Talk:Shizune Hakamichi/@comment-76.123.22.159-20200424215425

Possible spoilers for multiple routes! Read carefully~

I'll preface this with a thank-you to Fandom that I can post anonymously.

About halfway into her route, I found myself worried that I didn't like Shizune. I had recently finished the game for the first time, on Emi's route. Her route made me feel so warm, and bringing her up out of her isolation was so freeing emotionally. Then, in Shizune's route, around when you meet her family, I felt so distant. I didn't have any moments that stuck out to me, like "aw she was so cute here" or "that was such a Shizune moment". I was really worried that I didn't understand what was the point, and my experience in her route was going to be unfulfilling. I slept on it.

But when I got to the final act, it clicked. Shizune's route isn't about becoming entranced with someone, it's about knowing someone. Completely. It took me a while, but I realized that Shizune is the exact person I am IRL. A little more intense about it, but everything's there. I understood fully what she is like. I stopped treating her route as a girlfriend simulator, and just as what it is - life.

The good ending is really bittersweet. I'm typing this up now minutes after watching the credits roll, and I feel a longing in my heart. But it's a good one. It's nostalgic, and when I come back to KS in a few weeks, or months, or years, it'll pay off.

Shizune's route is an absolute diamond. It takes some polishing, and plenty of patience, but it gleams. I can't thank the writers enough.

- some guy on the internet