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Hello, my name is Hisao Nakai.
I'm just your average high school senior, not particularly athletic, smart, or gifted.
I'm nothing special.
At least, that's what I used to think.
But last winter, my life changed forever when the girl of my dreams broke my heart
and probably not in the way you're thinking.
She confessed her feelings for me and I had a heart attack right there in the snow.
Turns out I have arrhythmia,
a rare condition that leaves my heart weak and erratic.
It's unpredictable, incurable.
It could cut my life short at any moment.
Next week, in three years,
maybe twenty if I'm lucky.
Whatever future I thought was ahead of me seems empty now,
blank, terrifying.
And the girl of my dreams?
She acted like nothing had ever happened between us,
like I was a completely different person she just walk away from and
never look back.
I guess in some ways
I really am,
because after my diagnosis, it was decided that I should finish up my high
school years in a new place:
Yamaku Academy,
a school for the disabled.
There's a twenty four-hour nursing staff and every accommodation imaginable for people who
have trouble living living on their own,
who need extra supervision and care.
Like me.
Is that really who I am? Is that who I'll always be?
I wanna stay positive about surviving,
being given a second chance at life,
but my life isn't mine anymore.
I'm just now starting over and I already feel like giving up.
The only thing that keeps me going is seeing the strength and determination of
all the students around me.
They don't let their disabilities hold them back.
Sometimes I think they live with more passion than anyone I've ever met!
There's Student Council president Shizune,
who's deaf and speaks through her interpreter, Misha, but has no problem letting her voice be heard,
and getting the hard jobs done fast.
Class rep. Lilly is blind, but I've never met anyone so wise, calm,
and graceful;
taking everything in stride and always ready to lend an ear.
The two of them, um...
don't get along very well.
Lilly's best friend is Hanako,
a quiet girl with a tender heart in her chest and grave scars along her face.
She hides both behind her long, dark hair, so her true feelings are a mystery.
Speaking of mysterious,
there's no one on campus who's as puzzling as Rin, a cloudy-eyed artist with a mind of her own,
and a knowing grin that always leaves me wondering how she must see the world.
I mean, learning to paint without any arms?
And I can't forget Emi,
the fastest thing on no legs, always having one step ahead of everyone around her
and doing it with a hearty laugh and a hand outstretched to anyone in need.
Even my dorm-mate Kenji is inspiring in his own way.
That is, well...
he doesn't let anything hold him back either.
Even if he really should hold back sometimes, I mean really, ugh.
Anyway, life at Yamaku seems brighter every day I walk into class to hear Misha laughing,
Shizune snapping her fingers in excitement, watching Rin paint, or Emi run,
or even just enjoying a cup of tea with Lilly and Hanako.
Away from the world I knew,
its questions, its expectations, its fears.
The more they melt away into each new sunrise,
the more it seems like my future is mine again.
And, who knows?
Maybe in twenty years,
three years,
or even next week,
maybe someone like me can find love once again.