Next chapter! Might add navigation links soon too.
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Chapter 5: Alternative
The next few days passed in a daze. Misha’s whole life felt like performing sign language now—she was just silently going through the motions. She had enough practice that she could translate for Shizune on autopilot during classes, but as soon as they were over she made a beeline for the door, looking anywhere but at her best friend. Her former best friend? Misha didn’t know what they were now. She hadn’t been back to the Student Council room since that day. She didn’t know what Shizune had been doing, hadn’t spoken to her. Maybe there wasn’t a Student Council anymore.
When she got back to her room after classes each day, Misha laid down with the lights off and just tried to sleep. It came quickly enough, but never before tears stained the pillow. Knocking on the door woke her up sometimes. She didn’t answer. Shizune tried passing her notes in class a couple of times, but it was just small talk. She sent them back with one word answers. The nurse stopped her in the hall one day and said that someone was worried about her. He asked if she was alright. Misha said that she was and walked away from him.
It all blurred together. She didn’t want to think about any of it. She couldn’t. Another day of classes passed. Misha stood in her room, not wanting to lay down and cry but not wanting to do anything else either. Flipping the lights on for the first time in days, she noticed Hanako’s note, still sitting on her desk where she had left it. Misha flipped the note over and wrote on the backside.
I’m glad, Hacchan! Do you want to hang out with me?
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“Hi, Yuuko~!”
Misha hadn’t been to the library since she checked out her sign language book quite some time ago. It was big, but quiet and almost completely devoid of people, a deserted maze of books and furniture. Dust motes floated in the soft afternoon light and the smell of old paper tickled Misha’s nose. By the time she reached Yuuko’s counter, she could no longer see down the hallway leading back into Yamaku. It felt like stepping into a different place.
“Eep! Oh, hi Misha!” Yuuko said, having jumped at Misha’s voluminous voice. “Can I help you?”
“Sure! Is Hacchan here?” Misha asked, looking around.
“Haa… chan?” Yuuko asked.
“Yeah~! Hacchan! You know—cute, has long hair?”
“Uhh…”
Yuuko stared at Misha nervously. Was she trying to describe herself?
“Has an adorable stutter~?”
“Oh! You mean Hanako! S-sorry, yes, she’s here reading somewhere. Do you want me to go find her for you?”
“Nah. She can’t hide from me! Wahaha! Thanks, Yuuko~!”
“I-is she hiding from you?!”
“What? No! We’re hanging out! Why would Hacchan be hiding from me?”
“S-sorry, I didn’t know that you and Hacch—I-I mean, Hanako were—”
“Yuuko! Why do you keep saying you’re sorry? Stop being silly!”
“Sorry, I’ll stop being silly! I-I mean! I’m not sorry, I’m sorry that I—ahh! I don’t know!”
“Hm~, you don’t know why you’re sorry that you’re sorry, is that right? Right~?”
“Right! Maybe. I don’t know what I am!”
“Wahahaha~! Okay then! I’m gonna go find Hacchan. Just come tell me when you figure it out!”
“Ah, Misha!” Yuuko said as Misha started to walk away.
“That was fast!” Misha replied, stopping mid-stride. “So, what are you, hm~? I really want to know!”
“Huh? No, no! It’s not that. Can you return that book you checked out last year? It’s, err… a bit overdue…”
“Oh, that thing? Sure, Yuuko~! I’ll do that for sure!”
Misha turned back around and strode off into the depths of the library. Yuuko sighed. She was never going to get that book back…
Before long, Misha began to wonder if Hanako was hiding from her after all. She walked up and down the rows of books, humming lightly and running a finger along them as she went, but her purple-haired friend was nowhere to be seen. She was just about to run back to Yuuko when a faint voice came from somewhere nearby.
“U-um, Misha… over here…”
“Hey, Hacchan~! There you are!” Misha said, emerging from a row of shelves to find Hanako sitting on a bean bag. “These look comfy! Wahaha~!” she continued, practically diving into a bean bag next to Hanako.
“H-hi,” Hanako said.
Misha rolled around a bit to extract her face from the fluffy surface of the beanbag, then looked up at Hanako from a nearly upside-down angle.
“Hi~! What’cha doin’, hm, hm~?”
“Reading…”
“Reading what?”
Hanako held her book up at a ninety degree angle to the floor so Misha could see its cover. It hid all of her face below the one large eye that peered over it, forming a makeshift mask—Misha started reaching up to grab it, but stopped when the sudden movement caused Hanako to jerk slightly.
“Ah! Sorry, Hacchan. Can I see it?” she asked, lowering her hand and opening it in a gesture of request.
“S-sure.”
Hanako pulled the book down from her face and placed it gingerly in Misha’s waiting hands.
“’
The Great Gatsby?’” Misha said to herself, looking in and around the covers as if searching for something more to the book. “Hm~? What’s that?”
“U-uh… wh-what’s what?”
“A Great Gatsby, Hacchan! Is it a monster~?”
Hanako smiled a bit in amusement.
“N-no, but it sounds like it could be one, I-I guess. It’s about… well…”
Misha had moved on to flipping through the pages and then looking at the story summary on the back, so Hanako just waited to see if she would read it. She seemed to settle on a particular passage and traced it with her finger while reciting it aloud.
“The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted ‘gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,’ it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s,” she intoned, putting on a surprisingly good literature-teacher voice, which immediately melted with her next statement.
“It’s a book about parties, drinking, and sex? I didn’t know you were so into that stuff, Hacchan~! Ahahahaha!”
Hanako blushed, her mouth dropping open a bit at this accusation.
“N-n-n-no, it’s n-not r-really about th-that stuff!” she insisted.
“Wahahahaha~! It does have all of that stuff in it, though, hm~? I wonder where the sexy parts are!” Misha said, beginning to flip through the pages again in a mock search for them.
“Th-there’s not any… it’s r-really old, so it doesn’t have any, erm…”
Hanako’s blush deepened slightly.
“…adult content…”
Misha stopped her smut search to look up at Hanako, the cute girl’s bashful expression bringing a genuine smile to her own face.
“…it d-does have some p-parties and dr-drinking. B-but, it’s really… it’s really a story a-about love,” Hanako explained. “Gatsby l-loves a woman named Daisy, but she is already married to a cr-cruel man named Tom, so he can’t be with her. He throws parties with lots of dr-drinking because he hopes she will notice him.”
“Hm~. That sounds pretty interesting, Hacchan! What happens next?”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“Well~! Does he confess? Do they get to be together, happily ever after~?”
“Umm… I don’t know yet. I’m st-still reading.”
“I’m sure they will be, yes, yes~! So~!”
Misha flopped around on her bean bag until she was laying on her stomach with her hands holding her cheeks, looking up at Hanako expectantly.
“What are we gonna do now, hm?”
Hanako managed to return Misha’s gaze for a couple of seconds before glancing away.
“Uhh… I-I don’t know…”
“Hacchan! You wanted to hang out, but you don’t have anything planned? That’s no good~!”
“W-well… aren’t we already h-hanging out?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true~!”
Considering the matter settled, Hanako retrieved her book from the nearby shelf Misha had stashed it on and went back to her place. Misha, however, remained right where she was—hands cupping her cheeks and bunching them up, big golden eyes staring at Hanako. After a moment she began to hum again and sway her shoulders to the tune. Hanako didn’t know whether Misha was teasing her again or seriously considered this to be “hanging out,” but either way, she clearly wasn’t getting off the hook so easily.
“U-um, Misha… you didn’t give Y-yuuko a name, did you?”
“What? Oh! Nope, I guess not~! Does she need one?”
“M-maybe. Y-y-yuu-chan is good… right?”
“Hm. Yucchan! Yes—I think it sounds good! But~!”
Misha held a finger up to indicate that this was an important point.
“Hm~, how do I say this? Yuuko isn’t one of us~! She’s… older. Yeah, older! She’s even in college, and she works at jobs. Here, and at the Shanghai! So~!”
“…S-so?”
“So it’s too weird to give her a nickname~!”
Hanako nodded at this explanation. She guessed Misha was technically right, Yuuko’s social status and circumstances were a bit different from theirs, although it didn’t really feel like it. Probably because she was so clumsy and nervous all the time… she also didn’t really look older than the Yamaku students. Either way, at least Misha seemed to have some type of logic for her naming conventions this time around.
“Hey now, Hacchan, say! How’d you know Yuuko doesn’t have a nickname, hm~? Were you hiding up there listening to me after all?”
“N-no… why w-would I do that?”
“Well, how else would you know?”
“I, uhh… I-I didn’t have to get up, I j-just, erm, heard you.”
“You just heard me?”
Misha seemed genuinely confused by this notion.
“I think, I th-think… people don’t have to be very cl-close to hear you, Misha.”
“Wahaha~! That’s pretty good. You’re funny, Hacchan~!”
It was Hanako’s turn to be confused. She didn’t really see how it was funny, but Misha seemed to be having a good time, so she didn’t think too much about it.
“You like reading, huh, Hacchan?”
This was a rather abrupt change of topic. Hanako had a pretty good handle on Misha’s attention span by now, though. Truth be told, it was a bit refreshing to speak with someone who was more or less immune to the awkward silences that always seemed to happen when Hanako talked to other people.
“Well…”
Hanako looked around as if to emphasize where they were.
“…y-yeah…”
“That’s great, Hacchan, it’s really great~! Reading is good for you!”
“I-I didn’t know you liked r-reading so much, Misha.”
“Don’t be silly. I never read! The Student Council vice president has no time for books~! Wahaha~!”
“Ah…”
That made more sense; Hanako spent at least some time in the library pretty much every day, and this was the first time Misha had entered it so far as she knew. That was probably a good thing considering Misha’s volume and the whole idea of the library being a quiet place. It was lucky for them that no one else was in here today or Hanako would be more worried that Misha was disturbing people.
Now an awkward silence actually did descend upon the two of them. Misha didn’t say anything else, but she wasn’t looking at Hanako anymore either. No humming or tapping or flopping around or any other of her usual fidgeting activities. Her last statement had been said in her typical upbeat voice, but it seemed like a cloud had fallen over Misha as soon as she realized what she’d said. Vice president? Hanako supposed she would be. Lilly had told her about how she quit the council, partially over the poster flight incident. Now it would just be Misha and Shizune left in the Student Council…
Misha was looking down at the floor, a behavior that Hanako herself knew all too well. That wasn’t good.
“U-umm… M-misha, are you… o-okay?”
“Huh?”
This startled Misha out of whatever thoughts she’d been having. She seemed to take a moment to remember where she was, then her trademark smile returned.
“Yeah, Hacchan, yeah~! I’m great~! Wahaha~! Yay, yay~!”
That was a bit strong of a denial, even for Misha.
“I-it’s not b-b-because of… me, is it?” Hanako asked.
This question was met with a look of hurt and surprise.
“B-because I, I-I… I wouldn’t j-join?”
“Wha? Hacchan, no!”
Now Misha’s expression changed to frustration. She got up and put her hands on her hips.
“It’s not your fault… I promise! Don’t think that!” she commanded.
“B-b-but after th-that… th-then Lilly qu-quit, s-s-so…”
Hanako stood up as well, clutching her
Great Gatsby to her chest and taking a couple steps back.
“I-I-I’m sorry, I-I…”
Her stutter was getting worse with every word and she had started to tremble in her shoulders again. Misha realized suddenly what was happening, anxiety rising in her chest in response to Hanako’s. She made as if to step forward towards Hanako, then stopped herself and fell back down onto her beanbag instead, hands falling limply between her knees.
“Hacchan, don’t go. Stay… please…”
Misha’s wide, golden eyes pleaded with Hanako. She wanted to go, to go straight back to her room and lock herself in, and she knew Misha would let her now, but…
“…O-okay, Misha.”
Hanako stepped back over to the beanbags and re-seated herself in the one next to Misha, who sighed audibly in relief, something Hanako had never seen her do. She looked sad again and this time she didn’t make any effort to hide it or bounce out of it. Hanako didn’t want to look straight at her but opening the book again didn’t feel right at the moment, so she settled for her old standby: the floor stare. After a moment Misha’s hand entered her vision, moving tentatively over to one of hers and closing around its fingers.
“Hacchan… please don’t think I’m sad because of you, okay? Okay. Let’s just talk about something else.”
Misha squeezed her fingers gently, then released them. Hanako looked up at her and nodded.
“O-okay… how about, or, wh-what if… we read together?” Hanako suggested.
“Out loud?”
“N-no, what I mean is… m-maybe we can find a b-book you would like, and… we could j-just read here. T-together.”
“Oh, I see… hm~, yes, I think that’s a good idea, Hacchan! I probably should start reading more, huh? If we’re going to be friends~!”
“Al-alright then… what kind of books do you l-like?”
“Lots~! I like stories with a lot of adventure and action~! Oh, but romance is good too, it’s always good for people to fall in love! And, and~! Scary stuff, that gets my heart racing! Dragons and elves are fun too, they’re so pretty. One time I even saw a story with spaceships and giant robots! That looked interesting~!”
So that didn’t narrow it down very much. Although, on second thought, maybe it did…
“O-okay…”
Hanako got up and began to walk with Misha following instinctively behind her. Only a couple rows over was the light novel section, consisting of several large shelves well-stocked with such material. The covers were fully illustrated with bright colors, featuring characters drawn in a manga style, and every type of story that Misha described was in here somewhere. Hanako knew that there were some which combined more than one of those aspects and there was probably even one that juggled all of them, if they looked hard enough.
“I th-think you’d like these,” she offered, gesturing to the shelves.
“Ah! Light novels! You know…”
Misha went right to pulling different ones out at a rapid pace, discarding them and moving on so quickly that Hanako wondered whether or not she was really looking at them.
“…I don’t think I’ve ever actually read one!”
“R-really? They’re o-okay… I-I used to read a lot of them. Now I read other b-books, though…”
“Oh, Hacchan’s too good for light novels, hm~? She only reads real literature! Wahaha~!”
“L-light n-novels are real l-literature, too!” Hanako insisted.
“Are they? Well, if the literature expert Hacchan says so, then I guess it’s okay~!”
“D-do you see any you like?”
“Hm~, well…”
Hanako’s question prompted a sudden stop to Misha’s novel-searching, which had scattered at least a couple dozen of them on and around the shelves by now. Misha scratched the back of her head and scrunched up her face in concentration, carefully scanning the haphazard collection she had amassed.
“…I like them all!” she declared. “But~! I can’t read them all at once, so~! You pick one for me, Hacchan! Any of these, and I’ll start there!”
“A-are you sure? I-I don’t want to pick one you might not l-like…”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be something you picked for me, so—that’s why I’ll like it~!”
“Okay…”
Hanako began to examine all of the light novels that Misha had pulled out from the shelves, taking a bit more time on each one than Misha had, though not much. She quickly organized them into two piles, ones that she recognized and ones that she didn’t. From there she separated out the ones she only knew of and the ones she had actually read, leaving a fairly small selection in the latter category. Finally Hanako took those and looked at them again, considering carefully.
“Wh-what about this one?”
The light novel she eventually picked was called
MIX-C. The main character, Carolina, was a waitress in a café famous for its parfaits and smoothies. It was a slice-of-life comedy which revolved around Carolina and the other waitresses, with a lot of attention given to all the different confections they created for the customers. It was also a bit different because it was set in America, though a lot of manga tropes were used anyways. It was cute but Hanako hadn’t read past the first couple of them before moving on.
She could tell right away that she’d made the right choice. The front cover had an illustration of Carolina holding a parfait in one hand and a smoothie in the other while striking a pose—Misha’s eyes widened and homed in on the exquisitely detailed parfait as she took the light novel from Hanako, who could practically feel Misha’s mouth watering at the sight. This also seemed to confirm her suspicion that Misha was barely even looking at them before, as she was certainly acting like this was the first time she’d seen this one.
“Wow~! It looks so good! I mean, cute~!”
“Yes, she’s very pretty,” Hanako said, pointing at the picture of Carolina.
“You think so?” Misha replied, tracing Carolina’s coiffed pink drills with one finger. “Her hair looks like bubblegum! Wahaha~!”
“I th-think she has a special drill-shape parfait she makes…”
“Mmmm! Pink drill parfait~!”
Misha closed her and held her breath for a moment as if savoring that mental image.
“Thanks, Hacchan. It’s perfect~!” she said, holding the book to her chest with both hands like she was hugging it.
“B-but you haven’t read it yet…”
“That’s right! So~, let’s go do that!”
Misha took Hanako’s hand and tugged gently on it, leading her back to the beanbags as fast as she felt comfortable with. Hanako smiled at her bouncing brown hair as she skipped a bit, thinking how she was like a kid on Christmas over this even though it was just a book recommendation. Misha really took pleasure even in small things. Once they were re-seated Hanako opened her mouth to say that she hoped Misha liked her selection, only to find that her friend was already engrossed in the pages.
She decided to let Misha read without interruptions, going back to her spot in
The Great Gatsby. The two of them settled into a comfortable reading session. It actually felt a bit strange to spend so much time next to Misha in silence, but it was nice. The only sounds were the turning of pages and an occasional bout of humming from Misha, which Hanako didn’t mind. If anything she appreciated the reminder of company. She wasn’t sure how much reading Misha really got done, as she seemed to take far too long on some pages or almost none at all on others, as well as randomly go forwards or back. As long as she was enjoying the book in her own way, Hanako thought.
It seemed like hardly any time had passed before Yuuko appeared, reminding them that the library was about to close. Misha got up and began to stretch as Yuuko scurried off to handle whatever business librarians handled at the end of the day. Hanako winced as something popped quite audibly in her back. Apparently even Misha’s joints were loud.
“Mmmm! That was refreshing, Hacchan!” Misha said, as if they’d gone for a long run.
“D-did you like it?” Hanako asked, looking at the light novel.
“Yep~! It makes me wanna get a parfait. Wahaha~! I think I’ll check it out so I can read it some more. Thanks for hanging out~! I had a good time.”
“Y-you too.”
“Do you wanna do it again sometime?”
Hanako looked Misha in the eye and nodded as they walked up to the counter together.
Chapter 4 |
Chapter 6
. Can't wait for more!