Chapter 3

A New Way to Communicate

Bold = Rise's Notes

Rise and Nana walk together on the path to the school. For some reason, Rise is clinging onto Nana's arm, which is kind of strange on Nana's part. But as she looks down at the small raven-haired girl, Nana just smiles. Rise looks up at her friend with her expression remaining unchanged.

"You know, you're just so adorable sometimes," Nana jokes. "Don't you think?"

Rise whispers.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Nana laughs. "I didn't mean it like that. I just thought you have such a cute face, that's all."

Risa looks down at the ground, blushing.

"Well, anyway, putting that aside, I won't be able to see you after school today. I have a meeting to go to. Are you okay with that?"

Rise nods and whispers.

"Okay," Nana says as she looks at her friend in worry. "Where will you go? I mean, you're parents just have nothing to do with you anymore, right? Because of . . . you know . . ."

Rise nods again and whispers in determination.

"I understand. It's your choice to live on your own after all." Nana clears her throat. "A-anyway, let's let it go for now. We have to get to school."

Rise just looks down at the ground. The mentioning of her parents made her feel sad and not want to think about them for a while. Nana knew that for sure and is ashamed of her mistake. Looking down at her friend, Nana could clearly see the expression on Rise's face, even if it's not showing. The two soon arrive at the school, watching the other girls enter the building. Nana turns to Rise.

"Okay, I have to go," she says. "Are you sure you are okay on your own?"

Rise whispers.

"Alright. You're not a little kid anyway, so of course you're gonna be okay." Nana turns to leave. "Well, see you later."

Rise waves as Nana makes her way to the building. Rise then slowly lowers her hand and just stares at the other girls entering the building. She wishes Nana didn't have this meeting and would just rather spend time with her closest friend. But for her, she knows that she can't have that all the time. Nana would sometimes have some meetings to go to, which means that she'll have to go to her house, where she just lives on her own. She doesn't mind at all because she wants to be alone, where no one would harm her or have anyone ask her to speak louder because of her condition. She wanted to be cured. She desperately wanted to, but nothing ever worked. Until then, Rise had lived with this whisper-like voice. However, she would like to forget all of it and wanted to start a new life, living on her own and managed to become Student Council President. She had no idea how she got nominated in the first place, but somehow she did.

Right now, Rise has some other matters to deal with. When she steps into the classroom, she gets out her materials for the lesson. She looks up and sees the same trio of girls that she had encountered yesterday. Rise just ignores them as she gets out her notebook to take her notes.

"Look at her," the blonde girl says. "Being as lifeless as ever."

"I wonder if she'll ever speak," the gray haired girl says.

"She probably won't," the red haired girl says. "She chooses not to speak, that's what her probable is."

"Well, let's show her that being mute isn't an option," the blonde girl says.

"Yeah."

Rise looks up as the three girls approach her.

"Listen, Matsumoto," the blonde girl says. "I want you to introduce yourself once we do our introduction. And you better speak up when you say your name, got it?"

Rise just nods.

"Great," the blond girl says. "My name is Suki Kawasaki."

"I'm Akira Watsuki," the red haired girl says.

"And my name's Riri Satsuki," the gray haired girl says.

"So . . ." Suki says. "What's your name?"

Rise takes a couple of breathes and just whispers her name. This just makes Suki's patience level go down really fast.

"Okay, fine" the blonde girl growls, clenching her fists in anger. "If you can't speak up, then we'll just have to force you to."

She knocks down the desk, grabs Rise by the shoulders and throws her down on the floor. Rise slowly looks up with her expression remaining the same. Suki glares at the raven-haired girl.

"What the heck are you staring at?" She kicks Rise hard, making her fall further on the floor. "Speak, you witch!" She kicks Rise again. "SPEAK!" Rise curls up to defend herself, but no avail. The other girls start kicking her from all sides.

"Come on, Matsumoto!" Riri yells. "You can't be like this forever!"

"Yeah, tell us to stop, why don't ya!?" Akira says as she strikes Rise hard on the chest.

Suki makes her last strike super hard on the guts, causing Rise's air to get knocked out for a second. Looking up, Rise stares at Suki who is leaning down to her level, glaring at her.

"Alright," she huffs. "If you don't want to speak, then so be it. No one ever wants you around because you can't speak. You can't even call for help. What a useless human being."

Rise sits up, not having the slightest irritation nor sad expression.

"Don't look at me like that!" Suki kicks her again. She turns to her two girls. "Let's go. Class is about to start."

"Yeah, leave her there," Akira says. "She's totally useless, even in class."

"I really wonder if she gets any good grades when she's like that," Riri says.

The three girls walk away, leaving Rise on the floor, hurt. She can't live like this when those girls are onto her. Though, Suki does have a point when she's beating her up. Rise cannot ever call for help if she has a whisper-like voice. She'll have to ask the members of the student council for some ideas. But first, she'll have to deal with those wounds.

At the student council, Rise had called all the members for an important meeting.

"So, what's this about?" Ayano asks.

"I think the president as something important to tell us," Chitose says.

Rise whispers the situation that happened this morning.

"Oh, I see," Chitose says. "You want to find a way to communicate better with people because of your condition."

Rise nods.

"Well, let's do something simple," Ayano says as she takes out a small notebook. "Whenever people have laryngitis, they used to write things down to communicate."

"Yes, but we'll need something bigger than that," Chitose says.

"How about a whiteboard?" Himawari says, holding up a square whiteboard.

"That's a great idea!" Chitose beams. "Thank you, Furutani-san!"

Sakurako looks at her, raising an eyebrow. "That's all you got? A whiteboard?"

"Got any better ideas?" Himawari asks.

Sakurako holds up her phone. "Text the teacher!"

"No," Himawari protests. "Remember, the teacher forbids having texting on our cellphones, remember?"

"Aw, man!" Sakurako groans.

Rise gently takes the board and grabs a dry erase marker. She writes, "How's this?"

"Excellent!" Chitose says, happily. "Now you'll get a chance to communicate with everybody!"

"Well . . . most people," Ayano says, nervously.

"Anyway, good luck with your new tool," Chitose says. "I hope this will help you get along with other people."

Rise looks down at the floor, unsure about what the other girls might react. But if Chitose is confident about her new tool, so will she. So, Rise writes "Thank you, Ikeda-san and everyone else for supporting me".

"You're welcome!" Chitose says, giving her a thumbs up.

Back at Rise's home, the raven-haired girl stares at the whiteboard while sitting on her bed that night. Will she be able to interact with other people with just using a whiteboard? How will everyone else think? Rise keeps asking herself this as she just scribbles on the board, not sure of what to do. She knows she must try new things just to see if she likes it or not. And if this whiteboard will change things, then she will definitely do it. There's no going back now.

A/N: Hello. I know this is a little rushed, but I'm just too lazy to write any more. So, here's the third chapter, everyone. And, I felt I should give out a few hints of Rise's past without spoiling all of you. But if it is, I apologize.

Feel free to give out any suggestions, questions or concerns and don't forget to review! ;)