This story is purely fictional and any resemblance to existing events or people would be purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. Copy and repost forbidden.

The era

This is the only story I wrote that is set in “the real world”. I guess this implies the need for some warnings. This story was mainly written and is set at the end of 1999 and the beginning of the 2000s. Many details related to technology or opinions and habits date from this time (it hurts a lot when you reread it so long later). I hesitated to "update" the story, but it would have changed too many things. Therefore, keep in mind that this story takes place in this period and not... when you read it.

Names and honorifics

Most of the protagonists in the story are Japanese, so I tried to apply the customs on how the characters address each other. This means with the use of honorifics on the name or surname.

The use of the first name is not frequent. Even if things are changing among young people (in 2000!) or in some circles, it is generally between relatives, friends... Never at first with a stranger. Just look at manga where, even if they are lovers or even married, the characters always call each other by their name (without honorific eventually).

Seishi and Soma having both grown up abroad are a special case, because they naturally adopted the first name as soon as they met and we will discover why it became natural for all of them afterwards.

The evolution of these names with the relationships between the characters is also important.

Usually when a part is narrated from a character's point of view, I try to keep the names of the other characters in the descriptions consistent with the way he names them. There may be exceptions. Thus, Seishi, or his French father, who is more flexible, even if he addresses Ryô with honorific when he speaks to him, can more easily think of him only by the first name.

It's not always easy to keep it flowing in the text. Sorry if I made mistakes or inconsistencies.

A short glossary:

X-sensei: for a teacher, doctor or person with a certain level of education or to be respected (can also be approached as "master" in the artistic field).

X-san: the basic, neutral one. In a reductive way, we can compare it to Mr/Mrs.

X-kun: colloquial, masculine. For a man of the same age or younger than you. Also from a man to a man of lower status. Can be used for a woman but it is a special case.

X-chan: very familiar. Normally for young children, or girls. Took on a "cute" meaning to replace the "san" in adults but for very close people (childhood friends, lovers, parents...).

X: Not using honorifics on the name also indicates a familiarity, close to the kun for boys.

Language

For the characters:

Most of the time the characters use French or Japanese depending who they are with or English when not able to speak the other’s language.

I will usually indicate by italics the fact that a character speaks in a language other than the usual one and that this is significant.

For me/the story:

I’m sorry to say that I’m not a native speaker (and probably mad to attempt translating that). Even if I can easily read anything, writing (or worse speaking) is another issue… So please forgive English mistakes that probably come to worsen my already poor writing skills. Feel free to (kindly) point any language issue.

This story was originally written in French. If you happen to be bilingual and care to compare with the French version, I’ll be happy to know if you think there are wrongly translated meanings or other errors.

Translating this old story is a kind of test to know if I could actually write and publish another story that recently came to my mind (I intended to do it as a webtoon but realized it would be too ambitious of me).