沈黙の音
Sounds of Silence
Full Summary:
Alternate Universe, Naru-centric. Handsome, smart and essentially oozing with perfection, you'd think that British exchange student Oliver E. C. Davis has nothing more to wish for at first glance. But the fact is simple and straight to the point—he has an unfortunate case of selective mutism, and even with his naturally introverted nature, he finds it nearly impossible to speak to people that he had barely known or to people that he doesn't really want to talk to. He also finds it especially hard to talk to his classmates because of this rare disorder, his situation making it extremely hard for him when his adoptive family decides to move in Japan and transfer in a Japanese high school. That is, until that fateful day comes wherein a vivacious Japanese girl named Mai Taniyama comes into his life and takes it into her hands to see if she can help him get to use his voice again. Of course, between Mai and Oliver's equally chatty twin brother Eugene, they might just pull off the feat yet…
IMPORTANT! Read this! DL, DR!
Pairings: NaruMai. My one and only Ghost Hunt OTP. And a dash of GeneMai.
Genres: Drama & Romance
Disclaimer: I will never own Ghost Hunt, 'kay? All rights reserved by all concerned parties.
First Entry
In Which His Royal Highness, Oliver E. C. Davis, Meets Taniyama Mai
I'm really generally uninterested in conversations with others. I'm the type of teenager who prefers to bury his nose in a calculus book rather than to try and express his feelings in any way possible. I've never really felt any urge to speak my thoughts out loud or to stand up and proclaim that I exist. I've been always content to become the shadow in the background, while my twin brother gets all eyes on him. And I should say, Gene catching all of the attention is even quite beneficial for me, if you'll try to stop and think about my situation.
Oh, I haven't quite introduced myself, have I? Uh, well, pardon for my rudeness, but my name is Oliver E. C. Davis, seventeen years old, and I am a… selective mute.
What is selective mutism, you ask? Well, basically, it's a disorder wherein I lose the ability to speak (or even produce a sound from my throat) whenever I land myself in some very special circumstances. For example, I usually have trouble passing an oral recitation in class. I get even by perfecting all of my written outputs, though, so I guess I'm still one of the top students of the batch even with my little problem.
I dunno when this all actually started, but I think it's been saddled onto me ever since our real parents, who were both Japanese, had abandoned us in America. There, we were found by a wandering policeman who took us to an orphanage, wherein we met our present foster parents, a British couple by the name of Professor Martin and Luella Davis. That trauma of having our real parents abandon us must've resulted in my great difficulty to communicate orally, and I've long since then reconciled myself to the fact that I may never speak normally again.
I exhibited most of the symptoms of selective mutism, enough for the doctor to know that his assessment of my condition was correct. For one, I usually have great difficulty whenever I try to meet people's eyes. I am also quite expressionless and am extremely reluctant to smile when I don't find anything remotely humorous, leading to a difficulty in expressing my feelings, even to my foster parents, though I do love them. I also insist upon following my daily routine and am afraid whenever I think about changing it. I also tend to push Gene out of my room whenever he gets too noisy with his music (he loves to sing out loud), since I'm quite sensitive to noise. I'm also prone to isolation and withdrawal whenever at school, but maybe that was caused by my natural reticence than by anything else. I also tend to be on the moody side most of the time, and it's not unusual for me to have sleep problems at night.
On the positive side, Gene told me that my silence must've accounted for my intelligence (I didn't believe him when he said that, though—I know I'm naturally smart) and my perception. I do think that my quietness must've trained me to notice things that other people wouldn't.
Now, if I could just actually speak, all would've been perfect. I guess.
"Are you all done, Noll? We'll be leaving in half an hour," Gene said while he burst into my room with a very huge smile (I silently hoped with all my might that that expression may never present itself on my face or I would have died). I put a finger in my ear to signify that he's being too noisy and nodded my head once for a yes to his question. He smiled at me and added, "Get changed, 'kay? Mum's going to get ballistic if she finds out that you look as if you're still not prepared to go. I meant both physically… and mentally."
I scowled at him, and he understood what I meant. I didn't want to go, I thought at him.
"Aw, c'mon… Japan's going to be bloody fun, I bet."
I stared at him. Everything's fun to you, I thought hard at him, and added, And your attempt to be British plainly sucks. He blinked and grinned.
"Aw, Noll! Everything's gonna be fine!" I didn't comment out loud on his sudden accent switch from British to American (not that I actually could), and just shrugged off my blue sweater to appease him. He chuckled and left, the door slamming behind him. I winced at the loud sound and started to change my clothes.
Didn't I mention that we can communicate telepathically? Seriously? Clearly, I didn't. Oh joy.
The plane ride was kinda okay—Gene occupied the seat beside me, while Luella and Martin sat across the aisle from us. I never address Luella and Martin as 'Mum' and 'Dad' outside of my head. It's just too… formal? Stuffy? I dunno.
Gene has frequent bouts of sleepiness, wherein he always rests his head on my shoulder despite the fact that we were in a plane, and that plane seats are designed to hold sleeping passengers so that they won't have to fall sideways. Meh, I didn't mind him much, anyways. I just read the pocketbook that I've stowed in my pocket earlier, ignoring his incoherent sleep talking, and settled into the perfect picture of silent contentment.
"Um, excuse me, sir?"
I was jolted from my reverie by the quick, crisp accent of the flight attendant, who had been passing by with a trolley of food. I silently poked Gene awake, and he proceeded to pick out a soda, two chocolate bars, and black coffee (I frowned at that because coffee makes him hyper). When the attendant finally left, Gene stretched his arms lazily, almost hitting me across the face if I hadn't sat back at the last moment, and proceeded to tear the packet of sugar that came with the coffee to stir it in. I sipped disconsolately at my Coke and continued my scrutiny of the book in my hand. When Gene had finally drunk through half of his coffee, he held it out to me.
Want some?
I glared at him with my "Are you serious?" kind of look, and he just smiled. I took the styrofoam cup and took a very small sip, the strong coffee making me grimace, and passed it back to him quickly. He laughed.
That's the last time that I'll ever drink coffee again, I thought at him.
"C'mon, I didn't expect you'd really take it. I mean, your preference was more on tea rather than coffee…"
Don't expect me to even talk to you again after this, you muppet.
You're so cute, Noll.
Sod off. And that's British for go away, by the way.
Gene just let a broad grin spread across his face, and I sighed, the small puff of breath leaving me the only sound that I had made for the past days. Then he began singing in his head. An old war song.
For a while we must part
But remember me sweetheart
Till the lights of London shine again…
You're such an old man, I thought rudely. He whistled shrilly, making Luella look over at him with a glare.
"Don't you try to annoy me in this trip, Eugene J. A. Davis," she snapped. "And don't make any excuses."
Gene rolled his dark blue eyes at me when Luella looked away. I wanted to smile, but the expression must've looked strained on my face, because he snickered.
Ooh, she called you by your full name, Gene. Are you supposed to be scared?
He smiled, his brilliant blue eyes closing, and continued to sing in his head, making the lines send thrills down my spine as I listened.
And while I'm over there
Think of me in every prayer
Till the lights of London shine again…
I'll keep your picture near me
A tender souvenir
Now hold me close and kiss me
And may God bless you dear
Don't you cry when I'm gone
Wear a smile and carry on
Till the lights of London shine again…
I couldn't help wondering if my voice will be as beautiful as his if I could speak. For the first time, I felt as if I'm enclosed in a tight cage that won't let me assert myself.
The styrofoam cup in Eugene's hand suddenly slipped out of his grasp and flew, spilling coffee on the floor. My twin jumped up out of shock, and glanced at me in alarm.
What were you bloody thinking, Noll?
I glared at him. It wasn't my fault, love, I thought sarcastically, the British endearment sounding forced in my mind. I can't control my bleeding thoughts, can I?
Ah, Gordon Bennett. Here comes the attendant.
You're lucky that Luella just fell asleep.
He shot me an exasperated smile. I don't know that they make smiles like that these days. No, you're lucky. Or I would have told on you!
I glared at him. You're a pumpkin. A traitorous pumpkin.
If I am, you're another. We're twins. He was smiling smugly.
I opened my mouth to say something biting to him in indignation, when I suddenly remembered that I couldn't. Like a tiring refrain, I felt my throat close involuntarily to prevent any sound from coming out (it always does that when I wanted to speak) and shut my mouth, deciding to just ignore my annoyingly cheeky git of a brother for the rest of the flight.
—And yeah, I have psychokinesis. Sort of.
There are roughly four hours difference between Tokyo and London, so it was dawn when we finally arrived.
Our new house, located in the midst of lively Shibuya ward, was nice, although it was situated in a neighborhood near Dōgenzaka.
So it was of a pleasant surprise to me when Luella suddenly announced that she has arranged for us to go to Aoyama High School, since it was, well, just seven minutes away from Dōgenzaka if we were to take a cab.
The day of the actual enrollment, Gene accompanied Luella to buy the school uniforms, while Martin and I picked up the books. Their weight felt strange in my arms, the Japanese characters printed in large font on the cover failing to reassure me even with my ability to read them familiarly. I immediately missed my old Math textbook, but… Tch.
Here comes Gene and Luella with the clothes in their arms. I better smoothen out my expression first. Gene glanced at me with a concerned pout of his lip, but I was too busy keeping my emotions under control to even care.
…Sometimes, it's really annoying to have a twin who can read your mind. Especially when that said twin is a bit… on the barmy side. Or in other words, a completely clumsy idiot.
My first day at school had been fairly normal, I guess. Gene and I spent our breaks with him taking me all around the faculty and introducing me to the second-year teachers. All the teachers were fairly nice, except that Matsuzaki Ayako person. She just stared at me as if I was some kind of new animal. Whatever. Maybe just my imagination.
I smoothed the front of my navy blazer, the stiff uniform making me uncharacteristically nervous. Since we are both seventeen, that means that we are enrolled in the sophomore level, so—
"Ah, sumimasen!" Gene, what the bloody—
I saw Gene picking up some books that had scattered on the floor, while a group of three girls, presumably freshmen, were around him. One of them, a girl with short brown hair and large dark eyes, was rubbing her arm absently as she slowly stood up. Gene must've accidentally knocked her over. I repeat, he's a really clumsy idiot…
I love you too, Noll, he thought at me. I didn't detect any sign of his being sarcastic, but I knew better than to take him at voice value. Wait, that was a bloody knife to the gut.
Instead of replying, I just grimaced, since I had figured out that he'll be able to read me.
"I'm sorry," he told the girl with short hair. "I should pay more attention to my surroundings, I guess…" He smiled lightheartedly, making the girls blush. I had to squash the impulse to roll my eyes. Such an ungodly flirt…
"That's alright… Um," the short-haired girl stuttered in hurried Japanese, before stealing a sideways glance at me. Luckily, I was like "I know I'm good looking, but please don't look at me like that just because", making her look confused at first (Goddamn, was she dense), before turning back to Gene with a look that screamed of 'Wow…'. "You're twins…?"
I felt the urge to tell her, "Sorry if we forgot to tell you then, Missy", but of course, my throat refused to let up. Bugger.
"Ah, yup, we're kinda new here," Gene said with an easy laugh. I just knew that he's going to drag this unnecessary conversation a bit longer. He's just that willing to annoy me. "We're actually from England, and, well, I'm Eugene Davis, and this is my brother Oliver." He gestured a bit at me. I was trying hard not to snap.
"Taniyama Mai," she answered, and her two friends also gave their names.
I tugged impatiently at Gene's sleeve to get him to hurry up. He looked around and let out a chuckle.
"Noll," he said teasingly. "What's it with girls that you don't like?"
Mai, who had been watching us unabashedly, looked puzzled. "I thought his name was Oliver." The foreign word rolled off her tongue strangely. I mentally grimaced at her butchery of my name.
"Yeah, but Noll," Gene stole an amused glance at me, "is his nickname."
She tried to pronounce it, her eyes narrowed at me. "Strange name to call somebody, though…" Um, hello. I'm not the dimwitted prat who decided to call poor Oliver Davis that moronic nickname…
Gene laughed, and I was unsure if he was laughing at Mai's comment, or at my thoughts, or both. "Call me strange, then." Again, an answer that could have been directed to either one of us.
I tapped Gene's shoulder and stared hard at him, thinking, Let's get away. My head hurts from her terrible pronunciation. It's a disgrace to the Queen's English! —Or something like that.
And before he could register my thoughts, I had dragged him away from the surprised Taniyama Mai, wanting nothing else than to go home and get this day over with.
A/N: Shit. I didn't realize that I've been gone from this fandom for about one and a half year already. *bawls* I missed writing about Ghost Hunt… and the very adorable, narcissistic Naru!
So this is my comeback story! The sequel to Angel's Smile hadn't pushed through because of various reasons, but I hope you like this one. Review and make me smile!
I was thinking if I should revise Angel's Smile or not. I mean, I'm two years older now than when I was writing that story… Fufufu.
Anyways, thank you! And wait for my update! It shouldn't be long now…