NOTE: This chapter contains thoughts from the author. As the title indicates, there are SPOILERS regarding this story, and the original one this story is based upon, Your Lie in April. Please do not read this chapter unless you have read/ this story or read/watched Your Lie in April in full.
The rest of you, please enjoy this insight from me about this fic.
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I love the Naoshi Arakawa manga series and anime Your Lie in April. However, I was crushed by the fact that the beautiful Kaori Miyazono dies in it (a fate she did not deserve, she's such a cute and sweet gal). I couldn't bring myself to watch episode 15 to 22 of the anime series in full, seeing that I was somewhat bothered by the content if I watched it (hey, we all have our different ways of watching anime and reading manga). So that had me going through a huge rabbit hole. What if the fates in this story were reversed, with Kousei being the sick one, and Kaori not being in that position instead? Well, back in January of 2019, a friend of mine and I explored all this, and we came up with some great ideas. There was also a fic with the facts reversed called Musical Sorrow (on fanfiction.net), but it stopped being written a few years ago (and is incomplete is a result; a link can be seen in the comments). Ultimately, this was one factor that made me want to write this whole story to completion; Musical Sorrow was one the inspirations for this story.
Unfortunately, given that Kousei Arima has a big case of PTSD and depression, if he found out he had this disease that his mom had, he'd lose his will to live rather quickly (and this makes for a perfect storm of a tragedy for him). And the fact that he loses his foot and hits his head three times in this story to compound his problems (and has it comparatively worse than Kaori in the original story), led to me writing this story. I mostly wanted to feel better about myself and wanted something that people could read all the way through.
Yes, this story is darker than the original. Yes, I know that some of the content in this story is quite sensitive to some viewers. But having written it down in full after six months, I feel like I have a certain sense of accomplishment within me.
When you reverse the fates of Kousei and Kaori, the story becomes sort of like the 2012 Jojo Moyes book (and its 2016 movie adaptation starring Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame) Me Before You. Before I wrote this down and proposed this idea on reddit at the start of 2019, a redditeer pointed out that my fic that you have just completed would be just like it, I had to watch the movie and read the book. Let me tell you, I was touched and crying by the end of both the movie and book Me Before You. If you haven't read it or seen the movie, DO IT. It is just as good as Your Lie in April and this fic. As a result of this, I did include a couple homages to Me Before You near the end. You might say Kaori is Louisa Clarke and Kousei is Will Traynor in this story. One of the working titles for this story was "They Couldn't Save Kousei's Brain", but that gave away the plot a bit too much.
Also, you may have noticed that Kaori Miyazono has become a fan of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders, a team and league that is almost unknown outside of Canada and North America. Before you criticize me for adding that aspect of the character (in making it a bit more international), let me tell you that her love of the Riders DOES NOT have any bearing on the plot at large (nor does her playing of the Famicom in certain points), and I, as a big fan of the CFL and the Saskatchewan Roughriders (and I sincerely apologize if you felt I overdid it with the references to them, I just like the CFL so much XD), thought it would have been fun to include, as I wanted to also exhibit that even young teenage musicians like Kaori Miyazono should stop and have some fun once in a while. I mean, life can't be all just working on music, ya know. You've also noticed quite a bit of 1980s rock and pop music in this story. Because of the alternate story, I thought it would have been cool to incorporate that kind of music in this fic.
On the note of the CFL, because of how sad this story is, to help me keep my spirits up, I would watch old Canadian Football League games. It really helped me out in writing this story.
One person told me that reversing the fates of the characters would defeat the purpose of the plot. I say this: No, it doesn't. If you have read this fully, you will notice that the message in this new story is this: Endure to the end. It is also why this story exists; there would still be a story, but it would take on a different scope, one that is more Kaori-centric. This story has given Kaori Miyazono the ending she didn't get in the original story, but the ending she also DESERVED. And I am a happy man for writing this story.
Having now completed His Lie in April, I feel like this would make for a great movie that people would watch. A man can dream..... so who knows? It could happen.
Before I end this, I'd like to thank my friend, Daniel for helping me out with parts of this fic. Without him, I'd be a just another scrub writer. He's a pretty good friends to me.
And thank you, the reader of this fic, for staying with me. I am satisfied that you have enjoyed this story. It means a lot to me, as both a person and a writer. See you around....
Johnny Garfield
June 2, 2019
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His Lie in April - 四月の彼の嘘 (Shigatsu no Kare no Uso) (COMPLETE)
RomanceAll of his life, Kousei Arima was a boy that was just about automatic as you could get when playing the piano. Then, one day, a free-spirited violinist comes into her life...... ....but then, Kousei finds out his fate may be in jeopardy. What will b...
