31 days theme exchange: "Those were happy days"

[tarigwaemir]

Those were happy days

Even now, there are moments when her face freezes while her voice remains smiling, as if someone paused the video but forgot to disconnect the sound. He hears the light modulations of tone and volume, compares it to the unchanging blankness that has fallen over her like a mask...he holds his breath and draws back, his heart in his throat. Then she punches him in the arm and grins--"Are you listening to me, Hayama?"--and he relaxes slowly, one long exhale of relief.

END

Comments

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Oooh, intriguing. Is what Hayama thinks is an unnatural stillness, actually very normal, only he's comparing to Sana's old style of overacting everything?

as if someone paused the video but forgot to disconnect the sound

I really like this description.

[troisroyaumes]

Ah, so this is a specific reference to manga!verse, which had a rather depressing arc that was considerably lightened in the anime. Not sure if you mind spoilers? I'll put it in grey, just in case. When Sana first discovered she was adopted, she went through this phase, called the "marionette syndrome" where she stopped having any facial expressions. She went on behaving normally but she stopped smiling entirely. She also had no idea that she wasn't smiling. The phase broke when she met Naozumi for the first time (this was back when she was still about 6 or 7). This "marionette syndrome" returns when Hayama, trying to save his classmate from killing himself (this part was sort of in the anime), ends up stabbed by the classmate and getting his arm injured. The nerves are damaged so he may never be able to do karate again. His father decides to move to California so he can get the top medical specialists to look at Hayama's arm. Sana--subconsciously afraid of abandonment--develops the "marionette syndrome" once again, and the last few chapters of the series are about Hayama trying to "save" Sana because he couldn't leave her in such a state.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

...I have read the manga, but I'd completely forgotten about that. *sheepish*

Thanks! The last line reads totally different now.