Katawa Shoujo - Akira Satou Route

Act 4-3 Retrospective

A bright glow invades my vision as my eyelids creak open, the blur of sleep doing its best to reign me back into the wonderful world of dreams.

The feeling of leather against my fingertips indicates that I did manage to fall asleep on the couch. However, the presence of a warmth nearby causes my mind to spring to life at a much quicker pace, helped along by the realization that my head is resting against something that isn't a couch cushion.

Like a cushion, but not quite.

I try to rub the sleep from my eyes only to find my right arm unresponsive. Attempts to move it are met by a light shuffling and something of a murmur, one which glides through my head and sends an alarming surge into my consciousness.

Sitting up isn't an option right now. Not only because I don't want to risk being tossed from this glorious position before I can fully enjoy it, but also because there's something holding onto me anyway. Another soft murmur, almost like a giggle, breezes past my ear as something shifts against my head -- a set of fingers sliding through my hair.

It's not an unpleasant feeling, to say the least.

Of course, all good things have to end; as I soon find out when a stark beeping rips through the morning silence, causing me to jump from the surprise.

Though thankfully, my actions earn me nothing more than an annoyed groan followed by a short amount of shifting whereby the pair of arms holding my head tries to pull me in even closer, almost like how one would snuggle a pillow.

I don't want this day to e-

Another ringing shatters the peace, causing the figure below me to twitch about in response. Her abrupt jerking pushes me off of the sofa, knocking my head against the hardwood floor and ushering in the beginning of what will surely be an amazing day.

"Oh god, my head." I groan, clenching my temples.

It isn't an unfamiliar feeling, although it feels a slight bit worse than the last time I had to endure as much. It might just be exaggerated by the fact that I slammed my forehead into the ground, but I'm sure it'd hurt just the same without the impact.

Akira, however, doesn't seem to be fazed yet; jerking around in place as she slides a ringing cell phone out of her pocket.

"Argh. I still had the alarm set for eight." She announces, lying back on the sofa in fatigue.

So it's only eight in the morning. The flashing '12:00' on the VCR under the television doesn't seem to be of much help, and my vision hasn't yet remembered how to focus on small objects so the wall clock doesn't provide much either.

"Today's Monday, right?"

"Should be, yeah." She replies, letting out a low grumble as she reaches up to rub her head.

Crap. I have classes today.

I may as well skip, really. The mixture of grogginess and the inability to look at moving objects without feeling nauseous will probably keep me from getting anything valuable out of classes anyway. Finals are next week, however, and it would be just my luck if one of my teachers decided to throw in something important today or over the next few days.

Akira turns in her seat, giving me a blank stare before asking "hey, Hisao, uh, did you fall asleep on the floor?"

Well, up until a few moments ago I was locked in the wonderful embrace of your bosom. Considering the fact that I can't remember anything that happened last night, however, I'm sure something like that was unintentional.

"I might have, yeah. Maybe the sofa didn't like me." I return.

Now that I think about it, what did happen last night? I remember a few gems, like Akira's story about her parents and...