Page 1 of 1

Free Radicals - A Miki Story (Last Update: 5/9/12)

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 1:21 am
by betagent
This is my first foray into fan fiction, after a childhood of writing short fiction. Constructive (even some destructive) criticism is eagerly welcome.

Miki is one of those characters who appears to never have gotten a decent story, perhaps because she only appears in 2 or 3 scenes in the entirety of KS. Here, I will attempt to give our favorite tanned one-handed girl some justice in word form.

Free Radicals

Prologue - War Stories

Miura Jun stared eastward with a blank expression on his face, across the endless expanse of sand that surrounded the stone archway he stood in. He felt isolated and cold, in contrast to the intense heat being radiated by the sun above.

As a member of the JSDF Special Forces Group, Jun was tasked with defending the humanitarian efforts of the JSDF as it attempted to rebuild some of the cities damaged by the Iraq War. Nearby, he could hear the sound of the morning market being assembled, with the clattering of horseshoes accompanying the voices of the merchants.

His eyes drooped, his heart filling with the sense of longing. It would be two months from now, he thought to himself. Two months when his tour of duty would end and he could return eastward, across all that sand and dust, away from the car bombs and insurgent attacks. Two months before he could return home, to the only thing that mattered to him. The image of the beautiful girl he so longed for slowly crept into his head. What did she look like now? He hadn't seen her in almost a year and a half. She would be going to high school in the spring. High school! He tried to remember what his first day of high school was like.

"Miura, report."

The buzz of his lieutenant's voice over the speaker built in to his helmet brought Jun out of his attempted nostalgia. He looked around to regain his bearings. The market preparations appeared to be going smoothly, with no sign of any problems. A light breeze swirled dust around his boots.

"All clear, sir," he responded.

"Very well. Move to point D4 and take the perimeter from Inoue."

Taking the order, Jun strode over to the the opposite archway, and signaled to the soldier seated at the top to come down. Inoue quickly leaped down, eager to take his break from watching the outskirts of town.

"Your turn for death duty, Miura." Inoue laughed, but his eyes gave away the grimace his face was suppressing behind the chuckle. "Though today seems like a good day."

Jun nodded, and ascended the stairs to the top of the archway. More sand spread out in front of him, like an giant fan of tiny tan specks. Setting his carbine against the wall of the walkway, he pulled out his binoculars and turned toward the bustling market behind him. The Japanese engineers he accompanied were helping to dig a well in the center of the market. He watched as they drilled and drilled, the locals eagerly watching from the sidelines. Focusing his attention back on the Iraqi desert, Jun's thoughts drifted back home to Japan. Miki, he thought, you can't imagine what it's like for me to be here. I can't believe that I had to leave you behind to fend for yourself, but at the same time I knew I had to. You understand that I had my obligations, right?

His conscience crept in. "How silly I am, apologizing to my sister 4000 kilometers away. I'm sure she understands."

"But how could she, she was only a kid when I left..."

"I'm sure she could handle it. She was always a brave kid."

"But I was the only one who could be there for her. Who could she turn to but me?"

"She's fine."

His conscience would always fight him when he thought about Miki.

The anxiety raged in his mind. Time would tell if she understood. After all, the letters he received made it seem like his baby sister was cheerful, that her caretakers were giving her what she needed as she grew up.

Suddenly, a silence washed over him and the world at his feet. Jun couldn't hear anything. No birds chirping, no squawk of a haggling customer, no cluck of the women gossiping about their husbands.

That odd, eerie silence that could only mean something was about to go wrong. Terribly wrong.

The first shot pierced the early morning air, followed by the shattering of glass as the bullet hit a window. The market patrons erupted in a chorus of screams as they scattered to take cover from the gunfire. Jun grabbed his rifle and tried to comb through the crowd, searching for the source of the man with the gun. The colors of the crowd's garments blurred in a mix of reds, greens, and browns as they fled through doorways or hid under wagons full of trade goods. Somewhere, a horse whinnied in pain as the cracks of automatic fire continued. A man fell, clutching the back of his leg.

Jun's nerves tensed. His focus locked on to the Japanese delegation, who had appeared to make it safely back to their base point. He looked for Inoue, who was supposed to be on the other end of the courtyard, but his fellow soldier was nowhere to be seen, the lone man engulfed by the mass of people. His helmet buzzed with a garble of chatter from his commander and nearby units. His back turned to the desert entrance, there was no way he could see the incoming van, its rear laden with explosives. It careened toward the archway Jun stood on, driving a trail in the sand behind it.

Heat erupted from the back of the van, flames rising in a fireball as the energy from the gasoline and the explosives dispersed. The archway crumbled, and Miura Jun clutched at the handrail that was no longer there, his arms flailing and a searing pain spreading across his belly.

"Miki, don't worry about me. I'll be fine," he thought, as the punishing light of the sun in his eyes was overcome by the black curtain of death.

---------------

A girl in a green skirt looks at the sun rising in the window.

"A new day, and a new world for me," she thinks.

Rays of light illuminate the only picture on her nightstand, as she wraps white tape around her left arm. In it, a handsome but gruff man embraces a younger version of the same girl, as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered to him. She stands up, and as she hesitantly reaches to open the door, Miura Miki whispers:

"This is for you, Jun."

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:55 am
by DanjaDoom
A great start so far! More delicious brown girl is always appreciated.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:13 am
by The O.H.L.
Cool story, seems like it'll shape into an awesome one.
Side note: Miki Is assumed a new student to Yamaku in the game, so I'm guessing you're bending the canon.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:03 am
by Mirage_GSM
I don't think the VN ever specifies how long Miki has been going to Yamaku.
So far, neither does this fanfic.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:12 am
by Roamin12
I'm glad to see a Miki story here, I always liked her even though she wasn't a major character and barely had any dialogue.
Mirage_GSM wrote:I don't think the VN ever specifies how long Miki has been going to Yamaku.
So far, neither does this fanfic.
Yeah, but we can guess she hasn't been an amputee for long as once she tried shaking hands with Hisao, and she reached out with her left one, the one that was amputated.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 7:18 am
by The O.H.L.
Mirage_GSM wrote:I don't think the VN ever specifies how long Miki has been going to Yamaku.
So far, neither does this fanfic.
It says that Miki will be attending her first year at Yamaku, which implies, key word here is implies, that she has lost her hand. And what Roamin said was true. Also I think she states she was the new kid before Hisao arrived. But I could be wrong, I'm not too sure on that point. But it's not that big of a deal.

So betagent, enjoys your bumps.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 10:00 am
by Grayjack
Isn't Miki in the same grade as Hisao? I'm pretty sure she's a second year, unless you mean her first year in Yamaku. Anyways, it's good to see another Miki story. Hope to see more soon!

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:04 pm
by Mirage_GSM
Jun mentions Miki would start going to High School in the spring, so this would place the prologue about three years before the events of KS - maybe 2004 or 2003.
We don't have any information when the last part takes place in relation to the first. It migh be at the same time, implying Miki lost her hand earlier, or it might be later, and Miki lost her hand somewhen in between.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 6:08 pm
by Exbando
Enjoyed the first chapter. Looking forward to the rest. I'm hoping to learn how Miki lost her hand in the first place.

Re: To be titled Miki story

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 11:51 pm
by betagent
Hey all, thanks for the nice comments and interest! I really appreciate it.

I'm looking to post an update sometime tomorrow.

Scene 1

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 7:03 pm
by betagent
Act 1 - Initiation

Scene 1 - Masks

I looked out across the courtyard, letting the strong scent of the lawn waft over me as a gentle breeze whipped into my hair. The morning sun shined kindly down across the campus of Yamaku Academy, as if to greet me good morning.

Every day, this was getting easier. I'd pretty much acclimated to life here, gotten used to the class schedule; I even started running with some members of the track team. The people at Yamaku were certainly friendly, but for the first few months of the school year, I felt like so much of an outsider that I haven't been able to feel free yet. Sure, I had made friends, Takashi and Lazard in particular, but even with those two I felt like I had a mask on. Was it because they were guys? Although I've only been attending here for about 3 months, I seem to already have a gained a reputation as one of the "bros." Was that a good thing? At least it kept the guys guessing. I chuckled to myself, wondering if any guy had aspirations for a girl who only hung out with other guys.

I began to walk over to the class building, when a bob of drills came bounding along one of the paths on a crash course into my side.

"Wahahaha~!" yelled the pink-haired girl, as she stopped about an inch from knocking me down the grassy slope nearby.

"Good morning, Misha," I said. Being in the same class as Misha was sometimes a hard thing. I think of myself as a pretty confident person, but it's hard to be so confident when you sit in the same room as a bundle of potential energy all day, ready to burst in a explosion of sound and happiness.

"Did you hear? We're gonna get some new student today! I hope he's cute~!" Misha smirked, a grin of mischievousness plastered on her face. Behind her, a girl with lightly blue-tinted black hair slowly made her way towards Misha and I, her simple black glasses accenting a thin, petite face.

The bespectacled girl waved her hands at me, her fingers creating an simple yet undecipherable pattern.

"Shiichan says good morning, Miki!" Misha said. Another thing I was still adapting to. I didn't feel it was weird, but it was difficult always remembering that another of my classmates wasn't able to hear me. Misha told me on my first day of class that it would come naturally, but I disliked having to speak through another person.

"Good morning, Shizune. What's this about a new student?"

Shizune signed to Misha, a look of exasperation directed towards Misha.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you that, hehe. We'll see soon, won't we, though!" Misha said slyly. To these two, I was an interest, I suppose. The first day of class, I had introduced myself to the class, never wanting someone else to do my talking for me. From then on, Shizune had always seemed intrigued by my straightforwardness. But on the inside, I still felt unsteady, as if one difficult moment could tip my life over.

Misha and Shizune passed ahead of me, signing intently to each other. One person speaking for two. My head still had to work to grasp the complexity of such a situation.

As they walked down the path away from the girl's dormitory, I wondered about this new student, taking in the sights of a new day. Cute? I certainly hadn't thought of any of my current male friends as cute. Reminding myself of my earlier thoughts, I laughed to myself again. No boy in their right mind would think of me as anything but a tomboy. Then again, it would be nice to meet someone as unfamiliar to Yamaku as I was. It was odd that we would be getting a new student in the middle of the year. A transfer, probably. Could he be someone I could open myself up to? If I wanted to do that, what kind of mask would I had to put on for him?

Re: Free Radicals - A Miki Story (Last Update: 5/9/12)

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:45 am
by JTan
An interesting start.
I always love Miki stories.
I'm guessing I'm just one of many who wished she had gotten a route :(

Re: Free Radicals - A Miki Story (Last Update: 5/9/12)

Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:06 pm
by Kitsune Spirit
Nice so far! Though I admit to wishing for more Miki-yuri, straight stories are good too. :)