ooc ✿ application (realityshifted)
Player Name: Mel
Player LJ: melissa_228
Email and/or AIM: melinelly228/meliorable@gmail.com
Timezone: EST
Other Characters:
brandyhabit
hostclubdaddy
shewalks_away
destinedking
suchatourist
Character: Kuronuma Sawako
Series/Fandom: Kimi ni Todoke
Deviance: Deviance 1
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Species: Pale Skinned Brunette Human
Canon Used: anime & manga
Appearance: I’m going to steal borrow a summary in pictures someone did for this series that explains it much better than history or psychology could. SO:
Meet Sawako.
Sawako looks like this.
When you get to know her, she’s actually like this.
But deep down, she needs some help to become this.
Psychology: Sawako is very socially awkward. She’s spent so much time alone and ostracized, that she never really had a chance to socialize before. While some people would become jaded and cynical, this somehow made Sawako optimistic and hopeful. She still saw people as kind, and viewed her social problems as being her own lacking. She felt a wall existed between her and the world, and her problems were just misunderstandings. The only issue here was the fact she was unsure how to tear down these walls to clear up these misunderstandings. Kazehaya comes along though and shows her how to tear down these walls and clear up misunderstandings, and so throughout the series we see Sawako develop. Despite these changes, and despite her psychological growth, there are still constants that remain.
The first one is that Sawako enjoys being helpful. It makes her feel useful, and that’s an important idea to her. Her motto is one good deed a day, and it’s something she truly believes in. She does her best to follow it, and any perceived kindness, no matter how small, she feels the need to repay. She will do the jobs no one else wants to, and she will do them happily. Her work ethic is special, and she’ll insist that every job is of the utmost importance. She takes pleasure in a job well done, and she truly is happy to see the results of her hard work, particularly when she can see it makes others happy. She doesn’t enjoy taking credit for these things though, mostly due to her shyness and awkwardness, but acknowledgment seems beyond the point for her, too.
Despite the fact that she does all the dirty work no one wants to do, she never does anything she doesn’t agree with or doesn’t want to do. Her work ethic and kindness might make her seem like a doormat, but if there is something she truly disagrees with or truly can’t support, then she will object. She wouldn’t do these jobs if she didn’t want to, and she can’t support a friend when she knows she’s in love with the same boy.
This might be due to the fact that she’s also painfully honest. She can’t lie and she can’t pretend to be something she’s not. Sarcasm doesn’t register for her, and she truly takes everyone and everything at face value. She can’t really believe people have any malicious intents, but that problems are caused by misunderstandings or confusion, and that the best way to solve a problem is to confront it and clear up the misunderstanding. This leads to it being almost impossible to manipulate Sawako, since she will address the problem presented or not understand the things people are trying to insinuate. She is 300% pure.
She also has problems understanding friendship and even more so understanding romance. She is starting to understand, but a lot of things have to be explained to her because she’s just been that sheltered. Because the idea of friendship is new for her, romance is something she knows she’s not ready for. She’s starting to understand she has feelings for Kazehaya, but she also knows it will take some time before she’s ready to act on those feelings, because she’s just getting used to friendship and she wants to take her time. She can also miss social cues (or the entire point) a lot of the time or let her imagination get away from her. She can be painfully shy, or blunt, or just awkward. There are moments when she will think it would be better if she was cuter or different, but 99% of the time she knows who she is and is completely comfortable with this fact. As it’s the point of the entire program, and a point done really well, Sawako gets ahead by being herself and a decent person - who at times is unfortunately creepy and extremely intense without even noticing. When she tries too hard, she is very odd, but as she learns to be herself she gets the beautiful all along treatment - makeover not even necessary (although we do get one of those later in the series, but by that time, it’s completely besides the point.)
Her creepiness is an element unto itself. It’s what has led to her social awkwardness. Because she really failed to ever socialize, she’s not sure how to come across to other people. Her friendliness can come across as far too intense and creepy. Her determination can come across as obsessive and make people take a step back. She tries way too hard way too often, and this has more times than not led to alienating her more from people, because she always seems so quiet and moody that people assume that she wants to be by herself (or that she’s communicating with a ghost.)
Lastly, Sawako really is painfully optimistic. This also means she’s painfully naive. Again, missing the point happens way too often. No matter how mean or hurtful someone might be, she’ll always find some way to view it in a positive light. This can be very worrying a lot of the time, as she truly can’t see when someone has bad motives. This also really makes it very hard to manipulate her, as she sees the world as bubbles and sparkles (as do the creators of this series) and always thinks there’s a way to fix any problem. Anyone can be your friend, and a rival is someone you hold close, and any problem can be solved by explaining yourself.
Other Skills/Abilities: The power of optimism? Seriously, she finds a way to see the good in basically everything. It’s worrying. Also, she has domestic-fu and can cook, knit, garden, stuff.
Other Weaknesses: The power of optimism? As I said, it is worrying, but somehow she always comes out of things okay. Also, her social skills aren’t the greatest, since they’re so newly developed.
History: Meet Kuronuma Sawako. Sawako, not Sadako. Although that’s not a fact most of her classmates are aware of. This fact might have something to do with Sawako’s appearance. From a young age Sawako has looked, well, a little spooky. She never really had any friends and made a point of finding ways to play by herself. One day in elementary school a classmate called her Sadako - like the character from the Ring - and the name stuck. What started as a an affectionate joke in elementary school, became a half joke in middle school, and by the time she reached high school no one would sit near her or talk to her, spreading rumors about how she would curse you or if you looked in her eyes for more than ten seconds, something awful would happen to you seven days later.
Sawako still remained hopeful about people and did her best to be friendly, but her attempts always came off as more creepy and spooky, and cemented her reputation. She still lived by a motto of one good deed a day though, and found pleasure in doing the tasks that no one else wanted to do, because she enjoyed helping people and kept a shocking optimistic opinion of people, even though she more or less accepted that the status-quo was god, and this was just how things were.
This all starts to change however when she meets Kazehaya on the first day of school. He’s lost and Sawako stops to help him. While most people apologize when she tries to talk to them, he actually says thank you, which is a first for her. This is the first glimmer of hope she sees in her situation, and the first time she doesn’t feel a wall existing between herself and someone else.
So the term goes on and she admires Kazehaya and continues doing odd jobs at school and volunteering for the work no one else wants to do. With summer break approaching, their teacher “Zen” asks for someone to volunteer to come in over break to help him. As no one wants to volunteer and Sawako enjoys doing things to help, she volunteers to come in. Kazehaya at this point stands up and announces that it’s not right that Sawako always gets stuck doing the jobs no one else wants to. Sawako is touched that he noticed all the hard work she’s been doing, but before he can volunteer in her place, Sawako stresses that she REALLY REALLY wants to do this in the creepiest way possible.
Kazehaya is also organizing a fear trial for the last days before break. He convinces Sawako to come along and to try talking with people. With his encouragement, she gains the courage to approach her classmates Yano Ayame and Yoshida Chizuru and tell them that she wants to help them scare people and stresses the point that she’s never done anything she doesn’t want to do, she just wants to be useful. And so Sawako plays a ghost in the woods, scaring everyone, and at the end of the night gets the chance to spend some time alone with Kazehaya. This results in Kazehaya losing the fear trial. As his “punishment” he’s told he has to date Sawako. Kazehaya stresses this is going so far, and that it’s an insult to Sawako. Sawako does her best to clear up the situation, and later Kazehaya meets her on her way to volunteering over the summer. He offers her a gift of apology from the class as well as an award for her hard work at the fear trial, and says he wants to see her over the summer. Sawako, being Sawako, misunderstands his intentions and merely thinks this means he won’t ignore her. Poor Kazehaya. Cockblocked by innocence.
So summer ends and everyone comes back to class. Some people are saying that Sawako confessed to Kazehaya and he rejected her, but he quickly quiets these rumors. Sawako also finds a puppy (Pedro Martinez aka Mara-chan) on her way to school, offering the dog her umbrella and getting soaked in the process. Kazehaya comes in wet too, and enlists Yano and Yoshida to help Sawako get some clothes. Sawako is touched by their kindness, and later finds out that Kazehaya was also wet that day because he came across the same dog. Sawako and Kazehaya bond over the dog, and Kazehaya asks Sawako if he can keep him. The next day at school, Sawako brings in home made cookies to thank Kazehaya, Yano, and Yoshida for helping her. This day also appears to be the day that they are changing seats. Their teacher “Zen” seems ill, and people start whispering, wondering if it has anything to do with Sawako coming in over the summer to help him. As the whispers grow, everyone makes a point of not wanting to sit near Sawako, until Kazehaya takes the seat next to her, saying he’s happy to sit next to her, and Yano and Yoshida follow suit, and Kazehaya’s friend Sanada Ryu just likes where the seats are, so he takes the seat behind Sawako, and they all enjoy cookies, but the sweetness of the cookies cannot compare to the sugar overdose that is this show.
As school goes on, “Zen” is replaced with Pin. Pin is crazy, a moment-killer, and a former coach of Kazehaya’s, who loves to torture him. This is all you need to know about Pin. Endo and Hirano, two classmates stay after to help Sawako and Sawako is able to help the class during study hall, a dream of hers which has come true thanks to Kazehaya’s influence. School seems to be starting to go Sawako’s way and she truly feels like she is starting to connect to people. This is of course when the rumors start. A rumour starts going around the school about Yano being promiscuous and Yoshida being a juvenile delinquent. When the two girls try to find out who’s spreading these rumours about them, they are told it’s Sawako. Of course, as Ryuu points out, the only way Sawako could spread rumours if she was talking to herself. This all leads to more rumorus, some misunderstandings of colossal proportions, and Sawako distancing herself from Kazehaya, Yano, and Yoshida. Kazehaya finally calls her out on this, and tells her she doesn’t get to choose who they’re friends with, and that distancing herself from all of them hurts more than any rumours. Sawako sets about to make this right, and while in the bathroom, she overhears some girls talking about Yano and Yoshida. Sawako comes out, trying to correct him, but the girls are jerks and bullies and push Sawako around and say very mean things. Sawako being Sawako somehow doesn’t lose her faith in people, Yano and Yoshida come in and save the day, Sawako somehow believes it was all a misunderstanding, and there is lesbian bonding and friendship and it’s all so sweet. So everyone’s friends again, Kazehaya makes a point of how much he hates people who spread rumours - because these rumors were spread by girls who liked Kazehaya and were jealous of Sawako - and some French doll person mutters an aside, but surely that is meaningless and stuff.
And so Sawako bonds more with all her friends. After a lot of uncertainty, Sawako agrees to call her girlfriends by their first names (Yano - Ayame, Yoshida - Chizuru, Endo - Ekko, Hirano - Tomo) and the class prepares for the sports festival. This leads us into the Kurumi arc. Kurumi is the French doll from earlier. She’s also adorable and Sawako greatly admires her (aka has a huge crush on her). Kurumi befriends Sawako, but she’s really looking to sabotage Sawako and Kazehaya’s chances because Kurumi herself is in love with Kazehaya. Kurumi does her best to manipulate Sawako, but Sawako is so pure that she is impossible to manipulate, and in her attempts only pushes Sawako and Kazehaya closer together. Somehow though, being around Sawako makes Kurumi unable to hold back her feelings, and being around Kurumi makes Sawako realize her own feelings. Kazehaya gets Sawako alone and asks her what her opinion on dating. Sawako, none too subtly declares that dating is so far beyond her and it’s something she can’t even fathom at this point, totally missing the fact that Kazehaya was asking to date her. Kazehaya understands though, and says he’ll wait for her. Meanwhile Ayane and Chizu (with the help of Ekko and Tomo) realize that Kurumi was the one to spread the rumours about Ayayane, Chizu and Sawako. They confront Kurumi, reveal it all to Sawako and then say they’re going to tell Kazehaya. Sawako catches up with them and asks them not to, as she realizes Kurumi is hurting. Her and Kurumi talk some more, Sawako telling Kurumi she helped her understand her feelings for Kazehaya, and then giving Kurumi the courage to confess her feelings to Kazehaya. Kazehaya says he can’t be with her because he’s in love with someone else. But doing all this gives Kurumi the push to be herself (the Aesop of our story), instead of being the sweet and nice and everything that everyone else wants her to be. She comes to Sawako and tells her that she confessed to Kazehaya. Then Sawako asks if this means they can never be friends, afraid that all this means she’ll mean nothing to Kurumi anymore. Kurumi corrects her, they’re not friends, they’re rivals, and somehow rivals becomes heartwarming in an impossible way this story manages to do these things.
Canon Point: After “Holiday” (Episode 17/Chapter 18) - Ayane and Chizu visit Sawako’s house for the first time and then they visit Pin when he’s sick and Sawako walks home with Kazehaya, and the two nearly kiss under the stars thanks to Pin (really). Of course Sawako understands none of this and Kazehaya is left frustrated as always.
Reality Description: Sawako lives in a world of bubbles and sparkles and hexagons and things. At least that's what it seems like most of the time.
In reality she lives in the really, really pretty Japanese countryside. It's the prettiest Japanese countryside ever. On almost any night, if you're walking at night, you can see the milky way up ahead. The stars are always visible and just...pretty.
There's also Sawako's high school. She attends Kitahoro School. It is your standard high school. It has the school itself, athletic fields, it's apparently easy to lose your way if you're new there. Sawako is in class 1-D. Mean girls reside in class 1-A.
Sawako's house is pretty nice and average. She lives near a videostore that Pin enjoys frequenting to rent adult videos. (Sawako's definition of adult videos being very different from the rest of the cast.) Pin lives in an apartment nearby that is messy and possibly haunted, according to Ayame. Chizu, Kazehaya and Ryu all live closeby, and have been friends since childhood. Ryu's family lives above the ramen shop they own that Chizu frequents frequently.
There's also a nice bridge that people walk over and meet up at and the docks where Chizu and Ryu chill when Chizu is sad and things.
And for your convenience, a handy dandy map!
Here is a map, and here are some notes on the map.
Player LJ: melissa_228
Email and/or AIM: melinelly228/meliorable@gmail.com
Timezone: EST
Other Characters:
brandyhabit
hostclubdaddy
shewalks_away
destinedking
suchatourist
Character: Kuronuma Sawako
Series/Fandom: Kimi ni Todoke
Deviance: Deviance 1
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Species: Pale Skinned Brunette Human
Canon Used: anime & manga
Appearance: I’m going to steal borrow a summary in pictures someone did for this series that explains it much better than history or psychology could. SO:
Meet Sawako.
Sawako looks like this.
When you get to know her, she’s actually like this.
But deep down, she needs some help to become this.
Psychology: Sawako is very socially awkward. She’s spent so much time alone and ostracized, that she never really had a chance to socialize before. While some people would become jaded and cynical, this somehow made Sawako optimistic and hopeful. She still saw people as kind, and viewed her social problems as being her own lacking. She felt a wall existed between her and the world, and her problems were just misunderstandings. The only issue here was the fact she was unsure how to tear down these walls to clear up these misunderstandings. Kazehaya comes along though and shows her how to tear down these walls and clear up misunderstandings, and so throughout the series we see Sawako develop. Despite these changes, and despite her psychological growth, there are still constants that remain.
The first one is that Sawako enjoys being helpful. It makes her feel useful, and that’s an important idea to her. Her motto is one good deed a day, and it’s something she truly believes in. She does her best to follow it, and any perceived kindness, no matter how small, she feels the need to repay. She will do the jobs no one else wants to, and she will do them happily. Her work ethic is special, and she’ll insist that every job is of the utmost importance. She takes pleasure in a job well done, and she truly is happy to see the results of her hard work, particularly when she can see it makes others happy. She doesn’t enjoy taking credit for these things though, mostly due to her shyness and awkwardness, but acknowledgment seems beyond the point for her, too.
Despite the fact that she does all the dirty work no one wants to do, she never does anything she doesn’t agree with or doesn’t want to do. Her work ethic and kindness might make her seem like a doormat, but if there is something she truly disagrees with or truly can’t support, then she will object. She wouldn’t do these jobs if she didn’t want to, and she can’t support a friend when she knows she’s in love with the same boy.
This might be due to the fact that she’s also painfully honest. She can’t lie and she can’t pretend to be something she’s not. Sarcasm doesn’t register for her, and she truly takes everyone and everything at face value. She can’t really believe people have any malicious intents, but that problems are caused by misunderstandings or confusion, and that the best way to solve a problem is to confront it and clear up the misunderstanding. This leads to it being almost impossible to manipulate Sawako, since she will address the problem presented or not understand the things people are trying to insinuate. She is 300% pure.
She also has problems understanding friendship and even more so understanding romance. She is starting to understand, but a lot of things have to be explained to her because she’s just been that sheltered. Because the idea of friendship is new for her, romance is something she knows she’s not ready for. She’s starting to understand she has feelings for Kazehaya, but she also knows it will take some time before she’s ready to act on those feelings, because she’s just getting used to friendship and she wants to take her time. She can also miss social cues (or the entire point) a lot of the time or let her imagination get away from her. She can be painfully shy, or blunt, or just awkward. There are moments when she will think it would be better if she was cuter or different, but 99% of the time she knows who she is and is completely comfortable with this fact. As it’s the point of the entire program, and a point done really well, Sawako gets ahead by being herself and a decent person - who at times is unfortunately creepy and extremely intense without even noticing. When she tries too hard, she is very odd, but as she learns to be herself she gets the beautiful all along treatment - makeover not even necessary (although we do get one of those later in the series, but by that time, it’s completely besides the point.)
Her creepiness is an element unto itself. It’s what has led to her social awkwardness. Because she really failed to ever socialize, she’s not sure how to come across to other people. Her friendliness can come across as far too intense and creepy. Her determination can come across as obsessive and make people take a step back. She tries way too hard way too often, and this has more times than not led to alienating her more from people, because she always seems so quiet and moody that people assume that she wants to be by herself (or that she’s communicating with a ghost.)
Lastly, Sawako really is painfully optimistic. This also means she’s painfully naive. Again, missing the point happens way too often. No matter how mean or hurtful someone might be, she’ll always find some way to view it in a positive light. This can be very worrying a lot of the time, as she truly can’t see when someone has bad motives. This also really makes it very hard to manipulate her, as she sees the world as bubbles and sparkles (as do the creators of this series) and always thinks there’s a way to fix any problem. Anyone can be your friend, and a rival is someone you hold close, and any problem can be solved by explaining yourself.
Other Skills/Abilities: The power of optimism? Seriously, she finds a way to see the good in basically everything. It’s worrying. Also, she has domestic-fu and can cook, knit, garden, stuff.
Other Weaknesses: The power of optimism? As I said, it is worrying, but somehow she always comes out of things okay. Also, her social skills aren’t the greatest, since they’re so newly developed.
History: Meet Kuronuma Sawako. Sawako, not Sadako. Although that’s not a fact most of her classmates are aware of. This fact might have something to do with Sawako’s appearance. From a young age Sawako has looked, well, a little spooky. She never really had any friends and made a point of finding ways to play by herself. One day in elementary school a classmate called her Sadako - like the character from the Ring - and the name stuck. What started as a an affectionate joke in elementary school, became a half joke in middle school, and by the time she reached high school no one would sit near her or talk to her, spreading rumors about how she would curse you or if you looked in her eyes for more than ten seconds, something awful would happen to you seven days later.
Sawako still remained hopeful about people and did her best to be friendly, but her attempts always came off as more creepy and spooky, and cemented her reputation. She still lived by a motto of one good deed a day though, and found pleasure in doing the tasks that no one else wanted to do, because she enjoyed helping people and kept a shocking optimistic opinion of people, even though she more or less accepted that the status-quo was god, and this was just how things were.
This all starts to change however when she meets Kazehaya on the first day of school. He’s lost and Sawako stops to help him. While most people apologize when she tries to talk to them, he actually says thank you, which is a first for her. This is the first glimmer of hope she sees in her situation, and the first time she doesn’t feel a wall existing between herself and someone else.
So the term goes on and she admires Kazehaya and continues doing odd jobs at school and volunteering for the work no one else wants to do. With summer break approaching, their teacher “Zen” asks for someone to volunteer to come in over break to help him. As no one wants to volunteer and Sawako enjoys doing things to help, she volunteers to come in. Kazehaya at this point stands up and announces that it’s not right that Sawako always gets stuck doing the jobs no one else wants to. Sawako is touched that he noticed all the hard work she’s been doing, but before he can volunteer in her place, Sawako stresses that she REALLY REALLY wants to do this in the creepiest way possible.
Kazehaya is also organizing a fear trial for the last days before break. He convinces Sawako to come along and to try talking with people. With his encouragement, she gains the courage to approach her classmates Yano Ayame and Yoshida Chizuru and tell them that she wants to help them scare people and stresses the point that she’s never done anything she doesn’t want to do, she just wants to be useful. And so Sawako plays a ghost in the woods, scaring everyone, and at the end of the night gets the chance to spend some time alone with Kazehaya. This results in Kazehaya losing the fear trial. As his “punishment” he’s told he has to date Sawako. Kazehaya stresses this is going so far, and that it’s an insult to Sawako. Sawako does her best to clear up the situation, and later Kazehaya meets her on her way to volunteering over the summer. He offers her a gift of apology from the class as well as an award for her hard work at the fear trial, and says he wants to see her over the summer. Sawako, being Sawako, misunderstands his intentions and merely thinks this means he won’t ignore her. Poor Kazehaya. Cockblocked by innocence.
So summer ends and everyone comes back to class. Some people are saying that Sawako confessed to Kazehaya and he rejected her, but he quickly quiets these rumors. Sawako also finds a puppy (Pedro Martinez aka Mara-chan) on her way to school, offering the dog her umbrella and getting soaked in the process. Kazehaya comes in wet too, and enlists Yano and Yoshida to help Sawako get some clothes. Sawako is touched by their kindness, and later finds out that Kazehaya was also wet that day because he came across the same dog. Sawako and Kazehaya bond over the dog, and Kazehaya asks Sawako if he can keep him. The next day at school, Sawako brings in home made cookies to thank Kazehaya, Yano, and Yoshida for helping her. This day also appears to be the day that they are changing seats. Their teacher “Zen” seems ill, and people start whispering, wondering if it has anything to do with Sawako coming in over the summer to help him. As the whispers grow, everyone makes a point of not wanting to sit near Sawako, until Kazehaya takes the seat next to her, saying he’s happy to sit next to her, and Yano and Yoshida follow suit, and Kazehaya’s friend Sanada Ryu just likes where the seats are, so he takes the seat behind Sawako, and they all enjoy cookies, but the sweetness of the cookies cannot compare to the sugar overdose that is this show.
As school goes on, “Zen” is replaced with Pin. Pin is crazy, a moment-killer, and a former coach of Kazehaya’s, who loves to torture him. This is all you need to know about Pin. Endo and Hirano, two classmates stay after to help Sawako and Sawako is able to help the class during study hall, a dream of hers which has come true thanks to Kazehaya’s influence. School seems to be starting to go Sawako’s way and she truly feels like she is starting to connect to people. This is of course when the rumors start. A rumour starts going around the school about Yano being promiscuous and Yoshida being a juvenile delinquent. When the two girls try to find out who’s spreading these rumours about them, they are told it’s Sawako. Of course, as Ryuu points out, the only way Sawako could spread rumours if she was talking to herself. This all leads to more rumorus, some misunderstandings of colossal proportions, and Sawako distancing herself from Kazehaya, Yano, and Yoshida. Kazehaya finally calls her out on this, and tells her she doesn’t get to choose who they’re friends with, and that distancing herself from all of them hurts more than any rumours. Sawako sets about to make this right, and while in the bathroom, she overhears some girls talking about Yano and Yoshida. Sawako comes out, trying to correct him, but the girls are jerks and bullies and push Sawako around and say very mean things. Sawako being Sawako somehow doesn’t lose her faith in people, Yano and Yoshida come in and save the day, Sawako somehow believes it was all a misunderstanding, and there is lesbian bonding and friendship and it’s all so sweet. So everyone’s friends again, Kazehaya makes a point of how much he hates people who spread rumours - because these rumors were spread by girls who liked Kazehaya and were jealous of Sawako - and some French doll person mutters an aside, but surely that is meaningless and stuff.
And so Sawako bonds more with all her friends. After a lot of uncertainty, Sawako agrees to call her girlfriends by their first names (Yano - Ayame, Yoshida - Chizuru, Endo - Ekko, Hirano - Tomo) and the class prepares for the sports festival. This leads us into the Kurumi arc. Kurumi is the French doll from earlier. She’s also adorable and Sawako greatly admires her (aka has a huge crush on her). Kurumi befriends Sawako, but she’s really looking to sabotage Sawako and Kazehaya’s chances because Kurumi herself is in love with Kazehaya. Kurumi does her best to manipulate Sawako, but Sawako is so pure that she is impossible to manipulate, and in her attempts only pushes Sawako and Kazehaya closer together. Somehow though, being around Sawako makes Kurumi unable to hold back her feelings, and being around Kurumi makes Sawako realize her own feelings. Kazehaya gets Sawako alone and asks her what her opinion on dating. Sawako, none too subtly declares that dating is so far beyond her and it’s something she can’t even fathom at this point, totally missing the fact that Kazehaya was asking to date her. Kazehaya understands though, and says he’ll wait for her. Meanwhile Ayane and Chizu (with the help of Ekko and Tomo) realize that Kurumi was the one to spread the rumours about Ayayane, Chizu and Sawako. They confront Kurumi, reveal it all to Sawako and then say they’re going to tell Kazehaya. Sawako catches up with them and asks them not to, as she realizes Kurumi is hurting. Her and Kurumi talk some more, Sawako telling Kurumi she helped her understand her feelings for Kazehaya, and then giving Kurumi the courage to confess her feelings to Kazehaya. Kazehaya says he can’t be with her because he’s in love with someone else. But doing all this gives Kurumi the push to be herself (the Aesop of our story), instead of being the sweet and nice and everything that everyone else wants her to be. She comes to Sawako and tells her that she confessed to Kazehaya. Then Sawako asks if this means they can never be friends, afraid that all this means she’ll mean nothing to Kurumi anymore. Kurumi corrects her, they’re not friends, they’re rivals, and somehow rivals becomes heartwarming in an impossible way this story manages to do these things.
Canon Point: After “Holiday” (Episode 17/Chapter 18) - Ayane and Chizu visit Sawako’s house for the first time and then they visit Pin when he’s sick and Sawako walks home with Kazehaya, and the two nearly kiss under the stars thanks to Pin (really). Of course Sawako understands none of this and Kazehaya is left frustrated as always.
Reality Description: Sawako lives in a world of bubbles and sparkles and hexagons and things. At least that's what it seems like most of the time.
In reality she lives in the really, really pretty Japanese countryside. It's the prettiest Japanese countryside ever. On almost any night, if you're walking at night, you can see the milky way up ahead. The stars are always visible and just...pretty.
There's also Sawako's high school. She attends Kitahoro School. It is your standard high school. It has the school itself, athletic fields, it's apparently easy to lose your way if you're new there. Sawako is in class 1-D. Mean girls reside in class 1-A.
Sawako's house is pretty nice and average. She lives near a videostore that Pin enjoys frequenting to rent adult videos. (Sawako's definition of adult videos being very different from the rest of the cast.) Pin lives in an apartment nearby that is messy and possibly haunted, according to Ayame. Chizu, Kazehaya and Ryu all live closeby, and have been friends since childhood. Ryu's family lives above the ramen shop they own that Chizu frequents frequently.
There's also a nice bridge that people walk over and meet up at and the docks where Chizu and Ryu chill when Chizu is sad and things.
And for your convenience, a handy dandy map!
Here is a map, and here are some notes on the map.
