Madrugada
Some words cannot be translated. Some people don't need to be.
Author’s Note
Madrugada was born from a shared love of Studio Ghibli, moonlit streets, quiet conversations, and the kind of encounters that feel strangely destined.
As Quill and I wrote this piece together, we realized we weren’t just creating two characters. In some ways, we were writing ourselves into the story.
Like Quill and Kasu, we’re both fascinated by language, identity, and the strange vulnerability of trying to express yourself in words that don’t always feel like your own.
That idea eventually led us to record a voiceover together.
It’s imperfect, a little awkward, and occasionally hesitant—which feels appropriate for a story about finding your voice while speaking in someone else’s language.
It’s also my first voiceover on Substack.
Thank you for spending a little part of the night with us.
— Kasu & Quill
Madrugada
The Quantum Quill in regular, Kasu (small wounds) in italic
Press Play for the full experience🎵
Our Scene Unfolds
It’s a warm June night, there’s a soft breeze coming in from the waves. The moon casts its soft glow over the winding streets of a small port city in Spain.
Quill, a college foreign exchange student from the US with dark hair, is sitting alone on a bench by the water, while watching the waves solemnly. He reflects to himself.
There’s a party going on in the building across the street behind him, part of regular Spanish college nightlife.
Kasu, another college exchange student from Venezuela is standing in the doorway of the party laughing with another classmate and sharing a drink.
Kasu recognizes Quill from her class and sees that he is sitting alone.
QUILL:
Internal Monologue
This moonlight illuminates the movement of each individual wave as it is pushed ashore.
I feel like a wave too, pushed across the current of life.
A drop in the ocean, forever carried into the unknown.
Time feels fluid lately too.
Submerged, surrounded, yet I still remain separate.
…I came here with the intention to meet other people.
Maybe if I felt more comfortable talking.
There’s that other exchange student, Kasu.
She is really pretty, but I don’t know what I’d even say to her…
My Spanish would probably come out even less understandable than normal.
I’m probably too late anyway.
Must I be forever nervous that I will say the wrong thing?
KASU:
Internal Monologue
Quill is always alone.
I want to talk to him, but I’m not sure we’d understand each other.
Sometimes it feels like part of me gets lost in translation.
Like I can speak English, but not quite inhabit it.
Not the way I inhabit Spanish.
So I hesitate.
I always hesitate.
And yet, we keep exchanging glances.
The kind that seem to carry entire conversations.
KASU: “Hey, Quill. What are you doing out here by yourself?”
QUILL: “Oh hey, I didn’t see you there I mean, uh, Ah, hola. Por un momento, uhhh, no te vi”
KASU: “Don’t worry. I came out for some fresh air and saw you sitting here.”
He is taken aback.
QUILL: “Oh, I didn’t know you spoke English! How did you learn?”
KASU: “Yeah, I speak English.”
She smiles apologetically.
“At least, I try to.”
“Sorry about the accent.”
“I’ve been studying it since I was a kid, but sometimes it still feels like I’m borrowing someone else’s voice.”
QUILL: “Oh, I don’t mind! Actually, I think your voice sounds really pretty.”
He realizes what he just said and laughs nervously.
“I mean, I can tell from your accent you also aren’t from here. It’s different, but different doesn’t mean bad.
And I have always felt different too…
maybe for my whole life.
It makes it difficult to be myself. I don’t know if I’ll be understood or if this even makes sense…”
He trails off…
Quill’s Internal Monologue:
(Why did you just say all that?
She’s probably going to think you’re weird.
…Because you are.
You have always thought more deeply.
Others give you strange looks when you share too much about yourself.)
KASU: She blushes slightly.
She could tell they were both nervous.
Awkwardly, she looked away and let her gaze drift toward the full moon hanging above the harbor.
“Thanks. I think your Spanish is actually pretty good.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
“Maybe you’re just too hard on yourself.”
She paused.
“Although... I do the exact same thing.”
She lets out a soft laugh.
Kasu’s Internal Monologue:
What am I supposed to say now?
I want to keep talking to him, but I’m not sure how.
Not because I don’t have anything to say.
Quite the opposite.
There are too many things.
Too many questions.
Too many thoughts.
Too many versions of this conversation unfolding in my head at once.
And suddenly I’m painfully aware of every word before I even speak it.
QUILL: Quill turns and sees Kasu looking up at the moon.
Its beams of light reflect across her face’s gentle features.
There is a glint of silver on the edges of her eyelashes.
Her eyes hold a tenderness he has not seen before.
Quill feels his breath catch in his throat, with a barely audible gasp.
She is piercingly beautiful and while this close, he feels himself at a complete loss for words, as he struggles to remember to breathe.
He blurts out the only thing that he can think of in that moment:
“The moon looks beautiful tonight, doesn’t it.”
It is only then that he remembers what this means in the Japanese language.
It is a polite way of saying, I love you.
Quill’s eyes go wide, realizing what he may have just communicated.
He immediately overcorrects, stumbling over his own words too quickly.
“La luna, I mean the moon, uh, yes, si, it looks beautiful every night, especially up close like this with the water and everything. Its looked beautiful every night since I got here”
His face turns red as he realizes he is somehow only furiously digging himself deeper into this hole.
Quills internal monologue kicks in:
QUILL YOU IDIOT!
Do you realize what you just said!?
What if she puts two and two together!
She may never talk to you again!
And yes, it *is* YOUR fault!
At this moment, Quill realizes that despite all this, Kasu hasn’t responded.
He swallows, and then finally manages to say something else.
“What I mean is, it is really beautiful being out here and getting to see everything, all of this. The ocean, the waves… and the moon.
…And also, its really nice to finally meet you, Kasu.”
A second of waiting for her response feels like its own eternity.
KASU: Kasu watches him stumble over his explanation, each sentence somehow making the previous one worse.
The corners of her lips begin to twitch.
Then she laughs.
Not cruelly.
Not loudly.
Just enough to rescue him.
“I know what you meant.”
A pause.
“Well... I think I do.”
Her smile softens.
“And for what it’s worth, I think the moon looks beautiful tonight too.”
And for a moment, she lets the silence settle between them.
The waves roll gently against the harbor wall.
Music drifts faintly from the party across the street.
Neither of them moves.
Then she glances sideways at him.
“You know...”
A small laugh escapes her.
“I almost didn’t come over here.”
She lowers her eyes briefly.
“I kept trying to think of something clever to say.”
Another pause.
“And then I realized that if I waited for the perfect sentence, I’d probably never talk to you.”
She shrugs.
“So... here we are.”
Her gaze returns to the water.
“Besides...”
A smile.
“I think people sound more like themselves when they stop trying to get everything right.”
QUILL: Quill feels a wave of relief wash over him. It is though something has lifted itself off of his shoulders.
He also feels an inward sense of thrill, the pure unadulterated joy that comes when innocent love is reciprocated.
He shoulders untense and he hears himself exhale.
Things seem light suddenly as though a feather has been lifted gently in a warm wind.
He feels like he is soaring, sitting next to her under the celestial heavens.
“I’m really grateful you said something,” he says with a smile.
“Our minds have a way of getting in the way of what we want to say whenever there is fear of how we will be perceived. But now that I don’t feel afraid anymore, I feel like I can be myself with you.”
She watches the moon reflected in the water.
Then, almost absentmindedly, she says:
“A veces siento que hablo otro idioma incluso cuando hablo español.”
Quill blinks.
“I don’t think they’ve taught me that phrase yet...”
Kasu laughs softly.
“I’ll tell you when my English gets better.”
“But your English is good.”
She looks at him. His gaze lingers back, curiosity present.
For a second, neither of them looks away.
“Maybe.”
A smile.
“Or maybe I just haven’t found the right words yet.”
Quill smiles.
“I love when other languages put whole concepts into a term. Is there a word you wish existed in English?”
Kasu thinks for a moment.
“Madrugada.”
“What’s that?”
“The hours between midnight and sunrise.”
Quill nods.
“We have words for that.”
A small laugh escapes her.
“No. You have ways to describe it.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
He leans back against the bench.
“Then what is it?”
Kasu watches the moonlight shimmer across the harbor.
For a moment, she searches for the right words.
Then she gives up searching.
“Madrugada isn’t really a time.”
Quill glances toward her.
“It’s not?”
She shakes her head.
“It’s that strange part of the night when everything feels more honest.”
The waves lap quietly against the seawall.
“When people stop trying so hard to be who they’re supposed to be.”
A pause.
“When the city gets quieter.”
“When the world gets smaller.”
“When conversations somehow become easier.”
Quill smiles softly, closing his eyes, taking the moment in.
He will remember this forever.
“That sounds oddly specific.”
Kasu laughs.
“Maybe.”
She looks out at the water again.
“Or maybe the best conversations just happen during the madrugada.”
For a moment, neither of them speaks.
The music from the party drifts across the street.
The moon hangs above the harbor.
And somehow, neither of them feels any hurry to leave.
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Every quiet gesture helps.
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Nice. I must complain about the second-handed awkwardness I feel though, meaning you did it well.
This is lovely. The push and pull, the second-guessing, it all felt appropriately awkward and authentic. Love, Virg