Reading Tsukikana Very Slowly #1
If you thought that I was actually going to finish something I'd started before moving on to something else, then you don't know me very well. So here I am playing Tsukikana instead of Ginharu!
???: "Don't forget"
After a short prelude we have a girl pointing a plastic gun at herself.
???" "Bang..."
And then we go to the less abstract real world.
Japanese Teacher: "Make sure to review this part during summer break, alright?"
And while the protag is busy writing down some notes unrelated to class
Japanese Teacher: "Kurono Kanata... please read the next page to the class"
He closes his notes leisurely, because if he were to quickly close them that'd make it seem suspicious. But as he begins reading while thinking about how every day seems just like the last
"Suddenly my reading was interrupted"
"By a voluptuous listless student peeking out from the back door"
JP Teacher: "You're late again, Araya!"
???: "... Good morniing..."
That has to be the most exasperated greeting I've ever heard.
JP Teacher: "Don't "Good morning" me! It's already been 2 hours!"
???: "...Sorryyyy... I couldn't wake up..."
"This lateness is also a daily thing. Actually, only 2 hours late is early for her."
"A girl who regularly leaves early or skips class entirely, Araya Touka is... frankly, the class' problem child."
"She had transferred in just this spring."
After he's done reading, the teacher hands out a test printout. Once the MC turns around to pass it to Touka (who is obviously sitting right behind him)
She's already gone back to sleep, and he decides not to wake her.
Then Kanata receives a text from his friend, saying that he's heard a rumor about Araya, according to which she bullied a classmate until she killed herself, but Kanata says that the rumor is absolutely untrue.
"There are a bunch of nasty rumors floating around about Araya Touka."
"Supposedly, she goes out at night, and gets her hands on dangerous drugs."
"Supposedly, she sells her body to married men."
"And this time, apparently bullied a classmate into committing suicide."
"Nobody wants to ask her directly about it, so the rumors are passed along as though they're true."
"She doesn't interact with anyone in class, and doesn't attend any after-school activities."
Back in the world of non-rumors, the test is over and she's still asleep. So Kanata signs her test with her name, figuring that that would be better than just handing in an unnamed test, even if she's going to get a 0 anyway. How nice of him, but maybe he should have woken her up in the first place.
He then goes to the rooftop to eat lunch with the friends he was texting, and they discuss new smartphones because Kanata's seems to be running out of battery quicker than before.
"Kento is a huge gadget geek and knows a lot about IT equipment."
"Madoka joined the conversation while eating his mom's homemade bento"
They then discuss the rumor some more, with Madoka, having been the one who texted about it in the first place, insisting that it's true. Apparently the fact that there's records of her going to a completely different school is just proof that there's been a cover-up about it. But then he proceeds to immediately deny believing the rumor because there's not enough evidence. Apparently he's not the brightest dude.
Kento: "Don't bother with it. It probably started with someone saying they heard it from Araya's old school friend's senpai's younger brother's friend."
Madoka: "No, it was Araya's old school senpai's clubmate's younger brother's friend's friend!"
Madoka: "So, what about you, Kanata? Do you believe the Araya rumor?"
Kanata: "Huh, me?"
Kento: "Yeah, what do you think, Kanata? You're the closest to Araya after all."
Kanata: "Only in that my seat is close to hers..."
He finally says that he doesn't believe the rumor at all, and when pressed for a reason says that it's because of the impression she gives off, even though he's never actually spoken to her. And the reason he has the impression is because a month into the semester he was sitting in the literature club, alone. Then suddenly someone entered the clubroom...
Touka: *panting*
Touka: "Hide me!"
Touka: "I'm being chased!"
Kanata: "Ch-chased... by whom?"
Touka: "The guidance counselor!"
He essentially ends up shoving her into a closet and when she complains about the rough treatment he tells her that she should be more quiet if she doesn't want to be found. So far this dude is like the polar opposite of Ginharu's Mr. Nice Guy Yukito. And as soon as they close the closet door the guidance counselor comes barging into the clubroom.
Guidance Counselor: "I know you're here, Araya!"
Touka: "...hey"
Kanata: "Shh! What?"
Touka: "Why are you hiding in here with me?"
Touka: "Wouldn't it have been better for you to stay in the room and tell the counselor that I'm not here?"
Kanata: "...I had no time to think"
Kanata: "For some reason, I felt like I was doing something wrong."
Touka: "Hmmm... is that so"
Touka: "By hiding me... you're an accomplice?"
Eventually after some more back and forth Touka decided she couldn't handle the dusty book smell in the closet and wanted to leave so Kanata held her back and pinched her nose. Eventually the counselor figures he got the wrong room and leaves.
Touka: "I thought I was going to die there!"
She opens a window to get some fresh air and when Kanata mentions that she might be seen that way
Touka: "If that happens, just hide me again"
Touka: "I think I recognize your face from somewhere"
Kanata: "You should at least be able to recognize your classmates' faces."
Touka: "Whaaaat?! Really?"
Touka: "Oh, uh, Satou-kun?"
Kanata: "Wrong."
Touka: "Right, right, it's Tanaka-kun!"
Well, she got it right, but backwards.
Kanata: "Now you're just guessing blindly"
Touka: "Umm... where do you sit?"
Kanata: "Right in front of you"
Touka: "Ah... haha, sorry. I'm really bad with faces"
She also says she's bad with names, but for some reason says it very proudly.
Touka: "My name is Araya Touka"
Kanata: "No... I already know that"
Touka: "Ah, are you one of those people that are good with names and faces!?"
Kanata: "I remember my classmates. And transfer students are rare."
Touka: "I see, I see"
Touka: "But before I ask someone what their name is, I have to introduce myself."
Touka: "So tell me your name"
Kanata: "...Kurono Kanata"
Touka: "Kurono Kanata... Kurono Kanata... Okay, I memorized it! Can I call you Kanacchi?"
He says no, because nobody ever calls him that. When she asks what people call him, he just says "Kanata".
Touka: "Kanatacchi"
Kanata: "Drop the "cchi""
Touka: "Kanata, then"
Kanata: "You didn't add a honorific"
Touka: "You don't have to use an honorific for me either. "Touka" is fine"
Touka: "So then, Kanata"
Touka: "Thanks for helping me"
They then talk about the literature club and what they do. Touka asks if they write anything themselves, and Kanata says he doesn't, to which she starts quoting something he wrote. He suddenly realizes he'd been leaving his literary notes on his desk.
Touka: "You wrote that, didn't you?"
She then proceeds to grab his notes and starts reading, and he gives up on trying to stop her. Apparently they're ideas for novels he plans to write. Eventually she gets thirsty and tells him to go grab her a drink. When he tries to argue she says that the counselor might still be looking for her, so she can't, and hands him a 500 yen coin.
Touka: "Get me something sweet"
As he's grabbing the drinks, he imagines her sitting in the club room laughing her ass off about his short story about a girl on a lighthouse getting hit by a shooting star and becoming a single creature, neither alien nor human. But when he gets back, she's reading intently, too busy to even acknowledge him or take the coffee he brought her.
Touka: "Why was there an alien in the shooting star?"
Kanata: "No, it's... a spaceship that looks like a shooting star... if you read a bit further you'll understand..."
Touka: "Why does it understand words? Isn't it odd that it can speak Japanese?"
Kanata: "...with their advanced technology they've made a universal translator... but explaining all that would just make it tedious..."
Finally, she finishes reading and drinks her coffee.
Kanata: "So... how was it?"
Touka: "It was interesting"
Touka: "Really interesting"
Touka: "But what happens at the end?"
He tells her that he hasn't written that far yet, so she asks him to just tell her. He worries that she just wants to tease him about it but she insists that she really is interested.
Touka: "So when are you going to finish it?"
He says that it's still a draft and it won't be done anytime soon.
Touka: "In that case, show me once it's finished"
Thus ends the flashback. I have to agree with him, she doesn't looks like a drug-addicted prostitute who bullies people to suicide.
This is probably a good stopping point for now. I don't know how far I'll be able to get in Tsukikana, because this seems a bit more story-based than Ginharu which is all slice of life, so I might just get to a point where I have no idea what's happening. That is if I don't just quit it halfway and start their next VN when it comes out in 2022 or something.
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