Disclaimer: This is a fan made work of fiction based upon the Katawa Shoujo visual novel by Four Leaf Studios. It is not made for profit, only for entertainment. All persons, locations, characters, etc. are fictitious, and any similarities to real persons, living or dead, are coincidental and unintentional. All works of art (music, movies, games, etc.) That may be referenced or mentioned in this story are not my (the author's) property, all rights to those works belong to their respective owners.

This story will contain adult themes including vulgar language, sexual themes and content, and gore and violence. Reader discretion is advised.

I stand in front of a class full of high school students, feeling a little nervous and self-conscious. I can feel the students looking at me, mainly my left eye. I know that not too many of these kids are judging me too much, since all of them have similar issues. I'm at a school called Yamaku, which is a specialized high school in Japan for kids who have physical disabilities.

"Class, this is Mr. Jacob Roberts, he will be a student teacher for this class for the remainder of the semester. Mr. Roberts, would you like to introduce yourself?" The class' science teacher, Mr. Mutou, says.

"No." I say with a deadpan expression. After a couple seconds of a confused expression on the teacher's face, I smile and say, "Just kidding." I speak in Japanese, I learned the language a couple years ago. "Ohayo, everyone. As Mr. Mutou said, my name is Jacob Roberts, I'm gonna be helping him out as a student teacher for the rest of the semester. As I'm sure all of you have noticed, I am in fact, American. I'm doing this as part of my four year degree in education. A little bit about me, abd why I'm here. When I graduated high school I went to college for a couple years, and while I was doing that I was a firefighter. A couple months after I got my two year degree I suffered a… 'workplace accident' and changed careers, going into the army as a medic. Once I got through training I was assigned to an infantry unit and was deployed in Syria.

"After about six months there I was injured and taken out of deployment and stationed here in Japan, and I've been here for about four months. So, with that being said, I know that y'all will need time to trust me, and I'm sure you're sick of hearing stuff like this, but I just want to say that you can think of me as another nurse, or counselor, or friend. If you need anything, I will do anything I can to help you out. Except buy food."

I look around the room as I talk, most of the students look bored and uninterested at first, but as I mention that I'm a firefighter and soldier, a few people take notice. I see a girl with pink dyed hair, her eyes locked on me, moving her hands in weird ways as I talk, it takes me a second to realize she's doing sign language for the girl next her, with glasses and bluish hair, who keeps shifting her gaze from me to her friend's hands. There's several kids with prosthetic limbs, a few normal looking students, and some with scars, like a girl in the back with long purple-black hair, covering one side of her face, the burn scars and skin graft remnants obvious on her face as well as the hand that she uses to try and hide it, she looks away as I glance at her. Once my introduction is done, I write my contact information on the board for anyone who cares, and after that there's not much else for me to do but take a seat by the teacher's desk and observe as he does what he gets paid to do.

…

After the first old-school bell tolls, signifying the start of lunch time, I make my way to the cafeteria along with most of the students who didn't bring their own premade lunch. I grab some food, and I decide to just go back to the classroom, not wanting to intrude on anyone's group, and also being slightly self-conscious and socially anxious. I return to the room and eat with Mr. Mutou, chatting with him about our lives, as well as the current and upcoming lesson plan. After I finish my meal, there's still about ten minutes left for the lunch hour, so I decide to occupy myself with some light exercise, since there's nothing else to do while I talk with the science teacher.

I walk over to the door and place my hands on top of the frame, lowering my legs so that my arms are extended, I begin doing pull-ups. "Uh, Mr. Roberts, what are you doing?" Mr. Mutou asks.

"What does, it look like? Exercise. I may be taking extended leave for this, but I'm still, a soldier. Gotta keep my fitness up."

"Commendable. Most people wouldn't keep up a routine in circumstances like that."

"Yeah, most people aren't me."

"Are you sure you're not doing that for another particular reason? Or a particular someone?" He chuckles as he watches me.

"Oh crap, you found me out." I release my left hand and inhale, pulling myself up with one hand. I hold myself up for a second, then I hear the door open, but I'm already starting to speak, "How'd you know I took this job," I start to lower myself, "To pick up cute Japanese girls with burn-"

"Ah!" I chose the wrong words for that joke. I'm now staring at the girl with purple hair and burn scars. She's staring at me in surprise, and a little embarrassment, her cheeks turning red because of my comment. Our faces are about a foot apart, she almost walked into my body when she opened the door.

"Oh, sorry. Hi there, and you must be…?" I extend a hand to her.

She looks from my face to my hand a couple times, her hands clutching a couple books and hugging them to her chest. "H...Hanako…" she says, so quietly and timidly that I almost don't hear it even though I'm right in front of her. After a moment she apprehensively extends her own hand.

I give her a gentle shake, despite the scars, her skin is surprisingly soft. I'd like to feel her- no! No! I can't be thinking things like that, she's most likely underage, and she's kinda a student under me now. I feel bad about scaring her like that, she's obviously extremely shy and not very good with social situations. "Nice to meet you, Hanako." I let her slip past me and take her seat, and I return to my spot and continue talking with Mr. Mutou. A few minutes later the bell rings again and students start filing back into the room for afternoon classes, Hanako buries her face in a book and no one else even acknowledges her as they walk in. Once everyone is seated and the bell rings again, Mr. Mutou starts a lesson on molecular biology. After about half an hour of lecture, he says that the class will now break into groups and work on their papers. As soon as he does this, Hanako packs her bag and gets up, leaving the room with only a glance at the teacher, who gives her a slight nod. Interesting. No one else even looks at her, except one young man who's sitting next to the pink haired girl.

This must be a normal thing for her. She was very attentive in class, I just hope that this lack of cooperation doesn't affect her grades. I know "participation points" is becoming a bigger thing with schools now that they're trying to pussify students. It seems that Hanako has an understanding or agreement with the teacher. She probably doesn't like working in groups. I can't blame her, some people are stupid.

…

"I dunno, Mr. Roberts, That kinda thing might break patient privacy laws."

"I'm a certified EMT and a medic, I know all about patient privacy, I'll be ok."

"What do you want them for, anyway?"

"I just want to know what exactly is wrong with them so that if something happens in class I know what to do, and it'll help me understand and sympathize with them."

"I don't think they want your sympathy, you should know that better than anyone." The young head nurse smiles at me, he's an interesting fellow, always squinting with a relaxed expression on his face, some jazzy rock music playing quietly in his office.

"Oh yeah, but if there's any way, I'd be grateful." I tell him.

"Hmm." He takes his hands out of his medical coat pockets and stands up, walking over to a series of filing cabinets in one corner. He goes through them and pulls out about two dozen folders, carrying them to his desk, he sets them by me. "You can read through these while I'm here. Once I go home for the night, you'll have to come back tomorrow or something."

"Thanks doc, I'll sneak a beer in here some day." I pick up one of the folders and open it.

"Hahaha! I'll hold you to that." He sits at his computer and resumes his work.

…

I sit back and stretch. "Done." I groan.

The nurse looks at me, then his clock. "Damn, I didn't realize it was this late." It's about 2245. "Did you get what you need?"

"I think so, you want me to put these back?"

"Nah, I'll get 'em tomorrow."

"Alright, have a good night."

"You too."

I step out of the nurse's office in the medical building on campus, heading back to my room. Reading those files took more of a toll on me than I thought it would. It's one thing to read/write a report for a retired sergeant major whose knees hurt because all the cartilage is gone from 20 years of running every day, or a specialist who now has an STD because he was stupid and fucked a girl without a condom while on leave. It's another to read about a little girl who lost her legs in a car crash that killed her dad, or a boy who had a heart attack in high school and now has to take like 20 medications every day to simply reduce the chance of having another in the next few years.

Almost all of the kids in my class have had something really fucked up happen to them in their past, and they're not even out of high school. It's hard to imagine, but it's also commendable, they're all trying as hard as they can to be normal, even though they're not. They're not worried about whether or not people will look at them weird because of their fake arm or cane, they're worried about whether or not they'll get a girlfriend or boyfriend.

I think about all this as I make it back to my room in the dorms. I get undressed and crawl into bed, setting my alarm for about 0600 so I can do a bit of running in the morning. It'll take a while to settle in to this new life.

…

In the morning I wake up and go out to the track to run for about half an hour before school starts. I meet and chat with a couple of the school's track members, including one very interesting girl named Emi. She's one of the best runners on the track team, despite the fact that she has two prosthetic legs. I realize only after talking with her that she's the one whose dad died in a car crash a few years ago. She's not in my class, the nurse accidentally gave me her file along with the others, and I was almost all the way through it before I myself realized it.

After my morning run I showered and changed, and went to the main building to help Mr. Mutou with his lesson for the day. Once the bell rang for lunch I got my food and began searching for a nice quiet place to eat. Hopefully the students will start allowing me to eat with them every now and then, so I don't have to do this every day. After wandering the halls for a little bit I find myself near the library, and I notice a door to a room that's slightly ajar. There's no one around and I don't hear anything on the other side, so I push the door open and peek inside the room.

It's a small room, somewhere between a break room and classroom, with only about three or four tables capable of seating four to six people. Currently the room has only one inhabitant, one who stands out quite a bit compared to most of the other pupils at this school, since she has a head of long, wavy, blonde hair, and a smooth, attractive face that looks more European than Japanese. The girl sitting alone at one of the tables has her eyes closed as she slowly and deliberately brings a small teacup to her lips to drink the hot liquid inside.

"Ooh." I mutter, I have a bad habit of blurting out whatever's going on in my head at the worst possible time. The girl opens her eyes to reveal some incredibly beautiful pale blue irises, her pupils unfocused and cloudy. She looks in the rough direction of the door and asks in a very polite voice, "Hello, is someone there?"

I didn't know that I actually said that out loud, I start a little and feel myself blush. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here, I was just looking for somewhere to sit down, sorry to disturb you, ma'am."

The girl, who looks to be a senior based on her mature look and school uniform, giggles and gives a warm smile, "'Ma'am'? Do I really look that old?"

"Uh, w-well of course not. It's a force of habit for me." Damn you, Army professionalism standards.

"It's quite alright, don't let me scare you away from a peaceful meal, I'm simply waiting for a friend of mine. You may sit with me if you wish."

She has quite the prim and proper way of talking, "Well, in that case, I shall take you up on your offer, many thanks, miss." I enter the room, closing the door behind me, and take a seat opposite her. Even when she's sitting I can tell that she's very tall in comparison to most other Japanese girls, though still not quite as tall as me. Based on her actions, her eyes, our environment, and the cane leaning against the table beside her, I deduce that she must be completely blind. "It's nice to meet you, miss. My name is Jacob Roberts, I'm a teacher's assistant for Mr. Mutou in class 3-3. I just got here yesterday."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Roberts," The girl opens her eyes as I talk and does her best to look at my face, attempting to be as polite and courteous as possible. She gives a slight bow as she introduces herself, "My name is Lilly Satou, I am the class representative for class 3-2."

"Ah, ok. Oh, you can just call me Jacob." I remember someone telling me that class 3-2 caters more to students who are partially or completely blind, so it makes sense that she'd be in that class. "Um, Lilly, could you hold out your hand real quick?"

Her serene facial expression wavers slightly, and she looks at me with a quizzical look for just a second, but she does still extend her hand. I hold it gently and give her a quick peck on the back of her hand. She starts a little and lets out a surprised "Ooh!" Drawing her hand back with a slight blush. "Sorry, it's something that I just do, my mom told me to always do that when I meet a pretty lady." I chuckle. Of course, I won't tell her that I also enjoy making girls blush, I think that women look cute when they're embarrassed.

Lilly giggles. "My my, what a gentleman you are. I'm sure she's very proud of you." She smiles very warmly and genuinely at me.

"Yeah, she reminds me every time I talk to her." I joke.

We chat for a minute or two, and I hear the door creak open behind me. I turn and see Hanako, of all people, come through the door, carrying an armful of food for herself, and I guess Lilly as well. She has her head down, focusing on not dropping anything as she goes to close the door with her arm. "Is that Hanako?" Lilly asks.

"Yes, s-sorry Lilly," Hanako starts speaking before she turns around, "The line was longer than I wa- Ah!" She turns and sees me, the fact that I'm sitting across from Lilly surprising her. She jumps and drops most of the food she was carrying. Luckily most of it is in some kind of wrap or container. Since I'm the reason she dropped the food, I get up and help her pick it up, apologizing. Once everything's picked up we sit and begin eating. "T-Thanks, Mr. Roberts." Hanako says timidly.

"No problem, I'm here to help with all your problems, even if I'm the one who causes them." I say, drawing a smile from Hanako. She covers her scarred side of her face with her hand as she does so. I've noticed that she does that whenever she thinks someone's full attention is on her. It's probably a habit of hers now, but it still annoys me for some reason. Her files said that she has real bad social anxiety and slight depression from the accident that caused her burns when she was a kid, so that mixed with the usual adolescent desire to be liked by everyone has probably made her think she's ugly or something, which I disagree with.

We eat in silence for the next few minutes, and once we're finished, conversation picks up again, mainly between myself and Lilly, with Hanako only really responding to questions or statements directed right at her. It's interesting, according to the two girls, they've known each other for the last three years, since they live right next to each other in the dorms, and they're very good friends despite being almost polar opposites personality-wise. Lilly behaves like posh royalty, very prim and proper, and Hanako is the most reserved and quiet person I've ever met. Though she does seem more comfortable here than in the classroom, but then again I've only known her for a day and a half.

Lilly starts asking me to tell about myself, so I more or less give her the same speech as in the classroom yesterday. "U-um, Mr. Roberts-" Hanako starts.

"Jacob."

"U-uh-"

"You can call me Jacob. I'm not an official teacher, so you don't have to do the whole Roberts-sensei thing."

"O...Okay… J-Jacob, what made you want to… be a f-firefighter?" She asks, almost out of nowhere.

"Hmm. Well, uh, my dad is a firefighter, and he's one of the coolest people I know, so that's part of it. But also, I love people." She looks at me curiously. "I, I feel this need to protect people, not just family or loved ones, but everyone I'm around. So I decided to go with a job that would allow me to help and protect people. I guess I'm one of those few crazy altruistic people."

"Al...truistic?"

"You'll learn about that later in the year." I smirk. The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. We pack everything up and head back to the class, saying goodbye to Lilly once our paths diverge. As I walk back to class with Hanako, I notice that she gives me a bit more space than a person normally would, staring straight at the floor in front of her. I hope these kids (why do I call them kids, I'm only 21, I was barely a toddler when they were born) like me more as time goes on.

…

A week and a half later, I walk down the hall humming a little tune to myself. About every other day I go to the "tea room," as we now call it, and hang out with Lilly and Hanako during lunch, chatting and getting to know them. Every other day I'll stay in the cafeteria, or go to a classroom or even the library and hold an impromptu study hall for anyone who's struggling with the lessons. During my time here I've discovered that Hanako enjoys reading and playing chess, I've seen her in the library a couple times in the mornings or during lunch when Lilly has class rep responsibilities. I've also played both her and Lilly at chess a couple times. Lilly is about as good as me (which isn't saying much), but Hanako is amazing. She beats both of us almost every time, and I'm sure that she just lets us win every now and then so we don't stop playing with her.

I've also learned that Lilly wants to be an English teacher, I mentioned that I'm working on a Bachelor's in education and she became very interested in the intricacies of that kind of thing. Right now I'm heading to the tea room once again, when I enter I find a surprise. There's a guy in the room sitting with Lilly and Hanako, talking with them.

I recognize his face, and after a second I remember his name, Hisao, I think. He's very new, he only got to the school just a week or two before I did. He has arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat, and about half a year ago he had a heart attack that hospitalized him for about four months, then he got transferred to Yamaku. Now he has to take over a dozen medications twice a day to keep the chances of having another down by a stupidly marginal percent, any kind of extreme stimuli or trauma to his chest has the risk of setting off another heart attack. He looks at me as I enter, "Oh, Mr. Rober-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" I interrupt him.

"Uh… eating lunch?"

I start slowly pacing toward him, "A teenage boy all alone with two cute girls in an out of the way room? Oh, yeah, I bet you wanna eat something and I'm sure it's not lunch." I glare at him.

He and the two girls start blushing, "U-uh, w-well um- I-" He starts getting flustered.

I start laughing, "Relax man, I'm messing with ya. So, what brings you here today?"

After a second, what I just said processes in his head and he smiles in a guilty way, "Heh, well, I'm supposed to be helping the student council, but… They've been working me to death lately because of the festival coming up and I just need a break. So I'm hiding here." I chuckle, ah yes, Shizune is the class rep for 3-3 and the student council president, she's the blue haired deaf girl, and Misha is her pink haired friend, vice president, and interpreter. From the way they both act in class, Shizune reminds me of some kind of aspiring tyrant. I can only imagine how bad it is when they're by themselves.

Hisao continues, "So, Mr. Rob-"

I slam a knife hand onto the table and point it at him, causing everyone to jump. "Hey guy, I keep telling y'all to just call me Jacob. I'm not your teacher, I'm just a guy learning how to teach. I'm basically you, just a little cooler."

Hisao blinks a couple times, "O...kay, Jacob, uh, what brings you here today?"

"Same as you, I guess, doing study halls and stuff all the time kinda wears on you after a while, so I'm just looking to enjoy a nice quiet lunch with these fine young women." I make the girls blush.

Hanako suddenly looks at the clock, "Oh. Lilly, we need to go…" She says quietly.

"Hmm? Oh, I almost forgot." She and Hanako stand up, "I need to grab some books that Yuuko ordered for me from the library." They leave the room, leaving only me and Hisao. I check my phone for messages, and when I look back up, I notice Hisao looking at my eyes. Shifting from one to the other. He then looks out the window and sighs.

"Hey, Jacob, can I confide in you on something?"

"Of course, what's wrong?"

"Well, since I got here, it's been kinda hard to acclimate to the atmosphere. Like, this school is different, obviously, and I feel this urge to ask people about their conditions, so I can understand them, and sometimes I find myself staring, but I know that they don't like talking about it, and it's almost taboo to talk about it but, with people like Hanako, or Emi, it's so obvious, and I want to get to know them but..." He gives a frustrated sigh. "What do I do?"

I sit back and think for a second, "Well, here's what I think: Asking a lot of these kids about their condition, is like asking an emergency services worker about the worst call they've been on, or asking a soldier if they have any war stories about getting shot at. It's basically asking them to relive their worst nightmare. Most people don't like that, and also, everyone here just wants to be a regular person despite their disabilities. You wouldn't like it if people kept going up to you and asking, 'Hey, what's wrong with you?' right?" He shakes his head. "Yeah, so just do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. Just be a good person, and people will open up to you when they start to trust you."

He nods along with what I'm saying. He's a smart guy, I know he gets it. "Okay." Is all I get from him. "Hey, don't worry about it, these people are strong, I doubt too many of them will get too upset with a couple innocent questions."

Hisao looks at me. "So… How'd you lose your eye then?" He asks with a smirk.

I chuckle, shaking my head. "I'm a soldier, I'll let you connect the dots." The bell tolls and we return to class. On the way, he thanks me for talking with him.

…

A couple days later, I decide to take an after-school trip into the small town right outside Yamaku to get some groceries. Once I'm outside the front gates to the campus I spot a solitary figure walking down the road ahead of me. Her rare hair color and and manner of walking makes her easy to identify. I jog to catch up to her and as I approach she turns her head to acknowledge my presence. "Hey Lilly, it's Jacob." I say as I pull up beside her, "Mind if I walk with you?"

"Oh, hello Jacob." She smiles warmly, "Of course you can, I'd actually appreciate the company. Normally Hanako walks into town with me if I need to go buy something, but she said she was busy tonight… And apologized about four times." We both chuckle as we walk down the hill, the tapping of her cane on the road surface creating an odd contrast to the rhythmic clacking sound of our footsteps.

Yamaku is situated on top of a hill, that's part of a small mountain range, with a small town of around 20,000 people situated in the valley between the range Yamaku is on, and another, the town being about a mile away, the walk isn't too bad for most students. The area is heavily wooded, the hills coated in a soft green hue in the early summer, the late afternoon sky is a beautiful orange-purple, golden clouds streaking across the open air. I glance at Lilly, who is walking closely to me, or maybe I'm walking close to her.

She's looking down slightly as she taps her cane in front of herself, feeling her way down the slope. I think about a few things, and then sigh. I'm sure that normally my sigh would've gone unnoticed, it wasn't a loud, exasperated sigh, but because of the peaceful silence of our area, the only real noise being our footsteps and the gentle rustle of the leaves in the calm breeze, as well as Lilly's conditionally acute hearing, she opens her eyes a little and looks in my direction for a moment, a very slight frown and brow furrow forming on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"Uh, well, not, heh, not really. I was just thinking… I hope you don't mind me saying this, but, I can't wait until we develop technology enough to let people like you see. I mean, I look around at this amazing, beautiful world that God has created, and you don't get to fully experience it."

Lilly closes her eyes again and purses her lips in thought for a moment, "Hmm, well I don't particularly mind that, it's not a bad thing to wish for others, to have maximum potential for happiness, but personally I don't mind it at all. I've been blind since I was born, so I only know the world as I experience it now, and I know it would be a very big and jarring change to suddenly be able to see. I would get used to it, of course, but the thought of suddenly having a whole new sense to deal with could be just as bad as losing that sense."

I rub my eyepatch absentmindedly. That makes sense, Lilly's adjusted to life as she is now, just like almost all the other kids at Yamaku, it would be jarring to try and change that. "I see." I say without thinking. "... Ah, dammit. Sorry." I feel like an asshole, I'm glad she can't see how my face is burning up.

Lilly giggles. "It's quite alright, you don't need to change your speech for my sake."

"Thanks, but yeah, I get it, it's hard to adjust to big changes, no matter what form they take." Lilly nods her agreement and we continue in relative silence for the rest of the way down into the town. We go through the streets, this is my first time here, so I'm looking around at all the buildings, trying to memorize pathways and street names. Luckily Lilly seems to know where she's going and we arrive at a small convenience store.

We enter the store and I pick up a basket, then look around the shelves to see what they have available. Lilly retracts her cane and places it in her own basket. As I'm looking around, I suddenly feel something wrap around my arm. "What? Oh." I look and see that Lilly's hand is holding onto my arm. I realize that she's probably gonna need my help to buy stuff since she can't see what's on the shelves.

She let's go of me, her hand hovering over my arm, "I'm sorry, is it alright if I hold on to you?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's fine, I wasn't expecting it, but it's uh, good." We walk up and down the aisles, grabbing what we need, Lilly holding on to me almost like a wife might hold on to her husband's arm while they're out having a stroll. I feel rigid for some reason. "I sure hope no one from the school shows up." I mutter.

"Why?" Lilly asks as I look for a brand of cereal that sounds good to try.

"Well because they're gonna see us, and assume things, and they're gonna point and laugh, and I'm gonna yell 'hey she's blind you punks!' And they're gonna think I'm an asshole, then the dean of the school is gonna call me into his office tomorrow and ask why I'm yelling at his students and it's just not gonna be a good time."

Lilly giggles as I go on my small tirade, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that. Most students know not to ask questions about stuff like this." We get all our groceries, pay for them, and leave the store. Once we're outside I take a minute to put my bags into my large backpack. I take my backpack everywhere I can, and some places that I technically shouldn't, it has medical supplies, some food and water, and… self defense measures in it, with enough room to fit a lot of other stuff.

We begin our walk back through the town and up the hill, our pace a lot slower than earlier on account of the incline and the fact that it's dark outside now. Once we're maybe halfway up the hill, Lilly says, "Jacob, I want to ask, did I do something wrong, in the store? You seemed very tense."

I chuckle. I didn't think it was that obvious. "No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. I just… it's been awhile since someone touched me like that. It felt nice, honestly. I'm a pretty physical person, I express emotions through action. I'm not saying I was trying to control some urge or something, I just… enjoyed the feeling of someone relying on me, I guess."

Lilly is silent for a moment. "You seem like a very dependable person, I'm glad I mwAAH!"

Lilly yelps and falls as she trips and twists her ankle in a small pothole in the road. Her cane clacks and clatters onto the ground and the groceries in her hand go flying.

"Shit." I'm next to her immediately, crouched down and taking off my bag.

"Ah, ow, ow, ah, owie." She's breathing rapidly from the pain, holding her ankle that got twisted.

"Here, here, let me look at it, where's it hurt?" I pull out a flashlight and shine it on her foot. Her ankle doesn't look obviously broken, which is good. "I'm gonna take your shoe off." I tell her as I grab ahold of her dress shoe. She nods, but then cries out in pain and grabs my arm when I try to slide her shoe off.

"It's gonna hurt for a second, but I need to get it off." I tell her.

"O-okay, just give me a-AAAAH!" She yelps again and squeezes my arm as I almost yank the shoe off her foot.

Now that it's off I examine her leg, there's no significant swelling, but I've run into another problem: her stockings. The school has a fairly loose dress code since some students can't quite follow certain rules for one reason or another, so some girls wear black stockings with the green skirt and white button-up long sleeve shirt, and some wear white. Others wear knee-high or thigh high socks. Lilly wears white full-length stockings, it goes really well with her hair and outfit, and I do have to say it makes her legs and thighs look very nice. "Hey, uh, Lilly. I'm gonna need to get your stockings off. Is it alright to tear them?"

She sighs a little. "Y-yes. I have a few spares in my room."

"Alright." I prop her calf up on my knee and begin tearing just above her ankle, working on separating everything below her ankle so I can just peel it off like a sock. "Sorry about this… I'm gonna be honest, this is the last situation I thought I'd be tearing your stockings in." We both laugh, it is the best medicine after all. I get the stocking off, giving me a clearer view of her pale foot.

Don't worry, I don't have a foot fetish or anything weird like that.

Her ankle is a little red and starting to swell up a bit, I feel her foot a little, Lilly doesn't react too much, so I don't think it's broken, but I want to keep the swelling in check, so I rummage through my bag for an ice pack and bandage. "Ok, I'm gonna put this ice pack on, and we'll get you back to your room."

Lilly nods and I pop the ice pack, she hisses a bit when I place it on her foot, but she soon relaxes once her ankle starts going numb. "Jacob, why do you, nn, have medical supplies on you?" She asks as I wrap the bandage around the pack, keeping it in place.

"In case something bad happens, just like it did now." I say simply. "I have to be prepared for anything."

She giggles a bit. "There's a fine line between prepared and paranoid. You should have a chat with Kenji some time."

I smile, "Call me paranoid again, and I'll throw a hasty tourniquet on your leg."

"A hasty… What?"

"Tourniquet, it's a band that you wrap around a limb to cut off blood flow and stop bleeding. I'd have to put it…" I trace my finger up her leg and stop at her upper thigh, I can just barely hear her gasp. "Way up here, and tighten it." I squeeze the muscle on her surprisingly thick thigh, "A lot." I shine my light on her face for a second, she's blushing, mission accomplished.

"Does it hurt?" She asks, trying to compose herself and change the subject.

"Oh, it hurts like you wouldn't believe." I pack everything back into my bag and throw it over my shoulder. "Come on, let's get back to school before they close the gate." I help her up and support her, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and letting her use me as a crutch. We start making our way, very slowly, up the rest of the hill. Lilly is surprisingly light, she looks to be maybe 5' 6" and she feels like she weighs maybe 120 pounds, a good healthy weight.

Even though Lilly weighs considerably less than the soldiers I've had to carry before, she's relying solely on me to walk, and I'm also carrying maybe 75 pounds worth of stuff on my back, on top of the fact that we're going uphill at about a 30 degree angle. By the time we're approaching the gate, I'm almost drenched in sweat, and I'm panting from exertion. "I know, your sense of smell, is stronger than most. I hope, you don't mind my sweat. Heheh." I tell her. My shirt is sticking to my back.

"It's ok… I don't mind it, it doesn't actually, smell that bad. Is that weird?"

"Uh, yeah, very weird." We both chuckle. I probably shouldn't tell her that I was looking over course notes for tomorrow, and Hanako's class is gonna learn that body odor is determined by amino acids in the endocrine system, which helps bolster the immune system, as determined by their genetics, and if one particular person's natural body odor smells good to another person, then that means that those two people have different immune systems, and their offspring (if they have any) will have stronger immune systems as a result of each parent's genetics being passed down.

I chuckle again as I think about that. Lilly is a good looking woman, I wouldn't mind having a couple- what the fuck am I thinking? She's still a student. We make it back onto school grounds, and we stagger up the steps to the dorms, and luckily the guard that roams around the building isn't there at the moment, so we're able to sneak into the girls' building and through the halls to her room. She uses her keys to unlock her door and we enter. I flick the switch on, and look around her room, it's very bare bones, the same furniture as all the other rooms, with almost no pieces of decoration, which makes sense. I set my bag down by her bed and help her to sit on her bed. "And there you go, ma'am. We've returned safely. Keep the ice on for a bit longer, it's probably not gonna be cool for too much longer, you can just toss it when you're done. Tomorrow, if your foot still hurts real bad, or if it's still swollen, go to the nurse. I'll call you- do you have a phone?"

"Yes."

"Can I see it?" She goes into her bag and pulls out a flip phone, I go through it and enter my number into it, and put her number in my phone. "Ok, I'll call you tomorrow to check up-" I talk as I mess with the phones, and suddenly I feel Lilly's arms around me, her head resting on my shoulder. I don't know what to do, I just sit there, frozen, tensed up. It feels really nice. Her body is warm and soft. It's been a while since I've felt this.

"Thank you, Jacob… You seemed like you need a hug." She giggles. After a second she lets me go. "I think I'll be ok, if I have any issues I'll call the nursing staff and you tomorrow… Um, I have one last thing to ask of you. Can I touch your face?"

"Huh?" I'm taken aback a bit.

"I would like to have a better idea of what you look like."

"Oh, uh, sure."

Lilly positions herself, and I turn to face her. She raises one hand, and I guide it onto my chin and jaw. She feels my lower face, brushing her fingers across my beard and sideburns that I forgot to shave this morning. Her hand moves to my lips and moustache, then my nose and cheeks. She then moves up the left side of my face. I notice that when Lilly is focusing on something, she opens her eyes, staring at nothing, in contrast to how most people close their eyes when focusing on something other than sight.

Her fingers brush against my eyepatch and stop. She feels it a little more, confused. "What..?" She says softly. I smile, "Oh yeah, I never told you about that did I? I uh, lost that eye, a few months ago." Her confused look turns to concern, and she now has both hands on my face, feeling every inch of my cheeks, eyelids, temples, forehead. She runs her fingers through my hair and around my ears. I look into her eyes as she does this, they're beautiful, pale blue with grey pupils. I'm fascinated by them, I gaze into her eyes until she's done. I'm a sucker for girls with pretty eyes.

Lilly finally stops, putting her hands down. "Thank you, Jacob." She composes herself again.

I look at her for a moment, then finally take a deep breath. "Alright, if you have any problems, let me know. I set my number to speed dial 3." I get up.

What? You thought I was gonna kiss her or something, didn't you? Well, this ain't that kind of fanfiction.

I grab my bag and go to the door, I flick the lights off, and from the light of the hallway I can see Lilly still sitting on her bed. "Aren't you gonna lay down?" I ask her.

She smiles. "I would, but I'd rather not fall asleep in my uniform."

I'm confused. Then take it off… Oh, oh I get it, you need help changing don't you?" I chuckle.

Lilly covers her mouth as she giggles, trying to hide either her laughing or her blushing. "I think I'll manage by myself, thank you."

"Ok, have it your way, my offer still stands though. Have a good night, Lilly."

"You as well, Jacob." I close her door and make my way to my room in the other building. Luckily there's no security or anyone to question me as I exit the girls' dorm at… 2254. I flop onto my bed after dumping my bag on the floor and fall asleep.