His Lie in April - 四月の彼の嘘 (Shigatsu no Kare no Uso) (COMPLETE)

Listless/Short-Circuiting

~TWO AND A HALF WEEKS LATER~

And now, Japan World Sports Radio presents coverage of the Canadian Football League; today's game is the Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Good evening, from Regina, Saskatchewan. It is week 11 in the CFL season, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders are at home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The two teams are in second place in their respective divisions, with Saskatchewan trying to overtake the West-leading B.C. Lions, and the Tiger-Cats are trying to leapfrog the leading Eastern team, the Toronto Argonauts.....

For Kaori Miyazono, Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryouta Watari, this summer was turning out to the most tragic summer for the three of them. What information regarding Kousei, when it went through them, was Hiroko Seto relaying messages to Kaori in the form of text messages and pictures (which were usually ghastly). It was now August 30. Kaori was in her home, by herself, just tossing around her CFL ball and wearing her Saskatchewan Roughriders T-shirt. 

She was looking listless, as she had already gone through much of her 20 Famicom games that had played since she first discovered it months ago. She got up out of her chair on the TV and looked in her room. Somehow, unbeknown to her, Kaori found another plastic box in her closet that she hadn't looked for in a while: Inside that box, were another 50 Famicom games. She looked in awe. "Well, will ya look at that? Just when I think I have completed all the Famicom games I have, there's more that I can enjoy. Eh, I'll get to that later, maybe I should get back on my violin. I haven't touched it in, like, weeks!" Even though she was going through the motions, she had tried to play her violin from time to time to stay sharp. She once again got it out of her case, and she began playing. 

Unfortunately, her concerns for Kousei meant that she was playing even worse than before the third accident and the Gala. She was hitting the wrong notes nearly frequently. This was now a source of frustration for her, and she angrily put it away. "Goddamn it.... I sound horrible! All these years of training.... nearly GONE! What was I thinking picking up the violin?! What was I thinking choosing it? UGH!!"

She then just decided to get back on her Famicom, as it was now one of the only things that was keeping her slowly descending mind at ease. Out of the new box, she picked up a newer CFL video game, this one was from 1992 (the original was from 1989). She was playing as Saskatchewan, when a knock was heard on her door. She was leading in the fourth quarter 20-12 against the Calgary Stampeders, but she abruptly stopped the game to answer the door. 

It was Watari and Tsubaki. "Hey, you guys....." she said listlessly to the two. "Kaori, are you okay?" Tsubaki asked. Kaori just sighed and said "I guess....." Watari said "Yeah, it's about Kousei again, huh? My heart breaks for him. Don't get me wrong, I'm trying my best to keep a brave face, but it can be hard for me, too. I know your mind, and Tsubaki's is just tearing apart over all this." Kaori sighed, again. "Yeah....." Tsubaki then suggested something. "Are you up for a little walk around town?" Kaori agreed. "Yeah, sure. Let's walk."

The three discussed how their friend was seemingly fading fast, and what had happened to their dear friend since March. Kaori started with "OK, guys. I haven't actually seen Kousei since last month. All the information I'm getting from him is from Hiroko Seto, who is his mentor. I think you saw him before the Gala in May. She's been sharing all the info, and it's quite ghastly and scary. The guy's skull fractured when he got hit by the bus, and his spine broke because he went flying in the air, and it got damaged as he came down to the ground; and what's really heart-breaking is that tall the damage that's been done to him? Irreversible. I mean, this guy who was living in his own prison at one time, meets someone like me, and then gets into all these accidents and has some sort of disease his mother has? Good lord, that is a recipe for tragedy."