Title: Mosiac
Summary: Who are the Three Demons, and who is the young man with the strange seaweed-like hair? Hideaki, a second year at Rikkai, can't seem to remember. In fact, she can barely remember anyone, besides her neighbor, Marui Bunta. Maybe they're just not important. KiriharaxOCxMarui
AN: This is my first proper piece of writing. Oh boy. Critique and reviews are extremely welcome! :D
Hideaki Rei was never normal.
It wasn't her looks. She was just above average in that sector. Long, chestnut hair, pretty Japanese features. Her eyes were some sort of maroon, but hardly the most ridiculous colour out there- after all, her mother often marveled about how the Marui children down the street had such lovely, adorable lavender eyes.
It was more of the fact that her brain wasn't normal.
At family gatherings she mixed up the names of the aunts and uncles . In fact, she couldn't tell whether it was an aunt or uncle before they spoke to her. She would walk right past the Marui family that she was supposed to deliver her mother's freshly baked apple pie to. She couldn't tell her own parents apart sometimes. The Hideakis just laughed it off. Rei was their daughter; their cute and air-headed daughter. So what if she was forgetful? She picked up on motor skills quickly, had no destructive tendencies, read and wrote like any other child. They dismissed her inability to recognize people as a "quirk" . The aunts at family gatherings made a game out of Rei's little "quirk". They would wear identical dresses, and ask Rei to tell them apart. Rei never succeeded at it.
When kindergarten started, however, it was obvious that Rei's problems could not simply be dismissed as a "quirk".
The Hideakis were behind a glass panel with the other parents, watching her daughter as she sat in a circle with the other children. They beamed proudly as she introduced herself, watched as the other children did so as well.
"Now then. To get to know each other better, we're going to play a game!" Nana-sensei, the kindergarten teacher, beamed at the new kindergartners. "I'm going to say my name, and my favourite food! Then I'm going to pick someone else, and they have to remember my name and my food, and then say their own! They get to pick someone else after that! Do you all understand?"
"Yes sensei!" The children chorused, with the exception of Rei who seemed to put her attention on the flowers on Nana-sensei's dress instead.
"My name is Nana-sensei, I like grapes! Jiro-kun , it's your turn!"
"She's Nana-sensei, she likes grapes! I'm Jiro, I like pocky! It's your turn!" The boy cheerfully patted the next person on the shoulder. And so it went on.
"KYOKO LIKES PUDDING! I'M MOMO, JUNK FOOD IS THE BEST! IT'S YOUR TURN!" The child bellowed, pointing dramatically across the room.
"…..." said Rei.
"Rei-chan, why don't you tell us Momo-kun's favourite food? If you can't remember, just tell us your own, okay?" Nana-sensei asked sweetly.
"...Which one is Momo?" Rei asked.
"He's right there, dear." Nana-sensei gestured at the boy opposite Rei. Said boy was in shock that the pretty Rei girl didn't recognize him when he had just introduced himself five seconds ago.
"I know he's somewhere there, but which one is he? Everyone looks the same." Rei pouted.
The parents started to whisper. What was wrong with this child? Was she a special needs child? If she was, why was she put with their children, the normal children?
The bell rang. Nana-sensei quietly told Rei that she would like to see her parents, could she please describe them to her?
Rei paused, counting the petals on Nana-sensei's flower printed dress. " Daddy's voice is deep and gruff. Like a walrus. Mummy's is higher pitched. She has a bandaged hand, cos she burnt herself on the stove the other day."
Nana-sensei frowned. What peculiar descriptions. Most children would talk about how pretty their mothers were, what their fathers did for a living. Nonetheless, she identified the woman with the bandage, and scheduled a meeting the following Monday.
Monday came.
"I think your child has face- blindness." The child psychologist that Nana-sensei called in announced to the occupants of the room. The Hideakis had never heard of it. Nana-sensei fidgeted, obviously not wanting to deal with this sort of uncomfortable situation, where the parents were told that there was something wrong, abnormal, about their child. Rei just sat on the floor.
Face-blindness, or Prosopagnosia. A neurological condition where the patient is unable to register and remember faces, even those of the friends or family that they've known for years. It would explain why Hideaki Rei would sometimes walk right past Mr. Bunta, whom she's known since birth, why she didn't know who Momo was, why she couldn't recognize Nana-sensei when she had changed out of the flowery dress that she wore on the first day of kindergarten. People with face-blindness, the psychologist explained, often relied on other cues, such as voice, attire, or unique features like moles or scars to recognize people.
Hideaki Rei, if she were to be shown a photo of her parents, would probably not recognize them.
The psychologist told the Hideakis that they were fortunate Rei's face-blindness was discovered early; many children with the disorder grew up, simply unaware that other people could recognize faces. The Hideaki family remained much like it had before, just that they were more conscious of Rei's disorder. Mrs. Hideaki wore a bandage permanently around her hand, so Rei could recognize her by touch. They always reintroduced her to people, no matter how many times she had met them before. They also told the Marui family, down the street, about their daughter's condition.
"Oh my, it must be really difficult for Rei to get along with other children in school! Not being able to befriend anyone there. Or recognize them, for the matter." Mrs. Marui mused.
"Yes, that's why I've come to you. I've been reading up, and apparently children with face-blindness usually get along with children with distinctive features, since they're easier to recognize. And your Bunta... he has quite the hair colour." Mrs. Hideaki laughed daintily, covering her mouth with her bandaged hand.
"Oh, so you want Bunta to help Rei along? Sure! He loves her already, since she always brings apple pie over."
And so, Marui Bunta became Hideaki Rei's first proper friend and permanent babysitter.
It was true, when Mrs. Marui said that Marui Bunta liked Rei. She was funny. Even before he knew about her condition, she was a great source of amusement (and apple pie.)
Maybe it was her inability to recognize faces and facial expressions, but she was awfully blunt and honest. She would tell the scary old man across the road that his dog was really noisy, could he just put it down already, when everyone else was kept up awake by it.
She would stare at Bunta's younger twin brothers (they both had Mr. Marui's unassuming black hair, while Bunta had his mother's fiery red hair) before asking them who the heck they were and what did they they think they were doing in Bunta's room? The twins would then try to convince her that they've known her for their entire lives, while Rei started mumbling about how her eyes must be going bad because she was seeing two of them.
Marui would eventually pacify her by telling her that they were the friendly goblins that lived in his room, and that she could just ignore them.
Because she was pretty funny, and she gave him a chance to call his brothers goblins on a daily basis, Marui Bunta did not mind having Rei around. In fact, she became like a constant in his life, even though what she did was highly unpredictable. For their entire early childhood, Marui Bunta and Hideaki Rei were rarely seen apart, even though Bunta was a year older. Bunta found her blunt, snarky personality unique, while Rei found a familiar comfort in seeing Bunta's bright pink hair everyday.
"Just let them get married already. Rei can recognize that Marui boy more easily than she can recognize me." Mr. Hideaki snorted.
"They're five and six." Mrs. Hideaki replied lightly. Although, watching Bunta and Rei curling up on the floor. watching cartoons, she had to agree that she wouldn't mind Bunta being her son-in-law. Just 13 more years before Rei was legal... hopefully she would be able to tell Mr. Marui apart from the rest of the world by then.
AN: ahhh so that was the prologue of 'Mosiac'!
I personally feel my writing style is a bit long winded /offloads a crap ton of unnecessary details/ but this is the first time I'm writing an original plotline! It's all kinda new to me, so if anyone wants to offer any advice, please feel free to do so! And if anyone wants to beta-read this story it would be even better, haha.
I wanted to go into Rei and Marui's childhoods ( I hope the facial blindness wasn't too confusing.) The reason Rei is so attached to Marui is cos he's really, really distinctive.
Thanks for reading!
