Welcome to the NHK! by Tatsuhiko Takimoto

Author:Tatsuhiko Takimoto [Takimoto, Tatsuhiko]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: prose_contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-4278-0256-9
Publisher: TokyoPop
Published: 2007-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

Anyway, after a week of interacting with Misaki, the only thing I truly understood was how hard she was trying. She really was working very hard. For the first few days, that effort stalled without result; while working to the best of her ability, her passion was certainly real. Of course, I didn’t know where her true intentions lay or what she actually was planning. I didn’t know, but I didn’t really care, either.

If my thoroughly rotten emotional state could be infused with even just a little energy through this exchange with a girl, I would be happy. Even if it led to problems in the future, I no longer had anything left to lose. Not to mention that, whatever happened, we’d part soon enough. Eventually, I would be kicked out of my apartment, or I’d go somewhere else for another reason. Either way, I would disappear soon. Meeting with Misaki was just a way to alleviate my boredom until that time came.

And because I was thinking in such irresponsible terms, I had no trouble at all conversing privately with a girl I barely knew, despite the fact that this situation was one that would usually cause a hikikomori the greatest amount of stress possible.

Of course, no matter how cute Misaki might be, I had no intention of doing anything to her. The sign at the park entrance read, “Beware of Perverts”, but even given the way I looked, I was still a gentlemanly hikikomori. Please, don’t worry, Misaki…

“What? What are you grinning about?” she asked me.

“Nothing, nothing. More important, what’s on today’s special training menu?”

Facing me while sitting on the bench, as usual, Misaki peered into her secret notebook. “Hm, on tonight’s menu is how to converse with others.”

“Eh?”

“In general, hikikomori suck at having conversations. Because they’re bad at speaking to others, they tend to shut themselves up in their rooms. Tonight, I thought we could reform that part of you.”

“Oh.”

“Therefore, starting now, I will teach you wonderful conversational techniques. Please, listen carefully.”

Misaki started her lecture, periodically glancing at her secret notebook as I listened carefully. “When talking to people, you get nervous. That leads to being at a loss for words, turning pale, or getting excited. These make your emotional stability erode even further, and your conversation consequently gets worse and worse. How can you break this vicious cycle? The answer is easy: You’ll be fine if you avoid getting nervous. Given that fact, how can you avoid getting nervous? Well, why do people get nervous? It's because they lack confidence in themselves. You think your companions may make a fool out of you, they may look down on you, or they may dislike you.”

So what? I wanted to butt in, but Misaki’s tone was serious.

“Ultimately, the problem comes back to having confidence in yourself. Having self-confidence, in reality, is a pretty difficult thing to achieve. Truthfully, I don’t think you’ll be able to gain it through any normal method; but I have a marvelous, revolutionary technique to make the impossible possible.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.