Petal 3: You stand tall for someone so small

"Ok, the sports fields are down this way then…" I say to myself as I walk along a small, neatly kept path. I guess I'm interested in what the sports clubs are like here. I'm especially interested in the basketball club, I wonder what kind of people are part of it… maybe there's someone like me?

I reach a large gymnasium and I hear noises from inside and the rhythmic thump, thump of a basketball being dribbled around. There are people calling to their team mates. I can hear the occasional "Mark him up!" and "Get the rebound!" This brings back pleasant memories. It's still semester break so this must be just a recreational match.

(Let's go take a look)

I open the door to the gymnasium and I'm greeted with a sight that almost brings a tear to my eye. It's not a usual basketball match. All the players are in wheelchairs, zipping around the court with great finesse and dexterity. Their tactics look a little foreign to me but that's because I'm used to playing in a normal match.

Their layups and rebounds are almost perfect and their… well… wheel-work is something to behold. I could watch this all day and not get bored. A girl that looks like she's in her second year roles up to me with a cheery and inviting smile on her face. Her hair is long and black tied up into a pony tail. She's also wearing the school sports uniform consisting of the usual polo-shirt and red sports bloomers. Other than the fact that one of her legs is missing, she's just a normal girl.

"You look like you know your basketball, you have the look ok an avid player" she says. I never thought of myself as an avid player but I do love the sport and I actually hoped to, one day, join the NBA… that's never going to happen now though.

"Yeah, I used to play in my old school" I reply to her. Her smile grows but then she sees the sling and makes a face as if to say ah… let's not take that further. She nods enthusiastically, her smile returning.

"I can always smell a good player from a mile away. What position did you play?" This girl is a fellow basketball fan, I guess I'll answer. I actually enjoy chats about basketball.

"I'm usually the Shooting Guard or a Power Forward" this makes her beam with delight.

"Ah, a fellow Shooting Guard! It's nice to meet another player of the same position" She seems friendly enough. I wonder what the story behind her leg is… best not ask though, she might take it the wrong way.

"Are you a regular?" I ask her in interest. For a fraction of a second I glimpse a sorrowful look in her eye but she returns to her bubbly smile before I can confirm it for sure. I guess there's a story behind that

"No, not anymore, I'm more of a coach and talent scout at the minute. The name's Kimura Kaori. Just call me Kaori. What's your name?" I hope she isn't scouting me. She sticks out her hand for me to shake and I take it in kind

"Okazaki Tomoya, I guess you could call me Tomoya." I reply. I'm not really comfortable being called my first name by someone I've only just met. I guess it's fine though. I'll probably rarely see her anyway.

"Do you want to stick around and watch? Onlookers are always welcome to our recreational matches" I'd like to stay and watch but I think it'd be best if I look around the school some more. I want to check out the other sports clubs too.

I shake my head trying to not look like I really want to stay "sorry, I'm new here and I'm taking a walk around the school to get my bearings before the next semester starts" she looks disheartened and her shoulders slump.

"Well… ok. I guess I can't stop you. Feel free to stop by at any time. Our club meetings are every Monday." She's persistent. I think she wants me to join, but how can I? With this shoulder, being a Shooting Guard is pointless if I can't shoot properly.

I give a bow "I'll think about it, I might just come down and watch every now and then" I say to her and that seems to have satisfied her. A player yells out to Kaori and she excuses herself from my presence. I guess I'll leave now. Looks like I might have made a binding contract with that little promise…

*Scene Break*

I need a break from all this walking around. So far I've checked out most of the sports clubs but only a handful of them were in session. I find a vending machine and get a soda. Hmm… is there any good places to sit for a break.

In the distance I spot a set of bleachers facing a running track. I guess that's a good of a place as any. With that decided I head over there for a nice rest.

As I get closer I notice someone is running around the track. It's a girl with light brown hair and made up into twin tails. The feature that catches my eye, though, is the fact both of her legs from below the knee are shaped a little like question marks. Running blades I take it.

I'm no expert in running but I can tell her form is good… in fact it almost looks professional. I climb up onto the bleachers and I'm caught off guard by the appearance of another girl. This time her hair is a dark auburn red cut short into an unkempt bob-cut with bushy bangs. She's wearing a boy's uniform too… oh. I realize that both sleeves are tied into knots just above the elbow. That must seriously suck. I thought I was unlucky. These two have it way worse than me.

The red head hasn't noticed my presence yet… in fact, she isn't even looking at the track either. She's looking directly upwards towards the sky. Is she spacing out? It's none of my business though. I take a seat on the bleachers and, with great effort and using only one hand, open the soda can with a loud hiss. This seems to have caught her attention as she is now looking at me… or maybe she's looking through me, I can't really tell.

"Good afternoon" I greet her. She doesn't say anything for a moment. Is she analysing me? Her unfocused eyes seem to be drawn to my right side. I frown a little, even if you're surrounded by people in similar situations… I guess you can't help but stare or at least glance at their obvious fault.

"Oh… It's now the afternoon… I missed lunch" she says with an aloof tone to her voice. She must have spaced out for quite a long time if she missed her lunch. Then again, I haven't had lunch either. I don't know if the school cafeteria is open during the semester break. I'm pretty sure it will be.

(Actually… I don't even know where the cafeteria is!)

"Well that's stupid. Lunch is pretty important" I lecture her. This is a peculiar site, a blue haired guy with a sling around his right arm giving a lecture to a red head with no arms at all. "What were you looking at anyway?" I ask curiously. This girl strikes me as a little bit… different. Like she's aloof and not with you, maybe that's just the way she works.

"A lot of things and also nothing in particular. We all look at things without really looking at them. It depends on whether you want to look at whatever you're looking at…" what is this girl talking about? That is a deep thought, is this girl a philosopher?

"So… you were spacing out then" I say to put it into laymen's terms. She shrugs to this and turns her head towards the right of me where I here slightly heavy breathing coming up behind me. It's the girl that was running around the track.

"Making new friends, Rin?" she asks the red head. The one called Rin nods once with her eyes closed. That looks almost sage-like… I guess she is a philosopher after all. The twin-tailed girl looks up and down at me. "I haven't seen you around before, are you new to the school?" she asks with a questioning manner. One thing is for certain; this school has a few unique characters in it. If this was one of those Sim-date RPG's I wouldn't be surprised if these two were love interest possibilities.

"Yeah, I just arrived earlier today. I'll be continuing my first year here" I reply to her. She smiles at this. She bounces up and down on her running blades and giggles.

"You're a freshmen, just like us!" she exclaims in a defiant tone. She then salutes me for some reason. "Emi Ibarazaki, pleasure to meet you!" she excitedly introduces herself. I'd best return the favour…

"Tomoya Okazaki, pleasure to meet you to" I hold out my left hand for her to shake and she does so with a firm grip. The girl referred to as Rin comes up to the side of Emi and nods at me.

"Rin Tezuka…" she plainly says in that aloof tone of hers. I nod back and return the favour. These two must be best friends, I'm not making that assumption based on the fact that one has no arms and the other has no legs. They just seem close to me. I wouldn't put it passed Emi to think about combining. I smirk at that thought. Thankfully it goes unnoticed by the both of them.

"Do you have an interest in running, by any chance?" Emi suddenly asks. Personally, I don't have a single ounce of interest for the sport but I guess if I told that to Emi straight out, she would most likely be very disheartened. I settle for a left shoulder shrug.

"Not especially, I don't have a passion for it but I guess it's fun to watch other people" I take a sip from my can and look at Rin for a second… oh she's spacing out again. Emi seems to be satisfied with my answer at least.

"It's not the most popular of sports, I'll admit that, but it's the feeling you get when you're out there on the track. You feel a sense of accomplishment" I've heard of that, I think it is called runner's high. I think it has something to do with the body creating its own narcotics and pumping them into the blood stream.

"Yeah, that's similar to what you get when you're playing basketball" that is true. I sometimes did get the feeling like I was invincible and could accomplish anything. I take another sip of my drink.

"Better than sex right?" I empty the contents of my mouth in a spray of carbonated stickiness towards my right side and I splutter and cough. That was a bold statement that almost killed me. Emi laughs and a small, wry smile creeps onto the face of Rin. Hang on… how does she know what sex is like?

(Scratch that… I don't want to know)

"What the hell was that!?" I yell at her but she only giggles at me further. Damn it… my Tsukkomi failed me…

"That Tsukkomi took way too long. You need to improve before you can stand against me!" she puts her hand to her mouth and gives a fake cackle. Come on Tomoya, you're better than this! This girl really stands tall for someone so small.

(Great, now I'm a poet in my spare time…)

"Anyway, I better get going if I want to find my way around the school before the semester starts" I regain my composure and bow to the both of them. Emi seems a little disheartened at my announcement but she bows back. Rin simply nods her head in that sage-like manner again.

"Ok, maybe I'll see you around somewhere?" Emi says that in more of a questioning tone and I nod my head.

"Maybe, we might even end up in the same class" I really hope I didn't just jinx myself. I'll just have to find out when I go to the reception tomorrow. Best get that over and done with as soon as possible, I'll go in the morning some time. I get down from the bleachers and start to head back towards where the main building is. It's only 2:15, maybe the cafeteria is still open. I really doubt it though.

*Scene Break*

Tonight I can't seem to get a decent sleep. I'm tossing and turning in my bed and it's really frustrating. I was so tired this morning but now I can't seem to get to sleep at all. My shoulder isn't helping either. Because my injury is on my back I have to constantly lie on my left side but it doesn't stop it from hurting. Maybe I can't sleep because I'm not used to sleeping in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room… but it's largely because of my shoulder.

I've had enough. I take a Paracetamol and let it work its way through my system. Good, it's working. I rest my head on my pillow once more and eventually I fall into some kind of sleep.

*Scene Break*

I'm standing in darkness. My shoulder is uninjured and in my hands I'm clutching a basketball. I'm also wearing my sportswear. I look around me, what the hell is going on?

"Okazaki! Get us that win! We got 5 seconds left on the clock!" I hear a voice shout out. Of course! I'm playing in a pretty important match and I'm the Shooting Guard. I start dribbling the ball forwards. The darkness around me begins to lift and I see faceless figures of the opponent team closing in on me.

(The basket is just in sight! I have to reach it or we've lost the match!)

I dodge around the faceless players and head straight for the basket. I'm almost there! 3 seconds left on the clock. I can make it, I just need to shoot! Then I feel something stab into my back… it's a shard of glass. I fall over and lose possession of the ball. The clock buzzes signalling the end of the match… we lost. A crowd that I can't see boo's me violently as I clutch my shoulder.

In the distance I see the one person I never want to see again, my dad. Anger flows through me and I get to my feet. Before I know it I'm not in the darkness any more… I'm in a cage and my dad and the doctor from the hospital are standing on the outside of it.

"He'll never amount to anything again" the doctor says. He gives me a solemn look. "He'll just be a useless walking piece of meat"

"That's not true!" I scream but the doctor ignores me, or maybe he can't hear me. "I'm not useless! I can still be my own person!" I bang on the bars of the cage but both my dad and the doctor aren't phased by it. What's happening?

"Useless…" the doctor repeats that word and it echoes around me. No… I can't let this get to me. I'm not useless. No one is useless. The girl from the track, Emi, she's a double amputee and she can still run like she's a pro!

I'm hurtled into darkness once more. Now I'm in my old room with my dad. He's looking at me with that infuriating neutral smile of his. He has his hands behind his back and is slowly edging his way towards me. No, stay away! I don't want to be here! Leave me alone, you're the one who disabled me!

Slowly, dad brings his right arm around and in his hand is… a knife!? What is he planning to do with a… NO DAD!

*Scene Break*

I shoot up into a sitting position. My heart is beating and I've come over in a cold sweat. That was one weird nightmare. I look at my watch that is lying on the bed side table. It's 8:00 in the morning. I groan loudly, it's too early to get up on a weekend but I highly doubt I'll be able to get to sleep again. Am I developing some kind of daddy issue?

(No! don't think like that Tomoya! Anyone would hate their dad if he did that to them)

Luckily, I found the cafeteria pretty easily yesterday. It's just past the main building lobby and down a corridor. Unluckily, it wasn't open when I went yesterday. Not surprising though. I think I'll go for some breakfast. First, though, is the monumental task of trying to clean myself… guess I'll have to make do with just a hair wash for today.

After I finish getting ready I head down to the cafeteria. It's open and ready to serve students who stayed during the break. I take a look around the big typical room and absorb the morning atmosphere. Everyone is unfamiliar to me but that's a given. I've never been to this school in my life. The range of faults here is pretty impressive. People with limbs missing, people hobbling around on canes, people using canes as a method of navigation and there are a few people with severe deformities. There are people here without obvious faults but I'm not the one for guess the disability.

I enter the queue and as I'm waiting I take a look at the menu. Wow, that's pretty extensive. It has to be though, I'm sure there are many students with specific dietary needs. I'll pick something that looks relatively normal but high in energy. I settle for Tonkatsu bread and a bowl of Miso soup. It's not exactly a complementary combination but it'll serve its purpose of filling me up.

After getting my meal and paying for it. I search for an empty table… great there isn't any. The emptiest one I find has only one occupant. A girl with short dark blue hair and glasses perched on her nose. She has her head buried in piles of papers. She must be doing some last minute homework or something.

(I hope she doesn't mind if I sit down)

"Excuse me… do you mind if I sit here?" I ask her. She doesn't respond at all. Is she ignoring me? "Do you mind if I sit down?" I repeat. Still no response… oh right. I think she might be deaf. Upon realising that I guess I'll try make my presence known through physical contact.

I tap her lightly on the shoulder and her head shoots up in surprise. Whoa! She almost hit me! She stares at me and I point towards the opposite side of the table and then down at my food and make a gesture like I'm eating. This would look pretty strange if you were an onlooker. The girl takes a second to register my attempt at communication. She then nods once and goes straight back to whatever she was doing. I'll take that as a go for it.

I sit down and begin munching on my Tonkatsu and every now and then I glance up at the girl. That looks like a lot of homework to be doing this late. Does she stockpile it and then do it in bulk? I try to look at one of the sheets of paper that lies on top of the pile. Oh, it's not homework… it's paper work? She must be class representative or on the student council… or maybe both.

There sure seems to be a lot of people still here over the break. Probably because of the care they receive here.

*Scene Break*

After visiting the receptionist I'm one again escorted to my destination. This time the nurse is a blonde female in her twenties. She's a little quick paced for my liking but she'll probably have other stuff to do. We enter the medical building and walk along some corridors before stopping at a door. The name plate reads Head Nurse's Office the name of the Nurse is scratched and unreadable though. Someone doesn't want people to know this person's name.

"Here you are, knock first. He might have someone else already in there" The nurse that escorted me says and quickly strides away. I knock on the door and wait a few seconds.

"Come in" I hear a gentle but jovial voice call out. I open the door and I'm taken slightly aback by the purple-blue hair of the nurse. He looks fairly young and not a single bit of facial hair can be seen. "Ah, Tomoya, you're quite early aren't you? I was expecting that you would come during late afternoon!" He says in a cheery and jovial voice.

"I couldn't sleep last night. So I ended up being awake really early." I reply to him. A big grin races over his face and he puts his hands in his pockets.

"Don't worry about that, it usually happens when you're suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar environment" he gestures towards the examining bed. I sit on it and he approaches me. "Alright, let's get that shirt off" he says that with the mischievous grin. He gently takes off my sling and my right arm instantly flops to the side… should that have happened? I try to move my arm but for some reason it won't obey me.

Nurse seems to have caught on and his grin has well and truly disappeared from his face and is replaced by a serious look that puts me on edge. He quickly unbuttons my blazer and shirt and takes them off. I didn't use the tie because it's too much trouble putting it on with one hand. The bandages are the only thing that's left on my upper torso. I'm getting worried now. What's wrong? Why can't I even move my arm?

Steadily and slowly, he removes my bandages one by one to examine the wound that the glass shard made. It has mostly healed by now and the stitches are almost ready to be removed. He puts on some latex gloves and puts pressure on the skin around the wound. He then lifts up my arm slightly. "Try to hold it in position" I try to stiffen my arm so it won't drop again but when he let goes… it's no use, my arm flops again.

"What's happened? Why can't I move it?" I ask starting to panic. Nurse catches onto my accelerated breathing and he puts a hand on my left shoulder. He tries to put on a reassuring smile but he's failing… badly.

"It was a glass shard that got you… correct?" I nod. "How big approximately?" I think back to the incident. It was fairly large and was very jagged.

"I think it was maybe ten inches long. It was pretty jagged as well, it came from a smashed window" Nurse only knows what I told the doctor at hospital. I tripped over backwards in my room and put myself through the window. Not a very plausible story and I'm not even sure why I covered for dad… I guess I didn't want to go through the hassle of court. "It did go in with some force" I add and he nods

"I think some of the tendons and part of the muscle has been completely torn. That arm is more or less useless now… I'm dreadfully sorry to break that to you" oh god… my arm… is useless?

"You… mean I'll never be able to move it again!?" My voice is raised and my breathing drastically increases. It's worse than the doctor at the hospital first thought. He said I'll only be unable to raise my arm above shoulder level…

"Well, I wouldn't say you'll never move it again… but you'll never have full use over it." Why am I only finding out about this now? Shouldn't the x-rays from the hospital pick this kind of thing up? Maybe it did show up and they just didn't tell me… no, Nurse would have known about it and wouldn't be acting as serious as he is. This is incompetence…

"That's not very reassuring" I say plainly. I think I'm so shocked at the minute I can't even show emotion. "So how can I adapt to life with only useable arm?" got to think practically I can't let this get me down. There are students here that are far worse off than me. Think about Rin, she doesn't even have one useable arm and she seems to be fine… on the outside anyway.

"Well, just get used to doing things with only one arm I suppose. We can set up physiotherapy for you if you want" I shake my head. This is for me and me alone to overcome. I've always preferred to solve a problem on my own anyway.

"I'll prefer to do it on my own. But I think I might need help with writing though…" I'm not a lefty… not by a long shot and I don't see myself as ever learning to be one.

"Not a problem! I can set you up with a work laptop if you want. They don't access the internet but they have everything you need to complete schoolwork. Do you think that's ok?" He asks. I've not really used computers that much before. I know all the basics but I'm no computer-wiz.

"That's fine, it gets rid of that problem at least" it makes me wonder; how does Rin do her schoolwork? I guess she would have to use her feet or something… no that's ridiculous! I might as well ask though. "Nurse, there's a student here by the name of Rin Tezuka, do you know her?" Nurse nods. I think he can tell what my train of thought is.

"She uses her feet or her mouth. She's quite the artist too"

(I was right!?)

"She's an artist?" That confuses me as well. I don't want to sound rude but isn't it a little hard to be an artist with no arms?

"Yeah, and a bloody good one too! I'm no expert when it comes to art but I can tell that one will go far!" Nurse has returned to his jovial tone of voice. He must think that my storm has passed. I suppose it kind of has. I just have to grit and bare the thought of only having one useable arm.

A/N

Hello again. As always, let me know if I've gotten anything wrong or if anyone is a bit OOC. Kaori is just a one time appearence character but if you like her, I may keep her in the story as a regular appearence. Again, if you have any serious sugestions then let me know. Thank's for reading!