Visibility
By: Aviantei
Chapter 09: Culinary
Youta didn't come back to school, and from the way Airi talked, he didn't come back home, either. Tetsuya was still walking Airi back and forth to school, taking her brother's seat in the classroom. It was getting to the point that the rest of the class was on the verge of erupting with questions, and Tetsuya made sure to take Airi places where they could eat in peace. He was suddenly worrying about her wellbeing, not wanting to bring up any unnecessary stimulus that could relate back to the incident.
It was almost ironic. These were probably the things that Youta had always worried about, and Tetsuya was only beginning to consider them now. And somehow, Youta had gotten the idea that he wasn't needed anymore. Even if Tetsuya was doing his best to fill in the gap, it wasn't a role that he fit into easily or felt properly suited to.
Airi was amazingly strong, at least in Tetsuya's eyes. She had only cried after the argument, and that had passed quickly. It was true that Tetsuya wasn't always with her, but she was at least strong in front of others. She still smiled, talked to her other classmates when necessary, and managed to keep her schoolwork going. At times, Tetsuya felt like he had imagined the whole thing.
Except he was certain that he hadn't. It was hard to pick up without being able to follow her eyes, but Airi still gave off signals. There were times whenever someone mentioned their own sibling, whenever math problems involved money, even whenever there were sales on ingredients for certain dishes where she would just stop whatever she was doing, stay silent and unmoving until she recovered. She would always flinch whenever teachers called role and marked Youta absent, and no matter how much she tried, Airi would always seem sad to say goodnight and close the door, leaving her alone in the house.
"So what are you gonna do about it?" Kagami asked, sounding particularly bored. Airi was in the middle of discussing classroom duties with one of the representatives, and the basketball partners were close by, each keeping an ear out in case the conversation went the wrong way. "You can't just sit there and worry about it forever. Some people do just get magically better on their own, but not everyone's like that, you know."
"I know," Tetsuya responded, looking down. When it came down to it, the more he thought about it, the worse he felt. If he didn't know better, Tetsuya would say he was more depressed than Airi was. "I think that Watanabe-san's the kind of person that might be able to pull through this by herself, but that doesn't mean that I should let that happen. I want to be able to do something to help her."
Kagami sighed, accompanied by a roll of the eyes. Tetsuya decided not to comment on the exaggerated gesture. "So then do something. It's that simple."
"I'm just not sure exactly what I should do," Tetsuya admitted, scratching his cheek. "I may have been spending all this time with her, but that doesn't mean I automatically know the best solution." This time Tetsuya sighed, frustrated. "I know something's better than nothing, but I feel like if I make the wrong decision then I'll just make things worse."
"You're thinking way too damn hard about this." Kagami looked down to Tetsuya, meeting the shorter male's eyes. "It doesn't have to go out of the way and be some giant affair. You've been her friend since the beginning of the school year. You should at least know things she likes or something that she wants to do, right?"
Tetsuya blinked. Kagami was surprisingly good at this sort of thing. It would be almost unnerving if it wasn't such a useful thing right now. Tetsuya closed his eyes, trying to think. Something she likes. Something she wants to be able to do. Don't think, just make a decision. Surely you can think of something.
It clicked, just as simply as Kagami predicted. Tetsuya smiled a bit at his partner, who seemed to be waiting for a response. "Kagami-kun, could I ask you a favor?"
"You can probably guess, Watanabe-san, but the reason I asked you to come here was to talk about your brother," Hara-sensei said. Airi was in the faculty lounge, and she wished that someone had come with her. She had never been in the lounge before, and the lack of an idea of her surroundings was intimidating. In moments like these, where there was no mental layout across the insides of her eyelids, Airi was forced to remember that she was blind, as simple as that. She pushed her eyelids together, resisting the urge. At least the homeroom teacher had been kind enough to provide the girl with a chair instead of making her stand.
"I can understand why you would tell us that Watanabe-kun's been sick," Hara continued. "It's really the best alternative that won't reflect badly on him. But let's be honest. It's been almost two weeks, Watanabe-san, and unless you can provide proof, we can't keep this up without it affecting his grades. I don't mean to intrude, but I may need to speak with your parents at this rate."
Airi bit the inside of her lip, but stopped herself. If the school started calling their parents, things would only get worse. Airi hadn't even told her mom and dad that their son was skipping school and avoiding the house. She hadn't even asked Tetsuya to read their letters, just split up the money and left it out. It always seemed to disappear at some point or another, which only confirmed her suspicions.
"Nii-san's been avoiding the house," Airi admitted. It seemed Hara wasn't the type to provide expressions when it wasn't necessary, as his body language didn't change. "I don't know where he's gone, and he never answers his phone when I call. Oka-san and Oto-san thought he was just throwing a fit because things haven't been going his way lately, so they told me that we would pretend he was sick for everyone else. I'm sure you can understand, Hara-sensei."
Hara considered her words, but didn't pick up on the lie. It was almost scary how easy it was to twist the truth, and Airi decided not to say anything else that wasn't necessary. Hara sighed, clearly conflicted about the situation. "Have your parents at least contacted the police about this? If he's refusing to go to school or come home, then, even if he is a minor, there still are consequences for this sort of thing. He might also be in trouble or hurt somewhere."
"Please don't think that we haven't considered the situation fully, Sensei," Airi said, a bit of an edge to her voice. She was already worrying enough as it was, she didn't need other things to keep her up at night. Reigning in her unintentional disrespect, Airi relaxed a bit before she continued to speak, even if she still felt on edge. "Our parents are currently doing whatever they can, considering that they still haven't completed the move yet. I promise that I can give you any updates if you're concerned, but that's about all I can do. Oka-san and Oto-san think this is a family matter and that no one else should be bothered by it."
In this case, the words of her parents were really her own thoughts, but Airi stood her ground. As long as she sounded convincing, that should be enough. There would be no phone calls to her parents, and maybe Youta would come home while they were waiting. Airi would have left if she wasn't certain she would fall while trying to find the door. Hara didn't seem to have a retort, and stood up from his chair. Airi followed suit.
"If your parents want our help, the school will do whatever it can," he said, although it sounded like token words more than anything else. Hara guided Airi along with a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry to bother you like this, Watanabe-san, I'm just doing my job. Have a nice day."
"Have a nice day, Sensei," Airi said with a smile. The faculty door shut, and her expression slipped into a frown. Hara was competent as an instructor and not much else. He had just left her in the hallway without much to work off of. Airi placed a hand on the wall, trying to orient herself. As long as she found Tetsuya, things would be okay. He would probably either be in the classroom or the gym. Those were at least two places she could make it to on her own.
"There you are, Watanabe, I was lookin' for ya." The sound of Kagami's voice was distinct, and Airi instantly locked onto the tall boy's presence. "If you go running off like that, you just end up worrying Kuroko, and then he comes and asks me to help. Not that it's a pain since we don't have practice today, but still."
Airi laughed a little, a release of her nervous energy. Some traces remained, but at least she felt a bit better. Kagami was just the distraction she needed. "Sorry, Hara-sensei needed to talk to me and didn't give me much time to warn anyone." Kagami let out a soft grunt. Airi wondered just how much he had figured out, but didn't ask. "I'll have to apologize to Kuroko-san once I see him, though. He probably wants to head home soon."
"Ah, not exactly," Kagami said. Airi tilted her head up, trying to get a better lock on his movements. "Listen, I know this is gonna sound like it came out of nowhere, but Kuroko said you were interested in learning how to cook and I guess I'm a pretty good chef so since we have the afternoon off, I could teach you some stuff, if that's alright." The words came out so fast that Airi was convinced that she misheard him. "We can use the school's home ec room to save trouble since I live in the opposite direction of you. How's that sound?"
He was waiting for an answer. Kagami had a gaze so intense that even Airi could tell it was there, without having to focus and calculate social expectations. She put a hand up to her mouth to stifle a giggle. "You're serious," Airi said, the corners of her mouth turning up without having to be forced. A bit of her laughter escaped. "I didn't think you'd be the type to know how to cook, Kagami-san."
"Yeah, well, I live alone, so it's only natural." Kagami scoffed. "So do we have a deal or what? I already got a teacher's permission to use the place and some supplies, so we won't get in trouble."
Airi already felt like she was imposing enough. Kagami probably cherished his nights off from basketball practice, and this was one of the last breaks they were going to get as Riko intended to have them train their butts off for the sake of the upcoming Inter-High preliminaries. But he had already gone through the trouble of preparing the room, so turning him down was likely to be a greater inconvenience as it was.
"Alright," Airi said. "Thank you very much for your offer, Kagami-san. Would you mind leading the way?"
Sure enough, Kagami hadn't been lying whenever he had said he had gained permission. The room was noticeably empty, and there were ingredients already lying in wait on the table. Airi ran her hand across the table, encountering a bowl of eggs, a container that sounded like there liquid inside when she flicked at the side, a package of sugar, and a few measuring utensils.
"Tamagoyaki?" she asked, trying to make a conclusion from what she knew was there. Kagami gave an affirmative grunt, and Airi was left wondering how he knew. This hadn't seemed like it was his idea entirely, but there was no point in asking about it. "I know the basic instructions, but I can never seem to make it right." The thought brought up Youta praising her food, but she pushed it aside. Focus on the lesson.
"Well, then let's see what you normally do," Kagami prompted. Airi hesitated, not wanting to waste any more ingredients than she had to. "Come on. I can't do anything if I don't know what you normally do, especially if you don't know what's wrong. Just go for it. If you worry about screwing up all the time, you're not gonna get anywhere."
Kagami was right. It had been a long series of trial and error before she and Youta had figured out a system for her surviving, for letting her see the rest of the world that couldn't be taken in with her eyes. They had almost both ended up in remedial lessons that year, and were told to stay after school for make-up tests more than once. If screwing up one more time meant that she could get something right in the future, Airi would take that risk.
She reassessed her supplies, taking a bowl that Kagami pushed to her when she couldn't find it. Slowly, Airi cracked the eggs, then took her time pouring the other ingredients, making sure not to spill or overflow. When she finished, Airi was about to reach for the whisk whenever Kagami made a sound in his throat.
"What's wrong?"
"Your balance is way off. That mix won't come out right," Kagami informed without mercy. Airi paused to think things over. She was certain that she had done it properly, measured out everything exactly as she remembered it. She would guarantee it. Then what was the problem. "I bet you read a bad recipe at some point, so that's what's throwing it off. Listen up."
Airi snapped to attention, even though it wasn't necessary. Kagami pressed one of the measuring spoons into her hand, and the raised letters pressed against her skin. "You only need about three of these for the soup stock if you're making it for two people," he instructed. "No more than two for the sugar, though I guess that's up to you. How sweet do you like your eggs?"
Airi didn't particularly like them too sweet, but Youta did. She concentrated on the situation at hand before her smile broke. "I'd say about semi-sweet," she concluded as a middle ground. Kagami nodded.
"Then one and a half should do just fine. The heat goes through most of the sugar anyway, so that should be enough for you." Three, one and a half. Airi repeated the numbers a few times mentally, hoping to memorize them. Kagami was shuffling around, then passed a new bowl to her. "Go ahead, try again."
Airi repeated her actions from before, except with the correct numbers and amounts. She felt silly for it being this simple and not having anyone correct her before. That just meant that Youta hadn't known, either, or maybe he really did like the taste of disproportioned eggs. There was no way to tell. Finishing the mix, Airi went to turn on the stove, but realized it had a different mechanic than the one she was used to. At home, they had already marked dents around the dial so that Airi could adjust the heat level herself. She didn't think that vandalism of school property was an option.
"Just move it slowly and I'll tell you when to stop," Kagami suggested. Even if he was a bit rough around the edges at times, there was something comforting about the male's presence. It was different from Tetsuya, whose presence was soft and naturally relaxing. It was almost as if his brashness was what made Kagami nice to be around.
He doesn't bother to even try and act like I'm not blind. He doesn't watch his words at all, and I didn't even have to tell him to do it. Kagami-san is more perceptive than people seem to realize. Airi smiled a bit to herself as she set the stove to the correct level. She checked around, securing the spatula in her hand before pouring the egg mixture into the frying pan. I'm glad he's Kuroko-san's friend.
"Eh, it smells different," Airi said before she could stop herself. Kagami was probably giving her a confused look, so an explanation was probably in order. "I usually tell when to flip and wrap it up by the smell. Of course, since the mixture's different, it would give off a different scent." She felt silly for not even considering the possibility.
"So just keep your guard up and I'll tell you when to flip it," Kagami almost repeated his last instruction, and Airi giggled. Kagami didn't seem to bother with being offended. "By the way, Watanabe, how do you feel about Kuroko?"
The question came out of nowhere so suddenly that Airi almost shook the frying pan. She wasn't sure what the fate of the eggs would be, but it wouldn't be pleasant for them or her uniform. Even with the school provided apron on, there would still be a mess and Airi didn't fancy walking home in her gym clothes. "I'm sorry, Kagami-san, I don't see what that has to do with cooking," she managed to recover.
She could almost hear the sound of Kagami rolling his eyes in his voice. "That's 'cause it doesn't," he admitted. Airi wanted to protest but didn't. "You don't have to answer if you don't wanna, but I'm getting tired of you two not picking up on each other. So I at least want to know if part of the reason that you're not acting is me reading the situation wrong. Also, you can flip that now."
Airi focused on flipping the eggs, attempting to memorize the smell in the process. Her face was more than likely red by now, and she sat the spatula down in favor of chopsticks. Surely this had to be some sort of joke, right? Airi blocked out everything else for a moment, trying to see if anyone else was around, but the room was as empty as it had been before.
"I guess… No, I'm certain I like him," she whispered. It was the first time she had used daisuki towards anyone outside of her family, and it sent her heart to her throat. She hadn't even realized that it was coming, since she didn't know what it was like to fall for someone. Airi sighed. She was love-struck if she had ever seen it.
"Then I think you two need to have a serious talk," Kagami concluded. "Go ahead, it's ready to roll." Airi took in the smell, made sure her chopsticks were centered, and set about folding the eggs into a complete roll. There was a plate nearby and she placed the completed tamagoyaki on it, too preoccupied to smile at the achievement. "You have enough mix to make a second one, so you might as well try it on your own. I'll go get Kuroko, and you two can eat while you talk."
Airi wanted to protest. This had to be some sort of joke! She had never suspected Kagami to be the practical joker type, but people always had secrets. Although, as much as she hated to admit it, the tone in his voice had been perfectly serious.
Kagami stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Airi was left alone with the sound of frying eggs.
It's pretty fun to write Kagami, especially when he interacts with Airi and Tetsuya. Kagami just has such a different approach to life than them that while they're not sure what to do he's just like "Duh, do this."
Much thanks to Kalax, verTori, CherryPop0120, Harukawa Ayane, Thumper The Hare, Jikola, MizuKitsune10, JessTheSloth, Rena Talmay, Crunch Berry Baroness, Gummybear Studios, ohmygodsun01, gOthiCkUrOcHo69, KurosagiNoir, britishfairy, and Blackangelwings853 for your respective, favorites, follows, and reviews, as well as appreciation to everyone for taking time to read this story in general. Please know that I love your support and it's been helping me make much progress on a new writing project of mine.
I had a pretty fun weekend out at Trotcon in Columbus, and even ran my first panel! I'm starting to think about running fanfiction writing panels in the future, but I dunno yet...
Look, the romance is here (kinda)! I've been trying to make things seem realistic between Airi and Tetsuya so it isn't too contrived up in here. Do you guuys feel like it's working?
All instructions in this chapter on how to make tamagoyaki were found on the internet. If I'm wrong, I'll be willing to accept corrections.
As I've mentioned before (I think?) I'm participating in the Twelve Shots of Summer challenge, which you should definitely check out if you get the chance. There's lots of great stuff to read, plus it's a great way to try out writing new things with constructive feedback!
Chapter ten will be in two weeks. If you can't wait that long, well... I hope to post a Kuroko AU One Shot next week, so you can check that out, too.
Next time, Airi and Tetsuya discuss important matters over eggs, an outing to the park occurs, and dogs are just one of many things that present themselves to be "seen". Please look forward to it!
[POST] 062514
