Visibility

By: Aviantei

Chapter 10: Vantage

It was silly, but Airi was glad that the Japanese used chopsticks. Aside from the fact that there was only one utensil she really had to master in order to eat most foods, silverware was just too noisy. Talking over meals seemed impossible with all the clatter. They had eaten out at a foreign restaurant as a special family meal, and the sound of metal against glass had been enough to derail Airi's then still developing perception of the world.

Although, in this case, it might not have been so bad. The home ec room was silent now, aside from the few sounds of the person across from her. Kagami had long disappeared, leaving no one else to focus on the room aside from Tetsuya.

"Are you not going to eat?" he asked between bites of food. He was eating the tamagoyaki slowly, but seemed to be enjoying it. Airi hoped so, since she hadn't yet had the courage to attempt to eat her own. Her stomach was terribly unsettled right now, and her mouth dry. There was no sense in wasting food, especially some that Kagami had gone through all the trouble to help her make.

"Sorry, I was just distracted," Airi said, feeling around for the chopsticks. She found them, made sure her hold was proper, and took a bite. It was delicious. After months of eating faulty attempts at eggs, a few adjustments had been all it took. She could have to thank Kagami later for his help.

Kagami-san.

"Um, Kagami-san said that we should talk." Airi waited for Tetsuya to respond, but it appeared that he was in the middle of chewing his food. Might as well talk while she still had a voice to function with. "He didn't say much, though, so I don't know about what. I was wondering if you had any ideas, Kuroko-san."

Tetsuya shook his head while swallowing. He placed his chopsticks own on the side of his plate, causing a small sound. Airi hadn't even noticed that he had finished already. "Kagami-kun just said that your cooking went well and that I should try some. Then he went home," Tetsuya explained. Airi sighed. Their reason for being here was gone, and he hadn't even offered an explanation. "Thank you for the food, though, Watanabe-san. It was good."

"Ah, I'm glad you think so." Airi tried to stop herself from blushing, but wasn't able to manage it. Usually, Tetsuya didn't manage to fluster her, but admitting her feelings to Kagami was an embarrassing enough reminder. She rubbed her chopsticks together but didn't touch her food. "Has Kagami-san asked you anything strange lately?" she asked. It was the best way to bring it up without giving it away.

"Strange?" Tetsuya echoed. Airi nodded and took another bite of her eggs. If she couldn't make it at this quality again, she would be disappointed. "It depends on what you consider to be strange, Watanabe-san. But I guess we've been talking about the usual sorts of things, so nothing strange has come up."

Did he… just hesitate? Airi giggled a little, hiding it as she chewed. "I think that maybe I should tell you something." She spoke slowly, considering each word as she said it. Tetsuya seemed to sit up a bit straighter, like he was focusing his attention. "It's nothing bad," she assured. "It's just something important to me that I think you should know, too…"

She felt silly for starting this. Tetsuya probably had other things to focus on, and here she was, taking up his time. She had imposed on Kagami as well. And yet neither of them seemed to mind at all, even when they could be doing other things with their time. Tetsuya was waiting, just as calmly as ever.

"I'm listening," he said. It was incredibly reassuring. Airi knew for a fact that what she had told Kagami had definitely been the truth. The hard part was just going to be saying it again.

Airi lowered her head, even if there was no way to even create eye contact with Tetsuya, let alone break it. She resisted to urge to laugh. Her thinking was definitely addled if she was resorting to reflexive actions like this. "I feel bad for springing this on you. And I don't really expect you to reciprocate, so please just hear me out." Airi raised her head, making eye contact with her mental representation of Tetsuya. "The truth is that I like you, Kuroko-san."

She fully expected to be rejected. There was no reason that Tetsuya would have to like her, which was why she had been holding back. There was always the risk that their friendship would become awkward, and Tetsuya was slowly becoming her only lifeline. She hadn't wanted to ruin that at all, but something about Kagami's words made her think she should try.

If you worry about screwing up all the time, you're not gonna get anywhere.

Airi was sure that Tetsuya would let her down gently though. He would say something like "I'm sorry but I can't return your feelings," and that would be that. He would still walk her home, help her with her homework, with dinner. He would try his best to treat her the same way, just like he tried to interact the way she wanted with her blindness, and she would try to move on. That was how first loves were supposed to end.

"Watanabe-san," Tetsuya said, his voice still soft, still gentle. It was coming. Airi held her breath, ready to smile whenever it did. There was no need to make any of this awkward. "We should do something together tomorrow, then. It's my last day off before Inter-High training. We should take advantage of it."

"Eh?" It was the only sound Airi could produce; the words had sucked the breath right out of her. The smile she had been preparing disappeared, then formed without thought on her face. She searched Tetsuya's voice, trying to find some trace of pity in them. There wasn't any, and it only confused her more.

Tetsuya frowned, one of his small ones. "Do you not want to go on a date?" he asked. He was concerned of all things. Airi wanted to give a reply, but couldn't even bring herself to move her head for an answer. Why was he talking about dates all of a sudden, at a time like this? "Ah," he said, a sound of understanding. "Sorry. I did that out of order. What I meant was that I also like you, Watanabe-san. Is there some place that you'd like to go tomorrow?"

Airi's voice broke free in the form of laughter. At least it made sense why she was grinning like an idiot now. She reached her hand across the table, Tetsuya's familiar fingers meeting hers, but for some reason, it felt different now.

"The weather's supposed to be nice tomorrow," she said. "Why don't we go to the park?"

Tetsuya arrived at the park in the afternoon, feeling a bit nervous. At least whatever anxiety he had for himself was overshadowed by his concern for Airi, if that was even a positive factor. Whenever they had made their plans yesterday, she had insisted on being able to make it to the park on her own. Tetsuya had protested at first, but had lost disagreement, the first technical "argument" of the relationship.

Just thinking about the word made Tetsuya smile. It had been sudden, but it was worth it. His own priorities had been set on doing something nice for Airi, making her happy, providing a distraction from the argument with Youta. If he had known that a date to the park would have been enough to do that, Tetsuya wouldn't have hesitated to confess.

None of that mattered now, and Tetsuya focused on finding Airi. Part of him was worried that she had gotten lost on the way, and he dreaded the thought of having to search for her whenever he was supposed to be helping her relax. Fortunately, Tetsuya found the girl sitting on one of the benches by the fountain, just like she had promised.

"Watanabe-san," he called out. Airi turned her head toward him, smiling. Tetsuya held out his hand once he was beside his girlfriend and helped her up. "I'm glad to see that you made it safely. Have you been waiting long?"

"No, not at all. I almost mad a few mishaps, but I was able to ask directions from people passing by, so I made it here alright," Airi reported. She giggled, covering her mouth with the hand that wasn't holding Tetsuya's. "Don't you think that it's a bit informal to be calling me 'Watanabe-san,' Tetsuya-kun?"

Tetsuya blinked at the words, and Airi laughed again, this time letting the sound out. She always seemed to take note of when he was surprised, but who could blame him for being that way in this situation? Airi had easily crossed the barrier into given name referral, but Tetsuya was still hesitant to take the step. While he wanted to—and her wording suggested she did, too—he still had yet to convince himself.

"Oh, and who's this that you brought with you?" Airi asked, leaning down. She held out her hand, letting the Alaskan malamute puppy beside her touch his nose to it. The dog had grown a lot since Tetsuya and the rest of Seirin had taken him in, but his head was still at Airi's chest level when she crouched down. The malamute finished, ducking his head so that the girl would pet him, and Airi complied. "Aren't you just nice and soft? What's your name?"

"His name is Nigou," Tetsuya answered. He leaned down, running his hand down the dog's back. Nigou barked in response, seeming to enjoy the attention. He liked Airi so far, which was a great relief to his owner. Tetsuya had been worried over nothing.

"Nigou?"

The question was a natural one, so Tetsuya couldn't fault Airi for asking it. She was focusing most of her attention on him, but continued to pet the dog in question. "Well, it's short for Tetsuya No. 2," he admitted. "The other club members decided that he looked like me, so I was his namesake. I guess our eyes do look kind of similar. He's a good dog, though."

Airi put both of her hands on the sides of Nigou's head, holding it in place. Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly, and Tetsuya kept silent. Airi almost seemed like she was pouting whenever she got lost in thought. If anything, she was probably trying to create a mental image of Nigou to add into her collection. Whenever she was done, she let go and Nigou shook his head, glad to be given permission to move again.

"It's very nice to meet you, Nigou," Airi said, giving the dog another pat on the head. It seemed as if she and Nigou would get along well.

"Nigou, this is Watana—ah, this is Airi-san," Tetsuya said, completing introductions. Airi jumped a little in surprise at the sound of her given name, then smiled. "She can't see very well, so it might take her some time to get used to having you around. She's my girlfriend, so be on your best behavior, understand?"

Nigou barked in response. Tetsuya took a moment to enjoy the way the word "girlfriend" sounded on his lips, and the pink color that it turned Airi's cheeks. Using her given name wasn't half bad either. She stood up, dusting off her skirt. "Well, I'm sure that Nigou doesn't want to just sit around all day, not when there's this huge park waiting around. Shall we go, Tetsuya-kun?"

Tetsuya nodded, standing back up. He secured Nigou's leash in one hand, then Airi's hand in the other. Nigou remained sitting, but was keeping an eye on Tetsuya. "You never did tell me what we were coming here for, Airi-san. What did you want to do?" Even though the date had initially been his proposal, Airi had taken the reigns for the rest of the planning. No matter what ideas she had, she had kept them secret, too.

"I want to see this place," Airi answered without hesitation. "I really like places that have a lot of scenery, because there's so much to look at. Whenever I go parks and such, I just have a whole new world to map out in my imagination." She let out a happy sigh. "I just haven't had the chance to go to this place yet, and I wanted you to be the one to show it to me, Tetsuya-kun."

In other words, she was trusting him with her sight. Tetsuya had started to take on the role of her eyes, but that had been in places like the school and her home, which had already been described to her. He hadn't needed to bring the world to life, and thus had no experience in it. And yet, the sound of her voice let Tetsuya know that Airi believed he could do it.

He swallowed the lump in his throat. "What do I have to do?"

Airi giggled, stepping a bit closer to him. "I can't tell you how to do it, silly; that's cheating," she reprimanded. It was all fine because she was still smiling at him. "I want to see the world the same way you do, notice what you notice, care about what you care about for a moment." She paused. "Everyone perceives things in their own special way, Tetsuya-kun. Isn't getting a glimpse of another person's view of the world able to be a wonderful experience?"

Everyone possessed their own unique view of the world. If anything, that was what made people so different, made it interesting to talk to them, made it difficult to always see eye to eye. If you invited people into your world view for an instant, wouldn't be easier to understand them, at least a little? If he had known that before, tried to see things the same way that the rest of his friends had back in middle school—

No, that was over now. That conflict had already passed and there was no need to ruminate on it any longer, not when he had Airi by his side. "Does that mean that you'll let me see the world the same way that you do?" Tetsuya asked. This time, he didn't think twice before he said the world.

Airi let out a laugh, smiling. "Oh, alright, since you asked so nicely. But only if I can go after you. I did ask first, after all."

"Alright, then." Tetsuya looked around the rest of the park, trying not to think too hard about it. If she wanted to see things the way that he did, then he couldn't go off listing every single thing. He needed to clear out his head, see what he naturally took notice of, and describe it from there. It should have been easy, but he was making it difficult. He opened his mouth for the sake of not thinking anymore.

"There's a fountain on the other side of the plaza, and a few kids are making wishes by throwing in coins. Their parents are probably resting on the side. There's actually a lot of families here today, which is nice to see. And… there's this girl," Tetsuya said without thinking. Airi tilted her head at the words, slightly frowning. Tetsuya chuckled. "She seems a bit annoyed at her boyfriend right now, but I think it'll be okay." He placed a quick kiss on Airi's forehead, the frown replaced with a blush. "Right?"

"Okay, you got me there. Now it's my turn," she said. "Close your eyes." Tetsuya complied, reminding himself that this was what Airi always saw. Maybe this would be it, and she wouldn't say anything else. Her silence didn't help the thought, and Tetsuya was about to open his eyes again when Airi took a deep breath.

"The sunlight's nice and warm," she started out. "There's a lot of chatter of people, but there's no so many that's it's overwhelming or anything. There's a nice breeze, too. I can smell some food people are carrying. I think that it's crepes."

It was almost funny. Which each thing that Airi said, Tetsuya noticed it more. She was pulling from all of her senses, noticing the world that way. And even though she hadn't been describing things from visual cues, Tetsuya could still see it in a way that had nothing to do with the image that had previously been on the back of his eyelids.

"And most importantly," Airi added, while he was still trying to take it all in, "beside me is Tetsuya."

"Let's see, your white patches are here, here, and here, right?" Airi said. She was leaning down in her doorway, feeling over Nigou's fur. Earlier, she had been told about his fur pattern, and was trying to see if she still remembered it. The puppy was a bit tired out from running around all day, so didn't protest.

"That's right," Tetsuya confirmed, reasserting her mental image of Nigou. Airi smiled, but at more than just her victory. Today had been such a nice, relaxing time that it had made the rest of her worries wash away. Tetsuya had gone through the trouble of explaining whatever she had asked about, creating most of the park a place in her head. She could only hope that the images he had created for her would stick around.

"Didn't you say that you needed to be home soon, Tetsuya-kun? It is getting a bit late." Sure enough, Tetsuya shifted, letting Airi know her suspicions were correct. She didn't like the idea of him having to leave, but she had taken up enough of his time already in the past few weeks. Even if they were dating now, it wasn't an excuse.

"Will you be okay if I leave?" Tetsuya asked. Normally, those kinds of words would have made Airi question her independence, but they didn't when he was the one saying them. All it meant was that he was concerned for her. "Do you need to go shopping for dinner or anything? I can take you to the store before I leave."

If Airi used her eyes, she would have rolled them. "Heavens, no, we bought plenty when we went shopping yesterday." That had taken up a substantial amount of time, too, as Tetsuya had gone through the trouble of helping her make the foods recognizable to her. "You really should eat dinner with your family for once, Tetsuya-kun. I'll be fine."

She wouldn't have been surprised if the boy were to invite her over to dinner the next moment, but he didn't. Airi probably would have turned him down, too. She wasn't about ready to meet Tetsuya's parents yet, even if she was sure they were nice. Besides, if Youta came home, she needed to be there to catch him.

"I guess you're right," Tetsuya admitted. He sounded a bit sad, but seemed to understand the reasons, or at least respected the result. "Come on, Nigou." The dog looked up at the sound of his name and followed Tetsuya's retreating footsteps. Airi headed towards the doorway after them. "I'll see you in the morning before school, okay, Airi-san?"

"I'll see you tomorrow, Tetsuya-kun. And I'm sure I'll see you later, Nigou-chan," she added, giving the puppy one last pet before Tetsuya put a leash on his dog counterpart. Airi waited a bit, and gave Tetsuya a kiss on the cheek, which he reciprocated with a kiss on the forehead. She decided to imagine he had been blushing when he left the house.

Mentioning dinner had made her hungry, though. Airi went to change out of her date clothes, and wandered back into the kitchen trying to figure out what to make for her own dinner. She was in the middle of sorting through the refrigerator when an unfamiliar noise came from behind her, causing Airi to jump.

She had forgotten that she had left her purse on the table when she had arrived home. It hadn't been entirely necessary, as Tetsuya had insisted on paying for everything, but at one point they had been running around, playing with Nigou, and Tetsuya had asked to put his phone inside for safekeeping. Sure enough, Airi encountered it once she checked her purse, the phone forgotten.

He may not need it, but if someone's messaging him, then I'm sure he'd like to see it, Airi considered. Besides, he usually calls the house in the morning. I'm sure it won't be too much of a hassle if he can't but still…

Tetsuya had only left a while ago, so he couldn't have gotten too far. And even if he had, Airi was confident she remembered the way to his house, even if she had only passed by a few times. It was just so he wouldn't be inconvenienced, after all, nothing else.

Airi locked the door behind her, clutching Tetsuya's cellphone in her hand.

Hooray, fluff! I can actually write the stuff!

Thanks to CherryPop0120, jainen, B-rabbit28, LizzieBCT, LifeIsARayOfSunshine, JustAnotherTeenageFanatic, Diana Wolfe, little101, bloodfirexT, and Gameshark Empress for your respective reviews, favorites, and follows on this story, as well as to everyone that reads. Bonus points to Gameshark Empress for being the one-hundredth person to follow Visibility! As always, your support and feedback means a lot!

So, how does this feel to everyone? Is it natural? It doesn't seem rushed, does it? I felt like it worked when I wrote and edited it, but having extra input is always great.

But, yeah, nice to have a nice, peaceful chapter before the plot happens.

(Insert a shameless promotion for the Twelve Shots of Summer challenge forum, that you should totally check out because it's fun and has lots of wonderful material for equally wonderful authors)

As always, chapter eleven will show up in two weeks!

So, next time, within a week, Youta has to move forward, regardless of what he has left in his wake. Please look forward to it.

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