There’s no feeling quite like what comes when you turn the last page of a series you love.
Of course, most people will understand this in the context of a book- a novel, comic, maybe even a particularly eye-opening biography can do the trick. And I’ve definitely had my fair share of teary moments in reading the last page of a book. The Raven Cycle is the first to come to mind.
But there’s something to be said of a fanfiction author’s ability to take a story and characters that already have teary, emotional moments and twist them into something even more memorable.
When I think of books that stuck with me, that dug deep into my heart and made a home inside, there are a few that come to mind. The Raven Cycle, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Lucky One. But when it comes to fanfiction, there are just so many more that I’d ramble on and on about for hours if given the chance, because fanfiction is something so, so special to me.
And there are few fanfiction that grip me and steal the hours I should be sleeping quite like Designation:Miracle does. And for that, I must thank umisabaku, from the bottom of my heart.
Now see, I have never seen Kuroko no Basuke. I watched the first two episodes almost three years ago and quickly got bored. Not really sure why, to be honest, but it didn’t capture me the way other sports shows like Haikyuu!! and Yuri on Ice did.
But the day I read Don’t Blink Or You’ll Miss It, was the day all of that changed.
As a big Haikyuu!! fan, I of course read the Shouyou-centric fic before I started the main series, and boy did I fall in love! The world, the drama, the heart-wrenching moments of paranoia and trust and pure love- if I gave umisabaku a core strength, it’d be her ability to enchant her readers.
And from then on I was transfixed. I read all there was to read about Designation:Miracle- the few fics that had been uploaded at that point, all umisabaku’s asks and random posts on Tumblr. I thought about DM at night, thought about it while I was at work. It consumed me.
Every time a new fic in the series began, I was absolutely elated. I would wait week after week for updates, desperately checking my email every few hours so I couldn’t possibly miss one.
And when umisabaku offered to put readers’ OCs into one of the fics, I made my own.
I can’t remember a single story that has gotten me as hyped as Your Heart Ain’t Cold, and even if it sounds a little shallow, a huge part of that hype was the possibility that a character I created might be in the story. That a piece of myself, however small, might be in a world that I love.
And they were. I’m pretty sure I cried that day.
After that, the series took a turn into original character territory, and while maybe that turned off other readers, I was still transfixed. I had already fallen in love with Youji, with Masaomi, and I very quickly fell in love with Hinami and Shiori. I’m stoked to read umisabaku’s novel about them.
But then… with Youji and Masaomi’s story came the end of Designation:Miracle.
There’s no feeling quite like what comes when you turn the last page of a series you love.
It’s a strange mix of happiness and sadness, because you know every story deserves its happy ending. And though a part of you wishes it could go on forever, the rest of you knows that if it did, it would lose its charm, because the best stories are the ones that have a satisfying end.
I still think about Designation:Miracle, sometimes. I still daydream about it while I work, I still sit in my bed late at night, replaying my favorite scenes in my head until sleep finally takes me.
Designation:Miracle will always have a place in my heart, and for that, I want to say thank you.
Thank you, umisabaku, for this wonderful, intricate world you’ve crafted. Thank you for the love you instill in me through these characters and the love they have for each other. Thank you for the hope you give them, thank you for the fun they have, thank you for the time we’ve had.
Thank you for the happy ending you’ve given them, the happy ending you’ve given your readers.
