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fandomweekly2016-07-27 08:53 pm
aguilt) wrote in fandomweekly2016-07-27 08:53 pm
Entry tags:
[#005] Ephemeral, Volatile (Little Busters!)
Theme Prompt: #005 - Minor Characters
Title: Ephemeral, Volatile
Fandom: Little Busters!
Rating/Warnings: G, Refrain (endgame) spoilers
Bonus: No
Word Count: 894
Summary: The school is full of students - for Kyousuke's purposes, it has to be.
The crowd that gathered to watch Masato and Kengo fight - with balloons, cats, stationery and toys - was a usual occurrence. The whole scenario was; Kyousuke watched from the sidelines as Riki fretted between them, trying to calm them down - a losing battle, like usual. Kyousuke knew that he could involve himself, if required - but there was nothing out of the ordinary, here. Kengo and Masato would bicker and fight it out between them, come to some unbalanced truce, repeat the same thing tomorrow. He knew that as much as they did.
There were as many students in the cafeteria as one would expect from a school that size, of a lunchtime. And after the lunch period was finished, they would go back to class, to resume their afternoon studies. Riki would walk past students in the corridors, see students going to class, return to his own homeroom full of the students he was familiar with, day in, day out. What was more ordinary than a school full of students? Nobody would think anything of it. That's the important part.
Kyousuke would ask Masato, sometimes. "Does he say anything?" (Masato would shake his head.) "Do you think he ever notices?"
If Riki had ever noticed, he'd never said anything, not to Masato and not to Kyousuke. That didn't mean, of course, that he'd never felt anything, but it was a reasonable deduction to assume that he'd never felt anything of the situation worth reporting to the others. If nothing else, Kyousuke trusted that Riki would come to them with any problems he had, no matter how small or how strange. Feelings of distance or dissociation - those were the sort of thing that would worry Riki the most. And yet, he talked and laughed alongside the others, participated in class, thought nothing of the everyday hustle and bustle of a school's inner workings.
Kyousuke watched Riki grow close to that Saigusa girl. The strength of her will was palpable, and her wish would be granted. Haruka clashed with Kanata, involved Riki in her concerns, trusted him with her worries. Kyousuke felt a mild impatience, but knew that it couldn't be helped - it was their combined strength that created this world where they could exist in the first place. Power enough to create a world. Such things happened for a purpose, and so did these girls find that purpose in this world. (He would see Suginami Mutsumi, sometimes. Rushing around, books clutched to her chest. He would walk by, barely glancing at her. Not this time.)
Haruka continued her strife with Kanata. Every once in a while, Sasami and Rin would disagree. Kengo had even been able to save Koshiki Miyuki. It feels so real, doesn't it? It seems so real.
(The illusion of time passed, and Haruka found her happiness. The world reset.)
----
The Little Busters met on the baseball field, as was their habit. Komari sat with Kud and Mio beneath that tree, Kurugaya zipped back and forth so fast it was as if she had a magical power, and Riki tried his best to bat the ball that Rin threw for him. Haruka, too, was present; laughing and shouting as she always did, as was expected of her. You're not here anymore though, are you?
Kyousuke would talk to the group, encouraging them for their surely inevitable baseball victory. Riki would laugh when Haruka made some strange comment, as if nothing had changed. ...That strength wasn't there anymore, though. Maybe Riki didn't feel it, but Kyousuke felt it. The group dynamic remained unchanged, but that power - even if only by a little - had dwindled.
So that's how this works.
----
The troubles of the girls needed actors in this play. The halls were still strictly monitored by Kanata, and Haruka would still run from her, but it was different, now. Riki would avoid the places Haruka would be found, and didn't know why; Kyousuke knew why, but could never tell. Riki met with the extended Saigusa-Futaki family. Met Midori. Met Komari's grandfather, true to memory and as real as life.
"... Do you control them?" Masato had asked this, one time. Kyousuke had only laughed.
"I'm not that powerful. But there's such thing as a global consciousness, don't you think? I think, out of anybody, we would know that more than anyone."
"I don't really get it, but... if you say so!"
It seemed almost callous, treating people like props, minor characters in the story of our lives. Were they aware of this, of any of it? Kyousuke wasn't sure; there was only so far he could consider the existential implications, when his primary plans would have very real consequences for Riki, and for Rin. He could feel the strength of the world fluctuate; time was running out.
He stood outside of the main school building, the only figure present under the night sky. And yet--. There was something there, a will as strong as anything, but disconnected. Almost like an intruder. That blonde girl, had she always been here? Kyousuke let out a short, sharp sigh into the night air. I don't have time for this.
'Do you control them?'
The thought was tempting. The focus was Riki and Rin, and this was a distraction. Hopefully Riki wouldn't get distracted. Hopefully.
(Kyousuke brought the mask to his face, and headed into the school building.)
Title: Ephemeral, Volatile
Fandom: Little Busters!
Rating/Warnings: G, Refrain (endgame) spoilers
Bonus: No
Word Count: 894
Summary: The school is full of students - for Kyousuke's purposes, it has to be.
The crowd that gathered to watch Masato and Kengo fight - with balloons, cats, stationery and toys - was a usual occurrence. The whole scenario was; Kyousuke watched from the sidelines as Riki fretted between them, trying to calm them down - a losing battle, like usual. Kyousuke knew that he could involve himself, if required - but there was nothing out of the ordinary, here. Kengo and Masato would bicker and fight it out between them, come to some unbalanced truce, repeat the same thing tomorrow. He knew that as much as they did.
There were as many students in the cafeteria as one would expect from a school that size, of a lunchtime. And after the lunch period was finished, they would go back to class, to resume their afternoon studies. Riki would walk past students in the corridors, see students going to class, return to his own homeroom full of the students he was familiar with, day in, day out. What was more ordinary than a school full of students? Nobody would think anything of it. That's the important part.
Kyousuke would ask Masato, sometimes. "Does he say anything?" (Masato would shake his head.) "Do you think he ever notices?"
If Riki had ever noticed, he'd never said anything, not to Masato and not to Kyousuke. That didn't mean, of course, that he'd never felt anything, but it was a reasonable deduction to assume that he'd never felt anything of the situation worth reporting to the others. If nothing else, Kyousuke trusted that Riki would come to them with any problems he had, no matter how small or how strange. Feelings of distance or dissociation - those were the sort of thing that would worry Riki the most. And yet, he talked and laughed alongside the others, participated in class, thought nothing of the everyday hustle and bustle of a school's inner workings.
Kyousuke watched Riki grow close to that Saigusa girl. The strength of her will was palpable, and her wish would be granted. Haruka clashed with Kanata, involved Riki in her concerns, trusted him with her worries. Kyousuke felt a mild impatience, but knew that it couldn't be helped - it was their combined strength that created this world where they could exist in the first place. Power enough to create a world. Such things happened for a purpose, and so did these girls find that purpose in this world. (He would see Suginami Mutsumi, sometimes. Rushing around, books clutched to her chest. He would walk by, barely glancing at her. Not this time.)
Haruka continued her strife with Kanata. Every once in a while, Sasami and Rin would disagree. Kengo had even been able to save Koshiki Miyuki. It feels so real, doesn't it? It seems so real.
(The illusion of time passed, and Haruka found her happiness. The world reset.)
The Little Busters met on the baseball field, as was their habit. Komari sat with Kud and Mio beneath that tree, Kurugaya zipped back and forth so fast it was as if she had a magical power, and Riki tried his best to bat the ball that Rin threw for him. Haruka, too, was present; laughing and shouting as she always did, as was expected of her. You're not here anymore though, are you?
Kyousuke would talk to the group, encouraging them for their surely inevitable baseball victory. Riki would laugh when Haruka made some strange comment, as if nothing had changed. ...That strength wasn't there anymore, though. Maybe Riki didn't feel it, but Kyousuke felt it. The group dynamic remained unchanged, but that power - even if only by a little - had dwindled.
So that's how this works.
The troubles of the girls needed actors in this play. The halls were still strictly monitored by Kanata, and Haruka would still run from her, but it was different, now. Riki would avoid the places Haruka would be found, and didn't know why; Kyousuke knew why, but could never tell. Riki met with the extended Saigusa-Futaki family. Met Midori. Met Komari's grandfather, true to memory and as real as life.
"... Do you control them?" Masato had asked this, one time. Kyousuke had only laughed.
"I'm not that powerful. But there's such thing as a global consciousness, don't you think? I think, out of anybody, we would know that more than anyone."
"I don't really get it, but... if you say so!"
It seemed almost callous, treating people like props, minor characters in the story of our lives. Were they aware of this, of any of it? Kyousuke wasn't sure; there was only so far he could consider the existential implications, when his primary plans would have very real consequences for Riki, and for Rin. He could feel the strength of the world fluctuate; time was running out.
He stood outside of the main school building, the only figure present under the night sky. And yet--. There was something there, a will as strong as anything, but disconnected. Almost like an intruder. That blonde girl, had she always been here? Kyousuke let out a short, sharp sigh into the night air. I don't have time for this.
'Do you control them?'
The thought was tempting. The focus was Riki and Rin, and this was a distraction. Hopefully Riki wouldn't get distracted. Hopefully.
(Kyousuke brought the mask to his face, and headed into the school building.)
no subject
How do you make sense of such a turbulent, transient world that is Little Busters! in writing? Amazing. <3
I am a huge fan of Key works (anime-wise), and although Clannad's my favorite with Air being my gateway, Little Busters! holds a special place in my heart. I love every single character in LB, but I loved (and cried for) Kyousuke the most. Learning the truth behind their purgatory world actually destroyed me. (The fact the girls minus Rin became friends with Riki and co. out of tragic coincidence breaks my heart.) I always interpreted Little Busters! world as a place that functioned by the understanding of its inhabitants; that, of course, it doesn't make sense to us the viewers, but those who live in that little pocket dimension. Their respective realities just so happen to coincide, like a collision of ripple effects. Basically, LB's just a huge psychological/spiritual journey.
Aaah, I rambled! This was truly lovely. Thank you so much. <3
no subject
I've spent so much time since I first got into it thinking about how the world works, and wondering how to hammer that out in fanfic, sometimes. I get intrigued by the game mechanics, too. The way the game uses its framework to aid the story is so good - like, everybody gets stats for the baseball minigame, but it just so happens that every time you complete a route/reset the game, Riki and Rin get permanently stronger, and it's not until you complete Refrain that it's like... ohhh, they've literally been getting stronger each time, in a very definite way measured by the game, you know? And the way it makes resetting routes make sense, and just, aaaaaaa.
One thing that makes me ponder a lot is how, in the game, once you've finished a girl's route (with the exception of Komari), the game won't let you pick the options to go back to her route (until after you've beaten the game) - even Riki is like "I don't feel like I can do that/go there, huh I wonder why" and I've always been like YES WHY IS THAT. I kind of feel like the main world is, like you say, a pocket dimension that has been kind of created by all of them, but the individual character routes are maybe sort of offshoots of that? Like, the other characters might not be aware of them, given how individual routes (in this and any visual novel) can be kind of "whoops, forgot that all the other characters existed in this route". It's the only game where focusing on a heroine while ignoring the rest of the cast for their route makes actual sense, haha.
Of course, the anime did things differently, but I really liked how it handled things and thought it managed to re-order everything in a way that made sense ♥. The anime really felt like it was made by a production team of people who valued the game a lot and wanted to do their best to represent it well. (That is, I often see people whining still that it wasn't KyoAni etc, but I honestly think that the LB! anime was a really good adaptation... but I could probably go on about that for a thousand words in itself, whoops)
I ALSO RAMBLED I think it's hard not to ramble when it comes to LB!, haha. Again, I'm glad that you enjoyed it ♥