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I am walking down a familiar school corridor that looks a lot like the corridor from my old school. I see various people them facing me as I walk past.

‘Why do none of these people have a face? This means I'm in another nightmare right?

I would think so, except the Grim and Shiori are nowhere to be seen. I continue to walk down the corridor and see every faceless student looking towards me, which is starting to get on my nerves.

Seeing more of the faceless people looking towards me causes me to explode, saying “Yes, I am still Alive! And thank you all for visiting me while in the hospital!”

“You always know how to make others welcome, don’t you” A voice says from behind me.

I turn around and stand face to face with an old friend of mine; Hiroto.

Before I get a chance to greet him, Hiroto crosses his arms and says “So you have finally come to see Miyu. Such a shame she doesn't want to see you.” He leans to his left, as if looking past me. “Isn't that right Miyu?”

I turn my head and see Miyu standing behind me with an apologetic look on her face. I turn the rest of my body to face her. I start to open my mouth to speak to her, but I hear Hiroto start to issue some sort of threat. He gets halfway through it before his voice just stops. I start to turn my head to see why he stopped, but then I hear a familiar female voice call out my name causing me to freeze. The female walks into my field of vision, and I see her long orange hair. Everything around the two of us seems to disappear. She turns to face me and stares straight at me with her normally grey eyes. Her right eye has a jagged scar placed vertically across it and that eye is milky white. It makes me think of what my scar would look like.

The female, Shiori, smiles at me before saying “Welcome to my world, Ryuunosuke. In this world, I wasn’t able to recognise anyone, not until my beloved - you - came along. I'm glad you did.” She gives me an even bigger smile before giving me a tight hug.

Normally, the feeling of her hugging me would be nice, but this time it sends a cold chill down my spine and prevents me from moving.

“I’m glad you were finally able to say something that was on your mind too. I am so sorry for what I need to do next.” Her smile fades, and she looks upset instead.

She looks up at me before she stands on her tiptoes, kisses me on the lips and puts her hand on my right shoulder. As her hand touches me, I feel a shot of pain followed by a blinding white light from Shiori.

I wake up and notice that it is pitch back and that I am in cold sweats. I feel that my bed seems a little harder than when I went to sleep. I look around as my eyes quickly adjust to the darkness and discover I’m on the floor. Moving my arms to pick myself up, I feel a shot of pain in my right shoulder, just like that dream I had. I assume the pain came from hitting the floor when I fell out. I manage to pick myself up, ignoring the pain, sit on my bed and let the shoulder pain subside while I think about the dream.

After a while I notice I don’t feel tired, so it would be pointless trying to go back to sleep, but I can’t stay in this room for several more hours. I stand up from my bed and walk to the window to look out. I see some light scarcely lighting up the dark grounds. This gets me thinking about what walking around the campus would be like at night. I decide to go on a nighttime stroll partially to waste some of the few hours I have left before the classes are starting.

I pick out some clothes to wear, put them on and then walk out the door, locking it behind me. As I walk along the corridor, it feels eerily quiet. I get to the stairs and proceed to walk down and then to the doors to the outside. As I open those doors, I am hit with the cool fresh air.

As I walk around, I start to hear quickened footsteps not belonging to me. My first thought is that as this is a boarding high school, there would be security guards placed around. I am surprised I forgot that the brochure happened to mention that until now. I spy a pillar that is big enough for me to hide behind and head towards it.

Once behind it, I cautiously look around, and instead of seeing any kind of security guard I spot the silhouette of a person running. The silhouette passes each light before disappearing from view. I can hear the footsteps get more quiet but not totally vanish. I start to step out from my position, but I see another shape, one I don’t recognise either. This one runs in the same direction as the other one and judging by the sounds, this one is lighter on their feet.

‘This late and Yamaku is still active? What do these people take?’

I shake the thought from my head as I look to see if there are any more night owls. After checking, I decide it will be safer to retire back to my room as my luck will soon run out otherwise. As I pass a light, I see what looks like Shiori with angel wings with red and black tips. I turn my head so I am looking directly at where the image appeared, but there is nothing there. Part of me hopes that was just my eye playing tricks on me.

***

I get back to my room and undress before getting into my bed. Hopefully that late-night excursion will help me sleep. I lie in the bed, but my efforts to fall asleep prove futile as I still don’t feel even the slightest bit tired. I lie here for what feels like an hour or two before I completely give up on sleeping this night.

I get up and look out my window; I notice it has gotten lighter. I redress myself and decide to risk another walk outside. With daylight on the horizon, I stop to look at the sky, at the red sunrise forming.

After a few minutes I decide to go to the nurse’s office to try find a way to fix my sleep problems. I start to walk towards the auxiliary building and as I approach it, a person with a slightly odd walk comes out.

“Ahh, so you’re the new guy that my class has been talking about. My name is Akahito,” the person says, bowing after saying his name, before continuing “Welcome to Yamaku, I’d like to stay and chat but one of my friends needs my help.”

Akahito then walks off.

‘He knew straight away I'm new here? Do I really stand out?’

“Yen for your thoughts?” I hear a voice say. I look up and see I have arrived at the nurse’s office. The door is open with the nurse looking at me.

“Sorry, I was daydreaming,” I reply.

“You think Yamaku is that dreamy?” the nurse asks.

I can’t tell if he is asking as a joke or not. After a few seconds the nurse, who was obviously waiting for me to reply to his question, beckons me into the office.

I enter the office and sit on the same seat I was on yesterday. Nurse then takes his seat and spins it, stopping when he is face to face with me, just like in one of those western secret agent movies where they reveal the obvious bad guy.

‘If only you had a white cat that you could stroke.’

“Now then, what can I do for you in these early hours of the morning?” The nurse asks me, bringing me back to the real world.

“Since I got taken to hospital because of my eye injury, I have had problems sleeping” I reply, leaving the part about my dreams out. “Before then I was very active, my katana training being the main thing.”

Nurse strokes his chin as he listens. “Were there any other activities you took part in?”

I think back to what else I did. “I biked to and from my last school, and I used to run during middle school. I stopped the running about five years ago.”

Nurse turns his chair so he is looking at his desk and pulls out a file - I’m assuming mine - before opening and reading it. He puts the file on his desk and looks back at me before asking “What would you say if I prescribed you sleeping tablets for your sleep issues?”

I let out a dry chuckle and reply “I would say yes, but tablets always get stuck in my throat.”

“You don’t make this easy for me,” Nurse says before letting out a slight chuckle.

My thoughts are suddenly drawn to those two people I barely saw running last night, prompting me to ask nurse “What physical activities does Yamaku have that I could take part in?”

Nurse appears to think for a moment before replying “So you want to physically tire yourself? There are several, including running and swimming. There is a student who cycles on the track. Doesn’t do his prosthetics that much good however,” That last part, being spoken quieter, seems to be more directed to himself than to me.

“I think cycling with no depth perception may be a bad mix,” I say as I let out a slight chuckle followed by one from the nurse. “When I ran for my middle school, I never felt like I was putting 100% effort into it, and that is one of the reasons I stopped.”

Nurse nods his head. “Are you able to swim?”

I nod my head and Nurse turns his chair away from me to face his desk. I see him grab a pen and start writing something.

‘I'm not sure why knowing how to swim would be relevant for my medical notes, but then again I'm not a doctor.’

Nurse then turns back to me, and I see him holding a page with some words written on it.

‘I guess he wasn’t writing in my file.’

I must have a look of confusion on my face because the nurse then says “This is for you to give to the lifeguard on duty in the swimming pool if you do decide to swim.” I open my mouth to ask something but he continues. “Your lack of depth perception won’t affect swimming, unless you swim too fast into the wall.” He smiles before continuing. “Your eye shouldn't suffer any problems with the water in the pool, if you’re wondering that.”

Nurse then passes me the note. I stand up to get ready to leave thanking him. As I exit the room, he says something I can’t completely make out.

As I walk along the corridor and outside, I take a look at the note the nurse gave me and see barely intelligible writing, I think I can make out my name and the word swimming. I take a look at my watch and see I still have plenty of time before class are supposed to start. I may as well at least try out swimming. Now, do I have any swimming trunks in the bag I haven’t unpacked yet?

A/N:
- Yuuko doesn’t appear in this chapter as I couldn’t get my portrayal of her to a level which I felt was right, if you have any advice on how to do that, please tell me .
- “The Scarred One” is a reference to a dragon in Dragonheart that Draco mentions.
- Thank you to Mirage_GSM for his proof-reading of this chapter.

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whizzes past my father and I.

past my father and ME.

“Before there are any more distractions, let us part ways. I will take the right path with all four of your bags, to your dorm room once I find the dorm keeper while you take the left path into the main building so you can get all the details for your classes.”

That MAY be intentional but his father's language is more stilted than Lt. Cmdr. Data's...

I start to find it hard to breath.

breathe

I think to wonder what may have caused it this time

It feels that like it has subsided

...
Actually this is a bit much to correct in a forum post. If you want me to proofread for you, put this up on Google docs and write me a PM...

Just two remarks on the content:
1. Miyagi is female (2nd page)
and 2.

“See you tomorrow.”

Japanese schools have afternoon lessons.

Mirage_GSM wrote:- snip -

I've addressed the ones you've listed, thank you.

Mirage_GSM wrote:Japanese schools have afternoon lessons.

Heh, that was an oversight during writing and my own proof-reading. Weird considering next chapter has Ryuunosuke going to lessons after lunch. I may have confused myself with how my school worked in England where you don't always have the same students in each class.

Current Chapter Word Count: 5,482
Chapter 1-4 Word Count: 17,717
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Act 1, Chapter 4: The Swimming Pool

While walking along the main corridor inside the male dormitory, I get the feeling that it has somehow gotten longer, even though I was here less than an hour ago. I reach my door, unlock it and enter. As I do so, I hear someone locking or unlocking what sounds like multiple locks from one of the rooms I just passed. I doubt I’m the reason for the the person locking or unlocking whichever door that is as I have been told I walk surprisingly quietly.

Closing my door behind me, I shake the thought from my head just as another thought enters. I wonder if I even have a pair of swimming trunks here, I don’t remember seeing any when I was unpacking earlier. I take a quick look around my room and immediately spot an unopened box. I walk to it before opening it to find it is full of clothes. Seeing as I don’t remember seeing any trunks earlier, then they should be in this box...

I pull one of my hoodies out, revealing a pair of trunks with a towel below them. I start to look for a bag to take with me before remembering that I took it out earlier. I scan my room and quickly find the bag in a corner of the room. I put the trunks and towel in the bag before exiting the room to go to the pool.

***

I enter the auxiliary building and walk down the corridor. I see a sign for the male changing rooms, and I begin to wonder how big the pool would be here. Opening the door, I see the room isn’t as different from normal changing rooms as I was expecting, save for the wider aisles and some sort of half-soft rubberised honeycomb material on the floor. I assume it’s some sort of anti-slip thing. I start to get changed into my swimming trunks and remember the note the nurse gave me is still in my pocket. I take it out and place it next to my bag before resuming my changing. Once I’m done, I zip my bag up and proceed to the other end of the room with note in hand.

I turn the corner that’s up ahead and arrive at the door to an office. I knock before slowly opening it. Once it’s partially open I see a male sitting in front of a desk overlooking the pool room. The man’s attention slowly drifts to me his face showing signs of slight confusion. I watch as his eyes lower to my chest. Confused for a second, I remember the scars on my chest aren’t the nicest thing to look at. My hand instinctively covers the worst part of the scars as my self-consciousness towards them rears its head. The man asks me my name which I tell him followed by me passing him the note. He takes it and is able to read it, something that I couldn’t do due to nurse’s handwriting. He reaches for a phone on his desk. Putting it to his ear, he dials some numbers before speaking “Hello, Rakujochigusa?”

As the person starts speaking into the receiver, I start to hear the sound of someone singing, from the direction of the only other door in this corridor; the pool’s direction. From where I stand I have a bad view, so I can’t tell who it is, except that they’re female and they’re singing in a different language… English possibly? I’m not sure if it’s the voice or the song itself, but there is something calming about what I’m hearing.

The voice is drowned out when I hear the man calling my name, “Shibanuma, you may join Sakurai in the pool.

”Okay, and thank you” I politely reply.

I start walking to the entrance of the pool room. This is the direction the singing is coming from, too. I open the door and immediately see the pool is bigger than what I was expecting. The singing is still present, complete with a slight echo, assumably from the room’s design. As I slowly look around the room, I notice the singing coming to a stop. My head turns to the far side of the pool where I can see a girl with long brown hair far away from me, in the water leaning against the pool’s edge. Looking through the water’s clear surface, I can see she is wearing a light blue one-piece swimsuit with white accents. Something about her seems familiar. She seems to be resting and I feel like I should perhaps announce myself but something is stopping me. I stay stood in this doorway watching her. After some time I hear her let out a sigh. She slowly spins round and freezes when she sees me before letting out a gasp.

’Maybe I should have announced myself beforehand?

“Err, sorry for startling you.” I apologise, making my voice a bit louder than normal in order for it to reach her on the far side of the pool.

The girl replies in a nervous tone. It maybe due to the acoustics of the room, distance or the quietness of her voice but I barely hear her nervously reply “It’s… It’s alright, you j- just surprised me,”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Your singing distracted me,” I sheepishly say.

“Y- you heard that?” she replies, looking shocked. I’m not sure why though.

“Yeah, It was nice, although I don’t know what you were singing” I admit to her.

She offers a small smile before she slowly starts pushing herself away from the edge of the pool and starts swimming towards me. I see she is swimming using only her arms. I then realise why she seemed familiar, she was the one in the wheelchair yesterday.

She soon reaches my side of the pool and rests her arms one this pools edge. Then she looks up at me with her purple eyes and I say “it was a nice song, although I don’t know which language it was in.

and says “The song I was singing was in English, my parents used to love it, my sister and c- cousin hate it though.”

”Used to?” I wonder why they don’t now.

“Y- You’re here to swim right? The w- water is warm,” the girl says. “Y- You can swim, right?”

“Hmm, to an extent, yes,” I answer as I walk the small distance to the pool’s edge before sitting and dipping my legs into the water. The first thing I notice is that it is cooler than I was expecting.

“I thought you said it was warm?” I comment, looking at her.

“It w- will be once you’ve gone underwater,” The girl answers, offering an encouraging, yet nervous smile.

I’m not so sure about that, but I might as well give it a try.

I slide my bottom off the edge and cause my whole body to go into the water with her watching. As the water touches all of my body, I feel the wave of cold water wash over me, causing me to scramble out of the pool and onto the edge

“T- That’s freezing!” I cry out, teeth chattering.

I start hearing girlish laughter from my side, and I look to see her laughing and smiling.

After a little while, she is able to stifle her laughter to the point where she can speak, “S- Sorry, I didn’t realise it was cold. Plus, you weren’t meant to jump s- straight in.”

“T- Then what was I meant to do, miss… err, what’s your name?” I ask, realising we haven’t said our names.

Smiling, she answers, “Just slowly lower yourself in. Your body will get used to it that way, and my name’s Sakurai, Akemi Sakurai.”

“Ryuunosuke Shibanuma. Wouldn’t doing that cause your feet and legs to freeze-“ I stop myself - slightly too late however.

Showing no signs of disgust at my gaffe, she answers, “I wouldn’t know, I- I have no feeling below my knees.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologise.

“Don’t be, you weren’t the one who destroyed the nerves. Do you want to try getting in the pool again? But this time slower?” Akemi asks, with a slightly cheeky smile.

I guess causing her to laugh broke the proverbial ice. The ice was almost literal judging by the coldness though.

“Um, R- Ryuunosuke?” I hear Akemi calling my name, “Yasuko may call me beautiful, b- but could you please stop staring at me?”

Was I? Oops. No idea who that is, but okay.

“Sorry, I got distracted,” I say.

Probably not the best use of words there.

Looking at, but not staring at Akemi, I notice her gaze is slightly below my head. I then realise she’s looking at my chest - my scarred chest.

My arm automatically goes up to covers them as my say “Please ignore these scars.”

Her gaze is now at my face as she apologises. I seize this chance to start lowering myself into the cold pool again. It doesn’t feel as bad, going in slowly compared to going all in quickly. Eventually most of me, most importantly my chest, is under the water, although I am nearly sitting on the pool floor.

I look to Akemi as she asks “Why are you here anyway, Ryuunosuke?”

I thought it’d be obvious?

“Because of my eye.”

Letting out a small sigh, Akemi says “Not Y- Yamaku, in this pool.”

Ah, that makes more sense.

“I struggle to get to sleep if I haven’t done any kind of exercise. The nurse suggested several exercise activities, and swimming caught my interest, so I’m here,” I explain. “If you want to be alone, I can come at another time. “

“You can stay,” Akemi says, “The o- only other person here is the lifeguard,” she points in the direction of the doorway. “He can be quite boring, though.” She smiles, but not towards me.

“You know I can hear you.” We hear a voice call out. I suddenly look towards the sound and see the lifeguard standing in the doorway looking at us. I can’t quite make out his expression due to the wall light next to him.

That’s who she was smiling at.

Akemi calls out in a playful tone, almost sing-a-long like. “I know.”

Akemi smiles at the lifeguard until he walks back into his office overlooking the pool. While she is looking at the lifeguard, I notice her smile is rather beautiful. I start walking in the water and after a few steps I turn round and start walking backwards. I see Akemi is giving me a curious look. I give her a look of my own to match.

“You said you can swim right? How well can you do that, Ryuuno?” Akemi asks.

Ryuuno… there was only one person who called me that.

“Do you not like that name?” Akemi asks.

I guess she saw my face fall with that name.

“It’s not the name… It’s just that my last girlfriend called me that before… she parted.” I notice Akemi blushes slightly. “As for swimming... Does the doggy paddle count?”

Akemi lets out a laugh which she quickly covers. “Sorry, I think the doggie paddle would count. I can swim using only my arms when I so desire, other times I do use my legs.”

She then pushes off of the pool’s edge she’s on and begins swimming, even in the waist high water. As she swims with her arms, she moves her smooth slender legs. Her ankles seem to have something wrapped around them. I would say something but it doesn’t seem to be hindering her.

Before I know it, she has reached the other side of the pool and is turned around facing me with her arms on the pool’s edge behind her.

“I- Is there something on my back or d-do you just like watching girls swim?” Akemi teases in a seemingly nervous tone.

Before I have a chance to react to her comment, she apologises. “Sorry, I think I’ve been around Yasuko too much.”

I start wading my way from the shallow end of the pool to the deep end, as the water reaches just below my neck I stop and ask, “Who is Yasuko?”

“Best friend, sister, cousin, she’s everything. Always willing to help me when I need it - and also when I don’t. She came to Yamaku with me,” she replies with some force behind her words.

Seeing as I am at the furthest point I can walk in the pool I guess I need to show off my swimming skills, or lack thereof. I start to swim, without any elegance and with a lot of splashing. I steadily make my way towards the deep end where Akemi is. After finally reaching the end, I notice my breathing has grown heavy. I also hear some sort of muffled sound to my side. I look over and see Akemi appears to be trying to stifle her laughter. Looking towards her seems to have been the catalyst that causes her to lose control as she starts laughing. Her laughter, however, doesn’t last She lets out a gasp as her face drops..

Concerned, I ask “What’s wrong?”

“Y- you’re eye, it’s b-bleeding!” she cries out in a worried voice.

Bring my hand to my left eye, I wipe around and on the eye with my hand. I then look at the hand and sure enough, there’s a small amount of blood mixed in with drops of water from my previous splashing. I let out a sigh and look at Akemi before offering a smile before telling her “Don’t worry, this happens often, the doctors say it’s harmless, although annoying at times”

Akemi nods, still with a concerned look on her face.

“I- If you say so.” She asks.

I pull on the pool’s edge, lift myself out of the pool and wait for the bleeding to stop.

After a short while, I look down and recheck my eye to see if my Haemolacria has stopped and I find it has. I look up back at Akemi who asks “You’re the new p- person in my year right?”

“Yes, I started yesterday,” I respond, “and already having sleep issues,” I follow up in a smaller voice.

“I k- knew it was you, me and Yasuko saw yesterday,” She says with an underlying excited tone.

Yesterday? I guess she means when I was lost and walked straight past them.

Smiling, Akemi says “I think w- we’d better do some swimming, the lifeguard i-is at the doorway and he is starting to look unhappy.”

I look round and see he is in the doorway, arms folded.

What exactly is his issue? Could it be because of the time of the morning?”

We start swimming, and Akemi is clearly faster than me, although she is using her upper legs this time. Her lower legs seem to trail behind her like dead weight. After we do a few more laps, each ending with Akemi waiting for me at each end, my muscles start to feel different. I guess that is because swimming uses some muscles I don’t normally use. I reach the end of the current lap, and Akemi is waiting for me.

“Having fun Ryuunosuke?” Akemi asks with a smile on her face. I guess she likes swimming more than the average person.

“Yes, I am actually,” I reply. I actually am, save for this feeling in some of my muscles. I then realise her stutter has disappeared.

I guess she was a little uneasy when I first got here.

“Good,” she simply says before pushing her arms off the edge of the pool and swimming. This time however, I don’t follow as I suddenly struggle to breathe. I immediately put my arms on the top of the pool’s edge and transfer as much weight to them as I can, so I exert less energy. I then close my eyes and focus on my breathing while hearing the sound of Akemi swimming. A while passes, and my breathing is back to normal when I reopen my eyes, I look around and see Akemi is next to me, looking at me with worried eyes.

“Er, hi,” I simply say.

“Are you alright?” she asks, worry sounding in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m just not used to swimming, so my muscles got tight.” I answer.

“It’s bad to overexert yourself the first time Ryuunosuke. Y- You wouldn’t want to get injured. P- Please don’t overexert yourself next time.” Akemi says, a tiny bit of red showing on her cheeks.

“I’ll try my best although I’ll be more likely to drown than to injure myself.” I say, jokingly.

I feel like I may have just stepped onto a landmine as I notice Akemi’s smile drop.

I am about to apologise for any implications my joke made, but Akemi beats me by changing the subject. “You were lost yesterday when you passed me and Yasuko, weren’t you?”

Akemi’s question makes me let out a little quiet sigh.

“Yes, I was trying to find the cafeteria, and I think I went in every room in the building before I found it,” I reply.

“We thought so. You were walking into a dead-end corridor. I r- remember because once we had left the floor, Yasuko c- complimented y- your scar.”

“Really? Sounds like a nice friend.” I say with a small smile on my face from the second hand compliment.

Akemi smiles more before saying “Yasuko is more than a friend; one of the two people I trust anything with. She is always bugging me for whe-,” Akemi’s eyes go wide as she cuts herself off before saying “Ignore that please.”

I wonder what she was going to say. Whatever it was, she obviously wasn’t meant to say it.

“I need to get out of the pool now, could you move back a bit please?” Akemi asks. I oblige and move back, still next to the edge though. I watch as Akemi pushes up on the overflow gutter-thing pushing herself under the water. My eye follows her shimmering body as she goes deeper and as it looks like she’s reached the bottom, she appears to push from the bottom of the pool shooting herself up, breaking the water’s surface. As she breaks the surface, her hands make a grab for the top of the pools edge and she somehow manages to pull and twist her body so that the next moment she is sitting on the edge of the pool looking at me.

’How was she able to do that so easily? I can completely move my legs and I doubt I could do that.

Akemi sees my surprised face and asks “Are you alright Ryuunosuke?”

“Uh, yeah. Just surprised that you are able to do that, I doubt I could.” I reply. Akemi just smiles at me, a bit of red appearing on her cheeks.

Looking slightly down, but with a visible smile on her face, Akemi says “You should have seen the bruises from when I first tried it.”

“Is there any reason why you got out of the pool Akemi?” I ask, curious.

“It’s been about an hour since my last rest, y- you should get out too so we r- rest at same time in the next hour. It’s also a good idea seeing as you were overexerting yourself, it will give you time to recover.” Akemi replies, a smile upon her face.

I can’t argue against that, especially the last part, so I grab the edge and pull myself out, not as easily as Akemi did though.

After her statement, there are a few moments of silence, save for the low buzz of a filtration system. “Now that we’ve rested, ready to continue s- swimming, Ryuunosuke?”

Akemi straightens her thighs and allows her body to slide into the pool. She ends up going under the water but quickly resurfaces. She looks at me with a smile and asks “R- Ready to learn how to s- swim?”

I nod and slide into the pool the same way she did. For the next hour, Akemi and I do laps at a slower pace. Initially she is swimming as slow as I, trying to get me to change how I swim to be more efficient. As the hour draws on, Akemi starts to get slightly faster, almost as if she’s trying to get me to go faster. Akemi is quite fast, even for a paraplegic, well… a partial paraplegic.

***

The hour draws to an end, and I am resting at the deep end of the pool after having done laps upon laps. Akemi is nearing the shallow end of the pool. I decide to join her there so I start swimming. After an hour and with help from Akemi, my swimming is better. I get to about halfway across the pool, and I look to see where Akemi is. I see she has reached the shallow end and is using her arms to get up. As I’m not focusing on my new swimming pattern, I accidentally go under the water, but I quickly resurface and focus on my swimming until I start to feel the pool floor beneath my feet. Once my feet are on the floor, I start wading the rest of the way as I look towards Akemi who is now in a wheelchair. I notice she is bending down, and as I draw closer I see she is removing some straps that are wrapped around her ankles. As they’re removed by her, I see red marks where they were. She then sits back up and I see some quite bad looking slightly curved scars around both her kneecaps and extending a bit lower on her right leg. How scarred are the top of her legs?

“Is something wrong Ryuunosuke?”

I hear Akemi ask. I look from her legs to her face and see she is looking at me. “No, sorry Akemi.”

Akemi just stares at me for a few seconds as though she’s judging me. She then asks “W- will you be h- here again tomorrow?”

Thinking for a second, I answer. “Most likely, I need to do some sort of strenuous activity so I can sleep at night. What about you Akemi?” I offer a smile afterwards.

“M- Me?” Akemi seems surprised by my turnaround, “I- I’m always here I- in the morning. I’ve always loved swimming, even before I stopped being a- able to use my legs.” She then leans forward again and puts her arms on her shins. I’m pretty sure I just saw a flicker of sadness in that smile of hers.

***

[Continued]

*Akemi’s P.O.V*

I wheel myself away from the auxiliary building and towards the girls’ dorms. On my way, I push on the bars on my wheels to make myself go faster before I let it coast for quite a bit further than normal. I see the ramp I need to go up quickly approaching. I try to gain speed with my arms, but as soon as I hit the ramp I lose all the speed I gained, so now it is crawling up. Thankfully the doors at the end of the ramp open. The person who opened the doors turns out to be Kaiya, still with her black and red-tipped hair. I remember her saying she was going to change that. I’m glad she’s remembered to have her nasal cannula in.

“Hey Akemi. Need any help?” She calls out once she sees me, a smile on her face. Her plan for her boyfriend must have worked. Seeing me struggling, even after two years here, she doesn’t wait for me to answer before walking behind my wheelchair and pushing.

“Thank you Kaiya.” I say. I expect her to let go once we’re at the top but she doesn’t. She presses the automatic door open button and pushes me inside.

“You didn’t injure your legs again with your stunt, showing off?” Kaiya asks me, a slightly mocking tone in her voice.

I close my eyes and let out a groan before opening my eyes and replying. “No, please forget that. I still have Yasuko teasing me about ‘The Mysterious Blood’.”

“Best be careful when you’re showing off to cute boys.” Kaiya quips, causing me to snap my head to her.

“W-what do you mean?”

Damn, the stuttering.

Kaiya looks at me with a mischievous smile before replying slowly. “After I woke up and went to the common room, Ayane was there and said that as she was racing after Miki, she caught sight of the new guy in the third year trying to hide himself from them. She also said she saw him again walking to the auxiliary building with a bag. I don’t need to look at you to know you’re thinking of him, and blushing,” A smile big smile creeps on her face, “You have a crush on him, right? What would Yasuko say, Akemi?”

Yasuko would probably try to kill hi- what?

“N-No Kaiya, of course not! I’ve only just met him.” I instantly say back.

Before I know it, we’ve arrived outside a door. I reach out and knock on it, and almost immediately it is answered. The door opens to reveal a girl with orange braided hair over one of her shoulders and pinkish eyes.

’How long before Kaiya tells Yasuko about my pool visitor.

“Hello you two, come in. I thought you were going for a walk Kaiya?” Yasuko says as she walks across her messy room and sits on her bed. Kaiya pushes me to the bed before she sits on it. As we enter I notice the room has a fruitier smell than normal.

Kaiya smiles and then tells Yasuko “I was, but as I got to the entrance I started to get out of breath.” Her saying this causes me to look at her sharply .

She was out of breath, and she pushed me all the way to Yasuko room?

Kaiya seemingly ignores the look I’m giving her as she tells Yasuko what little information she knows about my visitor to the pool. Curious, I listen and find out that apparently, he’s good with a katana. I guess not good enough, considering his eye. My thoughts are driven towards Ryuunosuke and his eye. Weirdly I like the scar that cuts across it, even if he can’t see out of that eye.

“-must be thinking of him now.” I vaguely hear Kaiya say, bringing me out of whatever state I’m in. I let out a sigh.

She knew?

“N-No I’m not! Plus I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m odd.” I protest.

“We go to a school for the disabled, of course we’re odd,” Yasuko quips. “What did you do?”

I meekly reply “I tried to act l-like you two but I kept slipping and stuttering.”

“Did you show him your trick?” Kaiya asks.

“My jumping out of the pool one, yeah. I did forget he was there when I did it though. He did stare. He said he was surprised that I could do it.”

“I’m pretty sure he enjoyed that,” Kaiya says with a smirk on her face.

I look at Yasuko who appears to be angrily staring at her. Kaiya looks at her and smiles before they both look at me.

Why me?

“I hope he isn’t planning anything,” Yasuko says, a menacing look appearing on her face.

I silently groan hoping Yasuko won’t do anything.

Suddenly there’s a very male sounding groan coming from Yasuko’s bed causing the three of us to look at it. As I quickly turn my head, I feel my neck click followed by a weird sensation. Ignoring it, I turn my head to the now bright red Yasuko and whisper “Y- You didn’t…”

I catch a view of Kaiya’s face which seems to be wearing a smug look.

***
*Ryuunosuke's P.O.V*

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

As I walk next to Lilly around Yamaku, I notice a rhythmic tapping sound coming from her direction. I turn my head to the left, where she is and see the tapping is in time with her cane. I feel the wind rushing past my face. Lilly’s cane’s tapping starts to get louder. I turn my head again to look at Lilly and see she is facing me, but she has something missing; her head is completely blank where her face is meant to be. I am about to speak out-.

*BANG*

Jolting upright, I accidentally shout out “Ahh!”

This gets some laughter as I gather my surroundings. As I do, I realise I’m at Yamaku and Shiori isn’t here. I look round and see the classmates who are laughing while others seem to be as surprised as I am. I hear a female in front of my desk clear her throat. I look forward and see Miyagi is standing in front of my desk with a thick book that wasn’t there before.

’I guess that’s what caused the bang.

Looking at her face, she is wearing a disapproving look on her face. Sheepishly, I utter an apology and her response is for me to meet her outside the class. She looks up at who I assume is the class helper and tells him to cover for a few minutes before signalling me to get up and follow her out of the room. I do so, and as I cross the threshold, she closes the door.

Miyagi looks at me with a stern look “Shibanuma, first, I’m sorry for having to resort to using the book to wake you up, but my tapping on the desk wasn’t working.”

’So that explains the tapping in the dream

Unaware of my thoughts, Miyagi continues. “What was the reason for you falling asleep in my class?”

“I’m sorry. I, uh, hardly got any sleep last night, so I went to the Nurse who suggested swimming. I did that and swam this morning. I guess it backfired.”

The look on her face softens as she asks “Is the lack of sleep because you’re starting a new school?”

“Maybe,” is my only response. I’d rather not talk about these nightmares I get.

“Changing schools is always a challenge, no matter how well you’re prepared for it, emotionally and physically. Seeing as this is only your second day of school, I won’t give you a punishment, but I will have too if it becomes a regular thing.”

I nod my head to signal I understand. Just as well she doesn’t seem to be an overly strict teacher. She smiles and says “Good, then back into class we go.”

Opening the door, Miyagi signals for me to go in first which I do. Everyone turns their heads in my direction, and a few of them follow as I take my seat between Masahiro and Lilly. After taking my seat, I look to see if Miyagi is at her desk, and I suddenly hear a male voice quite close to my left ear causing me to jump a bit. “I hope everything is okay, Shibanuma. Sorry for startling you.”

Turning my head to see the person on my blind side, I see a young man, possibly only a few years older than myself kneeling next to me with a small look of concern on his face. “I’m good. May I ask who you are?”

The man offers a warm smile before answering “Certainly, my name is Shimohira. As you have probably guessed, I’m the class helper. Seeing as you are good now, I’ll take my leave to help the others.”

I slowly nod my head once, and he gets up off his knees and walks to another person.

***

Sitting in my room, still taking in everything in it and the fact that this is what I am calling home for the next few months, I think to myself that It may be a good idea to get myself some food supplies in case I get hungry while within my room. I look down at what I’m wearing and remember I’m still wearing the school clothes. I change into some more comfortable clothes I brought with me; dark blue tracksuit trousers, a hoodie and a black shirt. I look down at myself and smile and say out loud to no one in particular “Hello, I am dark blue man.”

Eh, that sounded much better inside my head.

Ridding my head of that poor name, I dig into one of my drawers to find my wallet. I open it to check to see how much money I have and find I have plenty - enough for at least a few weeks here I believe. I pop the wallet into my pocket and exit my room.

A/N - Akemi’s song was initially going to be ‘Hoist the Colours’ from Pirates of the Caribbean due to the fact she loves the water as did her father.
I feel I may have messed Lilly up a bit.
Thanks to Mirage_GSM for proof reading and some editng.

Part 1 Previous Start Next
 

Current Chapter Word Count: 4,216
Chapter 1-5 Count: 21,933
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Act 1, Chapter 5: Impromptu Meeting

*Akemi’s P.O.V*

As I exit Yasuko's room, the image of her reddened face looking down stays in my head. I wheel myself to my room and push my door so it will close but before it does so, a foot belonging to Kaiya stops it.

“Akemi?” I hear Kaiya call out. She walks into my room and fully closes the door.

“I can’t believe she’s got a guy in the bed.” I spit out to Kaiya. I start moving myself from my wheelchair to my bed. Quickly grabbing my wheelchair with one hand and my bed with the other, I'm glad I remembered to put the wheelchair’s brake on.

“I'm more surprised that you didn't notice him to start with.” Her usual smiling face disappears and is replaced by an apologetic one. “Although, I may have helped hide him.”

“What!” I almost shout, nearly falling in the middle of my transition.

It is situations like this where I hate the fact that my mother’s horse destroyed my legs.

I suddenly feel a pair of hands start to help me. After Kaiya has finished helping me onto the bed I thank her.

“Before I left the dorm this morning I may have helped Yasuko hide that guy. I thought it was going to work, seeing as you didn't notice nearly all her pillows were piled over him on the bed,” Really? “but, It seemed that guy has a knack for bad-timing.”

“W-Who is he?”

I see the outer parts of Kaiya's lips curl upwards into a cheeky smile which means she is going to try to tease me, so I give her a look that screams ‘Not now, Kaiya’. It works, and the smile drops.

“No fun are you?” She pouts, “I don’t know who the guy is. Apparently he’s in my year though. Why are you so upset about Yasuko and that guy anyway? You haven’t fallen for your cousin, have you?” a sly smile appearing on her face.

“No, of course I haven’t. I'm upset because we made a promise to each other to not have any secrets, especially with guys.” I say.

“You two seem to act more like sisters than cousins. I'm pretty sure alcohol and Yasuko don’t mix well do they Akemi?” Kaiya responds, still with her sly smile which changes into a full on smile as I feel a little bit confused now.

So that was alcohol I smelt!

I let out a sigh.

“I don’t know any more than that... She didn't seem to have a hangover when I woke her,” Kaiya says “I bet it will come later.”

I hope it does.

Kaiya looks slightly above me and seems to be studying something. I am about to ask her what, but she beats me by saying “Your roots are starting to show Akemi. Do you want me to help re-dye it?”

I shake my head as I tell her “Re-dye it brown? No. I am thinking of dyeing it red for the festival though.”

“When are you going to go back to your natural silver colour? It’s cute with your purple eyes.”
I feel my cheeks blush gaining a soft chuckle from her. I forgot I showed her photos of me, my twin sister and Yasuko from before I dyed it.

“I’ll help you if you want,” Kaiya says, with a smile on her face. “Now, about your new swimming friend…” Her smile changes to one of mischievousness.

Help?

***

I close the door to the nurse’s office after going there to get my weekly medication, which helps ease my almost monthly epileptic attacks. Perhaps Ryuunosuke should know. It may be bad if he doesn't know what to do and panics.

I wheel myself out of the auxiliary building and see it is still as bright as it was this morning. I would stay out in this weather, but I need to put this bag in my room before I confront Yasuko about this morning.

I see the ramp to the girls’ dormitory looming so I speed up my wheeling and successfully manage to make it up and over the ramp before my speed goes to a crawl. I smile to myself as that was much better than this morning after the swimming. After entering the dormitory I make my way into the lift and to my floor. Wheeling to my room, I enter and put my medicine bag in the drawers next to my bed. I turn to exit my room to go to Yasuko's but then stop as I realise that if Kaiya was right about her hangover - she’ll probably be at least a tiny bit hungry.

Not wanting to go all the way to the ground floor kitchen I look around my room to see if I have any food left. I immediately spot half of a sandwich I had this morning from before I went swimming. I'm pretty sure the bread may have hardened but it should still be edible. Even if it isn't, it’ll be a small amount of payback.

I put the sandwich, complete with plate, onto my lap and head out my room. I head to Yasuko's room and knock loudly on her door, purposefully. I hear a muffled female groan from the other side of the door which makes me smile slightly. After several seconds, the door opens revealing Yasuko in a dishevelled state and not caring that she’s in her underwear. I almost feel sorry for planning to give her this potentially bad sandwich. I watch as Yasuko turns around and walks to her bed before flopping onto it. I'm pretty sure that would hurt your head and neck, especially when you have a broken neck that was fixed incorrectly.

“You look awful.” I say as I wheel myself in.

I purposefully slam to door behind myself, and as expected it makes a loud noise, earning a pained sound from Yasuko. Wheeling myself to her bed, Yasuko rolls over onto her side, and I pass her the sandwich I have on my lap.

“Here is some food. You look worse than before class.”

Yasuko reaches out from the bed and takes the sandwich I offer her.

“Yeah… Delayed hangovers are the worst.... Kaiya came by earlier with her remedy. It didn't work though,”

She then starts eating the sandwich.

I'm pretty sure you drank more than she usually does, but there is a more important topic I need to ask her about.”

“Yasuko?” she pauses her sandwich eating and looks straight at me, “How is your neck doing?”

“Sore… and painful. And no, I'm not going to wear that thing,” she points to a neck brace, “No matter how much you badger me about it.”

That neck brace may not fix her neck, just like the hospital, but surely it would ease the pain?

As she continues nibbling on the sandwich, I decide to address the other issue that’s been on my mind.

I look straight into Yasuko's eyes and ask - possibly with a bit more venom in my voice than I intended: “So, where did the guy go?”

Moving the sandwich away from her mouth, Yasuko scrunches her eyes up and rolls back onto her back before reopening them. “Please, keep your voice down. All sounds are hurting.” She sighs. “After you two left, we waited until classes started, and then I helped him leave without anyone seeing - hopefully at least.” She replies slowly.

Although she can’t see me now, I glare at her. A few moments pass, and Yasuko lets out a ragged sigh before saying “Go on, ask the question.”

“Why did you sleep with that guy?” I ask, trying to remain calm.

“You know you aren't my mother, right Akemi?” she snaps at me.

Ouch.

I recoil in surprise at her statement.

Yasuko then looks shocked before changing her expression to a more apologetic one before letting out a sigh. “I'm sorry Akemi. Forgive me. That was uncalled for. This headache is messing me up.”

“The guy was some second year, and I didn't sleep with him,” she says, replying to my question in a pained tone.

Still reeling from her little outburst, I ask “W-Why was he in your bed then?”

“Ugh, one of our neighbours had a little party last night. She invited me and that guy was there too. We may have both drunk more than we should have, so me being a drunken idiot, I let him stay in my room while we recovered - or tried too.” She meekly adds “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

I turn my wheelchair to the door, muttering quietly, but loud enough for her to hear, “You are a real idiot.”

I hear her let out a little snort.

*Ryuunosuke's P.O.V*

I arrive at the gates of Yamaku. The gates feel like they separate two worlds: the outside world where stuff is normal and the inside world where everyone is the same and different at the same time. I know I shouldn't be thinking this way, but I can’t help it. Passing through the gates, I look both ways to see which way to go. One way leads up this hill a bit more to a large grey building, and the other leads down the hill where, in the distance, I can see what looks to be a small town. I turn to that direction and start walking. As I'm walking I notice there is a person in front of me; a person who is tall and with long, blonde hair, so I am reasonably sure it is Lilly.

Quickening my pace, I soon catch up with her. As I draw near, she turns her head revealing that I was correct.

“Hello, Satou,” I call out reaching her side.

Lilly turns her head with a look of confusion as if she is trying to remember something. A moment passes before I realise she is probably trying to remember my name.

“It’s Shibanuma,” I simply say, hoping she’ll remember me, and judging by her facial expression now, she does.

“Shibanuma… Ah, Ryuunosuke, how are you?” she asks.

She remembers my first name.

“More awake than in class this morning,” My reply earns me a puzzled look from her, and I remember that she wasn’t in class for the first period due to a meeting she said she had with the Student Council President. From the way she spoke, she doesn't seem particularly fond of them.

“Are you alright?” I hear concern in Lilly’s voice.

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking. And yes I am good, thank you,” I apologetically reply. An idea rushes into my head as I realise something, “Say, Sa- no, Lilly? You’re heading to the town, aren't you?”

I wonder how long before I remember to call my classmates by their first names and not by their last names like I am used to.

I spot a small smile on Lilly’s face as she replies “As it happens, I am. Would you care to join me?”
Having Lilly as my guide will feel a bit odd due to our circumstances, but it will definitely stop me from getting lost. Also, I may be able to get to know her better.

***

Lilly and I arrive in the town at the bottom of the hill. As we walk down one of the streets, I hear and feel my stomach produce a grumbling sound. Looking over to Lilly, it appears she heard it too. She has a slight smile on her face as I awkwardly laugh.

I turn my head and face Lilly before asking; jokingly “You didn't know I would be hungry did you?”

Noticing the slight jokiness in my voice, I presume, Lilly replies with “That would be an impressive amount of foresight, Ryuunosuke.”

I feel my stomach not only growling but also starting to hurt. I guess I should have eaten more at lunch.

I smile at Lilly before asking “Would it be possible to eat before we get our shopping done? I’ll pay for the food.”

“That’s kind of you Ryuunosuke, but are you sure?” Lilly asks.

“Yes, you helped me get used to this school out of your own kindness, so let me show some kindness back.” I wholeheartedly reply. Miki helped me as well, but she isn't here. “But, ah, I don’t know any food places in this town.” I meekly add.

“Okay, how about the Shanghai?” Lilly offers.”

“Sounds great! Afterwards, we’ll do the shopping.” I enthusiastically reply - probably too enthusiastically.

***

When we arrive at the Shanghai I find it isn't exactly what I was expecting. I expected it to be some sort of Chinese food place, but the exterior looks like a relatively normal building. As we enter the building it turns out it is some sort of café or tea shop. We are quickly met by an older woman, and after Lilly and the woman exchange pleasantries, she guides us to an empty table in the corner. Surprisingly she doesn't seem surprised to see someone like me with an obvious defect. Thinking about it, it may be because of the close proximity of this place to the school. Once we’re seated, the woman rushes to another pair of customers waiting for the same. I look at Lilly who appears to be waiting patiently on her side.

While the waitress is away, I look around for a menu but cannot see one. Turning back to face Lilly I ask “do you know where they keep the menus?”

The look on Lilly’s face makes it seem like I told some sort of joke. A second later, she replies “I truthfully do not know if they have menus, Hanako and I have never seen any. You could ask when the waitress comes back though.”

I wonder if the Hanako Lilly is talking about is the same Hanako I've bumped into, literally.

I could do that, or I could ask if they have my favourite meal. The waitress soon reappears after taking the other people to a table. She asks us what we want, and I ask her if they do Mapo Doufo. To my pleasant surprise, they do. I order that and pour myself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table. Lilly tells the waitress that she’d like to have what she normally does. I assume Lilly comes here often.

After some time passes, our meals arrive. As I start to eat mine I look over to see what Lilly ordered, but I can’t even describe what it is. It looks tasty, but I won’t intrude on her food.

***

We finish our meals and drinks, and Lilly wipes her hands on some napkins that came with her meal. She moves her head so she is now looking in my general direction. “Would you be alright if I felt your face, Ryuunosuke?”

That is sudden, but I know why she’s asking; it’s so she can ‘see’ me.

“It’s okay. I guess it’s the only way you can see me without relying on other people.”

My statement seems to surprise Lilly judging by her facial expression, so I go on to explain. “My aunt was blind.”

Lilly puts her hands up in front of her, and I help her by guiding them towards my face. I slow down as I suddenly worry what she will think of my latest scar and how she’ll react. Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I carry on pulling her hands to my face.

Her hands trace over my face, softly and slowly. Her hands feel quite soft, almost as soft as one other person I knew. As Lilly’s fingers cross my scar, I hear her let out a small, surprised gasp, but she carries on tracing without retracting her fingers. A few moments later she retracts her fingers with a smile on her face but with a hint of confusion.

“Is something wrong Lilly?” I ask her.

“Is there something wet on my fingers, Ryuunosuke?” She asks, showing me the palms of her soft, slender hands. I look at them and immediately spot something red.

Oh.

“Uh, yes, you do. Blood from my scar,” I say as I pick up an unused napkin from the table.

As I pass her the napkin, she apologises for causing it to bleed. She takes the napkin and wipes her hands again.

“It isn't your fault Lilly; my left eye sometimes leaks blood.”

Lilly finishes wiping her hands before letting out a smile.

“You seem like quite a handsome man Ryuunosuke,” she states.

In a way I'm glad Lilly can’t see - otherwise she’d most likely see a guy whose cheeks are turning red.

“T- Thank you. Now you probably know more about what my face looks like than I do. Haven’t looked in a mirror since I got this scar.”

Lilly opens her mouth as if to respond, but suddenly our ears are assaulted by a loud ‘Wahaha’ sound causing both of us to flinch. I rotate my head to see who would make such a loud sound out in public, and my eyes immediately see something even more odd: bright pink hair.

I then notice the person the pink haired girl is sitting with - a familiar face that I haven’t seen for a few years: Shizune. I completely forgot that Jigoro told me that Shizune was also going to Yamaku.

Seeing her causes me to accidentally call out her name, and the pink haired girl turns to my direction followed by Shizune doing the same. The girl smiles and waves, while Shizune has a look of surprise on her face which then transforms into a noticeable smile followed by a small wave.

“Ryuunosuke?”

I turn to face Lilly as she calls my name “Yes, Lilly?”

“Are you ready to go to the convenience store now?” she asks.

Something about her tone makes me think she is feeling uncomfortable right now, so I say that I am ready to go. I pay for our meals, and we leave the Shanghai.

After leaving the Shanghai, Lilly is using me as a guide again - which I feel is ironic, but she’s the one who knows the area. To my surprise we come across a convenience store quicker than I anticipated. We enter it, and before I register what’s happened, Lilly has pulled out and unfolded her cane and got a basket. Obviously she is used to coming here. Following her lead, I take a basket for my stuff.

Lilly turns towards me and asks “Do you mind telling me where each item on my list is? I know roughly where they are, but they aren't in Braille.”

It would be difficult to put all items in Braille, not to mention costly.

“So what would you have done if I didn't run into you earlier?” I ask, curiosity taking over.

“I would have asked one of the store assistants to help.” She replies, matter-of-factly.

“Ahh, of course. I will help you Lilly”

Lilly smiles at my statement. We walk along the aisles, me helping her.

After a few more stops in the aisles, I guide Lilly to the checkout before realising I was too focussed on helping Lilly to grab any of the stuff for myself. I tell her, earning a small chuckle, before heading off to get various items for myself. Once my basket is full, I take it to the checkout and see Lilly is patiently waiting at the entrance.

***

After leaving the store, we arrive at the bottom of the hill that leads to Yamaku. I look up and say, “This looks like a fun hill to climb.”

“You will get used to it in time. Then it won’t be as bad,” comes Lilly’s soft reply.

A thought appears in my head: How much would Akemi struggle with this? Her arms did look quite toned but surely it would still be a struggle, right?

We start to climb the hill, Lilly carrying a bag and walking with her cane and me carrying two of my bags and one of hers. As we continue the climb, a thought pops into my head.

“Lilly, when we left the Shanghai, the reason we left wasn’t entirely the shopping, was it?” I ask.

I think I see the edge of Lilly’s mouth twitch as I ask this. She doesn't answer, so I take it that that assumption was correct.

“Was the reason because of that pink-haired girl and Shizune?” I ask, with a slight bit of hesitation.

Lilly stops; and I stop next to her. Did I just step on a landmine, again? I feel I've been doing that quite a bit lately.

“The pink-haired girl would be Misha. She helps the Student Council President with her duties, mainly by being her voice.” She seems to have the volume for it. “Hakamichi and I don’t get along anymore.”

I guess they used to be close. Well, they are cousins after all Also, Shizune's the president? I've been on her bad side before, and it wasn’t pretty, so I’d best not repeat that now.

I see the gates are now in front of us.
We silently walk through the grounds, and soon reach the point where the path to the dormitories splits.

As I am about to part I tell Lilly “I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

Oops.

“Okay. Ryuunosuke, tomorrow during lunch, would you care to join Hanako and me in the tea room on the third floor?” she asks ignoring my slip up. “It is a relatively small room a few doors down from the library.”

That could be fun, and I’ll be able to see if the Hanako I bumped into in the library is the same as Lilly’s Hanako.

“I will take you up on that offer at some point - but not tomorrow as I'm still trying to remember exactly where everything is.”


***

Sitting in my room after putting my shopping away, I pull out a diary and pen I have in my drawer and start writing in it. I begin writing about the events here since I started. I used to write in this thing much more but adjusting to this school caused me to forget about it until I spotted it in the corner of the last box I brought with me. I write about my first and second day from first walking through the gates and meeting Mutou and Miyagi followed by Lilly and in some regards, Furude - I’ve forgotten his first name - to going for an early morning swim and meeting a swimmer who can’t use her legs. When I get to the part of Lilly and me in the Shanghai, I realise how much it felt like a date. I pause my writing at this point as thoughts go through my head.

***

Lilly and I are walking together, side by side down a path in a park as the pink leaves of the cherry blossom trees fall to the ground in the wind. It is rather a pretty sight. Neither of us is talking, but it doesn't feel wrong. In fact, it feels nice. Hearing the sound of the wind picking up speed, I look up at the trees, but the leaves aren't moving any more than usual. I feel a chill running down my spine, and I look forward. That is when I see a black mass appearing in front of me. Knowing what this mass transforms into, I stop. I try to call out for Lilly, but I can’t hear my own voice. I can hear and see Lilly walking towards the mass with her cane.

The mass finishes appearing and reveals itself to be the reaper, with a shortened scythe; shortened enough for the blade to be chest level. I can tell where this is heading and the next scene proves me all to right. I wail in despair as Lilly walks into the blade of the scythe causing blood to spurt out from her. Lilly stops as her head and arms go limp, the blood still squirting out and a bit of it hitting me in my eye, turning my vision partially red.

***

I wake up and quickly look around. I am in my dorm room, and that was a nightmare - again. Something still feels off though. I sit up from my bed and check my body over. Aside from my eye scar, I don’t notice anything wrong.

I stand up, and as I walk to my window I feel light-headed. Propping myself up as I get to the windowsill, I look out and notice something off. My vision is partially red in my right eye, just like the dream. There is either one of two reasons for this; one, I'm in another dream or two, my left eye bled while I was on my right side.

Since I'm this rational , I can confidently say it’s number two. I put on some nearby clothes and head to the bathroom to clear the blood from my eye and wash my face. I’ll probably need to change the bedsheets too, depending on how much my eye bled.

***

Previous Start Next

Three chapters within a month, an absolute record . Not even a failing hard drive that's caused a blue screen and numerous freezes has deterred me. A 7 year old hard drive has done well regarding what it's been through. Enough of my rambling. Here's chapter 6

Current Chapter Word Count: 4,887
Chapter 1-6 Word Count: 26,820
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Act 1, Chapter 6: Conditions

The next morning, I wake up with an alarm I had almost forgotten to set yesterday. I set it for 6am to give me time to go to the pool again. This time I managed a few hours’ sleep despite my earlier awakening. I spend a few minutes getting dressed and making sure I have my swimming stuff in my bag. Once I'm sorted I leave my room and make my way to the auxiliary building.

After a few minutes I am in the changing room. Once I'm changed, I exit them and walk to the corridor leading to the pool and office. As I approach the office, I notice the lifeguard inside is the same one as yesterday. He acknowledges me as I pass by.

I also hear a voice - Akemi’s voice - singing. It sounds like it is the same song as yesterday... possibly. I can’t say for certain as yesterday’s song was in English and as I told Miyagi two days ago my English is bad. Listening more to it, it has the same melody as the one from yesterday, but I realise it is in Japanese. Is this the same song?

I enter the room and see, like yesterday, that she is at the edge of the pool. Partway through her song, she starts turning around. She catches sight of me mid-turn. A shocked expression crosses her face for a second before being replaced by a smile.

“H-Hello Ryuunosuke,” she says, greeting me.

She then swims diagonally across the pool to the edge nearest me. Her swimming, just like yesterday, is graceful, and I would be forgiven for forgetting she can’t use her lower legs.

Akemi reaches the edge and says “I-I'm surprised you c-came a-again.”

“I did say I would,” I reply, smiling back.

Akemi then pulls herself out of the pool and sits on the edge. She then twists her body and looks at me.

“C-Can you sit next to me?” she asks.

“Sure.” I reply. As I go to sit down next to her, my feet and ankles dip into the water.

Cold pool again? I’d better not let myself slide into it again. If I did, I'm sure it would get a laugh from the girl next to me though.

I look over to Akemi and notice there are several curved scars on her legs. I wonder what caused those scars. I remember seeing the ones from her lower legs yesterday.

“Ry-Ryuunosuke?” Akemi nervously asks.

“Yeah?” I reply, eye moving from her scarred legs to her face.

“D-Do you p-plan on swimming a l-lot?”

Yesterday’s swim was quite enjoyable so possibly yes. I don’t have to worry too much about my lack of depth perception. Doing this will help me stay quite fit too. It doesn't hurt that there’s a friendly face here.

“Ryuunosuke?” I hear Akemi say.

“Sorry. Yes, I do plan on it. That is okay, right?” I reply. I wouldn't want to intrude on her.

“A-are you sure?” she asks, seemingly unconvinced.

I wonder why she is asking again when I said I would. “Yes... Is something wrong?” I ask with uncertainty in my voice.

“There’s s-something about me you s-should know then.” She says, a nervous tone in her voice.

You aren't dying are you?

“Okay?” I say, with my uncertain tone.

“I suffer from idiopathic epilepsy, and I think I’ll have an attack in about a week or so. T-The medication I t-take only lessens the attacks.”

“Idio-what-now?” I ask, in confusion.

“P-Pathic. Genetic, my m-mother had it.”

“I knew someone who has epilepsy. We don’t talk anymore. But how do you know you may have an attack in a week?” I ask part curious, part worried.

“I-I know the trigger for it,” She replies in a matter-of-fact yet nervous tone, a bit of red showing on her cheeks.

If she knows the trigger, surely it would be a good idea to avoid it, right?

I ask Akemi this along with what the trigger is, and I get a nervous laugh from her. “I would avoid it if I could, Ryuunosuke. But, for me it is impossible,” she then gives me a slightly sad smile “It’s a bit embarrassing, b-but believe me, no one can prevent the t-trigger anyway.”

What trigger can’t be prevented?

I watch as Akemi now looks into the water near her legs. “D-do you know what t-to do if I were to have an attack while I'm in the water?”

That’s a scary thought. “No, I don’t, sorry,” I admit.

She looks back at me with a smile and says “No n-need to apologise.” She takes in a deep breath before exhaling. “If I were to have an attack - o-one where I'm flailing, there are different types, the absence one is fun - you need to try t-tilt my h-head so it is out of the water s-so I-I don’t breathe it in, and if you c-can, move me to the s-shallow end while s-still holding my head. Be careful of the flailing limbs as they will hurt you. Y-You shouldn't try to h-hold them or to put something into my m-mouth to stop me biting my tongue When I have s-stopped flailing, I need to be taken out of the water and p-placed on my side so I c-can recover. A-And of course, s-stay until I-I r-recover. I-It would also be a very g-good idea to shout for t-the lifeguard to come in i-if he hasn't noticed.”

“That is kind of a lot to remember, but I will try my best if it happens.” I say with my eyes wide open.

“T-Thank you.” Akemi says, with a genuine smile on her face “N-Now you k-know about both of my c-conditions, c-can I a-ask about your chest s-scars?”

Oh. I thought I had seen her eyes dropping to my chest as she was talking. She told me about her epilepsy, so I might as well tell her about these scars. I'm glad they aren't anywhere near as serious as her epilepsy.

“Oh, yeah,” I let out a light chuckle “I sometimes forget about these; except for when they tighten. That normally happens when I overexert myself. Might as well tell you, even if I am embarrassed about them... well how I got them that is.” Akemi gives me a curious look. “I was five, and I thought it would be smart to play in the fireplace at my home,” Akemi’s eyes go wide “Thankfully the fire was out, the coals however, were still very hot.” I now see Akemi’s mouth drop. “As I said, embarrassing. Heh, I think you’re the first person I've told for a few years.”

“Is that why you looked p-pained yesterday when you overexerted yourself here?” she asks.

She remembered that?

“Partially,” I reply. “Should we start swimming now Akemi?”

“Y-yeah, you’re right.”

As I brace myself for this cold water, I watch Akemi slide into the pool with ease. I follow suit and find the water isn't as shocking as it was yesterday; that may be because I was expecting it to be colder. We then start swimming.

***

== Akemi’s P.O.V ==

After returning from this morning’s swim, I am in my room getting ready for the school day. I just finish getting out of my clothes and into my uniform and look into the mirror on my desk to brush my hair when I hear a familiar knocking pattern at my door.

I call out “It’s unlocked.”

The door opens, and there is Yasuko, looking a lot more sober than yesterday morning. Maybe she has learned her lesson?

“Already changed I see.” Yasuko greets me.

“No hello?” I ask her sarcastically as I watch her close the door and walk to my bed. As she enters, I see she is wearing her normal horned headband, the horned parts pointing forwards, but not her neck brace.

“Consider it payback for your loud noises yesterday.” She replies, smiling.

“Y-You did kind of deserve it, though. You did get drunk and had a boy in your bed, and you made me think you broke our promise.” My statement makes her pout; it’s quite cute really, especially with that headband.

Speaking of heads, I start to brush my hair. Yasuko sees me doing so, climbs onto my bed to get behind me and takes the brush out of my hand without saying anything. She then starts brushing my hair. It is probably better for her to do it as she can get any knots and tangles out better than I can otherwise my hair might end up looking like that black haired witch who keeps trying to suck up to that old bald dark wizard that has no nose.

“I probably did - still no reason to do it though. It is almost time, right Akemi?” Yasuko asks. I look round and see a look of worry on her face.

Since wha- oh.

I sigh before replying and turning back forwards “About three weeks actually. I told Ryuunosuke about my epilepsy and that my next attack will be in about a week.”

“Ryuunosuke, huh?” Not again “So he turned up again? Did you tell him your menstrual cycle causes it? I bet that surprised him.”

It is now my turn to pout “Not so loud Yasuko. No, I didn't tell him what causes it, it was hard enough to tell Kaiya that, let alone a guy I've just m-met, and yes he did turn up again. I found out what caused his chest s-scars.”

I suddenly realise I have just left myself open to a perfect teasing opportunity.

“Chest scars? Huh, I see you’re getting cosy with the new guy, Miss Sakurai,” she says in her typical teasing tone.

Yasuko only calls me ‘Miss Sakurai’ when she thinks she has one upped me. What can I say to beat- Oh yes, I remember how I can!

“Weren't y-you the one who said he l-looked nice?” I say, trying and failing to use my own teasing tone.

“Ow!” I squeal out as the brush Yasuko's using, hits a strong knot.

“Oh, I'm sorry.” I hear her sarcastically say.

I turn my head to look at Yasuko and notice that even with the stutter and no teasing tone, my tease was effective, as Yasuko turns red. I can’t help but express a triumphant smile before saying “Looks like I beat you, Miss Yasuda, but please don’t pull out all of my hair.”

“T-This time.” Yasuko says.

She stuttered? That is very rare. I may also need to pick my timings better.

I look forward again as Yasuko manages to undo the knot - this time with a lot less pain or hair pulling. She soon finishes brushing my hair, and I thank her. I suddenly notice that my wheelchair has somehow rolled from near my bed to near the door; I assume I forgot the brake.

“Yasuko, could you pass me my wheelchair?” I ask her.

I feel the bedsprings move as Yasuko moves off to the bed. She then walks to the wheelchair and pushes it to me. Again, I thank her. She then sits on the bed next to me. Her reaction to my teasing on my mind gives me a sudden thought.

“Yasuko, why’d you react like that when I teased you about how you reacted to Ryuunosuke? You h-haven’t fallen for him have you?”

There is something about Ryuunosuke that I think would suit her.

She glares straight at me when I ask that. If looks could hurt, I’d be in pain.

“What do you mean? Of course I haven’t. I haven’t fallen for anyone. You’d know that.” She protests, a little too much, and a little too fast.

That’s sounds like a lie.

“What about when I visited you when you lived in Italy? What was that guy’s name? Massimiliano? Didn’t he end up confessing to you and you two started dating?”

Yasuko shifts uncomfortably on the bed “Well, yeah. But he doesn't count. It ended badly. If I count him, then I could say that at least I've had a boyfriend - unlike you.”

That hurt, I know she is saying it as a joke, but it still hurt. “No one wants to date a wheelchair-bound person though,” I say in a defeated tone.

I feel an arm go over me as the owner of said arm lets out a sigh. “Akemi, you know Kaiya’s boyfriend?” I shake my head. “Well, he’s wheelchair bound.” What now?

“After you left yesterday, Kaiya came by and, in her infinite wisdom, revealed she had given me the wrong cure for hangovers.” She lets out a chuckle. “At least now I know I don’t have a cold... While I was recovering, we ended up talking about Ryuunosuke.” Oh God no. “Don’t worry. I am curious about him though.”

She wants to meet him then? That could possibly be bad. I hope she doesn't end up crossing paths with him.

Suddenly I hear my phone go off causing me to yelp in surprise. Yasuko laughs at me as I fall over trying to reach to grab my phone that’s on my bedside desk. I look at it and see it’s my alarm telling me that there are fifteen minutes until classes start.

Yasuko notices which alarm it is and asks “Shall we go then?”

I reply “Yeah, once I've made sure I have everything. Are you sure you’re not going to wear your neck brace?”

“I'm sure. You know I hate that thing.” She replies patting her horned headband. I'm glad the horn are soft - at least I think they are. I hope they are.

Yasuko passes me my bag, and I check if I have everything. Once I'm sure that I do, I start moving myself to my wheelchair, but Yasuko beats me as she lifts me into it with ease.

“You know you don’t have to do that every time,” I say in slight protest.

“Yes, I do, you’re my baby cousin.”

“You’re the baby here, you do remember I'm twelve days older than you right?”

“Mentally I'm older.”

I doubt that.

***
[Continued]

== Ryuunosuke's P.O.V ==

Several days pass by with me going swimming with Akemi in the morning followed by my daily classes.

I wake up and notice there’s no alarm sound. I take a look at my digital alarm clock next to me and see it says “08:23”.

Seven minutes? Well, crap.

I quickly get up and out of bed. As fast as I can, I get dressed. Before I leave, I check myself to make sure I have everything I need and determine that I do. I then rush out of my room and through the dormitory doors. As I run across the grounds to the main building, I feel my left hand hit something hard. Ignoring it, I keep on running. Entering the main building I quickly arrive outside the classroom.

I take a moment to recover my breath before knocking on the door. I wait for a few seconds but get no answer. I notice there is no sound from within the classroom. I try the door and see it’s unlocked. I open it and peer in and to my surprise; it is empty. Where is everyone? I enter the room to make sure there is no one in there, but as I do so, a shooting pain goes through my left hand. Using my other hand, I grab it and look at it. I notice the top of it is red and looks like a bruise is already starting to form. I guess that’s what I get for not looking properly while running.

“So you’re an early riser too,” I hear an unfamiliar female voice from behind say.

I turn to face the voice and see a girl surprisingly close to me. I step away from her more out of surprise than to gain personal space.

The girl, unmoving, smiles as she stares at me while I stare at her. She is slightly shorter than I, and I notice three distinctive features; her shoulder length hair is black with red tips, she appears to be wearing some sort of pipe that looks like it goes from her nose towards her ears and she, uh, appears to, uh, have an ample chest.

I’m drawn out of my study of her as she says “Now I know why she likes you.”

Who does, and who are you?

My confusion obviously showing on my face, this girl’s smile gets bigger as she says “Not that she said that, obviously. But I can tell.”

“Who, are you?” I ask, pausing partway through my question.

“Kaiya Ichimonji, a second year. You are Ryuunosuke Shibanuma? At least I hope you are.”

She knows my name? And why does her last name sound familiar?

“You know me?” I ask.

Kaiya nods before replying. “My friend told me about you, and I've heard about you from my grandfather.”

“Your grandfather?” Is that why I recognise the name? “And which friend? I've not spoken to many people here yet.”

All but one of them have been girls if I remember, too.

A cheeky looking smile appears on her face. “As I said, a friend. I’m surprised Yasuko didn't chew her out.”

Yasuko… Yasuko… Where did I hear that name? Akemi!

A look of realisation appears on my face drawing a curious glance from Kaiya.

“Your friend is Akemi, right?” I say, slightly too enthusiastically.

Her expression changes to one of shock or surprise before it changes to a mischievous looking smile, “So she does talk about her lover.”

What?

I raise my eyebrows to her in surprise which earns me a laugh from her. While laughing, she tries to talk. “You… You believed that?”

I’m not sure how to react to that.

I look around and still don’t see anyone else about so I decide to ask “Kaiya, where is everyone?”

My question earns me a chuckle from her. “They’re probably either waking up or getting breakfast.

Her statement confirms a suspicion I had. But didn't my alarm clock say I was late?

I look at my wrist for my watch, but I quickly discover I’m not wearing it - I must have left it on my desk in a hurry. I put my hand, which is still bruised and hurting, into my pocket for my phone but only feel air and cloth. I let out a sigh. I guess I did the same with my phone.

Seeing me check my wrist and pocket, Kaiya says “There’s about an hour until classes start.”

“One hour? I guess I can’t go to the pool then.” I blurt out. Judging by Kaiya’s expression and the glint in her eye, I may regret that.

“The pool you say?” Yes, I am regretting it “Are you sure it’s the pool you wanted to go to, or Akemi?” she asks in a teasing voice.

“The pool of course, but Akemi is a nice friend.” I reply, a big smile coming from Kaiya.

Hang on, how do Kaiya and Akemi know each other? They’re different years.

“Hey Kaiya?” She acknowledges me with an inquisitive ‘hmm’ sound. “How do you know Akemi?”

Her face stops showing any emotion as she looks straight me.

Is she now going to tease me some way?

“Truthfully, I’m her lover.”

I was right.

Obviously noticing my expression not changing, she smiles as she says “I see you learn quickly, although…” She puts her hand to her face as if thinking about something. “I wonder if you’re into that sort of thing…”

It takes me a second to realise what she’s trying to insinuate, and my face drops. My expression causes her to laugh once again, but it quickly dies down as she notices my hand. “Is your hand okay?”

I look down and see the now clear bruise on my hand is facing Kaiya. I then notice it is throbbing slightly so I grab it with my other hand and look back up to Kaiya “Yeah, I may have hit it on some pole while running here thinking I was late.”

Telling Kaiya this makes me realise something. “How come you’re here if you say everyone’s waking or eating?”

She tilts her head from one side to the other as if contemplating what I asked. After a few more tilts of her head, she replies “Fair’s fair, you told me, so I’ll tell you.” She offers a quick smile “Being a morning person and boarding at a school that has nothing to offer in early mornings gets boring, so I do daily walks. Also supposed to help my lungs, but this nasal cannula helps mainly with that.” She gesture to the pipe that I now notice goes down the front of her shirt, hidden underneath.

I nod in acknowledgement, and she pulls out a phone from her pocket. It looks different to what I’m used to as when she slides it open, it slides sideways, unlike my flip phone. She then puts the phone back into her pocket and gives me an inquisitive look.

“Seeing as you’re early, instead of late...” She pauses, I assume to see my reaction, but I give none. “...would you want to go on a walk with me? I can make sure you don’t run into any poles if you want.”

Ok- Ouch.

I suddenly feel my stomach rumble. Right, I haven’t eaten yet. Judging by the look on Kaiya’s face, she heard it too. “If I do join you, would we go to the cafeteria? I may have not eaten yet.”

“Of course we can, I may get something, too. I like the food there,” she says before quietly adding “Even after taking part in the Iwasaki Challenge.”

“The what now?”

Kaiya lets out a little chuckle before saying “It’s a classmate’s challenge. You have to try eat a sandwich they bring. I wouldn't recommend it. I tried it when I started here, but that story is for another time. Let’s go.”

[i[Kaiya is an ‘interesting’ person.[/i]

As we reach the ground floor I turn my head to Kaiya who is looking forward and ask her “Could we stop by my dorm room first?”

A look of surprise flashes across her face which is quickly replaced by smile as she turns to face me “Well, Ryuunosuke, I’m flattered, but I already have a boyfriend.”

Wha- No.

I start trying to say that she misunderstood what I meant, but I stumble over my words. I stop when Kaiya starts laughing again.

Why did I not see that coming? After all, she’s been teasing since she walked up behind me.

“You really are too easy, Ryuunosuke.”

I sigh as I look down to recompose myself. I look back up and say “I meant can we go there so I can get my watch and phone.”

An honest looking smile now crosses her face as she says “Yes, we can. But you’ll have to lead me. To. Your. Room.”

Oh god.

***

As we enter the boys’ dormitory, Kaiya asks me “So when did you start here?”

“Um, I think it’s been about a week now. How did you know I was new here?”

Hang on, maybe Akemi told her?

Kaiya just smiles before tapping the side of her nose and saying one word: “Secret.”

We soon make it to my room’s door, and I ask her to wait outside. She agrees, but I notice her trying to peek in as I open the door. As I close the door behind myself, I hear Kaiya say something, but I don’t know what.

Once inside, I instantly spot my watch and phone on the drawers next to my bed. I grab them both, and as I put my watch on I look at the time and see there are still about forty five minutes until homeroom starts.

After my watch is tight on my left wrist and my phone’s in my pocket, I hear Kaiya’s voice and a slightly nasal, male voice coming from the other side of my door. The male voice doesn't sound happy unlike Kaiya’s. It sounds like she’s having fun tormenting other people too. I stop moving and try listen to what Kaiya could be saying. After a while I give up as I can understand what’s being said. I then hear a door slam closed, and I take that as my cue to exit my room. Opening my door I see Kaiya is looking down the corridor with a big smile on her face.

“Found them” I say putting my left arm up to show my watch.

She turns to face me “Good. Sorry, I was busy having fun with one of your neighbours, you know, the slightly weird one from 3-2? He has glasses and a Hogwarts scarf. He doesn't seem to like me, and I only made a joke about taking over the world. Forgot his name”

“Kenji Setou.”

“That’s him! He is quite interesting.”

Despite being in same class and apparently neighbours, I haven’t actually spoken to him yet. Maybe I should try change that?

“Ready to go to the cafeteria before classes start now?” Kaiya asks.

“Oh. Yeah.” I let out a small chuckle. “Almost forgot about that.”

“That would be bad, some people wouldn't want you wasting away now would they?”

Some might actually…

I push that thought out of my head as I see a girl in a wheelchair exit the auxiliary building and recognise her as Akemi. Kaiya notices me diverting my attention, and I hear her let out a soft chuckle.

Ignoring it, I call out “Hello Akemi!” loud enough for her to hopefully hear.

It was loud enough as she starts looking around for where my voice came from. As I get closer to her she spots Kaiya and me. As the three of us get closer to each other, I notice a look of uncertainty on her face.

“Hey, Kaiya and R-Ryuunosuke, I m-missed you at the pool.”

“Heh, Sorry, I woke up thinking I was late for class. Clearly I wasn’t, but I didn't have enough time to go to the pool.” I say.

Akemi appears to take a moment to think about what I said. “W-Will you be there t-tomorrow?”

“I should be.” I reply with a smile and some enthusiasm.

Akemi’s uncertain look changes to a smile, but it then drops when she looks at Kaiya. I look to her and see she has that mischievous smile again.

She seems to favour that smile.

“P-please tell me y-you didn't say a-anything, Kaiya,” Akemi stutters in a pleading tone.

I turn my head to look at Kaiya, wondering what that is about, and I notice she has a confused look. As she notices me looking, her smile returns, and she says “All I've done is tease him a little.” A little? You were teasing me with your first sentence. “But if you continue like that Akemi, he may think other stuff.”

What does she mean?

I look back to Akemi to see if she knows, and it appears she does, but judging by the look on her face, wide eyed with surprise and worry, I won’t be getting an answer.

“K-Kaiya, c-can we talk?” she asks nervously.

I look back at Kaiya, and I see the edge of her lips twitch. “Too much?” she asks.

When I look back at Akemi, - doing this may hurt my neck at some point - she nods her head.

“Sure,” I hear Kaiya say. I decide not to turn my head this time. “Sorry, Ryuunosuke, looks like you’ll have to eat on your own. Have fun.”

With that, Kaiya walks out of my field of vision to my blind left side before walking behind Akemi and grabbing her wheelchair. She then starts turning it towards their dormitory, and Akemi nervously waves and says “S-See you tomorrow morning, R-Ryuunosuke.”

What was that about?

I continue watching them, but then my stomach decides to painfully tell me it is hungry. I decide to follow my stomach and head to the cafeteria.


== Akemi’s P.O.V ==

“I-Is he now out of earshot?” I ask Kaiya.

A moment passes before I get a reply. “Yes, he is near the main building now.”

“G-Good. Why were you t-talking to him anyway?”

Please don’t tell me you told him you think I love him.

“A bit protective aren't you, Akemi? Are you trying to protect me from the guy who can use a katana, or is it that you’re trying to protect him from me? Ahh! I know, you don’t want your secret to get out do you?”

“T-There is no secret,” I say flatly.

“Shame, I was so sure that you two would make a great couple,” she says in her teasing voice.

What?

I’m glad Kaiya can’t see my face now as I can feel it burning.

“Anyway, you do only stutter when Yasuko or I ask you about Ryuunosuke.”

“T-that is because you two bombarded me with questions about him, and I didn't k-know the answers.”

“If you say so,” she says, now in a sing song voice.

***

== Author Notes ==
If you’re wondering, I've made the phone Kaiya Ichimonji has, a HTC TyTN 100, released 2006. I was going to put my Sony Ericsson T303 in but it turns out it came out in 2008.

Part 1 Previous Start Next

While I was waiting for this chapter to be proofread and edited by Mirage, my computer's hard drive to finally completely fail (to the point where Windows wouldn't boot up) Thankfully I had backed up the hard drive a week before so only lost a few hundred words of notes instead of several thousands of words. This chapter is also my longest one so far.

Current Chapter: Word Count: 7,550
Chapter 1-7 Word Count: 34,371
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Act 1, Chapter 7: Lunch Time

***Ryuunosuke P.O.V.***

After my interesting morning involving Kaiya and that brief encounter with her and Akemi, the morning lessons aren’t as interesting. I don’t think anyone in my class knows that I was initially quite early, thankfully. One of the people from my class - Lilly - was missing today, I assume because of class rep duties. As I exit the classroom for lunch I decide I will take Lilly up on her offer of joining her and her friend Hanako in the tea room. Even if I don’t like the tea I’ll be able to see if this Hanako is the same Hanako I’ve already bumped into.

Now, where did she say the tea room was again? I remember Lilly telling me it was near the library, but there are quite a few doors here.

Upon reaching the doors of the library, I turn so they’re behind me and look up and down the corridor, trying to figure out which is the correct room. I decide to pick one of them at random. I walk over to my selected door and knock. I get no answer so I slowly try opening it. I peer inside and see it is completely empty. I am about to turn to leave, when I catch sight of a tuft of blonde hair peeking out from behind the teacher’s desk. I slowly walk up and past it before looking down and seeing a blonde-haired girl sitting on the floor, playing on a pink DS. I then notice a walking stick next to her. This walking stick looks a bit thicker and differently coloured than the cane Lilly uses. Is this a weight-bearing one then?

“Uh, hello?” I call out gently.

Judging by her lack of reaction, this girl hasn’t heard me.

“Excuse me, are you alright?” I say a little louder. It works as the girl jumps as she turns her head in my direction and looks at me with her surprised bronze-coloured eyes.

Can’t I meet a girl without surprising her? First Hanako in the library, then Akemi in the pool and now this girl in this classroom.

The girl doesn’t seem angry at me for surprising her like this as she changes her surprised look to one with a sweet looking smile on it. She quickly looks at her DS before saving the game, closing the lid and looking at me again, still with that smile.

“You’re the new guy right?” She asks with a soft voice.

“Uh, yes, Ryuunosuke. Are you alright?”

“I am now,” her smile getting bigger. “I’m Saki, err, could you help me up?” she says, with a red tint in her cheeks.

Pretty name.

“Sure.” I say. I extend my hand to her as she puts her closed DS into a bag I now see on the floor next to her. She then grabs hold of her cane and reaches out for my hand. I pull to lift her and realise she is lighter than in anticipated. Because of this, I almost send her toppling forwards after lifting her up. The reason she doesn’t is because my torso is in the way. She steps back slightly before she holds onto the desk and leaning on her cane. I can see she is grimacing.

I wonder what she has to warrant that grimace and a cane.

“Thank you,” she says, her smile returning.

She lifts herself slightly and sits at the teacher’s desk she was previously hiding behind. Then she looks to me and asks, “What are you doing in my room anyway?” Her tone is not the least bit accusatory.

I’m pretty sure this is a classroom?

“Your room?” I ask with a confused tone in my voice.

She shifts slightly as she replies “Well… not mine per se, but I was the only one in here.”

“You make it sound like you want me to leave,” I would then be able to do what my original intention was. Go to the tea room. “I can if you want me to.”

“No, you can stay, you’re cute,” Her smile getting bigger as she looks straight into my working eye.

“W-What did you say?”

She lets out a soft giggle before saying “I thought you were in 3-2, not 3-1? I said you’re cute, so you can stay” Yep, I heard right. “Even cuter when you blush like that.”

She moves the hand resting on the desk to my cheek. Somehow, she managed to close the gap between us without me realising. As her hand gets close, I stop it with mine. “Please don’t.”

The look on her face is enough to make me regret doing so.

“Don’t you like me?” she asks, her soft voice tinged with an inquisitive tone.

“I’ve just met you, and I barely know your name. How can I?” I reply.

“Simple. Love at first sight. Surely a guy like you would fall for a beautiful girl like me?”

My face turns sour as she says ‘a guy like you’. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“What? Don’t you think I’m beautiful?” she asks, seemingly ignoring the actual point of my question.

I suddenly notice I’m still holding Saki’s hand. I blush as I let it go. Her hand drops back down onto the table.

Letting out a sigh, I say “Yes, you are quite pretty.” I see her eyes sparkle. “But why are you being so forward?”

The sparkles disappear slightly. She says “Two bitches in my class, Akemi and Yasuko, seem to steal all the guys’ attention, at least in my class. So I’ll steal the cutest guy before they get their teeth into you.”

Hearing someone swear nearly always surprises me, and I have no idea why. This time is no exception.

“You know I swim with Akemi right? She isn’t how you are describing her. She is also my friend. Yasuko does appear to be a fun person as well.” I say in a flat tone.

“So, those bitches beat me.” I hear her say quietly before an evil looking smile crosses her face for a split second. I hope I haven’t just lit a fuse… Now, how can I get out of here without lighting any more fuses?

“Is it okay for me to go? I kind of promised a friend I would meet them, but I got lost, again.”

“Sure. I can’t make you stay can I?” she replies, her voice now tinted with anger.

I slightly smile and gently shake my head before turning and walking to the door. As I get to it, I turn to face Saki who is watching me leave. “Bye Saki, I am sorry.”

“Bye” is all I get in return.

I exit the room and close the door behind me before breathing a sigh of relief at being able to leave that situation.

Saki can’t have really been into me already, right? I mean, she may have been trying to toy with me in a similar way to how Kaiya did earlier. Hopefully the next door I try will either be the correct one or at least have a less awkward situation.

Looking down the corridor, I pick another door at random, and as I stand outside it getting ready to knock, I hear a nervous voice which has a clear stutter. It doesn’t sound like Akemi’s so I wonder whose it could be. I knock on the door and the stuttering voice stops. I slowly open the door and look in. I pause when I see a familiar person sitting in a chair; the Hanako I bumped into in the library. I see her looking at me like a deer does in a set of headlights; I have a similar feeling.

I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear a voice I recognise. “Hello?”

Lilly’s voice brings me out of my accidental staring contest, and I walk fully into the room and see she is also sitting at the table, looking in the direction of the door. “H-Hi Lilly.”

If Lilly had class rep duties, then when did she finish them? Also, how long was I distracted by Saki?

I quell these questions in my head, for now.

“May I join you two?” I ask them both, feeling slightly awkward. So much for avoiding awkward situations.

I see Lilly smile softly before turning to Hanako and asking “Hanako is that alright?”

Hanako’s eyes grow even bigger. I can’t tell if she is thinking of an answer or has frozen; probably both. I would probably if I was in the same situation. I wonder if I’m making her uncomfortable.

“If you want, I could come back on a more convenient day.” I say as a suggestion to try help.

“N-No. Y-You c-can join.” I hear Hanako quietly stutter out.

Good, I could probably do with a rest after Saki.

“Thank you.” I say, offering a big smile to them - mainly to Hanako as Lilly wouldn’t be able to see it, unfortunately. I take the bag that I’ve been carrying since class from my shoulder, and as I set it down next to Lilly she asks if I would like some tea. I tell her I would like to try it. Lilly then turns to Hanako and calls her name, causing her to bolt up and look at Lilly.

“I-I’ll do I-It.” She loudly says, not quite shouting.

“Thank you, Hanako.” I say as I take my seat next to Lilly. After I take the seat, I suddenly remember I didn’t ask if she minded. Would be a bit late now, and if she did then surely she would say?

“I don’t think I’ve ever had western tea. I haven’t had a hot drink for a while either,” I say.

Lilly raises her eyebrows in surprise, while Hanako quietly says “R-Really?”

“Yeah, since my eye, I tend to stick to cold drinks rather than the coffee I used to drink.”

Hanako finishes making the tea and brings it to me. I smile at her and thank her. I see her smiling slightly. I then unzip my bag, reach into it and pull out a cold lunch. After the cafeteria this morning, I returned to my room and had decided I had time to make this. Thankfully I was right and made it to class in time.

As I pull the lunch out my bag, I notice it has grabbed Hanako's attention. I start eating the sandwiches I made.

After a while Hanako stutters out “T-There is a-a new g-guy in my-my class.”

So I’m no longer the new guy? Perhaps that means Saki may go after him? Poor guy. Perhaps I should try to find and warn him?

“Oh? What does he look like, Hanako?” I hear Lilly ask, bringing me out of my thoughts, and I see a bit of red on Hanako's cheeks.

“H-He is a bit s-shorter than me and has m-messy, b-brown hair.” Hanako replies.

Wow, her stutter is bad - worse than Akemi’s sometimes is.

Remembering the tea Hanako made I reach for the cup. As my hand gets close to it, I move it slowly, and feel for the side of the cup before grabbing the handle and bringing the cup up. As I watch my hand do so, I notice Hanako watching me with curiosity. I take a sip of the tea.

I put it down and say “It’s sweet, but tasty. I think I may come to fully enjoy this.”

Hanako is still looking at me.

I look at her and smile causing her to blush slightly and look away. I let out a soft chuckle before saying “You’re wondering why I am so careful in reaching for the cup right?” I wait for Hanako to look back at me. “When I was learning to re-adjust to my dead eye,” I indicate my left eye as I usually do when I talk about it, “part of it involved trying to judge the distance of objects due to one eye having trouble with depth perception. I still have trouble when I reach out for things. I still sometimes tip glasses over, and I’d rather not burn myself on a hot drink. Sometimes, my eye likes to betray me too.”

“That sounds like a challenge, Ryuunosuke.” Lilly says, joining the one-sided conversation.

“Heh, yep. Although, I’ve noticed that I have bumped into less stuff since I lost the depth perception, oddly enough.” I say, looking at my hand and still seeing a faint bruise on it from this morning; this probably isn’t the best example…

“That is most likely because you are subconsciously more aware of your surroundings,” Lilly says.

“That might actually be it.”

“How are you adjusting to Yamaku anyway, Ryuunosuke?” Lilly asks.

I look towards her and see she’s facing my direction. “It is different from what I was expecting. My father told me a little and so did my aunt and uncle. I was expecting to stand out with this scar.” I notice Hanako wriggle slightly. “Sorry. Turns out, I’m blending in. Heh, I started swimming with a girl from one of our year’s classes. I’m not sure which one.”

“W-Who?” Hanako asks.

“Akemi, she can swim quite well.”

I notice both Lilly and Hanako looking surprised. A slightly tense moment passes, making their reaction all the more curious.

“Is something wrong?”

Hanako is the first to respond with a stuttered question “H-How did y-you get on Y-Yasuko's g-good side?”

“Yasuko's good side?” I ask, curiously.

“Y-Yeah.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, looking at Hanako with a confused expression.

Hanako shies away, apparently not wanting to go on. Lilly however, starts speaking. “Akemi is quite hard to make friends with, mainly due to Yasuko. She is quite protective of her - possibly over-protective.”

“Why do you think that?” I ask Lilly.

“A few guys tried to get close to Akemi once and Yasuko scared them off, including Masahiro,” she replies.

“Y-Yasuko can b-be scary w-when it c-comes to A-Akemi,” Hanako adds.

“Yes, she can. She has even managed to scare Shizune.” Lilly adds.

“Really?” She’s managed to scare Shizune? That is very hard to do. Even her father has difficulty doing that. Contrary to what I said to Akemi, I’m wanting less and less to meet Yasuko now.

***

*** Akemi’s P.O.V ***

Yasuko pushes me into 3-4’s classroom after we have had our lunch in my room, and I see Saki in her seat glaring at us with reddened eyes. I wonder what she’s blaming us for this time. Last time, in our second year, she accused me of getting together with her boyfriend. That was impossible as I’ve never had a boyfriend, unfortunately… It is a shame we need to go past her seat as ours are two rows behind hers.

As Yasuko pushes me past Saki, I hear her say “I see you bitches stole another guy.”

I feel my wheelchair suddenly stop, slightly jolting me. Please don’t do anything Yasuko.

As I turn my head and body to look behind me, Yasuko asks “What are you on about?”

“You two stole 3-2’s new guy.” Saki spits out. Oh no.Yasuko turns to face me with confusion on her face.

“So it is true he’s been stolen.”

Yasuko sighs before turning back to Saki, “Will you stop going on about us stealing guys from you. It is getting really annoying and why would we even do that? Neither of us would want your leftovers.”

I look round and see the few classmates here watching. I hear the sound of a chair scraping on the floor causing me to look back at the pair: Saki now standing but leaning on her desk, facing Yasuko.

“Leftovers…” She angrily repeats what Yasuko just said, “Is that what you’re calling them? Well, at least I’ve managed to have a boyfriend, unlike either of you two bitches. Perhaps you actually like being a loner. By the way, your excuse of a cousin doesn’t count,” she looks over to me.

A well of anger suddenly overcomes me, “I-I’m an excuse? At least I have people who care about me and I don’t try to u-use my beauty to control people!”

I sneak a look at Yasuko and see she has a smile on her face. I guess she likes the fact that I’m standing up beside her unlike the last time.

“Ha! You say you don’t use your beauty? What about Ryuunosuke seeing you in your skin tight suit which makes you look practically naked when you swim?” She pauses and my anger suddenly gets replaced by embarrassment, and I feel my cheeks getting warm as my mouth drops. I hadn’t thought about that when swimming with him.

An evil looking smile spreads across her face. Oh how I would like to punch that right off. She continues “Yeah I know about tha-“ her sentence is cut off by the sound of metal hitting the ground. I look down in the direction where the sound came from and see a pair of crutches now lying on the floor next to Yasuko. I quickly realise she knocked them over.

Saki turns to Yasuko and still with the anger in her voice, asks “Well, will you pick them up?”

Yasuko suddenly smirks and replies “I have no reason to, unless, you apologise to me and Akemi, right now.”

Saki scoffs “Yeah, right. Like I would do that. I’d prefer to do this,” she suddenly moves one of her hands and knocks Yasuko's horned headband off. Bad mistake, Saki. For someone who can’t walk around without her crutches, she can still be surprisingly quick. Saki retracts her hand as quickly as she extended it but Yasuko manages to grab the wrist and starts pressing down on the joint with her thumb. A pained expression quickly appears on Saki’s face as her other hand tries to pry Yasuko's hand off. I knew me and Yasuko looking up pressure points would be bad…I notice the headband landed in front of me so I pick it up before anyone ends up standing on it and put it on my lap.

Almost growling, Yasuko tells Saki, “That is one more thing you need to apologise for. So do it. Now!”

“N-No,” comes Saki’s reply, her hardened shell beginning to falter.

Yasuko lets out a frustrated sigh and looks at me. I can immediately see the fire burning within her pink eyes. It is actually quite scary. There have only been three other times I’ve seen her like this; once with Massimiliano when she broke up with him and he said she couldn’t, one time with Saki and the other with Rika.

I suddenly see Yasuko move away from Saki and hit the desk near her causing her to fall onto it and jerk her neck backwards. Her sudden movement was as though she was pushed. As her neck jerks back, she inhales sharply. The seven people in the room all gasp in unison and my eyes widen as I call out “Are you okay, Yasuko?”

I then realise Saki had managed to free her wrist and obviously used the distraction of Yasuko looking at me to push her.

After a few tense seconds, Yasuko replies, her voice slow and full of malice “Yes, well, better than what Saki will be.” Please don’t do anything. Please don’t do anything. Please don’t do anything.

Yasuko slowly sits up on the desk and rubs her neck while wincing and slowly rotating her neck as much as she can, her neck clicking every chance it can get. Saki seems to be frozen to the spot with her eyes wide. She knows she has messed up. Yasuko then looks straight at Saki before smirking. Damn. Before I realise what’s happened, she has shot off the table and has both her hands on Saki’s shoulders, thumbs pressing just under both of her collar bones. Saki’s once surprised face is now full of agony. Yes, Saki may deserve stuff to happen to her for how she treats others, especially me and Yasuko, but I am regretting telling Yasuko about the body’s pressure and pain points now. I notice Saki’s eyes starting to tear, possibly either due to the pain, or the humiliation, maybe both. Part of me is happy at this sight, even though I know I shouldn’t be. Saki’s legs suddenly buckle and she collapses to the floor, Yasuko still holding onto her shoulders but now squatting. I need to do something! Speaking her native Italian language should work, it has in the past at least.

“Yasuko! Let go!” I shout in Italian. She immediately lets go of her, followed by an audible sigh. She is still squatting in front of Saki though. I probably drew some curious glances but I don’t care about that.

“Are you ready to say sorry, Saki?” Yasuko asks, her voice sounding calmer, but still angry, “Or do you want me to find more points to pinch?”

“I-I’m sorry.” She whimpers, tears fully appearing on her face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Yasuko says, her voice a bit or normal sounding, but now with a hint of mocking in it. My thoughts suddenly go to what Saki said about me swimming with Ryuunosuke and about my swimsuit being skin tight so I’d practically be naked. My cheeks feel suddenly warm. Why did she say that? Now I will feel awkward tomorrow. Maybe asking him directly why he’s staying swimming will help me? That is if I get enough confidence though.

I suddenly hear Yasuko's voice, which brings me back to reality. “Finally this narcissistic bitch has apologised,” Yasuko gets up and walks to me before grabbing her headband. As she’s near me, even I feel slightly scared by her even though I know she would never hurt me. An apologetic look crosses her face as she whispers “Sorry,” She turns and heads to the door. As she reaches the door, Mutou walks in and sees Yasuko. He tells her that class is about to start but she ignores him and leaves. Mutou watches her before scanning the room. His eyes fall onto the sobbing mess that is Saki. He stares for a few seconds before he wordlessly walks to her.

How can such a beautiful girl have such a rotten personality?

***
[Continued]

*** Yasuko's P.O.V ***

After ignoring Mutou and exiting my classroom, I ended up in my dorm room to hide from any of the teachers and to have a nap to hopefully take away the pain still lingering in my neck. The painkillers don’t fully get rid of the pain, only numbing it. The main reason why I left was to hide my little breakdown.

After the nap, I notice the happy sound of other students in the corridor and outside indicating it is now past end of lessons. Their happiness is the opposite of how I currently feel. I tilt my head slightly and look at my clock which confirms those suspicions. I get up from my bed and feel for my headband on my head. I can’t feel it, and I suddenly think back to if I did remember to bring it with me when I left the classroom. I stand up to begin searching my room to see if I need to leave my room but then I remember I threw it off when I got into my room, out of frustration. I look at my mirror on my wall and see my once neat, orange-braided hair is now messy. There’s no need to fix that, it’s not as if I will be having any visitors in my room. Speaking of my room, I look around it for wherever my headband landed, and I see it on my dresser, undamaged.

If classes have ended, will that means Akemi will come to my room? Probably not seeing as she looked scared when I walked to her to grab my headband. It was actually worrying how scared she was and I think it was because of me! Why did Saki have to start our fight over a guy, again, especially a guy Akemi seems to be getting close to? I let out a sigh. I would have probably been able to remain semi-calm if she only verbally attacked me, but she instead decided to knock my headband off in front of others and attack Akemi, before violently pushing me against that table, causing me to fall on it and jerk my neck. I rub my neck as I think that.

That really did hurt when she did that. Why did that two-bit hospital have to fuck up the cast when they reset my neck? Everyone kept telling them it was set wrong and unevenly, but did any of them listen? Did they hell! Now because they fucked it up, my neck is resting on top of the nerves in there which hurt every time I turn my neck just past ‘slightly’.

I am glad Akemi bothered to learn my native Italian language, as that has always been able to bring me back to reality. I may have been born in Japan, but my parents decided to move to Italy before I could speak, so I grew up with Italian as my first language, and Japanese and English as my second and third. They decided it was best to move back to Japan after my neck got broken. Ever since this happened to my neck, I have nearly always had sleep issues. Sleep issues plus the pain may have added to my actions to Saki.

I think back a bit more to the incident and find myself smiling because Akemi stood up for me and herself. Normally she is quite shy around others - completely different from when she’s with Kaiya or me.

More thoughts about lunch appear in my head, including ones about the guy she was saying we stole. I haven’t stolen anyone called Ryuunosuke, but if I remember right and from what she said, he is the guy who is swimming with Akemi, right? From what Akemi’s said, he seems to be a nice guy. It helps that he is quite a looker. I’m not surprised Saki fell for him, but how did she even talk to him? It doesn’t actually matter, but I am curious. She said we stole him which means he turned whatever proposal she had down which actually makes me happy, considering how much Akemi and I hate Saki. I do need to keep my image of ‘Akemi’s Evil Guardian Angel’ up though and pretend I think he is just after Akemi’s body, like I do with all the other guys, except with those, I don’t pretend to think that. I want to protect Akemi from leeches like my ex, I may go overboard sometimes, but I’m doing it for her sake. At least I hope I am. My reputation of being ‘Akemi’s Evil guardian Angel’ is incorrect – I am no angel, as proven at lunch today.

I suddenly hear rapid, continuous knocking on my door. Marvellous. I try to ignore it, but I quickly realise the knocker isn’t going to stop. I can rule out the staff as they wouldn’t knock like that, and it wouldn’t be Akemi either, as she would only knock a few times before waiting and then calling. I’m not sure if I can actually face Akemi yet, truthfully.

Several more seconds pass, and the rapid knocking is still going on. I let out a sigh and decide to answer. I lethargically get up from my bed and walk slowly to my door, hoping it will stop before I get there. No such luck though. I unlock the door and open it slightly and see someone with black and red hair – Kaiya. “You know if you keep doin-“

I’m interrupted by her pushing the door open with surprising force - which I narrowly avoid - shouting “What. The. Hell. Were you thinking?” I’ve been wondering that myself, Kaiya. I reel back from her shouting, leaving me with a ringing sensation in my ears. I possibly may be deaf. Well, there goes that random thought of whether nasal cannulas limit the loudness of your voice…

***

*** Ryuunosuke's P.O.V ***

The next morning, I walk to the pool and manage to get into the water without Akemi noticing. She is singing again, but this time, the song is in a different language. I guess she likes to sing. This one has the same melody as the English and Japanese ones I’ve heard her sing.

“Hey Akemi,” I say to announce myself, followed by “That song wasn’t English, was it?”

Akemi turns, slowly, this time she isn’t surprised, but she has flushed cheeks. She lets out a weak smile and begins swimming over to me as effortlessly as ever. Flushed cheeks and a smile that isn’t her usual one? I wonder what’s wrong. Because of how well she swims, I sometimes easily forget she can’t move part of her legs.

She soon reaches the pool’s edge, rests her arms on it and looks at me, but she is avoiding eye contact. “H-H-Hi Ryuunosuke. I-It is the s-same song,” she pauses and then takes a deep breath. Something is definitely on her mind. I’ll try ask later, possibly at the end of swimming. “T-This time I-I was singing i-in I-Italian.”

“Italian? You know three languages then?” I ask, surprised. “I barely know one language.” I did know a bit of sign language but I’ve forgotten most of it because I haven’t used it in years. That may be a slight exaggeration, but I get what I want, a little chuckle from Akemi.

“F-Four,” she says, her already flushed cheeks beginning to burn brighter. I look at her with an even more surprised face, “I know f-four l-languages, I can sing i-in three of them.”

“Japanese, English, Italian, that’s three, so what’s the fourth?” I ask her. How does she know all these too?

“I-It’s a secret,” she says, tapping her nose the same way Kaiya did. I’m sure I can see a hint of a teasing smile. Akemi has a teasing mode? Oh dear.

“How did you manage to learn all these languages anyway?” I ask.

“I-I was in the hospital a-after my first accident, s-so I spent the time r-recovering to i-improve my I-Italian and E-English,” she tells me.

“Ahh. Your first accident? You mean you’ve had more?” I ask.

Akemi smiles, but it looks like it has a hint of sadness before saying “Y-Yeah, but I-I’ll tell you after swimming.

“Okay.” I’ll try to remember to ask her later then.

We get ready to swim a few laps. Thanks to Akemi, I have greatly improved my technique – at least I feel like I have.

***

Nearly an hour passes, and I see Akemi pulling herself out of the water with ease and grace - well as graceful as you can be when getting out of a pool. I am still somewhere near the middle of the pool. I am not as fast as Akemi, but I feel like I have definitely gotten faster. I swim the remaining distance while Akemi is sitting on the far edge watching, a smile on her face. When I reach her and pull myself out, I notice something off about her smile that wasn’t there before. I suddenly remember her uneasiness when I first entered here, “Akemi, is there something wrong?”

“W-What do you m-mean?” she asks.

“When I first entered, you seemed more nervous than normal.” I say.

Akemi looks down “I-I’m sorry.” For what? “I-I was in an argument yesterday and s-some words g-got to me,” She takes a deep breath before continuing, “There’s a girl in my c-class that Yasuko and I absolutely hate. S-She started an argument and she s-said something… m-mainly about you… which e-embarrassed m-me, a-and I c-can’t i-ignore i-it.”

W-What? I can feel the warmth in my cheeks increase as I try to dispel certain thoughts that quickly appear in my head after she said that. My eye is betraying me though, as I look at Akemi and realise that her arms are quite muscular, I can see she has a nice figure. I need to think of something to distract my mind before it distracts me more.

“R-Ryuunosu-suke? T-that isn’t t-the r-reason you’re h-here, is i-it?” she asks, clearly nervous.

“No, well part of the reason I’m still here is because of you,” her eyes widen as I say that, “It’s fun being around you. It makes swimming more fun.” my statement causes Akemi to blush.

“R-Really?”

I nod my head and smile. I wonder if the person Akemi hates is Saki. She basically said she hates Akemi after all, “Yesterday, during lunch, I came across a girl called Saki, and she tried to get me to go out with her. I turned her down for various reasons, and she ended up saying she hated you and Yasuko. When I returned to class at the end of lunch, Lilly and I were told about shouting from one of the other classrooms.”

Akemi’s eyes widen and a look of realisation appears on her face “S-So that’s w-what set h-her off, Saki s-started an a-argument with me and Yasuko and we both got angry, Yasuko can g-get angry easily but me n-not so much.”

“Angry easily? If I do meet her, I’ll try to be at my best then,” I say in a joking tone.

A giggle escapes from Akemi followed by her asking “R-Ready to s-swim again?”

“Yes.”

***

After what feels like an hour, but is actually closer to half that, we swim to one of the edges of the pool, with Akemi in front of me, of course. She does her usual ‘jumping’ out of the pool as I reach the side. I pull myself out so I’m sitting next to Akemi on the pool’s edge. Looking at her, I ask “Akemi, why do you like jumping out of the pool like that?”

I’ve been meaning to ask that question for a while now mainly to satisfy my curiosity, but I kept forgetting.

Akemi looks at me, wearing a neutral expression so I can’t tell what she is thinking or if I said something wrong or not. “Ever since the accident that s-stopped my legs working p-properly, the doctors s-said stuff t-that I could no l-longer do and others which w-would be h-harder, such a s-swimming. I ‘jump’ out of the pool as they said that would be one thing I wouldn’t be able to do. I w-wanted to prove them wrong.”

I can’t help but smile at her defiance to her doctors. I would do the same with my katana, but with no apparent depth perception, it wouldn’t be just my life or body in danger but those I’d be fighting against.

“W-What’s funny, Ryuunosuke?” Akemi asks in an uncertain voice.

“Huh? Oh, nothing. I was thinking about you wanting to defy your doctors, unlike me.” Akemi gives me a confused look and tilts her head. “A lack of depth perception and katanas don’t mix very well.”

My explanation earns a small girlish giggle from Akemi which she tries to hide behind her hand.
“Cute.” The word escapes my mouth before I realise it, sending Akemi into a deep blush as her eyes widen.

“Y-You know you w-were w-walking with K-Kaiya yesterday?” I nod, noticing her stutter has worsened a great deal - I assume because of me. “S-She s-said y-you didn’t a-answer her question i-if it w-was this p-pool or m-me you w-wanted to go t-to.”

I’m pretty sure I did give Kaiya an answer.

“I’m sure I told her I’m enjoying the pool and the company. I may have also said that you’re a nice friend.” I say smiling at her, causing her to blush slightly more than before, if that were possible.

“T-T-Thank y-you,” she stutters.

I notice her stutter got worse again with that compliment.

“Ready to start swimming again?” I ask her.

She shakes her head before saying “N-No, there’s no time f-for more s-swimming.”

I turn my head to look at the clock above the lifeguard’s office window and see there’s about an hour until classes start. I’m assuming the person inside is the lifeguard as I’ve never actually asked about it.

I notice Akemi is now looking down into the pool with a slightly despondent look on her face.

“You alright Akemi?” I ask worriedly.

“Y-Yeah, just t-thinking that for the n-next f-few days I may n-not be at the p-pool as it i-is nearly t-time for my a-attacks.”

“Attacks? What do you- oh, yeah, your epilepsy, right?” I ask, remembering half-way through.

She nods her head slowly. “Yeah, so t-the next few d-days I may not be i-in my c-class either, depending w-when the a-attacks happen, a-and how severe i-it is.”

“Don’t worry; I will try not to be lonely here, while you’re away,” I joke, hoping to clear that despondent look. It seems to work as she shows me a smile and chuckles.

I suddenly remember that there has been one thing I’ve been wondering, so I decide to ask Akemi. “You always seem to be here before I am, and singing, so I was curious at what time you normally get here.”

“I g-get here j-just before you do. Although I-I am usually up at a-around four because of my b-bad dreams,” I can relate to that, especially with dreams I’ve been able to remember.

“What do you do that early then?”

“Push m-myself around the t-track. I occasionally s-see one of my friends running there too.” She pauses before staring at me. Her cheeks start to redden as she asks “R-Ryuunosuke, w-would it be p-possible t-to have y-your phone number? O-Otherwise w-we’ll only b-be a-able to talk h-here.”

“Hmm, good point. I’ll give you my number outside the changing room? Would be easier than now.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s what I m-meant,” Akemi seems to think for a moment before asking “f-from what y-you’ve heard, what d-do you think of Y-Yasuko?”

“Well, just from you, she sounds kind of scary and others say she is very protective of you. I think it may be interesting to meet her.”

“T-That’s putting it m-mildly. S-She’s had a b-bad relationship and w-wants to protect me f-from anything l-like that. Oh yeah, a-are you d-doing anything f-for the festival t-this Sunday?”

I shake my head “Nothing planned. Yesterday after lunch I offered to help Lilly with the stall on the day but she said I could take the day off and she wouldn’t say why when I asked.”

“O-Oh. W-Would you w-want to g-go round w-with me? I n-normally go with Yasuko, b-but she will m-most likely h-have some sort o-of suspension. I haven’t spoken t-to her yet.”

That last part sounded like she was talking more to herself than me. It would be nice to see Akemi in something other than her swimsuit or that one time I saw her in the school uniform. Maybe she would wear a yukata? But what about the bow? Surely that would stick into her back when she’s sitting in the wheelchair.

“Yes I will go with you.” I say with a smile earning a beaming smile from Akemi, all signs of her shyness, gone.

***

I arrive at my classroom after my usual morning routine, and I find I’m not the first one here. There are a few others, including Lilly and, uh… I think his name was Masahiro? I take my seat and greet them both.

Lilly greets me. “Good morning Ryuunosuke. Did you have a good sleep?”

“Better than before thank you. I also had a good swim with Akemi this morning.”

“You got close to Akemi? How did you manage that with Yasuko around?” Masahiro asks me.

“Ha, Lilly asked me the same thing yesterday. I haven’t met Yasuko yet, and now that you’ve asked that as well, I’m not so sure that I want to,” I say, my sentence ending in a dejected sounding tone.

“Since you are already friends with Akemi, you may be lucky in terms of Yasuko,” Masahiro tells me. He procures a book from his bag and starts reading it. I try to read the book’s title, but all I see are Braille bumps instead of words. He suddenly looks up and asks “Did you hear about what happened in 3-4 yesterday?”

Lilly answers Masahiro’s question before I do. “Minamoto told us about it when we got back. Three of the students had an argument which turned physical between two of them, correct?”

“Yes.”

“I heard about it this morning while swimming. Akemi told me Saki started the argument and Yasuko basically snapped and that she can have a bad temper when provoked.”

“Enomoto, huh? She and the other two have a bad history. I was surprised the teachers put them in the same class again,” Masahiro says before going back to his book.

I suddenly hear and feel my phone vibrating. Since Miyagi isn’t here yet, I should be safe in looking at it. Opening my phone, I see Akemi messaged me. [Hey . I forgot to tell you about my past. I’m sorry.]

I start typing my reply [It’s okay, I forgot to remind you anyway]

[I don’t think I was ready to talk about it. But I will be soon ] her reply is surprisingly quick.

I am curious but I don’t want to push her into telling me if she doesn’t want to, although it does seem as if she is trying to keep her word. That is good. I send her a message back [No need to hurry, have a fun afternoon.]

Almost immediately, I get a reply from her [I will ! Although Yasuko isn’t here , neither is Saki ] as I read it, I accidentally let out a slight chuckle. I close my phone before putting it back into my pocket. As I do so, Miyagi walks into the room. That was close

***

English class ends the day and as usual, the words went in one ear and out of the other. As I am about to rise, Masahiro turns to face me, “Ryuunosuke, may I ask you something?”

“Sure,” I reply, wondering what he’d want to know.

“Not just yet though,” he says, nodding his head towards Lilly, who is packing away her stuff before walking to the classroom door.

As she exits, I turn back to Masahiro who says “I heard about you and Saki in one of the classrooms.”

Say what?

“You know saying that sentence like that makes it sound like something happened.”

“Oh I know. I wanted to see how you would react. I know she tried to seduce you and that you somehow managed to resist her charms. How exactly did you do that? Even with my eyes I can see she’s beautiful, save for her personality.”

“Ha. Part of the reason is because she said something bad about Akemi.”

“You like her, right? He asks me.

“She’s a friend.”

“Yes she is nice, I used to have a crush on her,” Why am I not surprised by that? “I tried to get close to her, but Yasuko got in the way. She deemed me not worthy of Akemi. You seem to have gotten close to her without Yasuko's interference; I commend you for that, although you may have earned her ire for that.” Marvellous.

“Akemi told me that Yasuko had a bad relationship and she wants to protect Akemi from such a thing.” I tell him.

“That makes sense, even if she seems to be overdoing it. Apart from you, I think neither Akemi nor Yasuko have any male friends, so I would tread carefully around them.”

“Akemi invited me to the festival…” I say, trailing off at the end.

Even from behind his sunglasses, I can see Masahiro’s eyes grow bigger, and his voice rises in surprise “Really?”

“Y-Yeah,” I stutter, surprised by Masahiro’s surprised reaction. “Hey Masahiro, do you know what Akemi’s and Yasuko's relationship is?”

“They are cousins. On their mother’s sides, I believe. why?” is his reply.

Not what I thought. “Really? The way I been told Yasuko acts around Akemi and how Akemi speaks of her, I thought they may have been more than friends.”

Suddenly Masahiro roars with laughter causing Miyagi, who is doing something at her desk, to jump and look at us before eventually returning to whatever she’s doing. After a while, Masahiro’s laughter dies down and he eventually says “Several people seem to think that but they are both straight, at least that is what Yasuko said when I asked her. Is there anything else you want to know?”

“No, thank you.”

“If you are sure that is all there is, then have a good rest of your day,” he says, with a smile before getting up from his seat and leaving. I suddenly remember Akemi’s text from this morning and think to myself that since she is planning to tell me about her past, perhaps I should tell her about mine.

***

Part 1 Previous Start Next

While I was waiting for this chapter to be proofread and edited by Mirage, my computer's hard drive to finally completely fail (to the point where Windows wouldn't boot up) Thankfully I had backed up the hard drive a week before so only lost a few hundred words of notes instead of several thousands of words. This chapter is also my longest one so far.

Current Chapter: Word Count: 5,619
Chapter 1-8 Word Count: 39,990
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Act 1, Chapter 8: Talk

After leaving my classroom and spending the remaining hours of the afternoon in the library, I am now in the corridor leading to my room. As I approach my door, I hear and see a door near me open. I stop to greet the occupant who turns out to be Kenji. I would try pretend I’m not here but that would feel like I’m purposefully isolating him which from my own experience after losing the sight in my eye, does not feel good so I decide to announce myself “Hey Kenji.”

Announcing myself to him makes him literally jump and turn around while wielding a pen like a sword. Taking the phrase: the pen is mightier than the sword a bit far aren’t you?

“Who are you? A feminist?!” he calls out before getting really close to me to the point where I can smell his garlicky breath. What’s worse is the fact I hate garlic and the smell of it so I hold my breath hoping that soon he’ll step back. Thankfully after a few seconds he does.

“You don’t appear to be a feminist. Who are you?” he asks in a confrontational voice.

I pause for a second before replying, “Ryuunosuke… We’re in the same class.”

“We are? I don’t really go to it. Stepping outside my shelter is dangerous because the feminists are after me because of my work to expose them.”

You actually are in class nearly all the time though… “So why are you out now then?” I ask while now trying to think of a way the get away from this garlicky feminist-oppressed classmate once I remember why I didn’t want to actually talk with him in the first place.

“Even I need to get supplies for my recon mission. Say, would you want to join? You look like you’ve been in combat before and I’m currently short on soldiers,” his tone makes it sound like he completely believes this, “too many losses to the feminists. Say if you aren’t a feminist, why do you have long hair?”

My ponytail? He can see that? “Males can’t wear long hair?”

Kenji looks down either side of the corridor as if he is about to tell me a big secret of some kind. He leans even further towards me and his garlicky breath increases in potency, “They can, it is actually a good way to infiltrate the many feminist groups within this blasted school.”

Oh god. In a flat tone, I respond to his comment “Yes, that is why I have my hair long.”
“That… Is really smart. I applaud you,” Kenji says, bowing to me.

***

*** Akemi’s PoV ***

I enter my room and a thought appears in my head telling me to inspect my yukata while I still have plenty of time before the festival. I need to look my best, and cutest, for Ryuunosuke, after all.

Putting the brakes on my wheelchair, I lean forwards and pull open one of the two drawers under my bed. I quickly spot my yukata wrapped in its paper wrap and reach for it. After unwrapping and unfolding it, I check it over to make sure there aren’t any scuffs or blemishes on it, and thankfully there aren’t any. I do however, spot a dark spot on the shoulder and upon closer inspection, I see a rip in the cotton. I let out sigh and place it carefully on my bed. Discovering this tear leaves me slightly upset, but it does leave me with an opportunity, an opportunity to try impress a certain swimmer. The difficult part will be my budget and getting to the city. I could ask my sister to pick me up, but she will wonder why I’d want a brand new one, and I’d end up revealing my attraction to Ryuunosuke. That alone would give me the third degree from her. Asking Yasuko would be the better option.

I exit my room, quickly make my way to Yasuko’s door and knock. I wait for a little while, but get no reply. I try the door handle and discover the door is locked. I knock and wait again. After a while, I turn away, but as I do so, I see Yasuko walking towards me, purposefully trying to not make any noise. I can tell she was going to try make me jump like she has done plenty of times before, most of the time on purpose.

“Damn you saw me.” She obviously knew what I was thinking. “Everything okay Akemi?”

“I need a new yukata, my current one has a tear on the shoulder,” I reply. Then I signal for Yasuko to follow me into my room. She does, and I point to the yukata. She walks to it and examines the shoulder.

“Hmm, it can easily be repaired Akemi, as you probably know. So, why do you want a new one instead?”

I try my best to look innocent, and possibly I have a bit of my puppy dog eyes showing “But I like the feel of new ones.”

“Uh huh… What’s the actual reason?” Yasuko replies, my eyes clearly having no effect. I then remember Yasuko is immune to my puppy dog eyes, so now she definitely knows there's another reason.

“I-I may want to i-impress s-someone.”

“That someone wouldn’t be Ryuunosuke, would it?” she asks, with a smile appearing on her face.

“M-Maybe,” I say looking down.

I see Yasuko’s hand appear in front of me as she lifts my head up to face hers. “I can take you to go get one, but I will need to go to my room and grab some stuff and call my parents first and see if it is okay to buy a new one. It should be okay.”

Surprised at how willing she is to help me, especially with the cost of a new yukata, I tell her “A-After we have bought one. W-We can go eat in the city.”

“Le Petite Canard?” she instantly asks.

I nod my head. “Yes, I-I’ll pay for it.”

***

*** Ryuunosuke’s PoV ***

Suddenly waking up, I immediately notice it is still dark. I grab my phone from the bed stand and look at the time. It is only midnight. This is going to be a long night.

I think back to the very odd dream I just had. It involved nearly everyone I’ve met here so far. For some reason I had decided to help Kenji infiltrate the girls’ dormitory and steal some documents from Shizune’s room. The documents turned out to be seating plan arrangements of all things. In the dream Masahiro was helping us and had laser eye vision. I’m not quite sure why I didn’t realise it wasn’t reality at that point. As we escaped, Misha turned out to be the alarm, literally using her voice as the alarm. We ended up fighting against Miki, Kaiya, Shizune and even Lilly. Kenji told me Shizune was only second in charge and that he didn’t know who the first was. I soon found out who was - Akemi. I let out a sigh as I try to wash the dream away from my thoughts but I quickly realise I am now wide awake, so I decide to go for a night’s walk like I did on either my first or second day here.

I walk around for what feels like only a few minutes, and I end up walking past the running track. As I draw near the bleachers here, I start to overhear two female voices, one sounding familiar but I can’t place it. Curious to hear what they’re talking about, I slow my pace and quietly walk towards them, hoping they don’t see or hear me. I stop in a dark spot and listen. I hear one of them saying some words including ‘“if you use a whole bunch of needles and point them to the body at the correct points, it works really well.’ I try to figure out what they are talking about but due to the dream which woke me, I can’t help but think they may be feminists. I then hear one of the girls say the word ‘acupuncture’ and I let out a quiet sigh, glad that my thoughts were wrong. Even that brief meeting with Kenji was apparently enough to mess with my usual unfriendly dreams. I decide it is probably best I go back to my room and hope neither of those two people heard me.

***

I’m standing in the middle of a large area, and I have no idea where I am. I look around and see Kenji arguing with the Grim Reaper from my dreams. How and why are they arguing? I manage to catch part of what they are arguing about. The Grim is apparently unhappy that Kenji is messing with his plans or me, and Kenji is saying something about protecting me from the feminists including the Grim. I hear the ethereal sigh of the Grim as he puts his hands up and suddenly Kenji is blasted backwards into the darkness. The grim turns to me before emitting a low growl that echoes across this empty void as he swipes his scythe, and it comes flying towards me, and I am unable to move. As the scythe comes within centimetres of me, my vision turns black.

***

I wake to the sound of my morning alarm. Last night was odd, and I hope tomorrow night I’ll sleep better. I get out of bed and try but fail to stifle a yawn before doing my usual morning routine, including wiping the blood from my eye that has seeped out. After completing the routine, I exit my room and head to the swimming pool. As usual, I am the only one outside at this time. It appears this is the time where most of Yamaku is asleep - minus Akemi, myself and some staff.

My mind wanders to the two girls I saw on the bleachers and I wonder if they’re still there… Yeah, as if…. As I reach the lifeguard office, I see the lifeguard looks like she busy with some work. Why would they be busy with work at this time of the morning? I notice there is no singing today, making me wonder if Akemi is in the pool.

Entering the pool room, I am greeted with the slight smell of the chlorinated water and the sound of Akemi greeting me. I look to her and see she is at the deep end of the pool. I smile and greet her back before walking to her where I sit on the pool’s edge and dipping my legs into it.

“A-Are you a-alright, Ryuunosuke?” Akemi asks me.

I look at her, and she looks concerned. “I’m good, had an odd dream which woke me though.” Out of curiosity, I add “why are you asking anyway?”

“Y-Your eyes l-look tired,” she replies. They do? That explains the slight aching I have been feeling from them.

“What was y-your odd dream?” she asks, tilting her head, her purple eyes showing a sparkle of interest.

I let out an odd awkward laugh as I remember the dream. “I’m not entirely sure why I had the dream, but you were in it.”

Akemi’s eyes go wide as she stutters out “M-Me? W-Why w-would you dream a-about m-me?”

I should have expected that reaction I guess.

“You weren’t the only one in it. The dream involved two classmates of mine, Kenji and Masahiro,” I notice Akemi’s eyes widen and her mouth mumbles something I am unable to hear, but I continue on. “In the dream, the three of us took on a feminist conspiracy inside the female dormitory. Masahiro’s and Kenji’s task was to take on the females who opposed us while I was tasked with finding certain documents. Kenji also tasked me with killing the head of the conspiracy.”

“Shizune?” is all Akemi asks. Does she know something?

I shake my head and say “No, she was second in command.”

“T-Then who?” she asks with a curious tone in her voice.

I let out a little laugh before replying “You.” As I expected her eyes widen again.

“M-Me? B-But I-I’m no leader,” she says quickly, while stuttering and looking down into the depths of the pool.

“You were in the dream, but as I pointed the gun I got from somewhere, no idea where, I couldn’t do it. You sat behind a teacher’s desk, and then you stood up and pointed your finger at me and fired which killed me.” I let out a chuckle at the ridiculousness of the dream.

“M-My finger? You… didn’t w-want to shoot me?”

I smile and shake my head “No. I guess on some level I knew it wasn’t real so my brain didn’t want me to hurt my friends.”

As I finish my explanation, I notice Akemi starting to blush. Is it me, or is she starting to blush a lot more around me?”

“I-It couldn’t have b-been me who s-shot you though. Y-You said I s-stood up b-but yet I c-can’t,” She looks slightly sad. Dang. “It was p-probably my twin.”

“Twin? Is this the sister you mentioned before?” Akemi looks back at me and nods her head. “I didn’t realise she was a twin.”

“T-There’s a lot y-you don’t k-know about me, R-Ryuunosuke.” I’m pretty sure I just spotted what looked like a sultry look from her. I could be wrong however.

With that statement, I decide to try press further. “Like what exactly, Akemi?”

Akemi’s expression changes to one of realisation, and she quickly says “N-nothing. P-perhaps we s-should start s-swimming.”

I chuckle at Akemi’s quick change of topic, although I do wonder what she was referring to before. I see her smile, and I get ready to slide into the pool. I take a deep breath but feel my chest tighten. I assume Akemi noticed my expression as she asks if I am okay. I look at her and see her concerned look.

“I’m good. These fourteen year old scars on my chest aren’t fond of stretching,” I explain. I slide into the pool and then remember it is cold. Once I resurface, I grab hold of the edge and notice Akemi’s smile returned. It is a shame the pool’s temperature isn’t set to be higher than what it is now.

I look at Akemi who still has a look of concern on her face. “Don’t worry Akemi, I’m okay. Now, didn’t you want to swim?”

I start swimming and look back to see Akemi following me. She increases her speed and soon reaches me and swims at the same pace as me. She smiles at me and suddenly goes under the water. I stop and look for Akemi who, to my relief, is still swimming. I watch her shimmering shape swim under the water. The way her legs, arms and hair move reminds me of mermaids.I wonder how much time Akemi would spend underwater if she could breathe underwater. Probably all of it if she could, actually.

I can’t help but let out a little chuckle at that thought. As I do, I accidentally breathe in a bit of the water and end up coughing. I am able to keep swimming though. Maybe that is the sort of thing Kaiya has to live with, but permanently?

***
Continued

As we are swimming the last lap before our break, my mind starts to think back, and it is only just now I realise Akemi’s stutter while, encouraging me, had seemingly disappeared, only rarely rearing its head. Several times during the swim, she swam close to me and even bumped into me purposefully. Akemi doesn’t appear as timid as when I first appeared in this pool, then again I did accidentally ambush her. We reach the end of the final lap, and I look up to see Akemi ahead of me.

I watch as Akemi does her usual unusual jump out of the pool. I decide to try do the same. As I approach the edge, I duck under the water and swim to the bottom. Once I’m there, I push off from the floor with my feet and quickly break the surface. As I break the surface, I reach out for the edge of the pool with my hands and I use the momentum of my arms pulling then pushing me plus my body movement to get out of the water. I get high enough to get my foot onto the edge but as I power down on it, the foot slips and my shin hits the corner sending a shock wave of pain through my leg. I winch and cry out and when my eyes reopen, I see the ground approaching, too fast to stop myself. I find myself internally swearing multiple times.

I close my eye and brace myself. I suddenly see white and the pain in my shin disappears and the expected pain from my head making contact doesn’t appear. Within the whiteness, I see a pair of beautiful purple eyes, the same ones I’ve been seeing every time I’ve been to the pool. As I see them, I hear Akemi’s echoing voice calling my name.

As the whiteness fades away, I hear “-Suke! Ryuunosuke!” from Akemi. I quickly open my eyes and let out a groan as I see Akemi above me with a worried look on her face and what looks like tears in the corner of her eyes.

“I don’t think I will try that again any time soon.”

That earns me a cute chuckle from Akemi, and her face relaxes, thankfully. “Y-You s-scared me. P-Please don’t d-do t-that again.”

“I’ll try not to.” I then realise there is something on my chest so I put my hand on top of it and feel something soft, smooth, warm and damp. I lift my head and look down at my chest to see my hand atop Akemi’s. I freeze as I’m not fond of people touching the scars on my chest even if they do feel nice. The feel of her hand under mine reminds me of Shiori’s. I look at Akemi who has gone bright red, and I feel her retract her hand quickly. After she does, I notice a slight throbbing in my head and pain from my shin. “What happened?”

Akemi replies “Y-You tried t-to do my t-trick, except y-you used your l-legs and slipped and h-hit your head on the f-floor. A-Are you o-okay?”

I sit up and reply “Yeah, I’m good, except where I hit my head and shin,” Akemi looks to my shin and frowns. I look and see a bright red mark. I look back at Akemi and ask “Not that I’m complaining, but why didn’t the lifeguard appear?”

I see Akemi look up from me and at something on my left. As I turn my head, I hear another female voice say “The lifeguard has appeared Ryuunosuke. Can you sit up?”

I nod my head and do so. She quickly examines me, mainly my head and shin. She tells me that I have a red mark on my forehead and a deep red one on my shin. After that, she asks me if I am able to stand. As I stand up, I feel pain in my shin which I try hide. Once I’m fully stood up, I look at the lifeguard and tell her “I can stand up.”

She looks at me for several seconds before saying “You don’t appear to be injured apart from those two red marks. Go to the nurse’s office later to make sure though, okay?”

I nod my head in reply. She smiles at me before walking back to her office. As I watch her walk off, I sit back down on the floor with my legs in the water. Akemi looks over to me and says “Y-Your shin does h-hurt, doesn’t it?”

Huh, Akemi’s quite observant. “Yes.” I let out a sigh. “Should we call it a morning?

She smiles and shakes her head, “T-There’s no need i-if you can still s-swim.”

“If you say so.” I smile, and she nods her head and makes a noise of confirmation. “How come you love swimming so much, Akemi?”

A flash of confusion flickers across her face before she answers “One r-reason is because i-it gives me f-freedom t-to move. On land, I’m r-restricted to relying o-on my wheelchair o-or others, but i-in water, t-that doesn’t apply. I s-swam before my a-accidents. I swam a-and continue t-to swim after them. T-The pool is w-where I c-can almost act l-like an a-average person. Heh, sorry, I m-may have gone o-overboard then.”

I instinctively say, “You are an average person though.”

My statement draws a bemused expression from Akemi as she cocks her head.

“Er, that sounded so much better in my head. I don’t know how, but it was meant to be a compliment, I guess.”

My explanation earns a cute smile from her followed by her saying “Thank you.” She then slides into the pool, and I do the same once I’ve checked my shin is okay enough.

***

* Akemi’s PO.V *

After returning to the girls’ dormitory, I wheel myself straight to Yasuko’s room. Ryuunosuke was gracious enough to walk alongside me to the exterior of the building where we parted ways. That is one of the things I like about him, he cares about others. I just hope he remembers to care about himself, too, though. Seeing him slip and injure himself like that worried me quite a bit.

I get to Yasuko’s door and knock before waiting. I hear her call out “It’s unlocked.”As I enter she is sitting on her bed, phone in hand and already in her uniform.

“You’re earlier than normal. Did you get bored of Ryuunosuke already?” Yasuko teases me before adding “Hmm, you haven’t changed, normally you’re changed and in here before I have fully woken up.”

“T-That’s because you are still a-asleep until I knock on your d-door.”

“Semantics,” she waves my comment away with her hand and continues “Why are you here earlier than normal?” Yasuko asks, an inquisitive look on her face.

“I can smell an odd smell,” I say slowly.

Yasuko quickly replies “It wasn’t me. I haven’t drunk for a week.”

You must be thirsty, heh.I chuckle before saying “I’m glad. I’d hate to think the s-smell of fuel came f-from you,” My statement causes Yasuko’s face to drop.

Yasuko then immediately asks me “When did you first start smelling the fuel?”

“While I was swimming with R-Ryuunosuke, we were resting, and I s-started to smell it.”

“What do you want to do? Go to class or take a day off?” Yasuko asks in a worried voice.

“A-although I don’t want too, i-it would be better to stay h-here than scare half o-our class,” I let out a little self-deprecating chuckle after I say that.

“Oh yes, I had almost forgotten you actually enjoy school, don’t you?”

“Heh, so would you i-if you paid attention,” I rebuke her, making her smile.

I watch as Yasuko stands up and starts taking off her uniform. “What are y-you doing?”

Yasuko pauses and looks straight at me before saying in a matter-of-fact tone “I’m stripping. What do you think I’m doing? If I’m not going to class either, I may as well wear something a bit more comfortable, right?” Like your neck brace, perhaps? Yasuko resumes her current task.

“Why are you c-changing in front of me though?”

Now in her underwear, she asks “What’s the problem?” A smile appears across her face. “Are you jealous of my bust size?”

I narrow my eyes at her statement, I think Yasuko may need glasses “J-Jealous of what? Mine are bigger than yours.”

Yasuko makes a pouting expression which would probably fool most people but because I’ve known her nearly all our lives, I can tell she’s pretending to be hurt. “You know how to hit a girl where it hurts, Akemi.”

I say and do nothing, and eventually Yasuko relents and asks, “Why were you actually bothered about me changing in front of you? When you’re in your swimsuit, it clings to your skin and may accentuate certain features.” I feel myself blush as she says that and I then immediately think back to the argument with Saki. “Akemi, do you still use your one piece or your two piece?”

“M-My one piece?” I reply, curious as to why she’s asking.

“So that means Ryuunosuke hasn’t seen the scars on your chest yet, right?” I shake my head “Are you going to continue hiding the scars you got from the crash from him or will you start wearing your two piece and show him?”

When Yasuko mentions the crash, I feel the air go cold around me. I suddenly find myself in my mum’s car with her driving. I look ahead and see a truck heading straight towards us, and I hear the sound of a car horn and tyres skidding. I tell myself that this can’t be a real memory as I wasn’t even conscious when my mum crashed. I find myself uttering the words “I’m sorry, mum.”

I suddenly get a shaking sensation and quickly realise Yasuko is gently shaking me. I look at her, and she has a look of concern across her face. She asks me “Are you okay? You’re as white as an albino.”

I look around, and to my relief we are still in Yasuko’s room. That was definitely a nightmare or hallucination. A nightmarish hallucination? What I saw is based on what people told me happened when my mum died and dozens of others were injured. I reach out for Yasuko and pull her into a hug. I don’t care if she is still only in her underwear. Even without being able to see her face, I can tell Yasuko is surprised at my sudden movement. She then returns the hug a second later. While hugging her, I reply “yes, but I saw my mum die in my head.”

I hear and feel Yasuko let out a sigh of relief, “I thought you were having a seizure.” I don’t think I had one. I wouldn’t even know if I did. I haven’t had one of those in years. I hear her take a sharp breath as she realises something. “You saw her because I mentioned the crash didn’t you?” I nod my head while it’s next to Yasuko’s. “I’m sorry.”

I feel like I need to change the topic. Before Yasuko mentioned the crash, she was talking about Ryuunosuke and my chest scars if I remember right.

I release Yasuko from my hug and fall back into my wheelchair. Looking at her, I say “E-Even if I did wear my two piece s-swimsuit, R-Ryuunosuke wouldn’t b-be able to s-see one of the s-scars as i-it leads under my breast.”

Yasuko’s upset look turns into one of smiling as she slightly cocks her head. Any more cocking and she’d be in pain. “Who knows, maybe one day, he will,” she then winks.

I feel myself blush and reply meekly “I doubt that.” After finding the internal volume control for my voice I ask “w-why are you acting l-like you want me to get w-with Ryuunosuke? N-Normally you try scare o-off all the guys f-from either of us.”

“Despite what people think of me, maybe including you, I’m not against all guys, just the shitty ones. I feel he may be one of the few good ones.” She pauses for a moment as though thinking. “Then again, I thought that was true about my ex, and he turned out to be a manipulative arsehole. I get a different feeling from Ryuunosuke, actually.” Her voice goes quieter, and I barely hear her say “Hmm, maybe my assumption about Masahiro may have been wrong too.”

Yasuko is having a change of heart? About a guy? Maybe this is my chance to tease her.”

“S-Sounds like you’re developing f-feelings for a person y-you said wasn’t good enough for me.” Yasuko’s mouth opens but no words come out. I find myself giggling at her. “When are you g-going to put ‘more comfortable clothes’ on?”

Yasuko looks down at herself and simply says “Oh.” She then looks in her drawers and puts on some of her everyday clothes. She turns to me and says “If you stay in here, I can get breakfast for the both of us, well second one for you.”

I smile at her and say “I will, and thank you. I will g-go to my room and get some s-stuff to help pass the n-next few hours. A-Actually, don’t you s-still have your o-on campus suspension still?”

Yasuko’s smile disappears and says “Fuck, I forgot. Also, because of it, I can’t go to the festival.” She ties her hair into a ponytail before continuing. “I guess I’ll need to change again once I’ve brought our breakfast. I should be back within a few minutes, depending on the queue.”

***

* Ryuunosuke’s PoV *

“Now what can any of you tell me about the temperature measurement, Kelvin?” Mutou asks the class. I can’t remember much about Kelvin, even though I do remember doing it at my last school. I think zero degrees Kelvin is two hundred and seventy four degrees Celsius, I think.

I hear the sound of movement beside me and turn my head to see Masahiro stand up. “Kelvin was named after William Lord Kelvin and it uses the Celsius temperature scale but zero Kelvin, or Absolute Zero, starts at a different point to zero degrees Celsius. Zero Kelvin is minus two hundred and seventy three point one five degrees Celsius or in Fahrenheit, for those that use it, it is minus four hundred and fifty nine point six seven.”

Wow, now I can see why we do well when he, Lilly and I are in a group. I wonder how smart he actually is.

“Well done Furude. Now, what about Absolute Zero?”

“Absolute Zero is the point where matter particles are hardly moving. Most people tend to think Absolute Zero means the particles are completely frozen in motion, however, this is incorrect.”

I look at Mutou and see him smile, obviously proud that one of his students knows the answers. “Correct again, Furude. You may sit. Now, many people have heard of Absolute Zero, whichever connotations you have of it, but not many appear to know of-” Mutou’s words are drowned out by the sound of the bell signalling the end of class. As everyone stands to pack up, Mutou says “Next lesson we will be covering more on the thermodynamic laws.”

As I start packing my stuff away, Lilly asks “Ryuunosuke, are you still here?”

I look to her and nod before realising the futility. “Yes, I am, Lilly. Is there something you need?”

“Would it be possible for you to go to the tea room and tell Hanako that it is highly likely that I won’t be able to attend please? Shizune wants to meet me immediately at the start of lunch.”

Can’t she call, or text? “I need to go to the library to complete some work but I can go into the tea room and tell her, but can’t you call or text her?” I respond.

“That is good enough, thank you, Ryuunosuke. I would tell her myself, but my phone ran out of charge during the night,” she replies, a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Heh, I’ve done that a few times when I tried to charge my phone from a dodgy charge cable and forgot until the night later.

After Lilly has packed her stuff into her bag, she turns to my general direction and asks “You do remember where the tea room is, correct?”

Nearly nodding before stopping myself, I reply “Yeah, a few doors down from the library. I hope I don’t accidentally get the wrong door and come face to face with Saki again.

Lilly smiles. “Good. I’ll see you after lunch then, possibly before. Bye Ryuunosuke, Masahiro.”

I say goodbye and hear Masahiro do that same. As she leaves, I turn to Masahiro and ask him “Are you going to the festival in a few days?”

He grimaces and replies “Unfortunately not. My sister and I have to go to my parents in Sunagomata on Saturday, and I’ll be returning late Sunday. I wish I could, though. I enjoy the festivals here.

***

After having left my classroom, I reach the floor that contains the tea room and the Library – my two destinations for this lunch. The floor also contains another room, one I do now want to enter in case Saki’s there again.

I head to the room I believe is the tea room and enter. I look in and let out a sigh of relief as I see not a Saki, but a Hanako. She looks to the opened door and she clearly freezes like a deer in headlights.

“Er, hi Hanako. Lilly asked me to come by and tell you that she may not be able come by. I think she said she had to do something for Shizune.”

Hanako replies with a strained “O-Okay. T-Thank you.”

I smile and leave the room, closing the door behind myself. I look to my next destination – the library. As I walk I think to myself that it is a shame Hanako is so shy. If I knew how to, I would try help her.

***

Author’s Notes;
‘Le Petite Canard’ came about as it was the name of my school canteen during secondary school. Still not sure why it had a name though.

Part 1 Previous Start Next

Sorry it has been so long between these two chapters. I've been busy with 3 part time jobs as well as slowly getting my YouTube and Twitch stuff started back up. I am also working on my house at the same time.

Current Chapter Word Count: 5,767
Chapter 1-9 Word Count: 45,759
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Chapter 9: Epilepsy

Afternoon lessons finish, and when I exit my classroom I almost bump into an oblivious Miki. “Hi Miki.”

For some reason the greeting makes her jump, and she cries out “Ryuunosuke? God, you nearly made me have a heart attack.” As she says that, I notice one of the other students - a brown-haired boy - looking to Miki.

“What did you want? I haven’t seen you for a while,” Miki asks, and I look back at her.

I rub the back of my neck. “I’ve been busy. Actually it’s lucky we bumped into each other.”

My statement causes Miki to tilt her head and look at me confusedly before simply asking in a curious tone “Why?”

“I was thinking of asking you if you wanted to go somewhere. As a thanks for helping me get orientated in this school.”

Miki bites her lower lip and looks at me as though thinking. After a few seconds, she answers “Okay. I can skip practice for today.”

I smile. “Great. We could meet by the school gates in an hour if you want?”

“Okay. See you then.” Miki smiles and starts walking off.

I wonder if Akemi would want anything while I’m in town? I pull my phone out of my pocket.

[Hey Akemi, I’m going to town, anything you want?] After pressing send I start walking. Halfway down the stairs, my phone tells me I got a message. I carry on until I reach the next floor and read her text.

[Hi Ryuunosuke. I’m good. Don’t need anything. Thanks. I may not be swimming tomorrow by the way.] Reading the last part makes me curious.

[How come? Everything alright?]

A few seconds pass before I get Akemi’s next reply. [Have seizure warning]

Reading that text makes me slightly disappointed. Akemi won’t be in the pool tomorrow because she might have a seizure then? I didn’t even know you could get pre-warnings. I hope her seizures aren’t too bad.

I have just under an hour to get ready to go into town with Miki, but that won’t take long, so I have plenty of time. I could look up epilepsy, especially the seizure part. I remember Akemi telling me what I should do if she had one in the pool, but I have forgotten some parts. If I do look up epilepsy, I could find out Akemi’s trigger. That would be nice to know. It is also a good idea as I’ll end up reading more about it and maybe understanding it.

*** Akemi’s PoV ***

What is this random programme that’s on television? I turn my head to face Yasuko and ask her to see if she knows.

She replies “I’m… not sure, but I remember seeing this last week. The main girl is at some school called Eitoku High School which is apparently a school for the rich, but the main girl is poor. I think I have the manga this is based on, in my room somewhere.”

I watch, and there is something about the intro tune that sounds familiar. I got it! “Yasuko? Doesn’t the intro tune sound a bit like the tune from Harry Potter?”

“Huh? It does? I still haven’t finished reading the second book so I haven’t seen any of the films yet.”

“Oh,” is all I reply.

As we watch more of the programme, I can’t help but laugh at the reactions when the main character's friend gets a red notice. Apparently when a person gets a ‘red notice’ it turns the whole school against said person. I am glad a thing like that doesn’t exist in Yamaku. If it did, I’m pretty sure the teachers would stop it in its tracks immediately. When I think of that, it makes me realise how different we really are from the rest of Japan. As more of the programme plays, I notice there is quite a bit of bullying, and all the girls in it - minus the main character of course - are fawning over four guys. I hate both those things. The bullying reminds me of Saki’s attitude towards me and Yasuko. The fawning also reminds me of Saki as guys seem to want her. Yes, she is beautiful, but she has a bitchy attitude. I am glad Ryuunosuke wasn’t swung by her beauty. If she wasn’t bitchy, I am pretty sure I would have lost even before I started. I feel a smile on my lips because of that little victory. What am I even thinking?

I think to myself that I am glad no one can hear or see what I’m thinking. I look round at Yasuko and see a slightly upset expression on her face. I wonder what’s causing that. It can’t be what’s happening on the TV show as the main female character just punched one of the F4.

Yasuko suddenly says “You know, Akemi, you did my braid tighter than normal.”

That can’t be what’s on her mind. “I-I did that because you normally want it loose so I’d thought I’d change it. Don’t you like it?” I ask, naturally cocking my head to the side.

“No, it’s not that. It just feels… odd,” she replies, a confused look adorning her face while she’s still looking at the TV and playing with her braid.

A few minutes pass, and Yasuko suddenly asks “So… What are you going to do about Ryuunosuke?”

“W-What do y-you mean?” I reply defensively, being caught off guard.

A smile creeps on her face as she turns her body to face me. Damn this girl and her willingness to exploit my weaknesses. “When Kaiya and I teased you when he swam with you the first time, we were doing it for fun and for your reaction. Neither of us believed you actually liked him that way.” I’m sure you did, Yasuko. “That is, until I noticed how much you looked at him when he passed by. You also smile more, now that he swims with you regularly.”

I feel a smile tugging at my lips, and I allow it to form. I never realised how lonely the pool was until Ryuunosuke arrived. I remember the way he swam when he came by the first time almost made me laugh aloud. That would have been bad taste though, plus If I did, he might not have come back again. He seemed shy about the scars on his chest. The area around the faded scars is a slightly different tone compared to the rest of his body. His scars intrigue me as I wonder how he got them. I know how I got the three scars on my chest – the crash that I caused that killed my mum and caused a bit of the truck that we ran into to pierce the right side of my chest, leading to the scar that leads under my right breast.

I can now feel an odd sensation in my legs.

Why?

I shouldn’t be able to feel anything below my knees.

Yasuko suddenly lets out a yelp and she asks why I hit her. I did? I tell her that I didn’t. I don’t think I did, at least. Yasuko tells me again that I did. Her voice then goes to one of concern, I think its concern. She tells me my fingers are twitching.

I suddenly realise what’s happening.

Crap.

I try to move my head, and with what feels like I am using all of my energy, it moves, and I look down to see she is right. I feel my mouth suddenly twitch quickly followed by my arm. That is followed by Yasuko yelping again.

I’m sorry, Yasuko! Where’s my voice? That sound that came out my mouth was very odd, and it wasn’t my voice. I see my vision starting to go hazy quickly, manage to find my voice and whimper out the word “Nurse.”

I don’t know what language that was in; I just hope it’s one Yasuko knows.

Darkness engulfs me.

*** Yasuko’s PoV ***

Akemi catches my face again with her hand, and it hurts, but there is a more important matter at hand as I watch Akemi start seizing. I know what to do. I look round and see Noa, one of my classmates, nearby, I shout “Hotogi, get the nurse!”

She looks at me, cocking her head and asks “Why?”

“Just get him, quickly!”

Noa looks, and I think she sees Akemi because she then runs out of the room. I look back at Akemi who is starting to slide out of her wheelchair as her arms start twitching. This happens right before they start flailing everywhere. I rush round her but she manages to hit me in the ribs causing me to take a sharp breath. I ignore it and carry on until I’m at Akemi’s head and push her wheelchair away so I can get behind her. I hold onto her head and allow my arms to flow with her twitching head movements. I’d rather my hands get bruised and injured than her head. Several times that happens, mainly when her head comes close to one of the sofa’s legs. Why does the sofa have to be so heavy? I look up as much as I can, and from my crouched position, I see and hear her arms hit stuff such as the legs of another sofa and a coffee table nearby. I hope they’ll only cause bruises. I start to notice her seizing is starting to slow down, thankfully. I’m not sure if my hands could take much more.

I let go of her head once I’m sure she has completely stopped, then I sit on the floor and let out a breath I didn’t realise I’ve been holding. I flex my fingers and wrists to make sure they are still working fine - they still are, if a bit sore. I hear three sets of rushed footsteps, and I turn my torso to see Noa followed by the head nurse and one of the other ones.

“Yasuda, what happened?” The head nurse asks, as he and the other nurse check on Akemi.

Looking at the head nurse, I reply “Akemi had a bad seizure, worse than normal. She has just stopped.”

As I speak, the pair lift her up, and I do my little part as I reach for the castor leg of Akemi’s wheelchair and strain as I move it closer to the pair, regretting that I had moved it so far when cushioning Akemi’s head. Speaking of that, my fingers still ache, it may be pain, I’m not actually sure... The time it took for me to think my thoughts is enough for the nurses to lift Akemi from the floor back into her wheelchair. “Will she be okay?”

The head nurse turns to me and replies “Physically she looks okay. Depending how long she takes to awaken will determine the next course of action. We will take her to the infirmary for observation though.”

I nod in acknowledgement, my energy suddenly disappearing, out of relief, I hope.

I watch as the two nurses wheel Akemi out of the dormitory. Once they’re gone, I look around and see Noa standing, watching, with her arms folded looking at me.

“Are you okay, Yasuda?”

Am I? Am I okay? “Yes I am, Hotogi.” I try lift myself up, using the arm of the sofa for help, and my energy slowly returns. I think I have earned a rest, so I’ll go to my room. Maybe have some alcohol I have hidden away.

***

I arrive in my room and decide not to have any of my stash, but instead, have a rest. I take off my headband and put it on top my dresser before falling onto my bed. My… very… comfy… bed. If I just rest here, maybe I will fall asleep, and when I wake Akemi will be back to normal. And hopefully my fingers will have stopped aching.

I suddenly realise I have a pain on the right side of my ribs that pulsates in time with my heart rate. I put my hand to the area and as my hand touches it, I feel it stinging. I try to think wh- The seizure! I suddenly remember that during Akemi’s seizure, she caught me in the ribs. God I hope she didn’t break them. Hopefully only bruised. I decide it is best to go to the nurse. I wonder if Akemi is okay. I probably worry about her way more than I need to. She is a strong girl after all. She can still be happy even after losing so much; her legs from her seizure, her dad - it nearly destroyed her when she was told he died - and the same when her mum died.

I sit up from my lying position, and as I do so, the pain in my ribs intensifies. Yep, I need to go to the nurse.

***
Continued

Arriving outside the head nurse’s door, I knock and wait. I quickly hear a muffled reply telling me to wait a moment. I look round and immediately spy a seat close to the door. As I sit, my ribs scream at me. After what feels like a long time, I hear the door open. I stand up and immediately regret it partially because of my ribs and partially because of the lightheadedness I feel. I let out a small pained sound as I close my eyes.

“Are… Are you okay?” I hear a sweet female voice from my right ask me cautiously.

I’m outside the nurse’s office with my eyes closed after making a pained sound. Do I really sound okay? I sarcastically reply “Do I look okay?”

I hear the girl giggle slightly before saying “No, not really. I wanted to be polite.”

Opening my eyes, I see the girl who has been speaking. She is shorter than I am and has short jet black hair and very bright blue eyes. Something about her seems familiar. Upon closer examination, I see she is wearing some sort of wrist support, and she is leaning on a crutch while she favours a leg.

“Oh! I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself yet. Even though my brother keeps reminding me to, especially around new people. My name is Wakana Furude but please call me Wakana.”

Furude? Masahiro?

“I’m Yasuko Yasuda, call me Yasuko. Wakana, you don’t-” I suddenly let out a hiss and close my eyes as my ribs send a shock of pain through me. “You don’t know a Masahiro, do you?”

She nods her head and replies happily “Yes I do. He’s my older brother. So you’re the Yasuko he’s talked about. Any idea who the Sakurai he has also talked about is?”

“That’s my cousin.” I notice the colour of the ribbon she’s wearing on her school clothes. “The three of us are in the year above you.”

A look of realisation adorns her face. “You’re the one my brother thinks hates him?”

I let out a sigh, which I instantly regret. “I don’t hate him. Listen, I don’t mean to be rude but I do need to see the nurse.”

“Ahh, yes! Sorry. I’d better go to my brother outside anyway, and have him chastise me for injuring myself.”

She turns to the exit and just before she leaves she says “Bye Yasuko, I hope you recover quickly.”

She then walk off with a limp and using the crutch she was leaning on. I turn around to face the nurse’s door only to find him there watching me.

I walk towards him, and he moves out of the way and says “I’m glad you are making more friends with second years other than Ichimonji.”

Ignoring his comment, I enter his office, take a seat and wince, again. I hear him close the door behind me and take his normal seat. After sitting down, he asks “So Yasuda, what can I do you for?”

“While Akemi was seizing, one of her arms caught my ribs as I went round her to protect her head from the furniture and floor.” I gesture to the right side with my left arm. My ribs don’t like that.

“You have a small cut on your cheek along with a bruise forming. The cut isn’t bleeding now.”

I nod my head. “She also caught my face twice, and my hands took the brunt when her head hit the furniture some amount of times.”

“Did you even try to avoid her?” Nurse asks in a joking manner. I narrow my eyes at him, and he chuckles. “Can you show me your hands?” He asks. I do so and he takes one with his purple nitrile gloves and examines it. “Do your fingers hurt or ache when you bend them?”

“They ache when I move them.” I move my fingers and confirm they still do.

“If you do the minimum you can with your hands, they should heal quickly.”

So you want me to become Rin-ified?

“What about my ribs?”

“I was just getting to that, Yasuko. Could you lift your top so I can see your ribs?”

I was expecting him to ask me to take my shirt off rather than raise it up. I’m glad he didn’t. I raise my top, while wincing, to just barely below my bra, and the first thing nurse says is “There is a nice bruise forming already. People have quite a bit of power in them when they are seizing. Can you take several deep breaths for me please?”

I take several deep breaths and wince in pain each time. It continues to hurt as I take a few more deep breaths while the nurse watches my ribs. I return to breathing normally, and the nurse makes a barely audible acknowledgement sound.

“I am going to press the area to check if it is just bruised or something more, okay?” nurse says, looking at me.

I nod my head, and he proceeds to touch my ribcage. As his fingers start pressing, I try my hardest to not make my body move. A task I partially succeed in.

After several moments, nurse draws back and says “You can put your top back down now.” I do so. “Sorry for the discomfort, Yasuko. Considering you got a direct hit from Sakurai, your ribs don’t feel as bad as I feared. We will do an x-ray to see the full extent of the damage though.”

I let out a soft sigh, any harder and it’ll hurt my ribs more. “We have one? Akemi hitting my ribs-“ I take a sharp intake of breath. “-was more glancing than direct.”

Nurse nods his head in acknowledgement. “That would explain the smaller than expected bruising. But we will still do an x-ray to check for any damage to your bones.” Nurse then turns to his desk phone and press one of the buttons on it. It starts ringing, and someone quickly answers. Nurse tells the person who answers to get the x-ray room prepared. I look around at the walls of this room, mainly to try distract myself from the pain. There is one that reads on how not to get the flu. I don’t bother to read the rest as I’ve never had the flu. Actually, I’ve very rarely been ill, a fact I’m quite proud of. I would be proud of that, if I wasn’t in pain. I look back at nurse who has managed to procure an ice pack from somewhere.

Nurse tells me that while we wait for the machine to be prepared, I should raise my top again for him to apply the ice pack. I raise it and he applies the pack. When it makes contact, I find it very hard not to move away from it. Once the overall shock of the coldness subsides, I start feeling the effects of it.

“While we wait, may I ask how your suspension is going?” Nurse seemingly randomly asks. His question causes me to look to his eyes and wonder how he knew about my suspension. “What? After your little fight, Enomoto was brought here. Thankfully she wasn’t as injured as either you or Katayama were when you two fought. How long were you in hospital again? A week was it?”

Rika deserved it though. I sometimes wonder what Akemi and Masahiro would have been like if I hadn’t intercepted his route and they had gotten together. I try not think of that even if my view of him is changing. I try to think of something to get rid of that thought. Thankfully an idea appears. I turn my head to nurse and ask “When I leave once the x-ray is done, would it be possible for me to take Akemi’s wheelchair with me?”

“No,” nurse flatly says, “If you use it to get back, how will Sakurai get to her dorm room?”

Not what I meant, plus I’m sure you have a few wheelchairs hanging around. I try to suppress a wince. “I didn’t meant for myself. It’s to add the motorised part to it so she can move herself when she wakes.”

Nurse thinks for a second before replying. “Hmm, I have two options for you then. The first is for one of my staff to go with you and collect the part, or you take the wheelchair with you and not you but someone else attaches it to the wheelchair. Remember, you’re supposed to rest your hands!”

That took a lot less convincing that I expecting. I’m not sure what I was expecting though. “I think I’ll take the second option.”

“Okay, but bear in mind that this depends on what the x-ray shows me.” Nurse then looks at the door and wonders aloud “What is keeping him? He should be here by now.” He looks back at me and stands, telling me he’ll be right back when the phone starts ringing, and he answers it. After a few seconds, he puts it back down, turns to me and asks “Ready to get low level electromagnetic radiation put through you?” Pain subsiding somewhat, I close my eyes and reply that I do.

***

*** Ryuunosuke’s PoV ***

Instead of going straight to the library, I first go to my room, to change and get everything I will need later. Then, I head for the library.

From the entrance, I quickly scan the room, but I am unable to see any computers. I go to the desk near the front and look round for any staff. I wonder if students help out here too?

“Umm… Hello? May I help you?” A female voice from behind calls out. I turn around and see a woman who doesn’t look that much older than myself. She is roughly my height, has auburn hair and is wearing glasses.

“I hope so. I want to look up something. Do you know where the computers are?”

“Umm… Yeah. They’re over there.” She points down one of the aisles.

I thank her and then head in that direction.

Once I get to the computers, I look up ‘Epilepsy’. A quick scan tells me it is a disorder within the central nervous system, and the symptoms can vary by quite a bit. I also find out that there are different types of epilepsy. I read up on the types before deciding to look at the triggers. Maybe there is something I could do to help with Akemi’s trigger.

I look through the websites listed on the search engine and I find one that lists them. I read them out loud quietly as I read them. “Photosensitive? Nope, Akemi said her trigger is unavoidable. Lack of sleep? Doubtful, I don’t really see bags under her eyes, and this one is also avoidable. Alcohol and drugs? I hope not and from what I know of her at the moment, it is doubtful. Lack of medication? Maybe, but also doubtful as I can’t see her purposefully avoiding her medicine if it’s for her epilepsy. Stress? Every time I’ve seen her, she seems to be smiling, so doubtful it’s stress. Photosensitive? Wait, didn’t I just read that?” I look back to see if it was listed twice and after several minutes I find that it wasn’t. I them remember being told that after I lost the vision in my eye, I may come across issues when reading, such as losing my place in whatever I’m reading. Sighing I continue reading where I think I was. “Menstrual cycle? N- wait… that can be a cause?” As I come across that, I click the text and read the explanation. After reading, the jigsaw pieces fall together – Akemi saying it is unavoidable and her saying the trigger is embarrassing. I can see how this being the trigger would be embarrassing. This has to be her trigger. It would be awkward to ask her if her menstrual cycle is the cause of her epilepsy. I find myself sighing.

I suddenly feel light pressure on my right shoulder and a warm breath next to my right ear as I hear a voice ask “What you reading?”

I jump several inches off my chair as I let out a less than masculine scream. I hear the perpetrator fall to the ground behind me. After calming down, I look to see the person to see Miki curled up on the floor, slightly twitching. Not due to a seizure, but due to her silently laughing.

“Happy with yourself Miki?” I ask rhetorically.

In the midst of her shaking with laughter and her tanned skin steadily going more and more red, she manages to nod in an exaggerated manner.

“You do know we are in a library, right Miki?” She nods her head to that.

While I wait for her to finish her laughing fit, I look around and see a black haired girl reading a book, seemingly oblivious to the disturbance caused by Miki and myself. Even from where I am, I can see her bright blue eyes reading her book at quite a fast speed.

A now-calm - but still red - Miki suddenly says “I didn’t know you were interested in one of the smartest girls in the whole school.”

“I’m not. I was trying to figure out how she didn’t react to that noise we made.”

“Her name’s Rin Endo. My boyfriend told me she turns her hearing aids off when she reads, for some reason,” Miki explains. Boyfriend, huh? Considering how pretty Miki is, I’m not surprised she has a boyfriend.

“Maybe girls scaring guys is a common thing in the library,” I joke, in a non-jokey tone.

Miki just gives me a toothy grin and then looks at my screen. “What were you looking at anyway?”

I look away from Rin and to Miki. I’m not sure if I should tell Miki that Akemi thinks she is going to have a seizure.

“Someone I’m swimming with has epilepsy, and I decided to research it.” As I say this, I go back to the previous page where it shows what epilepsy is and the list of triggers.

Miki looks for several seconds before saying “I don’t think Akemi has the photo-sensitive one.”

What? How’d she know who I meant?

“Why are you surprised? I tried swimming with her once in our first year. I couldn’t handle the swimming though. After I got out the pool, she told me about her epilepsy. Also, I think she’s the only epileptic who swims.”

“Really? You know her trigger?”

“Nahh,” she says as she shakes her head.

“Why are you in the library anyway? Aren’t we meeting later?”

“Actually I came to check on Snoozu, but she is still asleep. I saw you, so I thought I’d say hi.”

“That’s one way to greet someone.” My response earns a toothy grin from her.

“By the way, if you want to, we could leave now, but I would have to change.”

“We can. If I meet you there in about ten or fifteen minutes? I want to look up one more thing before I leave.”

“Okay, have fun with that. I’ll see you by the gates in fifteen minutes then.” She walks off.

I watch until she disappears and turn back to the computer. I decide to look up if there are any cures for epilepsy, and as I scroll through the various pages, I notice myself losing where I am more and more. Feeling myself getting annoyed with my eyes, I decide to give up. I got the main information I came for. As for the treatment stuff, I’m pretty sure Akemi would have had it based on her saying she basically hates her epilepsy. Speaking of Akemi and epilepsy, I hope her seizure won’t be too bad. I pull my phone out of my pocket and am thankfully able to see the screen properly. I proceed to send her a message saying [Hey. Hope your seizure won’t be bad.]

***

*** ?????’s PoV ***

Ouch, why do my arms hurt, and why are they hard to move? Opening, my eyes, I am immediately struck by this bright white room forcing me to close my eyes again. After the blinding white spots disappear I retry opening my eyes, just slower. My eyes gradually adjust, and I see I am in some white-ish room. This is my room? I don’t remember having such bad taste.

Where am I? Why am I here? I try to move my arms, but they feel really, really heavy. I finally manage to put my arms into a position where I can lift myself up. I do so, but slowly because my body feels heavy - heavier than my arms. Once I have myself in a sitting position, I look around the room for any clue to why I’m here. There aren’t any clues though. Apart from myself, I can see this semi-comfy bed I’m on, a bedside cabinet and a curtain isolating me from what I assume is a bigger room.

Wherever I am, I can hear two voices from beyond the curtain. They sound familiar, but I don’t recognise them. One of the voices is female, the other male. I can’t even hear what they’re saying. This isn’t some sort of dream is it? If not, then why are they in my room, and why is my room so white anyway? As I contemplate this, I take the cover off of my legs and struggle to move them so they are hanging over the edge. As I do that, I notice my lower legs seem to be lethargic and without feeling. Why? Are my legs that tired?

I hear the sound of a door closing. I assume those two people that I could hear, left. I decide to try explore this room. I move closer to the edge of my bed and place my feet on the ground. I watch my feet and see them hit the ground but don’t feel anything on contact. Is the ground as soft as the air? I shift my weight to my legs and begin to stand. I find myself suddenly plummeting to the ground. Wh… What just happened? Why did my legs not work? A sudden flash of headlights and the sound of a truck horn and a scream fills my head. No. No, nonono! I feel tears soak through my trousers to my skin. Heh, I’m crying it seems.

Some time passes, I don’t know how long, before I hear a door open followed by the sound of a curtain being drawn. I hear a man’s voice ask “Are you alright Sakurai?”

Who is Sakurai? I look up to see a purple-haired man in an open white lab coat, smiling at me. Who the heck are you? Wait, this isn’t my room is it? Why am I here? Let me go back home to my mum and dad! I curl myself up into a ball hoping this is some kind of bad dream. I hear the man say something, I’m not sure what, and I feel his hand touch my shoulder. I shudder when he touches it. “Sakurai…” He says that name again.

Why is he saying that name?

I look up to see what this person is doing, and I see him kneeling in front of me with a concerned look on his face. “Are you okay?”

Maybe he isn’t as bad as I thought? At least, he seems to be caring.

“I... don’t know. Where am I?”

“You’re in the infirmary. You had a seizure and were moved here,” the man says. “Do you want me to help you back onto the bed?”

I slowly look behind myself at the bed. “Y-Yeah.” Please don’t do anything.

This person puts one of his arms under my knees and the other on my back and lifts me onto the bed. He then steps back and asks “Do you remember who you are?”

That is an odd question. “Yes, my name is… uh…” What? Why can’t I remember my name? I try to think and a name appears. “Shiba? No… that doesn’t sound right…”

The man smiles and says “Close. You’re Akemi Sakurai. I’m Rakujochigusa, the head nurse of Yamaku, the school you attend.

I nod my head as I am told this information. “Where d-did I get Shiba from?”

“You’ve been swimming with a person called Ryuunosuke Shibanuma.”

Shiba-numa… heh, I like that name. As I say that name in my head, I get a vision of myself swimming alongside an orange-haired guy with a scar going across his left eye smiling at me. I tell the head nurse what I saw.

“I’m glad your memory is returning. If you have another rest then you will most likely get the rest of them back as well. I’ll draw the curtains for you so you’ll have privacy.”

“T-Thank you.” I try to move my knees to get into a more comfortable position and realise it wasn’t lethargy that was stopping my legs from moving. “Umm, my legs aren’t working…”

“You had an accident years ago which resulted in you not being able to use your lower legs.” Ohh… “I’ll explain more after you have had a proper rest.”

“W-Who left earlier?” I ask, my voice faltering.

“Yasuko, Yasuko Yasuda, your cousin.”

“Yasuko…”I find myself muttering. Hearing and saying her name make me feel weirdly safe even if I can’t remember her face.

***

Author's Notes
I thought I’d add an Infirmary room seeing as school based anime’s such as Angel beats contain one so it would almost be expected for Yamaku, especially Yamaku to have one, rather than just a bed behind a curtain in the nurse’s office.

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This is pretty fun. You've got some nice strong characters here.

Admittedly, with the one eyed student new to Lilly's class and the wheelchair bound swimmer, I felt at times I was reading some bizarro world version of my own story, but that's more on me than you.

There were a few oddities early on I didn't much care for. The introduction to Yamaku felt far too Hisao-like for my tastes. On that note it also seems odd that He has Kenji for a neighbor but didn't even know Hisao existed. Likewise, the fact that your character is referred to as "the Scarred" by others early on doesn't seem like it fits Yamaku at all. I'd imagine thee are lots of people there with noticeable scars. In fact, you even have Hanako show up in the same chapter.

Still, you seem to be getting better as you go and the stuff that sticks out as odd seems to be appearing less and less.