"Oh!" I force a sound out of my mouth just to kill the awkward silence. "I'm sorry... I... hope I didn't startle you."

"It's... ok."

She clams up instantly after this terse riposte.

...

When you're meeting someone new, silence seems to have a visceral texture.

"So..." I try again.

Her gaze isn't oppressive at all, it's actually the opposite: I kind of feel like I'm giving her the silent treatment even though she's the one staying quiet.

"Is it ok if I sit here?" I ask, indicating the beanbag chair at her side.

She freezes dead for several seconds... and then finally, almost imperceptibly, issues a small nod.

I settle myself down next to her.

As I sit down, she never lifts her gaze from me once - or even blinks.

Did I seriously scare her?

I know I wasn't the smoothest just now, but I wouldn't say I was outright creepy.

"So... Sorry for scaring you again. Um... I'm Hisao, hi."

"I... k-k-know. We're i-in t-the same, tt-t-th-he same, s-s-same c-class."

With quiet, stilted words, the clearly nervous girl haphazardly tumbles over her own speech in response.

"Hanako. My name... it's Hanako."

"Oh." I muse just to have something to say."That's a nice name. What characters is it written with?"

"..."

[INSERT CULTURAL TRANSLATION PLACEHOLDER]

She volunteers nothing else.

A one-sided inquiry like this is an interrogation - not a conversation, and really I'm not such a mean-spirited person as to enjoy that sort of thing.

Deciding that I'm only going to be bothering her, I shrug and gesture to the bookshelves adjacent to us. "Don't mind me. I'll just... check these out."

She nods, visibly relaxing as I retreat back a few steps.

I retreat a little bit, but stay within visual range, a bit intrigued by this strange girl.

Looking her over, I feel like such an idiot, being as perplexed as I am with her scars.

Everyone in Yamaku is defective in some way; it's kind of the reason we're here.

Yet - her level of physical disfigurement strikes me moreso than anyone I've met thus far.

I'm not entirely sure why.

It might be the contrast.

Hanako... Between her alabaster skin and ebony hair she'd probably be very pretty if she didn't look as though she'd taken a grenade to the face.

As for her figure...

?

Although it seemed relaxed to me at first, I now find her posture to be extremely rigid.

Suddenly a slight flicker of color resulting from Hanako's eyes jumping directly from her book to me reveals why.

It's my presence.

She was only pretending to immerse herself in 'the Porcelain Knight'.

As our gazes meet, she practically leaps up from her beanbag chair, taking a deep breath.

"I... I..."

"'I'...?" I echo her.

"IVEGOTTOGODOSOMETHING!"

She suddenly bolts off to the side with the alarmed rapidity of a frightened rabbit.

"H-Hey! Wait!" I call after her, starting to follow after her and hoping I haven't committed some kind of terrible faux-pas.

Pushing myself, I accelerate to a dash as well-

?!

And slip.

As I try to make a sharp turn in pursuit of her, my ankle slips off to the side and my top half careens along with my centrifuge directly into a bookshelf.

BANG.

A sharp wave of needle-like pain bursts out from the side of my head as I slam downwards.

Unceremoniously, I smack into the floor tangled up in my own limbs, the world now glossed over in a haze.

"FFFFFFUCK~!" I whimper out despite my best efforts to stay silent.

Pain has a way of breaking down inhibitions.

"Hisao?!" I pick up two female voices in unison.

Lilly and Yuuko?

I ignore them; My attention is elsewhere.

The pain itself is only a secondary distraction.

Every ounce of my awareness is firmly locked onto my heartbeat.

My heart.

My chest... Did I hit it?

Lu-lu-lud-dub-ludub. Lu-lu-lud-dub-ludub.

With my condition, the rhythm itself means basically nothing, but I pay close attention to the timing.

...

It's normal.

"Ow..."

Relief and pain flood into me as one.

I only hit my head.

Hard.

? I detect a soft force on my arm.

"Hisao?! Are you alright?" A shaky voice asks.

Lilly?

My eyes refocus on her genuinely worried visage.

I'm almost touched that she can show earnest concern for someone she just met earlier today.

"Ah... Ahaha..." I turn to her, flashing a reassuring smile without immediately realizing the futility of such an action.

It comes out as a much broader smile than I intended, more like a maniacal grimace.

In spite of myself, I start laughing.

I'm relieved...

I'm actually relieved that I 'only' smacked my head on the edge of a bookshelf.

"Hahaha!"

Am I really so close to death that 'this' is a relief?

"AHAHAHAHAHA~!"

Lilly's eyes widen in surprise while the redhead who can actually see me shrinks back from such an aberrant sight.

I pull myself free of Lilly's thankfully light grasp and lever myself up against the bookshelf.

"Hisao?! Do you need the Nurse?"

"Aha! Ha? Oh... nah... I'm fine, Lilly... Just need some air..."

Fighting down tearful giggles, I lumber off, piecing together what just happened through waves of inappropriate hysteria.

I was chasing after Hanako... No, just 'starting' to chase her.

And when I tried to make a sharp turn - my ankle gave way.

I can still stand, so I didn't twist it or anything... It just literally gave out.

Maybe it was because my muscles atrophied in the hospital.

Maybe I was uncoordinated due to lack of sleep..

Or perhaps it was just because my messed-up heart couldn't give me enough oxygen on short notice and I got dizzy.

Whatever the reason, I just got hurt because my body was weak.

No... Worse than that.

Not only did I just almost brain myself, but I also scared Hanako and probably freaked the fuck out of Lilly.

...

I feel horrible in every possible way.

Biting my lip, I head off to my dorm and lock myself in without turning on the lights.

Taking a seat against the wall, I yank a sheet off my bed and wrap myself in it.

Alone in the dark, hating myself for my own fragility, I spend a good length of time sobbing into my knees.