Soundless Knight

Chapter 2

"These are the documents about that second year student, Matsuda-kun, Buchou." Akeno Himejima said as she put a stack of documents down to the table in front of Rias "I saw Tsubaki-san searched for these information's as well, maybe Kaichou is aiming for him too."

Akeno was a third-year, young woman with an incredible buxom figure with very long black hair and violet eyes. Her hair was tied in a long ponytail, reaching all the way down to her legs with two strands sticking out from the top and sloping backwards, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place.

Like most of the girls at Kuoh Academy, she was wearing the customary Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, along with black knee-high socks.

Akeno was not only the second most beautiful idols in the hearts of every student at Kuoh, males or females but she was also the [Queen] and best friend of Rias Gremory, a high class and pure-blood Devil.

"I will read it later, Akeno." Rias said without even took a glance at the document, her crystal clear blue-green eyes were looking at an opened book resting on her laps, her hands were moving around in various symbols and gestures.

"What are you reading, Buchou?" Akeno asked, moving slightly to the side and take a look at what Rias was reading "Is that Sign Language?"

"Yes." Rias nodded her head with a smile and made a Yes sign by balling her right hand into a fist and shook it up and down with her wrist.

"Issei Hyoudou-kun, isn't it?" Akeno sat down on the chair in front of Rias with a small smile on her face "That poor second year boy?"

"It is..." Rias nodded her head again "I bumped into him today. His eyes, they were full of sadness and seemed lost, somehow..." She said with a sad smile, remembering her first encounter with the deaf boy. Rias had never seen so much sadness from anyone like him before.

"I heard that he didn't have any close friends and always alone." Akeno said before glancing at the documents on the table with the slight disgust in her eyes "And the Pervert-Duo always tried to befriend Issei-kun to use him to get close to the girls." A poor little thing that needed protection and help, that was what everyone at school called Issei Hyoudou.

Sure, Issei wasn't the best looking guy at school as that tittle rightfully belonged to the handsome prince of Kuoh, Kiba Yuuto, Rias' [Pawn] but there was just something about Issei that made people wanted to help him, not just because of his deafness. Plus, the girls did say that he is very cute whenever he greeted them with the words on the board like that.

Too bad that he was too shy to acknowledge their attempt to be friend with him. Issei always separated himself from whatever the people around him was doing

"I want to help him too, Akeno." Rias looked at her [Queen] with a smile "I realized that...while everyone is trying to help and showing their kindness to him, no one actually cares enough to learn Sign Language, the best way to communicate with Issei. Maybe that was the reason he felt lost and different from others, because no one had never tried to talk to him like this and approached him this way before."

"I see..."

"I came to the human world to live as a normal girl," Rias said and returned her attention to the book "I chose to not live as Rias Gremory the heiress of Gremory Household but as Rias, a simple teenager girl whose has a normal life. I don't need my magic or power to save a poor soul from loneliness and sadness."

"That is very great of you for doing something like that Buchou." Akeno smiled and then her smile turned into a teasing one "By any chance, that you like him?" She teased with a playfull tone.

"Mou~, Akeno I am being very serious here." Rias pouted.

"Ara, relax, I'm just kidding you know." Akeno giggled while shaking her head "but still, how are you going to approach him? It isn't like someone has quite a reputation at school like you can walk to him and say 'hey, let's befriend because I know sign language too'. The poor boy would freak out; you know"

"I know; I will wait for another opportunity to come then." Rias smiled "For now, I will try to learn this." She pointed to the book.

"This sound fun I must say," Akeno nodded her head and looked at the pictures on the pages "can I learn it too?"

"Go ahead."

Line Break

Issei Hyoudou looked up a little when he a small piece of paper with words written on it was put onto his table just above his notebook and saw Aika Kiryuu, a classmate who by far the closest person that maybe Issei could call a friend at school. Not that they were very close or anything but Kiryuu had been the one who spent most of her times in class writing down everything the teachers said for Issei, something he was very grateful since not everything they explained were written on the board.

Issei also saw Motohama and Matsuda, the infamous Pervert-Duo standing behind her while talking with each other with lecherous smiles.

His eyes then moved down and read the paper Kiryuu was showing him.

"Those two idiots are thinking if you like to take a wild-guess about our class' new student."

Issei immediately reached his hand for his board and quickly wrote down the sentence.

"We have a new student?" Kiryuu nodded her head at that before taking out a small handbook, taking some seconds to write down her answer and tore the paper away and gave it to Issei.

"I heard it is a very cute girl." A small smile appeared on Issei's face, but his eyes still stayed at the same sad manner.

"That explained why those two are so giddy about it." He turned the board around and showed it to Kiryuu, who nodded again.

Class started soon after that from what Issei could see, the students were all excited and looking forward to this new student. Issei, however, was keeping his attention on the math exercises he was currently working on. It wasn't like one more classmate was going to change anything to his life.

He saw the headmaster said something and after that, the door of his classroom was opened. He immediately saw Matsuda and Motohama stood up from their seat and made a cheer of excitement. Kiryuu was right because it was a girl and also a very beautiful one.

She was an attractive young woman with violet eyes. She had long black hair down to her hips, a slender body with a large bust. Like the other girls, she was wearing the uniform for girls of Kuoh Academy.

The teacher explained and Kiryuu immediately wrote down the name of the girl on a small note before giving it to Issei.

Amano Yuuma

Heaven's Evening Daze. That was a very beautiful name.

The girl then smiled cutely and waved her hand to the class, making the boys cheered out excitedly while the girls scowled at them. The teacher then pointed his hand to Issei's direction and he couldn't help but turn to the side and see an empty seat beside him.

Yuuma looked at the seat before nodding her head at the teacher, walking toward it but not before glancing at Matsuda. Issei raised an eyebrow at this, he didn't know if anyone noticed it but for some reason he could feel that the glance wasn't very friendly. Sure Matsuda was one of females' most dangerous enemies but Yuuma was a new student, she wouldn't know about him unless his reputation had gone outside of Kuoh Academy.

Yuuma then sat down the seat next to him before turning her head to look at Issei. A smile then appeared on her face as she brought out her hands and said something. Issei only took her hand and shook it but he couldn't reply to what she was saying.

"Um...can I know your name?" Amano Yuuma repeated for the third time but all the brown haired boy did was shaking it, though he was a little hesitating at first.

"He is deaf, you see." Kiryuu said with shrug, making Yuuma gasped.

"Oh, I'm so sorry...I didn't know" Amano said with an apologetic smile. She then took out her notebook from her bag and wrote down a few words. "I'm Amano Yuuma, what is your name?" she turned it around and showed it to Issei.

"Let me warn you though, he is very shy." Kiryuu added.

"I-is that so..." Yuuma nodded her head while smiling sadly.

"Hyoudou Issei." Issei introduced himself with the board, though he didn't say anything more.

"Nice to meet you, Ise-kun :D." she ended it with a smiling face as well as with her own cute smile, something that managed to force out a forced, yet small smile on his face "Let's be friends." His eyes widened like dinner plates after seeing that sentence. It wasn't the first time someone showed him those words but that was the first time they didn't go with bad intentions behind it, as the Pervert Duo were usually the one. "Can we?" he could tell it from Yuuma's smile, that she really meant it.

Issei quickly grabbed the pen and wrote down the words onto his board.

"YeS! Let's be friend!" Issei turned it around and showed it to Yuuma. He gulped slightly before opening his lips and said "F...friend..." Kiryuu and those who were sitting around him gasped in shock. Issei didn't know if he spelled the word correct or not, it had been a long time since the last time he talked and without the sense of hearing it was really hard to know what he was saying.

"D-did he just...talk?" Motohama asked in shock, with his glasses falling from his eyes.

Issei then made a sign with his index fingers linking together and brought his right hand forward. The black haired girl looked at it for a moment before doing what Issei just did, linking her index finger with his.

"Friend :)" she brought her notebook up with a large smile.

Line Break

The next few days were the happiest times of Issei's life. Yuuma was his first real friend after that accident and she proved herself to be not only the best kind of friend anyone could wish for, but the best friend a deaf boy could ask for. Yuuma made his quiet life a lot livelier than before with her cheerful and sweet nature, being able to bring out the brightest smile from him. Kiryuu was no longer the only person in his class that helped him with schoolwork, as that job was taken by Yuuma.

She effortlessly wrote down everything about the teachers' lectures for Issei and informed him everything the teacher said during class. Yuuma also helped him with class' duties like cleaning the blackboard and classroom, as well as reorganizing the tables and chairs after school ended. Also during lunch break, she was also the one who was there eating lunch with Issei and kept the lonely boy occupied, just like what she did every moment of the schooldays.

Those who knew Issei well, especially his parent couldn't help but notice some change from the deaf boy, as he smiled a lot more than before and the sadness could no longer be seen on his face.

"Okay then, how can I say Angel?" Yuuma showed him the board with a sweet smile.

A week had passed since the two became friends with each other and. It was yet another break time and Issei was teaching his best friend sign language. Yuuma learned them very fast and already got the basic, a few more lessons and she could freely communicate with him.

However, before he could show her the sign, Matsuda came forward with a forced brave smile and said something to the black haired girl that made the whole classroom stopped whatever they were doing and looked at them with wide eyes.

He then said something to Yuuma that made her nodded her head, making the whole classroom cried out in absolute shock and Matsuda in utter joy. Out of curiosity, Issei turned to Kiryuu and pulled on her sleeve.

"What is going on?" he asked.

Kiryuu turned to look at him for a second before grabbing her notebook.

"Matsuda just confessed his feeling for Yuuma." Kiryuu showed it to Issei and the next statement made his heart missed a beat "And she agreed to be his girlfriend."

Yuuma then sat down to her seat again with a bright smile, but it instantly disappeared when she saw the look on Issei's face.

"Ise, what's wrong?" She asked with signs.

"Nothing...nothing..." The deaf boy shook his head and forced out a smile, but it didn't take a genius to realize it wasn't a real one. Yuuma then moved her head to look at him in the eyes, but he immediately attempted to look away, letting Yuuma know what happened to him.

"Hey hey, look at me..." Yuuma did the signs before putting her hand on Issei's cheeks and whispered "I don't love him, Ise-kun. I don't care if you're human or not, you're my best friend and nothing is going to change that." She then made a small smile.

Issei then turned his board around with his index finger brought out.

"Still friend?" he asked

"Still friend." Yuuma nodded her head and answered him by linking their index fingers together.

Though, for some reason he couldn't help but smile sadly at that.

End of Chapter 2