IX

Soma

"What do you mean she just passed out?!" Kota screamed at me, obviously panicked.

"Exactly what it sounds like." I spat out.

"That's weird." Sakuya frowned. "Usually a person who falls unconscious because of a concussion will do that right after they get hit. She just seemed dizzy. Was she acting weird, Soma?"

I didn't know how to answer that.

If I told her that Song had said "tired", she would think I was lying. A mute doesn't speak. And Song surely was a mute. But I was sure that I'd heard her.

"Soma?" Sakuya obviously caught on to my silence. "What happened? It's really important that you tell me."

I looked to where Song was unconscious, slumped against the second raised platform that acted like a backrest.

"She said that she was tired." I finally told her.

Sakuya looked at me. "I don't remember her teaching you that sign."

"She actually spoke it. Out loud."

Kota burst out laughing at this. "Song's mute! Are you telling me you she spoke to you?!"

I glared at him. "I heard her."

Kota just kept laughing, but Sakuya looked pensive. "You are absolutely sure of this?"

"Yes." I growled.

"All right." Sakuya actually looked relieved. "Then it isn't as serious as I thought. She just went to sleep."

To sleep? I wondered, staring at Song. Not that I thought about it, she hadn't exactly passed out. She had leaned back and closed her eyes. I guess that just because I knew that people could fall unconscious because of concussions, I'd just assumed that had been what happened.

"Wait, so you think she actually spoke?" Kota asked, looking incredulously at Sakuya. "But…"

"She might not be physically unable to speak." Sakuya said, a small frown on her face. "Some people go mute because of a traumatic event in their lives. It's actually pretty common, nowadays."

I glanced at Song. She had faced a Kongou on her own. It was hard to imagine something terrible enough to make her go mute.

"We can wake her up." Sakuya said, walking over to Song so she was standing in front of her.

Sakuya lightly slapped Song's face, probably deciding that shaking her shoulder could hurt her head. Song opened her eyes tiredly, groaning as she sat up, rubbing at her eyes.

Song was suddenly very awake, sitting forward quickly.

"Careful!" Sakuya admonished, grabbing Song's shoulders to prevent her from falling forward.

Song smiled sheepishly. The sudden outburst had done nothing to stop her tiredness. She looked like she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

Sakuya knelt in front of Song, gently saying, "What's your name?"

Song looked at her in confusion before extending her left arm, her right hand waving over it like a conductor's baton.

"Good, good." Sakuya said, so I assumed that that was the sign for song. "Where are you?"

Once again Song signed an answer, which seemed to satisfy Sakuya, although Song just looked confused. I was slightly disappointed that Song hadn't spoken. Kota seemed to be shooting me a distrustful look.

"Hey, rookie." I said, interrupting Sakuya's question. Song had already answered a couple of them correctly, so she must be fine. "Do you remember talking to me?"

Song stared at me, as if processing what I'd said. Then her face went red. But her reaction was…strange. Instead of seeming surprised, or even happy, she looked horrified.

She clasped her head between her hands, shaking it. She was panting like before, except she hadn't done anything physically strenuous.

But the worst part was that she looked at me, horror and regret in her eyes. What was the big deal about talking to me, anyway?

"Song, are you okay?" Sakuya asked, looking at her worriedly.

Song looked up, obviously shaken. But she forced a smile, nodding slightly.

Sakuya obviously didn't believe her, but she let it go.

I was still mulling over Song's reaction. What was so terrifying about her speaking? I just didn't understand.

"Well, we should get back to base." Sakuya said, looking at Song from the corner of her eye. "Song, can you stand?"

Song nodded, getting to her feet. Obviously her panic had somewhat invigorated her, because she didn't so much as sway.

"All right, let's go!" Kota said cheerfully, despite the gloomy atmosphere.

x

"So basically she had a freak out." Lindow said.

Sakuya nodded.

"And you think it was caused by her speaking?"

Sakuya nodded again.

Lindow let out a big sigh, sinking farther into the couch. "You're sure of this, Soma?"

"Yes." I answered for the umpteenth time. Somehow it was always me that was put in doubt, even though Song's reaction to hearing that she'd spoken was obvious proof that I was telling the truth.

"Well, there's probably a story behind that." Lindow murmured. "Everyone seems to have a terrible past nowadays."

"So she's a mute because she's afraid of her voice." Sakuya mused.

"Or afraid of what her voice does." I added.

Sakuya looked at me in shock, realisation dawning in her eyes. Then she turned to Lindow. "Do you know anything about her past? Anything at all?"

"Nope." Lindow simply replied.

Sakuya looked troubled. "I have a theory, but I need to know about her past."

"Why?" Lindow asked, obviously curious.

"She's obviously not physically mute, but she went mute for a reason…"

"So you think it has something to do with her past."

"Exactly!" Sakuya exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "But I need to figure out what."

X

Song

The weird looks everyone was giving me was making my nervous.

I tried eating my peas and pretending that I didn't notice, but it was difficult. The only one who wasn't staring at me was Soma.

Soma.

I gritted my teeth. No, maybe it wouldn't happen this time. Maybe that was just a fluke. No, that was wrong. There was no way it was a fluke.

"Something bothering you?" Lindow asked.

I mentally cursed. Everyone was on too high alert for my tension to go unnoticed. I shook my head, adding a look of 'why would you think that?' for good measure.

"Oh, all right then." Lindow said in that easy-going manner of his.

Awkward silence descended again.

I chased a particularly agile pea across my plate. Every time it narrowly avoided death by fork. Every. Single. Time.

I felt a hand close over mine. I looked up, realizing that Sakuya was the one stopping me from stabbing any longer.

"Geez, I didn't think the plates deserve such abuse." Lindow said with a laugh.

I felt my face go red as I let go of the fork, sinking farther into my chair. If there had been any doubt that there was something wrong with me, it was completely decimated now.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Sakuya said, gently placing the fork onto my plate. "But you have to understand that we're worried about you."

The talks always started that way. We're worried. Let us help you.

But they couldn't possibly understand. I'd told the first couple about what happened, about what forced me to go mute. But no one could wrap their head around it. No one understood why. They always gave me the same look, the same look of disbelief.

"Let us help you." Sakuya said sweetly.

That was when I got up and ran.