Once again, spoilers lurk beyond this point, especially in the story-specific sections. You've been warned.
On 'Guarded Moments'
- Not much new in the way of Japanese culture to comment on in this story.
Kana lies on her futon (mattress) on the floor (as is usual in Japan, where
beds take up valuable floor space and are usually put away during the day),
and reads a book of manga (comics).
- Japanese homes don't generally have central heating or built-in air conditioning.
They rely on portable heaters and cooling units for each room.
- imouto-chan: 'dear little sister'
- Miki calls Kana by her name, without an affix, for the most part, but
uses the '–chan' at one point to emphasise how much she cares for Kana.
At least, that's how I've used it. It may not work that way in Japanese.
- Suggested CD tracks:
'How Do You Feel?' for the scene upstairs.
'I Can't Live Without Her' for the scene at the store.
'For You' (music box version) when Miki says, "Kana-chan".
And 'The Tree on the Street at Sunset' for the walk back and the scene inside the book store.
I wrote this story in fairly short order after finishing 'Festival Night', and some of the themes that were supposed to go into that story ended up in this one. My very basic premise for the story was 'Taka and Kana go shopping'. I don't need much prompting to write fanfic, it seems.
Anyway, since I hadn't been able to explore the 'going out in public' problem as deeply as I would have liked in the previous story, I decided to take another stab at it. And then Miki walked into my head wanting a cameo. Her timing couldn't have been better.
Miki's presence made it possible for Kana to confront the notion of someone she knew finding out about her and Taka. It was bad enough out in public amidst perfect strangers. How would Kana deal with it if someone close to her found out about her 'incestuous' relationship?
I think I've credited Miki with more insight than the game really gives her. There's that scene at the hospital where Yuta asks Kana out, and Miki's all enthused about the idea. However, that can be interpreted as Miki wanting Kana to have a 'normal' social life, while still not interfering with Kana's dependence on Taka. I shouldn't have brought it up. =)