and if it doesn't continue, it'll be a shame to never know what her name was or what was wrong with her.

[Mirage_GSM]

Hey, somebody already found all the typos

Well, except for one:

Whoever she was, her and her friend were giving me a hard time

she and her friend...

...and a missing "it" somewhere but I can't find it again.

Very good story and lot's of interesting OCs again. MC's condition does not really fit Saki's - she's not prone to bloody coughs. At first I would have pegged her for Tourette's despite that being a mental condition.

[calcifer]

MC's condition does not really fit Saki's - she's not prone to bloody coughs.

That's right, I didn't think to check what the actual disease was, I just saw the short, limited lifespan and thought of Saki.

Speaking of MC's condition, did you have an actual disease in mind Oddball?

[Craftyatom]

A very nice story, which definitely reads as one of yours. I gathered early on how it was likely to end, but fittingly, the best part of this story was the journey, not the destination. Each of the characters was interesting and deep (the only real exception being slutty Rika), and their interactions were charming. I especially enjoyed their unique quirks. Overall, simple, interesting, and enjoyable.

I think you've got most of the errors fixed, but I found two places where I questioned your word choice:

After all that, afternoon classes are anti-climatic.

I'm not sure if this is an intentional use of obscure phrasing (a boring room can very much be devoid of 'climate') or an unintentional misspelling of "anti-climactic".

We all break for Reimi's room for our usual after school homework sections and the usual gossip.

I assume you mean "homework sessions" - calling a study group a "section" isn't unheard of, though.

Being his father, the monster would share his family name.

"Please, Mr. Frankenstein was my father. Call me Joe."

natch

I see this OC suffers from a terminal case of terrible outdated slang :P

[AJT135]

I enjoyed this story, as expected for Oddball's work. You always do a great job at creating interesting OCs who don't seem out of place in the setting.

[ProfAllister]

"I have been to your school. Really... The students there..."
I can already think of about a million things he might say, and I'm preparing for my heart to sink on hearing any of them. It's funny, they are probably things I've thought before.
"They don't even have cleaning duty."
That was not what I expected at all. He's also wrong.
"They do. I should know, I get to skip out on it since I'm in the Student Council."

Just pointing out, Hisao making an ass of himself contradicts your comment on the cleaning duty.

[Oddball]

That's probably the only mention of cleaning duty in the game. There's no scenes of it and plenty of scenes where everybody just gets up and leaves after class.

[brythain]

That's probably the only mention of cleaning duty in the game. There's no scenes of it and plenty of scenes where everybody just gets up and leaves after class.

However, it's definitely an activity carried out in all classrooms at the end of the day or beginning of day, in Japan. There'll be a class duty roster for it, even.

[Mirage_GSM]

I don't think it's too much of a stretch that Yamaku wouldn't have it anyway.
As Oddball said, we never ever see anyone having those duties in the VN.

[sloth4]

I enjoyed it. It was short and sweet and engaging (which is cool given that cast is pure OCs, which I tend not to care about). Well done.