>mfw 10,000 views
No idea how many readers that is, but as long as there's interest, I'll keep posting, and
damn was this chapter was a monster!
This post is mostly just fluff about my research process and how I went about this chapter. It's not a continuation nor connected to the story per se, so if you're here for some Saki (I promise, she's the focus of the next chapter!), feel free to move on. I'm a talker, and writing about my writing kind of helps me organize it in my head. But, if you're as interested in (or bored enough for) random tidbits as I am (medical stuff, writing stuff, and even some silly puns on the part of the KS devs I noticed), press on! I have a few links to videos and sites where I did some of my research, I'll post the length of the video so you can choose how much time you are or are not willing to waste : )
So I really do want this story to be at least medically reasonable. Knowing that what's included in a story could
actually happen gives a work some power by itself, and it's something I personally look for in non-fantasy/sci-fi fiction. It's one of the reasons I got so invested in Katawa Shoujo as well. Most writers would just take the easy route and say something along the lines of "weak heart" and been well within their rights as far as the narrative is concerned, but the devs made the effort to ground it in reality, something I greatly appreciated. In any case, the reason this one took so long to come out is that I was finding it difficult to reconcile two things in particular about Hisao's condition that the fanbase either knows or at least seems to have good reason to believe. First, I've seen it mentioned around more often than not that Hisao's condition is Long QT syndrome. Don't know exactly where or why this gained traction (in the game proper, for example, it's never referred to as such), but it seems to be something that many accept about the MC. Secondly, the second chapter of KS makes it pretty clear that Hisao is taking a
lot of meds.
This short video (3:45) gives a cool overview of the hearts electrical system and how it presents on an EKG (And here's the pun by the way. The second chapter of Katawa Shoujo is titled 'Bundle of Hisao', some wordplay on the cells which transmit impulses from the AV node to the Purkinje fibers via the left and right bundle branches... or the Bundle of His. I'm determined to find out which dev included this! Rumor has it it might be Aura, but it's still up in the air).
Long story short, LQT doesn't have a very big list of medications that help it (as far as I know, it's limited Lidocaine and the ion's the heart uses in the electrical system.
Neat video on antiarrythmics, but it's 45 minutes long, so only watch if you're waiting for your girlfriend outside Victoria's Secret.) In fact, most antiarrythmics make it much, much worse. So... I needed another problem that affected the heart, one that
would require a decent list of meds, could co-exist with Long QT in a way that wouldn't be an instant death sentence for the MC,
and one in which neither set of indicated drugs would negatively affect the other condition or have any inter-medication complications. Thankfully, I know someone that has (induced, not congenital) Long QT... as well as some form of cardiomyopathy. I also know someone that was shot... and an albino... all of whom I met
after I started writing this story (yeah I started checking my balance after I realized how weird that was). This combination worked great. LQT screws up the electrical system while the cardiomyopathy I chose (mostly) just affects the muscle tissue. Sweet. Nailed it.
This research was a ton of fun. It's nice to have an excuse as to why I'm looking up all this seemingly random (but
really cool) stuff. It's good to have Hisao nailed down, and his friendship with the guys started (Nakata is so much fun to write). I'll be shifting to his relationship with Saki now (in a totally unrelated note, anyone a fan of Damien Rice?
Delicate always puts me in the right mood to write romance). But, dangit, as I keep writing, I've found my favorite side character is actually
Rebecca. She doesn't have a whole lot posted about her yet, but in my worldbuilding, I've made her into a character that I quite like. At work today... I came up with an awesome idea for a potential pseudo-route with her. Wouldn't that be fun? Meeting and interacting with her USN father? (I'm thinking a much more intense version of Jigoro Hakamachi) Drama with painkillers? (practically writes itself!)
Hisao goes to America???
Nope, getting ahead of myself. First things first, this work. Maybe later, Rebecca.
As always, thanks for reading.
