Freaks and Friends

[Oddball]

Freaks and Friends
Part 9


“Hey, wait up,” I hear as I exit the classroom. Turning to look, I see Suzu walking towards me. For some reason, she's wearing gym clothes now.

“Umm... weren't you wearing pajamas earlier?” I ask once she's catches up with me.

“I was,” she says. “They made me change.”

“Hold up for a second,” I say and circle around her. “Okay. We're good now,” I add once she's finally on the side I can see out of. “I thought you said they were lax on the dress-code.”

“Shows what I know, right?” she shrugs. “Teacher told me I had to go home and change into something that at least resembled a school uniform”

“So, you decided to change into gym clothes?”

“Not quite. Somebody in class offered to let me use their gym clothes and teacher said it was okay, so I went with that,” she says. Looking at her, it seems a bit obvious that these aren't hers. The shirt and shorts appear a size or two too big. “I got a few odd looks during the day but it beat making the trek back to the dorms.”

“It sounds like you had an eventful day,” I say, more for the sake of saying something.

“Oh, It gets worse. They've got me sitting next to Miura this year,” Suzu has to stop for a moment as her mouth stretches in a yawn that's so large it looks painful. “Excuse me. Anyway, have you met her yet? Miki Miura?”

“Sorry. I don't even know who that is,” I say to her.

“Dark skinned, one hand, runs track,” when it becomes obvious from my expression that I'm still clueless, she continues. “Let's just say she's not my favorite person in the world,” Suzu stops walking and blinks several times, going so far as to put her hands over her eyes and rub them. “God, I need to get some sleep. Let's just put it this way, if you put me and her together, you'd still have enough energy left over for four or five people.”

“What is it with the people on track here anyway? Me and Tana ran into another girl from the track team earlier and she seemed to have a bit of an attitude herself,” I say, remembering the short girl I say Rin with.

“Sounds like, Emi. When you say 'ran into,' do you mean that literally? She's got a bad habit of doing that to people,” Suzu asks with a half grin.

“Nothing like that. We talked for a little bit and I noticed Tana and Emi didn't seem to get along. She said something about there being some problems between her and Hachisame, but didn't go any further into it. Any idea what that's about?” I ask.

“I do, but Tana explains it better,” she says. As we finish walking down the stairs and are about to exit the building, Suzu stops and sits on the benches near the door. “Give me just a minute here. I missed my midday nap so I'm wasted. You can go along if you want to.” F or a minute I sit there uncomfortably silent. I still haven't figured out how things really work here. Am I supposed to leave her sitting here? What if she passes out? Do I wake her up, call for help, or just let her lay there? In the end, I decide to wait. I don't think I could just leave her there and walk off. If something happened, I'd feel horrible about it.

It feels like eternity as I sit there debating what to do, but it really couldn't have been more than a few minutes until Suzu stands back up. “Well, better get going,” she says. “I've got videogames to play.” There's a sloppy, almost drunk smile on her face. As she gets up to walk, it looks more like she's dragging herself forward and limply stumbling along than anything.

“I thought you said you needed some sleep?” I ask.

“Hey, those games aren't going to play themselves, right?” she smiles back.

The whole time we're walking back, I can't help but worry that she's going to just collapse on me. Finally we get to Time Warp's room. Suzu steps past me to pound on the door. We both wait a little bit before knocking again. It's actually the door next to hers that opens.

“She isn't here,” Hachisame says sticking her head out the door. A person in a wheelchair managed to beat me back to the dorms. It's actually kind of sad, really. “Something about the computer club. I wasn't paying attention," she continues.

“That sucks. I was hoping to get back to my game. Well, if she's not in, then I'll catch you later,” Suzu says and begins to walk off. “Maybe I'll take that nap after all... or maybe after dinner.”

“I didn't see you during lunch today,” I say to Hachisame. Crap. That sounded far too needy. I'm not really that starved for company, am I?

“Oh yeah. Right. Sorry about that. We usually eat in the empty classroom by the stairs. I should have said something about that. My fault. So … umm … give me a minute to change out of my uniform and we can hang out or something.” That sounds like as good an idea as any. I take the opportunity to go back to my room and change out of my school clothes as well, switching them out for a pair to beige shorts and a purple t-shirt, draping my uniform over a chair in my room. I only manage to bump into three different things in the process.

I also decide that Hachisame beating me back to the dorms had more to do with me staying to talk to the teacher and resting with Suzu than just being pathetically slow.

When I get back her door is wide open, still, I knock before she gestures inviting me in. Her room is blue. Almost everything seems to be different shades of blue. There's also no bed. Instead she has a large futon in the corner of her room. It strikes me as being oddly traditional, an effect that's somewhat ruined by the fact that her sheets and pillows are just tossed onto it, making no attempt at trying to be neat.

Hachisame is wearing a sea-green T-shirt with a thick blanket on her lap covering her legs. “So, how was your first day at Cripple High?” she asks. I cringe. There's a barely contained smile on her face that tells me she was purposely trying for a reaction. I wonder if she got the one she was expecting?

“It was different,” I say. “Not bad but ...” I trail off not knowing how to finish the sentence. “I'm apparently in a class for blind kids.”

“You didn't know that? Well, you know what they say right?” she asks.

“What do they say?” she pauses a bit as I ask the question and gets a strange look on her face.

“Something about a one eyed king in the valley of blind people. I forget how it goes exactly. You know the one I'm talking about,” she shrugs. Being reminded of my own deformity does very little to improve my mood, regardless of the more light heart-ed tone she obviously meant it as.

“And how was your day?” I ask as a quick attempt at changing the subject.

“You know, just another day,” she says. Well, that didn't go anywhere, still there's something else I'm curious about, something I've been staring at since I entered the room.

“There's a dead fish on your wall,” I say pointing to a particular decoration she has hanging up. “Why is there a dead fish on your wall?”

“Oh, that!” she says, showing even more enthusiasm than is normal for her. “I caught that when I was a little girl. It's a Spanish mackerel, a Japanese seerfish. My dad had it stuffed and mounted for me, which is awesome. You want to hear something really crazy? I actually used to talk to it when I was feeling down, but that was when I was really young,” she laughs. “I was a stupid kid.”

Hachisame goes on telling me various stories that all seem to revolve around fishing, swimming, or boating and it would bore me to tears if it wasn't for the unusual amount of enthusiasm she puts into telling them. I mostly just listen, chiming in briefly here an there in places where she obviously wants some kind reaction. Still, it's something to do, and she does provide refreshments. It's actually rather nice just sitting here and talking with her, even if she is the one doing most of the talking. It makes me feel almost normal again, especially after being stuck in a class full of blank eyed people all day. Maybe we don't have any interests in common, but she's so lively and open that it's hard not to enjoy her company.

Two of those cardboard boxes of juice with the straw in them later, the door to her room slowly opens. Time Warp walks in and seems to freeze into place as she tilts her head looking around the room. It takes me a moment to realize that she doesn't see things in real time so she'd have to adjust to any sudden changes more slowly.

“Hello, Hachisame” she says cheerfully. I'm still not sure if she's even registered I'm here yet or not.

“You know, you're supposed to knock,” Hachisame says in mock anger. “What if I was in here doing naked stuff?” Hachisame turns and smiles me at, “wait for it...wait for it,”

“Then I could take pictures and have some great blackmail material... if, you know, I didn't suck at photography,” she chuckles.

“Umm.. but I'm here...” I add in awkwardly.

“Fine. Me and Patch could be doing naked stuff together,” she says. Two thoughts cross my mind as she says this. One is feeling insulted at being called Patch, the other is embarrassment.

“Hey--” I start.

“Look at her blushing. We've got a prude here,” Hachisame laughs loudly. “Hey, prude, look! Boobies!” Hachisame says as she lifts her shirt and flashes her bra at me.

“Then I'd have really good blackmail material,” Time warp continues, oblivious to our more recent exchange. By now my face is really red and it only takes a moment for Time Warp to join Hachisame in laughing at me.

I give them a minute for it to die down before continuing, “I'm not a prude, and what's with the Patch comment?”

“I'm trying out nicknames for you. Like it?” Hachisame says. I tilt my head slightly and catch Time Warp rolling her eyes, but the problem with her is that you simply can't tell what part of anything she's reacting to.

“No,” I say firmly.

“Popeye?”

“No.”

“Lucky?”

“No.”

“Uno.”

I'm not even sure what that means, but just to be safe, “no.”

“Blinky?”

“Summers?” Time Warp chimes in.

We both stop and look at her.

“You probably aren't going to get that,” she says.

“Just … no nicknames, okay?” I say softly.

“Alright. I get you,” Hachisame says in a much softer tone than I'm used to from her. “Did you have any nicknames your old friends used to call you? Maybe we could use one of those.”

I did have a nickname before, but it wasn't exactly one I liked. I once acquired the nickname 'Red' due to an unfortunate menstrual accident, but I'm not sharing that one. Honestly, the Summers nickname wouldn't be a bad one but I have the feeling that there's some reference I'm not getting.

“You're going to ask me about mine, aren't you?” Time Warp says. “I tease her about not liking it, but it's all in fun.” Actually this is the first time I've really given it thought that her nickname would be insulting. It's a relief to know that she's not going to take offense to it.

“Actually there is one thing I wanted to ask you about,” I say to Time Warp. It might be a mistake, but I'm going to go for it. “Suzu said that you could explain why you all and Emi don't get along.”

“It's because she's an annoying bitch,” Hachisame says. She doesn't say any more. The look on her face seems to indicate she's waiting for Tana to say something.

“Think of the people here like books. Some people are your inspirational self help books. That's Emi. 'You can do it if you really try hard.' Then there are people like us. We're more like, 'The Little Engine that Couldn't and was Perfectly Okay with That.' Some of us, Me, Hachisame, Suzu, Rin, we're not going to get a normal life. This school is the only time we're really ever going to fit in. After we leave, we're back to being sideshow attractions.” After finishing her morbid serious statement she smiles cheerfully and shrugs, “But what'cha gonna do about it, right?”

“It sure as hell beats the alternative,” Hachisame says.

“What's that?” I ask. Hachisame just smiles, clicks her teeth and points at Tana.

Tana holds out her arm, palm facing upwards. Before I can ask what she means by that, she takes her other hand and makes a slashing gesture over her wrist, complete with voiced sound effect.

That's... depressing.

What they say, it makes a lot of sense. For the rest of my life, I'm going to be that girl missing an eye, but at the same time I remember what my class representative said about them having unpopular views. I wonder how many other people here share their view point, and the ones that don't, how many of them are just in denial?

Tana smiles wider than I've seen her smile before. “Don't dwell on it. I don't. Might as well live for the moment, right?”

[Mirage_GSM]

“Dark skinned, one hand, runs track,” when it becomes obvious from my expression that I'm still clueless, she continues. “Let's just say she's not my favorite person in the world...

Finally!

“Summers?” Time Warp chimes in.

But... But... He still has two eyes...

[bhtooefr]

A couple wrong words that I noticed:

There's a barley contained smile

I remember what my call representative said about them having unpopular views.

Interesting insight into quite a few characters there. And I see some conflict being set up - Hitomi's disability is one that really can be completely overcome, ala Emi's.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, it's not that she hates all people who have disabilities that can be overcome.
She just hates that Emi is so obnoxious about it.

[Oddball]

“Dark skinned, one hand, runs track,” when it becomes obvious from my expression that I'm still clueless, she continues. “Let's just say she's not my favorite person in the world...

Finally!

What can I say? I like to go against the grain sometimes.

“Summers?” Time Warp chimes in.

But... But... He still has two eyes...

Oh good. I was hoping somebody would get that without me having to explain it.

A couple wrong words that I noticed:

But if that's the only ones you've noticed, I'm still doing better than normal.

[griffon8]

“Summers?” Time Warp chimes in.

But... But... He still has two eyes...

Oh good. I was hoping somebody would get that without me having to explain it.

I got it too, so no worries.

[inthewind]

... but Nathan Summers DOES have an eyepatch!

[Oddball]

Cool. Thanks. I often wonder whether or not people are catching my references.

[Mirage_GSM]

... but Nathan Summers DOES have an eyepatch!

The Summers family is WAY too expansive to keep track of. I'm sure that among the lot of them and several universes they could account for almost any combinations of missing limbs^^°
As a casual fan I was talking about Scott.

[danzilla3]

A bit short, but very illuminating. Hitomi wasn't the only one not getting the references either!

[LordDarknus]

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/boar ... 611360.jpg

http://archive.foolz.us/vg/thread/10256491/

It's obvious I never have much to contribute to the vibrant KS community at large.

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/ori ... 56/a36.jpg

But I think your story so far is okay, though the initial "quirkiness" is gone / has dissipated, it seems some heavy drama is starting to build-up.

I look forward to that.

Thanks for writing!

[Oddball]

A bit short, but very illuminating. Hitomi wasn't the only one not getting the references either!

I'm going to spoil it for the people who haven't figured it out yet.

Scott Summers is also known as "Cyclops."

But I think your story so far is okay, though the initial "quirkiness" is gone / has dissipated, it seems some heavy drama is starting to build-up.

Of course it has. You're starting to get to know the characters better now.

And yes, drama is coming. Eventually. Maybe.

[Oddball]

Freaks and Friends
Part 10

As class breaks for lunch, I head for empty classroom where Hachisame said to meet her. Unfortunately, there's two unused classrooms by the stairs, something she neglected to mention. With no real idea which is the right one, I randomly pick one and leave the door open so I can watch the other. I'm just going to have to be patient for a little while. They should be here in just a few minutes.

Actually, it might take them a bit longer now that I think about it. I don't know if they bring their own lunches or buy from the cafeteria. If they have to stop and buy their food first, it might take more than just a few minutes.

I mean, it would have taken me longer, but I brought my lunch today.

That's not something I normally do. I've always been the cafeteria food type of person.

And I do get released for lunch earlier than they do, so there's that.

And despite my waiting, they never show up.

I can't say I'm really surprised. I mean, they're my only friends here so far, but at the same time, I still hardly know them. Not showing up also does seem like something Hachisame would do. I can just picture her completely blowing somebody off,me in this case, and then smiling and going “hey, no offense meant,” when called on it later. If anything, I feel disappointed with myself; it's like I'm not interesting enough to want to spend time with.

As lunch ends, I head back to class. One of my classmates gets on my blindside and I crash right into him while walking to my seat. He assumes it was his fault. I don't correct him, but still I apologize. It's outright pathetic that people who can't see at all still get around without crashing into as many things as I do.

Class passes quicker today than yesterday, mostly because we're actually doing things today. It doesn't help me concentrate any better though. My eyes keep wandering around the room, drawn to the students using their hands to read and their blank stares.

My eye. Singular. As my eye wanders around the room, I mentally correct myself. I have to stop thinking of myself as having two eyes. I'm just … not a whole person like that anymore. Thinking about it, I slide my eye patch out of the way and run my finger up and down the scar that marks where my right eye was. It feels too normal. Something this major should feel … I don't know … rougher? More painful? Grosser at the least.

I'm so lost in thought, I don't even notice Daisuke approaching until he speaks. “Is something wrong,” he asks. He's speaking softly, but lost in thought the way I am, I still jump.

“I'm, okay. Just … thinking, I guess,” I say to him.

“Hopefully, about your assignment,” he says. I try to give him a smile, but I'm not sure it shows though my utter humiliation. The way he looks at me, I feel like I'm being studied. As if starring at me will teach him everything he needs to know. Then without another word, he gives me a sweet goofy looking smile and goes to help another student that seems confused by the assignment.

“Relax,” a voice to my side says. “You aren't in any trouble. Daisuke was just checking on you. He gets concerned easily.” I crane my head to look over and see the class representative smiling at me. I smile back before returning my attention to the class work.

Then I remember she can't see my smile and I feel like an idiot again.

“Thanks,” I softly say to her the smiles gratefully back at me, but remains silent.

Once the school day is finally over, I dash off to my room to change out of my uniform. Uniforms have always been something I've ditched as soon as I could. I feel much more comfortable in my own clothes.

I've already changed and gotten a snack from the dorm's kitchen when I spot Hachisame coming down the hall. She waves to me. It seems she's not one for uniforms either. Her blouse is completely unbuttoned revealing a plain gray tank-top underneath. On the other hand, Tana, who's pushing her along, hasn't even loosened her bow.

“Hey, there you are!” Hachisame exclaimed. “We missed you at lunch. Did the teacher make you stay or anything like that?”

I look at her curiously. Is she really trying to play it off like I was the one who blew her off? “I was there, you just never showed up,” I say back.

“No you weren't,” Hachisame says looking at me oddly. “I'm pretty sure I would have noticed. I can see the difference between a person being in the room and not being in the room.” I'm not sure if that was a slam at my class or not, but it feels like it could be one.

“Did you go to the unmarked class left of the stairway on the first floor? The red door?” Tana asks bringing me back to the subject.

“Umm...I thought you meant the third floor,” I say. I think feeling like an idiot has become my normal status here.

“Well, there you go!” Hachisame says. Thanks for rubbing it in.

“She told you the wrong floor, didn't she?” Tana says, having grasped the problem, but not necessarily the right details. “That sounds like something she'd do.”

“Maybe, but I'm awesome anyway,” Hachisame says and clicks her teeth together. I give her a look of exaggerated disapproval, but she just smiles bigger. All that time and worry over nothing. “Anyway, give me a few minutes to get into my own clothes and we can hang out,” she says. There's a brief moment where she starts wheeling herself away before Time Warp has let go, resulting in Tana being jerked off balance, but neither of them make any actual comment on it.

“Well, anyway, come on. We can hang out in my room until she's changed,” Tana says once Hachisame has wheeled herself away.

There's something about Tana's room that just seems off to me. The messiness doesn't seem to match what I know of her personality, and the pink ruffles on the sheets and curtains wildly contrast with the amount of computer hardware she's got laying around. If somebody where to tell me she had some sort of split personality, I don't think I'd be surprised. Of course, I'm not one who should be speaking. My room is decorated with almost that exact idea in mind. What I have as carefully chosen style, she just seems to come by naturally.

“Let's get a little music going here,” she says as she turns on a little radio hidden behind a half eaten bag of chips and an unopened bag of white socks. I recognize the tune, although I can't put a name to it. It should have lyrics, I know that much, and I have a feeling that if I heard them I'd know it, but it doesn't, so I don't. Instead I just have an upbeat poppy little tune playing in the background. “So, have you heard any good gossip?” she says as she plops down her school books down .

I look at her strangely and force myself to hold the expression until she can react to it.

“You know, who said what to who and why, anybody asking anybody else out, the normal stuff. Gossip.” she says matter of factly.

“Oh. … Umm … no. I haven't heard anything really,” I say after a moment. I've still be adjusting to things here. While my mind has been occupied with dead eyes and missing limbs, she just seems to be wondering who's dating who.

“Bummer,” she says a moment later. “Your classmates have really good ears, I was hoping somebody would have said something to you. You know, small talk,” Tana adds a moment later. As she talks, she begins to undress right in front of me. Whatever hangups she might have, modesty obviously isn't one of them.

“Do you always do that?” I ask. When she doesn't answer me immediately, I kick myself for being an idiot and clarify.

“Change in front of people” I say at almost the exact same time she says “Do what?”

I sit there and wait for her to react.

“My family used to help me change until I was … well, older than I'd like to admit, so I don't really think about other people being in the room when I change. I didn't know it bothered you,” She laughs a little bit but there's actually a touch of embarrassment showing through, “You wouldn't believe how hard buttons can be when you can't feel them right away. I had a hellacious of a time getting used to those things.” She pauses for a second and chuckles. “For a while we even tried switching me over to all velcro clothing but that … well, let's just say it was a bad idea. Next time I feel like dying of embarrassment, I'll tell you some stories.”

“Sorry, I guess I'm just not used to this stuff.” I say.

“Plus they don't really make too many good fashions in velcro, so I hated it,” she continues, oblivious to my apology.

She finishes putting on a pink shirt with a large heart on it and rather tiny skirt before adding, “It's amazing what a person can get used to, isn't it?” I'm not sure if she's talking about what she had to get used to or what I need to get used to. Maybe it's a little bit of both. Maybe I should even share some of the things I need to get used to now.

I don't though.

A few minutes of small talk later, the door opens behind me and the least enthusiastic voice on the planet says “Hey everybody, party time.” I turn to put a face to the voice and see Suzu still wearing her school clothes.

“Hello, Suzu,” I say as she enters. The look of surprise on her face breaks through her otherwise weary expression.

“Ah, hey, wasn't expecting you. How's it going?” she says, although I'm not entirely sure she cares. It's hard to tell if she's just tired of if she was only asking to be nice.

“I'm doing good,” I say to her. It's remarkable how easy those words come. I haven't been good for quite some time. It's just easier to say that I am.

“Good to hear,” Suzu says, brushing past me to and taking a seat in front of Tana's computer.

“So, have you heard any good gossip” I repeat the question Tana asked me. It's not like I really know anybody yet or care about the gossip, but it's at least something to talk about.

“Depends on what you call good. Miura and Nagi broke up, but if you asked me they were only trying to make Emi jealous to begin with. Then there's what happened with Lelouch. I'm sure you've heard about him, right?”

“Sorry. I haven't heard anything,” I say to her.

“Ah, well, he's … somebody you stay away from. He's probably getting kicked out of school anyway,” Suzu says. “Guy just keeps pushing things and isn't half as smart as he thinks he is.”

“Too bad, Lelouch is kinda cute for a foreigner,” Tana says once she catches up with the conversation. “He's not Spiegel cute, mind you, but they're probably going to get rid of that boy too.”

The door opens and Hachisame wheelers herself in. These rooms really don't seem like they were designed with four people in mind. Add a wheelchair, and Tana's junk into that equation and only makes it worse.

“What are we talking about?” Hachisame asks.

“Some guy named Lelouch and somebody else named Spiegel,” I say. It's about the only thing I can add to the conversation.

“Tana was just talking about whether Lelouch was cuter than Spiegel or not. How about you? Preference?” Suzu says fighting off a yawn.

“Come on, you already know my opinion on these things; I don't care,” she says as she checks a bag for any stray chips that might be left in it.

“Suit yourself. I'm just not into westerners; their dicks are too big. They pull it out and you're like 'you think you're sticking that in me? Forget it,'” Suzu's tirade is interrupted by a large yawn, followed by two smaller yawns and a few seconds of blinking. “Sorry, where was I?” she asks. She rubs her eyes and stretches before continuing.

“Westerners?” Time Warp says.

“Oh yeah, and what's worse is that because they're so big, they can't even get enough blood pumped into their things to get a decent stiffy. You just don't get rock solid hard ons from Westerners; you've got to go with a Asian guy.” Suzu finishes her … well, there's not enough excitement in her voice to call it a rant, but it's something close to it.

“And again, this is not something I'm worried about,” Hachisame says.

“How exactly do you know that?” Time Warp says. From the sound of her voice it's doesn't exactly sound like a question she's sure she wants answered.

“Read about it on the internet,” Suzu says.

“I hope you weren't using my computer for porn again,” Time Warp says moving close to see exactly what Suzu is looking at on her computer.

“Might have been,” Suzu says with a cheesy smile. “I've still got the bookmarks in a hidden file. Wanna see?”

I am not so sure I should be here for this.

“Hey can we cut the porn talk?” Hachisame says. Thankfully. I thought I was the prude, but she seems to be just as uncomfortable with this stuff as I am.

“I'm just going to show her one thing on the 'net real quick,” Suzu says. “Give us just a second.”

Suzu, starts clicking through various folders as I turn my head just enough so that they're on my blindside. The idea of staring some kind of conversation with Hachisame is an appealing one, but I really have no idea what to talk about.

“Why exactly would you not have to worry about that?” I ask Hachisame. Is she not into guys or something?

“I just don't,” she says with a shrug. “Don't worry about it.” There's something in her expression that tells me I'm not going to get any further clarification from her on the subject.

“So...umm, you said lunch by the stairs on the third floor, right?” I finally decide on saying. It's not much of a topic changer, but it's something.

“Yeah,” is all Hachisame says in response.

“I might just have to start joining you,” Suzu adds without turning her head. “With Miura not shutting the hell up at lunch, I can't get in a decent nap in class anymore.”

“We'll see you tomorrow at lunch then?” Time Warp asks. I'm fairly sure she's talking to me, although not positive.

“Yeah. That works,” I say. I wonder if they bring their own lunches or not.

There's three short knocks on the door. The pause between knocks are evenly timed and not too loud. There's something formal and official sounding about it. This of courses, immediately causes Suzu to panic. I glance over at the screen. I don't see anything racy, just a bunch of text, but she seems to be awfully eager to close a lot of tabs.

“Go ahead and open the door,” Suzu says once the computer is safely back to the desktop. While Hachisame is actually closest to the door, Time Warp is the one who actually gets it. I suppose that's fitting, it's her room after all.

“Hello,” Time Warp says as she opens the door. There's no way she can actually see who's she's greeting yet, can she?

“Hello. Wakahisa, I'm assuming?” the voice at the door says. “I'm trying to locate a Hitomi Fuku. She's mentioned you and I believe she's supposed to live next door, however there was no answer when I knocked. Would you by chance know her whereabouts? She did mention you the other day when we spoke.”

Craning my head, I see my tall blonde class representative holding a large brown envelope in one hand and her walking cane in the other. Her introduction seems longer than necessary, but perhaps that was simply because she knows how long it takes Time Warp to react.

“I'm right here,” I say. There's a momentary look of … either confusion or embarrassment, I'm not sure which. Silently, she runs her hands across the name plate on Tana's door.

“You just happened to catch her visiting,” Tana says about the same time.

“Ah good, for a moment I was afraid I had thew wrong room,” she giggles slightly as she speaks, but even that seems to be in a restrained and well practiced manner. It's like there's some level of humor she's allowed to show and more than that just wouldn't be proper.

“Hey, Lilly. I still have those headphones you lent me. You don't need them back anytime soon, do you”? Suzu says. She doesn't turn to face Lilly when she speaks, which strikes me as rather rude, even though I know Lilly wouldn't be able to see her anyway.

“I had completely forgotten about them, truth be told. Just consider them a gift, Suzuki,” Lilly says.

“Cool. 'ppreciate it,” Suzu says. “Reading's a lot easier when you're not wearing your eyes out, you know? … err... maybe you don't. Sorry about that.”

Lilly giggles slightly, “I'm much harder to offend than that,”

“What exactly are they talking about?” I ask Hachisame softly.

“Books on tape,” she answers back in her normal tone of voice.

“There's no need to whisper. I can hear you clearly. Suzu simply borrowed an audio player from me some time back.” Lilly says.

“I like to lay in bed and listen to books before going to sleep,” Suzu adds.

“Man, I think I'm the only non-geek in this room,” Hachisame says with a laugh. She may have meant it as a joke, but it feels horribly out of place.

“Regardless, Hitomi, I have something for you,” she says reaching into the brown envelope she's carrying. After a bit of digging, and then running her hands across it to make sure had the right item, she hands me a rectangular piece of thick plastic. It has my name engraved into it and small bumps underneath (which I assume to be braille.) “This is for your door. I was told you hadn't gotten your name plate yet. I also wanted to remind you that tomorrow is the opening ceremony, so be sure to have your uniform looking it's best. Our class will be seated at the front row.”

“Thanks,” I say. “Don't worry. I'll make sure my uniform looks good.”

“Thank you,” she smiles at me. “Now, I have to be off, I've got quite a few more students to visit and the male dormitories aren't quite as well laid out as ours.”

“Do you need any help?” I said. It wasn't something I planned on, or was even saying to be nice. Honestly, it surprised even me saying it.

She simply smiled at me and said, “That would be lovely, thank you.”

“Hey, if you see my class rep out there, tell him you already checked on me and Time Warp,” Hachisame calls as we exit the room.

“And if you see mine, tell her 'Suzu doesn't exist. She's an urban myth.'” Suzu adds. Lilly giggled softly as she retracted her cane and I helped lead her into the hallway. I have no idea what I'm doing. If this is me becoming a better person or something, it could seriously cut into my free time.

[Mader Levap]

Suzu... uh. I guess it is funny something like that from someone like her.

[Oddball]

Suzu... uh. I guess it is funny something like that from someone like her.

Believe it or not, I did NOT make that rant up.

I've actually heard that before.