March 8th, another Thursday.
A little past nine in the evening, Ryuji Kageyama was camped out in front of his TV, waiting for Clannad.
Tonight's episode was number nine.
In the preceding episodes, two through four had covered the story of Sunohara and his sister Mei. Five and six told the tale of Misae and the cat. Seven and eight focused on Yukine's story. Each one brought its own small, touching moment.
But after being put through the wringer of season one, these little stories just did not hit the same way.
Sometimes Ryuji could not help thinking: Shido might be losing his touch.
Of course, being less emotional than season one was one thing. He was still going to watch. The stories themselves were not bad.
"Episode nine should kick off a new arc. I hope he can bring back the magic he had in season one," he thought to himself.
Ten o'clock. Clannad season two, episode nine, finally aired.
It opened with a segment of the little girl and the robot, then the OP kicked in.
After the OP came the actual story. First, the topic of post-graduation plans came up. The female lead said she was not going to college and planned to find a job instead. She asked the male lead what he wanted to do after graduation, and the male lead desperately tried to change the subject and dodge the question.
The female lead knew him too well. She saw right through him immediately. But when the male lead suggested they go on a date, she let herself get distracted.
In the club room, everyone was gathered together discussing their futures when suddenly the female lead came down with a high fever.
"Hm?"
Ryuji felt something was off.
They had just been talking about a date, and now the female lead was burning up? What kind of development was this?
Confused, he kept watching, and things only got worse.
Whatever illness the female lead had caught, she was not recovering even after a full month. She tried to push through and go to school, but with a raging fever, she simply could not make it.
Time flew by. Autumn turned to winter, and the female lead never made it back to school. Her attendance was too low. She could not take exams. The final verdict was that she would have to repeat the year.
Ryuji sat there in total shock.
What kind of story development was this?
When the male lead heard about the female lead's situation, he was devastated.
He said that if she could not graduate, then he would not graduate either. But the female lead's father called that childish and said it would only make her sadder.
On December 24th, everyone came to the female lead's house to celebrate her birthday. That stretch of the episode was relatively warm, but it was also the day the female lead's held-back status became official.
Warmth laced with an undertone of suffocation.
Then came the new year. The male lead graduated. After the ceremony, he headed back to the female lead's house.
On the way, memories of the female lead flashed through his mind one by one.
Then he rounded a corner and there she was, standing outside her front door, quietly waiting for him.
He ran to her. Ran right up to her face.
"You dummy, why are you out here?"
"I wanted to see it. No matter what, I wanted to see you wearing your uniform one last time, Tomoya."
"..."
"Tomoya, congratulations on graduating."
After that brief exchange, the screen flashed back to the moment they first met. Those two silhouettes climbing that long, winding hill.
"Nagisa, I graduated."
"I can never be a student at that school again."
"I always hated school. But if I could have been with you, I would have stayed there forever."
"My entire life as a student was a complete waste. But the one year I spent with you was truly happy. Truly wonderful."
"I really should have just stayed back."
By then, the male lead's face was streaming with tears.
The female lead gently comforted him.
"Tomoya, you can't stop over something like this."
"If you can keep moving forward, then you should."
"Go on ahead, Tomoya. I'll catch up after one more year."
She smiled as she said it, but it was the kind of smile that made your heart ache.
At her suggestion, the two of them held hands and walked up the hill where they had first met.
The episode ended with the male lead's inner monologue. 'I want to keep walking forward, never stopping. On and on and on. Even if this hill never ends, I want to walk it with her.'
Episode nine was over.
In front of his TV, Ryuji's face was already soaked with tears.
He wiped his eyes with his hands while cursing under his breath.
"Shido, you devil!"
"All you ever do is torture my Nagisa!"
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
...
The moment the episode ended, the internet erupted.
"Shido, you demon! This is too much!"
"Everyone else graduated and Nagisa is left all alone? How lonely must she be?"
"I thought Fuko's disappearance in season one was as bad as it could get. I was so wrong."
"I'm a wreck right now."
"I can't take this anymore! Someone give me Shido's address! I'm sending razor blades!"
"Here's something terrifying: this is only episode nine, and season two runs through June. That's over twenty episodes!"
"Over twenty episodes? Please don't tell me the next dozen are all going to be Nagisa alone at school."
"Noooo!"
Predictably, the audience's emotions exploded.
The result: the very next morning, several boxes of razor blades arrived at Starfall.
"President, is this why you put on that ugly disguise at the awards ceremony?" Rika said, staring at the pile of boxes with sudden understanding.
"Of course not."
Yuta denied it immediately. "This is only episode nine. It's still early."
"Hm?" Rika did not quite follow.
After a moment, she asked cautiously, "President, are you saying... the story gets even more brutal later?"
"Rika, you shouldn't throw words like that around," Yuta said sternly.
"So it won't be brutal?"
"No, that's not what I mean. You shouldn't use the word 'brutal' to describe anime production. The correct term is 'emotionally moving.'"
"..."
Rika suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.
After thinking it over, she said, "President, is it too late for me to resign?"
"Resign my foot. Get over here and help me carry these boxes to storage." Yuta grabbed a box and headed for the storage room.
Rika was only joking anyway. If she actually had to resign, she would never go through with it. Everyone at Starfall other than Yuta was a genuinely wonderful person who looked out for her. Being here felt like being home.
She took a deep breath, picked up a small box of razor blades, and followed behind Yuta.
But after a few steps, she caught herself. "President, you're bossing me around again. This is clearly not a production assistant's job."
"What did you say?"
"I said this is clearly not a production assistant's job."
"Oh, you're saying I should feel free to keep giving you things to do? Alright, I'll remember that for next time."
"???"
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