Volume 1
Chapter 1-2
Part 2
Later that night…
It was past midnight and, as usual, the two anime HDD recorders were in the midst of recording, emitting soft piercing sounds as they worked. The fervent, heated strikes of the keyboard were on par with the fans of the computer; the noise of their clash resounded in the middle of the room.
t.i.tle.
Pending
Product Concept.
A Story of a Chance Encounter, of Feelings and a Couple’s Love
“…I wonder if that last bit, ‘a Couple’s Love’, makes for a poor balance?”
If anything, this sudden surge of mine would have to be the result of this morning’s Fated Encounter. My desire to preserve that encounter against the weight of reality was firing up my creative will. This surging pa.s.sion charging through my being was now giving life to all this unnecessary text.
“No, what other reason would there be for dating sims if not to sell such depictions of couples’ love?”
After all, I had somehow managed to save that hat after it rolled about ten-ish metres down the side of the street. The girl had ran halfway down the hill, thanking me profusely, bowing her head multiple times, and only stopping when I cut her off by saying “That’s enough already”.
I felt a bit of pride from the pain I’d suffered when skinning my elbows.
Prologue.
On that spring day I had a fated encounter…on a tall hill where the warm wind carried dancing cherry petals through the air, and where the soft rays of the sun poured down onto the earth. Standing on top of that hill was a lone girl—a girl whose name I did not know, a girl whom I had not met before. Then there was a stirring in my heart, a shining premonition, and in that moment…I fell in love for the second time.
Yes, I had completely fallen in love again. I could not stop myself from falling in love. Even if I hurt myself. Even if I hurt her. Even if the feelings of two people would never come to be….
And so, begins with the new semester, a premonition of things to come.
“…This is a little too painful isn’t it?”
Afterwards, the two of us briefly walked beside each other down to the middle of the hill, where my bicycle stood. During that period, we barely spoke at all. Neither of us gave our names, nor did we make any promise of any kind. After that, I rode down the hill on my bicycle, while she headed off back up the hill.
“…Actually, the depiction of such finger-squeezing pain would be the perfect draw for sure! It’d be a brilliant misunderstanding!”
That would be an acceptable situation. Actually no, it’d be more than acceptable. In fact, it’d be great. My optimism about all this stems from these kinds of stories: the ones filled with drama about being separated from your love, only to be reunited once again by fickle fate.
After all, fate works in strange ways. She might be a transfer student entering my cla.s.s. It could be that our fathers are mutual enemies and our relationship would be caught up in a storm of love and hate. We could be half-brother and sister with the same mother, and the confirmation of such a shocking revelation would lead us to some messy situation and….
Setting aside those few seconds where I’d somehow managed to completely lose myself in the dimension of Couples’ Love, these scenarios are just well…, that kind of thing, yeah.
The Characteristics of this Work.
This is a work that is very innocent, tantalising, and will leave you writhing shamefully in agony. An adventure novel of pure love, weaving a story of those youthful, spirited days.
“…This isn’t just painful anymore, this is just me writing like some smelly old man!”
However, I’ve never had such an unusual motivation before. It’s as though all of my dormant pa.s.sion had been discharged at once. I could scarcely remember the last time my feelings had been as stoked as they were now.
Ahh, it would probably be that time when I was so absorbed by the work ‘A Metronome in Love’, that I forgot to eat and sleep….
“…If I look at it this way, ‘Youth and Spirit’ don’t seem to fit, especially since it’s not going to be one of those comedy games.”
It was only just a year ago wasn’t it? That….
The Characteristics of this Work.
A work that is very innocent, tantalising, and will leave you writhing shamefully in agony,
An adventure novel of pure love, weaving a story of those ordinary days of youth.
Note: Review this later.
“…Ordinary days…. I wonder if ordinary is a bit redundant here.”
Just like that, I continued to plan late into the night, until even the HDD recorders had finished recording all their anime.
And so next morning’s newspapers were delivered thirty minutes later than usual.
It was now the first day of April and the second day of plot development.
Character Setting.
Heroine A (Name to be decided)
Main Heroine. A girl whom we meet in a fated encounter along a hillside road amongst the dancing cherry blossoms.
“I should probably try to take greater advantage of the cherry blossom setting. After all, I did go to great lengths to get that hat back.”
With my unwavering pa.s.sion, I continued to tackle the game plan and the creation of the main heroine, whilst my thoughts drifted back to my encounter with that girl. She was a girl whose name I did not know, nor a girl I had ever met before, despite the fact I’d been living in this town ever since I was born. I a.s.sumed she was probably someone who had just moved here recently, or perhaps someone who was just pa.s.sing through town.
A white one-piece dress and a white beret hat. And that look on her face while she held down her swaying hair in the wind….
Truth be told, I don’t really remember her face. The situation felt really intense at the time, so I didn’t get to the point of clearly making out the details of her face. However I still remember that white….
Hmm no, that white colour has nothing to do with it. Well at least not that white colour specifically, but the white of the dress perhaps.
Character Setting.
Heroine A (Name to be decided)
Main Heroine. A girl whom we meet in a fated encounter along a hillside road amongst the dancing cherry blossoms.
At the top of the hill there bloomed a single, large ancient cherry blossom tree. A curse hung upon that large tree, binding the heroine to live as a blossom spirit through the eternal pa.s.sage of time. In his youth, the protagonist made a promise to that girl…. The protagonist, keeping that promise, would fulfil her wish and in that moment break the curse. However, this would wipe her existence from everyone’s memories.
“…Is it just me or did I somehow go back to the very start of Da ○po?”(1)
And just like that, I spent the entire day stumbling around in a maze of my own thoughts, the proposal not even inching forward one iota.
I’ll have to make it up tomorrow.
The Second Night of the New Month:
It’s that time when it seems like you could almost hear the approach of the new semester.
Story Summary.
Pending
“c.r.a.p, all the sites are done with their April Fools jokes. Seems like all I can do is to hunt down what happened on some spoiler sites.”
I completed two more lines today.
The 3rd of April:
“Spring Anime start today…. For now I’ll just watch the first episodes of all the series in real time.”
I had already checked out three of them, but I decided to skip the last one.
The 4th of April:
“The new semester starts tomorrow right? All in all, nothing really happened during the spring break.”
Well, that’s just reality for you.
Translation Notes and References
1. Da. ○po refers to Da Capo, a visual novel that was later adapted into manga and anime.