NaKa

NaKa is the het ship between Naho Takamiya and Kakeru Naruse from the Orange fandom.

Alternative Timeline
Naho Takamiya and Kakeru Naruse are classmates and lovers. They first met when Kakeru transferred to Naho’s school from Tokyo and he joined her clique. The two got on very well early on and quickly developed feelings for each other. Whilst they had a good relationship, Kakeru’s severe depression proved to be a difficult block for them, but nonetheless they overcame it together thanks to the help of their friends. Before they met, Naho was given letters from her future self from a different timeline. These letters forewarn Naho about Kakeru and the serious events that will take place for him and her. Filled with regret for what transpired, which ended with Kakeru’s suicide, Naho’s future self wishes to avoid the same thing happening again. On that same day, Naho meets Kakeru for the first time and slowly builds her friendship with him.

Both of them are quite shy and reserved. They often struggle to initiate any serious interaction with each other and instead rely on the friends around them to instigate conversation. However, Kakeru does occasionally interact with Naho when given the opportunity, often putting on a delicate, but fake, smile when he talks to her. He proves to be attentive towards Naho, helping her out when she has hurt herself or needs help with a task. As Kakeru becomes a more prominent part of their friendship group, they both start to grow and develop feelings for each other. Due to the letters Naho received successfully predicting the events of each day, she resolves to make sure that Kakeru does not die in her timeline and does her upmost to do what the letters recommend her to do.

Soon, the events that the letters warned about start not to happen, as Naho is successfully having a more positive impact on Kakeru’s state of mind. He becomes more active in club activities, opens up to her about his mother’s recent suicide, and overall becomes closer with, not just her, but all their friends as well. Naho becomes a huge aid in Kakeru’s life as well, she starts to make him lunch at school and wakes up at 5am to make sure she can wake up Kakeru for his football practice. On his birthday she buys him a sports bag and is overjoyed to see him make use of it. Kakeru also becomes considerate of Naho, buying her a hairpin that she becomes fond of and becoming upset when his then girlfriend, Rio Ueda, knocks her to the ground, ultimately breaking up with her.

Their romantic involvement grows as well. Naho, despite her timid nature, becomes jealous and upset when Kakeru initially starts to date Ueda, even though she told him “no” when he asked for her opinion on whether he should date Ueda. Kakeru eventually breaks up with her, however, and spends more time with Naho, which in turn earns Ueda’s scorn. Gradually, the two open up about their feelings for each other, both admitting that, out of their friends, they would only want to date each other. Kakeru also tells Naho that he is in love with someone, but she is oblivious to the fact that he means her. The two start to go out more, they watched the fireworks together by the side of a pool as they held hands, and also went to a local festival. On his birthday, after asking for flowers from their friend, Suwa, Kakeru gives those same flowers to Naho before admitting his feelings to her, but added that he does not need an answer.

Despite their progress, however, Kakeru is still plagued with the difficulty of his depression. He tells Naho about how his mother committed suicide on the first day he arrived at their school because he chose not to go with her to the hospital so he could hang out with her and his new friends. This haunts and eats away at him as he constantly blames himself for his mother’s death. Naho empathises with the pain he feels and starts to tear up. She regrets not following the letter’s advice that specifically told her not to invite Kakeru out after school on the first day. Hearing this, Naho reaffirms her resolve to save Kakeru from his depression, wanting nothing more than to see him be truly happy, no matter the costs.

However, Naho struggles to carry this burden, as she is not sure how to approach Kakeru regarding his personal problems. It is only when her close friend, Suwa, reveals that he has also received a letter from his future self, telling him to help Kakeru and Naho be happy together, that she feels some of the insecurities lifted from her. Both Suwa and Naho then confront Kakeru and are able to convince him to talk to them about how he feels. It is here that Kakeru breaks and admits he is suicidal due to the regret for what he did. Naho then realises that Kakeru needs to know he is loved and finally admits to him that she is in love with him, tearfully asking him to not die. Later on, the others reveal to Naho that they also received letters from their future selves asking them to help support Naho and Kakeru. From then on, all of them work together to help Kakeru overcome his depression and for him to be with Naho, as they see her as being the only person who can truly save him.

Even though they have confessed to each other, they decided not to be in a relationship yet as neither felt it was right at that moment. Kakeru tries to explain to Suwa that he feels he would cause Naho too much pain because he might move away, but it is also possibly because suicide is still on his mind. He also tells Suwa that he believes Naho would be better off with him, but muses to himself if he was being truthful when saying that. Nonetheless, he still enjoys being around Naho and even held his hand out towards her as they left school, although she does not understand what he means by this which upsets him. Later, Naho is informed by her friends that Kakeru wishes to hold her hand and she starts to blush. When both of them are caught in the rain as they walk home from school they chose to dry off under some shelter in a park and decide to hold hands.

Their relationship grew further during the sporting festival at their school. Kakeru initially started the day despondent as he brooded over his mother not being there like all the other parents. He also admits to everyone that he feels he has no right to be happy knowing how his mother killed herself. The support of all of them, especially Naho, allowed him to accept that his mother would actually prefer him to be happy instead of seeing her son be miserable. After he successfully won the relay race with all of them, Naho decided to give him a bandage on his arm and Kakeru, obliging a promise he had made if he won the relay, kisses Naho on the cheek. Later, when going through the photos taken that day, Naho decides to keep a photo of Kakeru smiling, whilst Kakeru takes a photo of Naho during her cheerleading routine.

On New Year’s Eve, however, their relationship becomes fractured after Kakeru becomes upset at Naho for, in his mind, disregarding the well-being of his grandmother and minimising the unpredictability of his mother’s suicide. He ultimately asks her to leave him alone and she starts to cry. After encouragement from Suwa, assuring her that they will always be there to support the both of them, she decides to chase after Kakeru but cannot find him. When she tries to ring him he smashes his phone. Naho starts to become distressed that he has now closed his heart to her and she cannot do anything to help. Despite her best efforts, and even apologising, the rift between them remains. Kakeru becomes distant and repeatedly refuses her attempts to be with him, which eventually leads to Naho crying during class. Nonetheless, Naho persists and firmly tells Kakeru to wait until Valentines Day, resolving that even if it means he hates her forever, she still intends to make sure he does not die.

When Valentine’s Day arrives, Naho intends to give Kakeru chocolate she has made for him, but misses the first three chances to give it to him as instructed by the letter. On the fourth chance, Kakeru tries to leave school quickly which forces Naho to chase after him. She catches up to him and forces him to listen to what she has to say. In the letter, she was told to tell Kakeru what her future self had texted to Kakeru the day of his suicide. Naho explains how she is not hurt from what happened on New Year’s Eve, and instead believes she has hurt him. She explains how much it upsets her that they are not talking like they normally do and that she does not care if they fight or hurt each other, just so long as she can talk and be with him. She gives him a tearful apology and Kakeru wraps his scarf around her, apologising for running away from her because he feared he would continue to hurt her and she would hate him as a result, something he could not bear. He admits that all the times she tried to talk or be with him, he was overjoyed, but felt he was better off pushing her away. However, Naho firmly tells him that she wants to be with him regardless of how he might hurt her. The two then embrace and agree to start a relationship, with Naho finally giving Kakeru the chocolate she made.

Although their relationship is amended and the two start to spend more time together, particularly alone at lunch time where Kakeru finally tells Naho he loves her, she is still worried that he might commit suicide. Along with their friends, they all stay out into the night near Kakeru’s home to make sure he does not go out to kill himself like he did in the original timeline. However, as oppose to going out on his bike, as the letters stated, Kakeru goes out on foot instead after he reads the draft message his mum intended to send to him, before her suicide, where she apologises to him for her actions. Thankfully, however, they are all able to locate him as he is about to jump in front of a truck but he backs out at the last second when he thinks of Naho and his friends. It is here that Naho and the others tell him about the letters they received from the future and also give him letters sent from their future selves specifically to him. Kakeru realises there are people that love him and would be devastated if he were to die, which finally puts to rest his suicidal thoughts. Both he and Naho continue their relationship and, ten years later, are happily married with a child.

Original Timeline
Like the alternative time line, both Naho and Kakeru become good friends and develop feelings for each other. However, their relationship fails to take off and Kakeru falls into a deeper depression that causes him to take his own life. Naho is riddled with regret over her failure to save him and ultimately decides to take a chance on a black hole theory to try and create a timeline where Kakeru lives.

The two get on very well but are both shy and timid. As Kakeru becomes a bigger part of her group she develops feelings for him and he does the same. Unlike the alternative timeline, however, the two never confess these feelings and keep it to themselves. Still, their relationship does continue to develop and they spend some close moments together, such as watching the fireworks by the pool side, which Naho remembers with great fondness, and visiting the festival together. Naho was also equally distressed when she found out that Kakeru decided to date Ueda. But just like in the alternative timeline, Kakeru and Ueda separate following an argument they had when Ueda knocked over Naho.

Many things occur differently than in the alternative timeline that indirectly have an impact on Naho and Kakeru bonding. For one, he does not join his school’s football team, which means Naho never has any responsibility in waking him up. She never starts to make him lunch, as she did not think he was serious when he asked her to. Naho and her friends also missed his birthday and thus could not give him any gifts. They failed to talk to him about how he feels about his mother, with Naho never finding out she died on the opening day until much later, and they never stop him from visiting his old friends from Tokyo who unwittingly exacerbated his depression. During the sporting event, Kakeru blunders the relay race which shatters his attempt to get back up from his depression.

Because of these differences, Kakeru and Naho struggle to truly gain any momentum in their relationship. This eventually leads to Suwa telling Kakeru how he wishes to confess his own feelings for Naho, which Kakeru encourages him to do, although reluctantly so. When Kakeru joined Naho and the others on New Year’s Eve, he ended up arguing with Naho much the same way as in the alternative timeline. However, they never make amends and Naho never apologises to him. It was also on this night that Suwa confessed his feelings to Naho, which becomes an unintended block on their relationship developing. When it came to Valentine’s Day, Naho made chocolate specifically for Kakeru, hoping it would help heal their rift, but fails to actually give it to him and, at one point, Kakeru notices she is carrying chocolate and believes she is going to give them to Suwa.

With his depression now firmly gripping him, Kakeru becomes disillusioned with Naho, assuming that she, and the others, would not miss him too much if he was gone. The fact that Suwa would be there for Naho deepens this belief that he is not needed by them. A day after Valentine’s Day, after he reads the last text message his mum wanted to send him before she killed herself, Kakeru, in a highly emotional state, leaves his house and rides his bike after sending a text message to Naho apologising for his actions. He ponders about his regrets with his mum, wanting to see her again to apologise to her, and wonders what death would be like. He sees a truck coming towards him and opts not to avoid it. In his last moment, he thinks of Naho and asks himself who she wanted to give the chocolate to, but decides it doesn’t matter. The truck collides with him and he dies.

Kakeru’s death devastated Naho, leaving her a sobbing mess. She states that it was only thanks to Suwa that she was able to overcome the loss. Naho and the others, however, mistakenly assumed it was an accident, as that is what the official report into his death stated. It was only ten years later, when they opened up a time capsule they had buried together, that they read Kakeru’s letter and noted he did not think about his future, instead only of them. Their suspicions that he committed suicide were confirmed when they visited Kakeru’s grandmother and she revealed that Kakeru wished for his death to be reported as an accident. The regrets that Naho had over the loss of Kakeru amplified greatly, and the revelation by Suwa that Kakeru was in love with her added to those feelings. Whilst she still maintains that she would have married Suwa regardless if Kakeru had lived, it is clear she wishes things turned out differently.

After the group contemplate on their failure to save him, they all wish they could go back in time to do things differently. It is here that they discuss the possibilities of such a thing. When the idea of a black hole in the Bermuda Triangle piques their interest, they decide to write letters to their past selves and send it into the ocean on the off chance there is a black hole. Although, when faced with the possibility that they cannot undo their own reality, and that only two results are possible, they either create a paradox where nothing happens, or they create a whole new timeline unrelated to their own, Naho wishes to still send out the letters. As although she will still carry her regrets for her failure with Kakeru, she hopes to create a timeline where Kakeru is happy and they are together. This decision sets in motion the events of the alternative timeline.

Fanon
The ship between Naho and Kakeru is extremely popular amongst the Orange fandom. Many view their relationship as built on a necessity for one another, that in particular, that Kakeru needs Naho in his life to help him cope with his grief. The torturous events in his adolescence endear fans towards Kakeru and hope he can be happy, and Naho’s selfless nature and determination to help Kakeru through the difficult time he is in made fans want them to be happy with each other.

However, a prominent rival to the pair is Naho and Suwa, with the two having been married in the original timeline. Some fans actually prefer to see Naho and Suwa together instead as they felt Suwa gave up so much for Naho’s happiness, at the cost of his own. The role he played, and the lengths he went to, just to try and make them both happy made many fans upset that Suwa did not get what he wanted, which was Naho. This fact has even affected shippers of Naho and Kakeru, who also cannot help but feel sad for Suwa.

Fandom
FAN FICTION