Chapter 4

Accepting and Understanding

Rise did use the white board on some occasions, but there's something that's still bothering her: the trio of girls, Suki, Akira and Riri. What will they think? Sure they will tease her about having to write everything down if she wants to speak, but what else is she supposed to do? Perhaps she can somehow make these girls understand her condition and maybe take her seriously? No. That probably won't happen. Considering what they are treating her before, Rise doubts that they'll ever take her seriously. She decides not to show them the white board as soon as they show up in class and try a different approach.

It's noon and Rise is at her desk, taking the rest of the notes that the teacher had given for class. Once that's done, she packs up her stuff and hurries over to Nana's place to eat lunch with her. They had promised each other some time earlier this morning since Nana hasn't spent much time with Rise in a while. Once Rise arrives at Nana's room, she greets her by waving and sits down at a random desk.

"Good afternoon, Matsumoto," Nana says as she grabs her own lunch and proceeds to sit nests to her partner. She takes notice of a white board beside Rise. "Oh? Why do you have that white board over there?"

Rise takes it and writes, "It' my new tool."

"Ah, I see," Nana says, smiling. "Since you have a hard time communicating with others, you have this white board that you can write on. That's a good idea."

"Thanks, but thank the student council. They were the ones who came up with it," Rise writes.

"Well, I shall thank them as well," Nana says, smiling.

The two continue to eat in silence until a half hour has passed. Rise is just about to pack up her stuff when Nana stops her.

"Wait," she says.

Rise turns around, blushing from the touch and whispers.

"Um, why don't you stay a bit longer?" Nana suggests. "Besides, lunchtime isn't over for another 15 minutes."

Rise nods and comes over next to Nana. The older woman smiles and suddenly starts to pick up Rise.

"Here, is this more comfortable?" She places Rise on her lap, which makes the dark-haired girl blush.

Rise whispers.

"Aw, don't be shy," Nana says. "And I know I'm treating you like a child, but you can be so adorable that I couldn't help it."

Rise whispers again while blushing.

"Oh, yes you are adorable," Nana protests, giggling. She takes a few strands of her hair. "Even you have such cute hair."

Frowning, Rise gently pushes Nana's hand away.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

Rise whispers again.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I got too carried away there." She sets Rise down next to her and the two stay silent for about 3 minutes until Nana speaks up.

"You know, those girls . . . how long have they been treating you badly?"

Rise whispers as she looks down at the ground.

"Ah, about a couple days after the first day," Nana says. "I see. I can understand why they would want to tease and bully you in the first place. It's because you can't speak and they just don't see how serious it really is."

Rise nods as she whispers again.

"I know. It's hard on me, too . . . seeing you like this. But . . . sometimes life isn't what you can expect. And you probably didn't expect to have this condition years ago, didn't you?"

Rise shakes her head and hangs it down. Nana could see that she's about to cry, but Rise quickly shakes it off and looks up at the older woman.

"It's alright," Nana assures her. "I'm right here whenever you need me. After all, we're partners, right?"

Rise nods and whispers.

"You're welcome, Matsumoto."

At that moment, Rise wraps her arms around Nana while resting her head on her chest. Nana smiles as she strokes her hair.

"Heh, I could be like a mother to you," Nana says. "I mean, I could have you as my own daughter if you want to. Then, you won't have to be alone anymore. We could always live together, you know?"

Rise thinks about it for a moment as she looks down at the floor while blushing.

"I'll let you think about it," Nana says. "It seems that I just threw that at you without thinking about the consequences."

Rise whispers as she looks up at the older woman. Nana stares back while blushing herself.

"Um . . . Matsumoto?"

Rise continues to gaze at Nana and as if a demon is possessing her, she starts to lean in while closing her eyes. Nana's eyes widen for a second before starting to return the favor. But just as they are about to do it, the bell rings, making them pull away. Rise quickly turns and grabs her bag. Before heading out, Rise looks back at Nana, who is in deep shock as well. Rise glances at the floor for a bit before running off to her next class. While walking, she could feel herself blush furiously at what she just did a second ago. She is about to . . . kiss her! She had never done anything like that before. But on the other hand . . . it seemed that she really wanted to do it. Rise truly has feelings for Nana after all and probably Nana knows it as well, though Nana calls it a "forbidden relationship". She stops and slowly raises her hand to touch her lip. She wishes she could feel Nana's lips a bit sooner.

As for Nana, she just smiles as she raises her hand to touch her own lips. "Well, Matsumoto. You sure know how to be romantic, aren't ya?" With that, she goes back to her desk to do some paper work.

Finally, when the school day ends, Rise is walking home by herself again. Nana had another meeting to go to unfortunately, so Rise had no choice but to walk home. But as Rise is about to leave the school, Suki and the other girls appear and smirk.

"Here she goes again," Suki says to her friends.

"How pathetic," Akira says. "A girl who can't even speak a word? That's sad."

"Really sad," Riri agrees.

Rise ignores them as she keeps on walking. Suki notices the white board in her hand and quickly snatches it.

"What's this?" the blonde scoffs as she waves it. "Some kind of kiddie drawing board?"

Rise shakes her head roughly as she tries to reach for the board. Suki holds it up high and laughs as Rise helpless tries to take it.

"Forget it, Matsumoto," Suki says. "Even if you have this, you still wouldn't be able to communicate. You might lose it anyways. Oh, wait!" She breaks the board in half by smashing it with her knee. "You already did!"

Rise gasps softly as she stares at her now broken tool and looks up at the trio. She shakes her head and whispers.

"We still can't hear you," Suki says as she turns to her friends. "Come on, girls. Our work here is done."

Suki throws the broken board in the trash and the girls purposely bump their shoulders on Rise as they take their leave. Rise just stares at the broken board in the trash as she sinks down to her knees. The one and only chance of communicating had been thrown away. Now how will she find a way to communicate? If she ever gets a writing tool again, the girls would just throw it away again. Rise felt like the world is being too cruel to her since she has this condition and is really angry and frustrated right now.

She has no choice but to leave the school without the board today. Once she walks out of the school, Suki's words still play in Rise's head.

"Even if you have a white board, you still wouldn't be able to communicate."

The incident where they were kicking her like crazy plays in her head as well.

"You can't even call for help. What a useless human being."

Rise is probably wondering why she's been nominated for Student Council President anyway. How can she president with a condition like this? Sure some of her friends try to support her the best they could in the student council, but for other people, how can they accept it? How can she accept herself? These questions flow through her head like a river, which even makes her even more frustrated. All she wanted was to be understood and accepted because of her condition. But all she's getting from other people besides her friends are rudeness and bullying.

Rise stops for a moment as she looks down at the ground, feeling tears trying to force their way out. She wanted to make other friends and yet they still don't understand her. And thinking about it makes her very sad and lonely. She whispers loudly as tears begin to fall. Now if Nana were here, she would probably say, "Matsumoto is saying 'Why doesn't some people understand me!?'" Rise raises her hand to wipe the tears, but they just keep coming. She's been holding in all her feelings that she couldn't hold it in anymore. All those times of the girls bullying and picking on her were just torture. And she had enough of it.

Rise continues to cry as she sinks down to her knees and let the tears fall. For the first time in her life, she is openly crying. She had never cried in front of anyone, not even Nana. She had been keeping her feelings held back because of the intense torment she's been hit with by the girls and now she's really crying. Even worse, Nana isn't even there to comfort her this time, which makes her even more sad.

"Are you okay?" a soft spoken voice asks.

Rise looks up to see a beautiful woman with long blonde hair blonde hair that reaches down her waist with a side bang covering her left eye. She is wearing a blue dress with brown boots and a gray hat. Looking down at the little girl, the young woman leans down to Rise's level and looks at her in concern.

"I said are you okay?" she asks again.

Rise only nods as she stands up. She had never seen a woman in her neighborhood before.

"You looked really sad over there," the blonde woman says. "Is there something wrong?"

Now, in Rise's case, she will have a hard time communicating with her since she can't speak that loudly. She looks down at the ground while fidgeting with her fingers.

"Can you speak?"

Rise shakes her head and whispers.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you," the woman says, gently.

And that hits her like a brick. With no writing tools around, she's practically humiliating herself in front of this kind woman. Suddenly, an idea pops in Rise's head. She decides to do a little Charade like communication to the woman since that's all she can do. She pantomimes writing on a notebook to the woman.

This time, the young woman understood. "Oh, sure. I can get you one." She grabs a small notebook and pen and hands it to Rise.

Rise writes down, "I can't speak. Having throat problems."

"Oh, I see," the young woman says. "I'm so sorry. How did it happen? Are you sick or something?"

Rise writes, "Something like that, yes. It's sort of difficult to explain."

"I understand. Well, I hope you throat feels better. I have to get going. I'll see you later." With that , the young woman walks past Rise with a smile on her face.

Rise turns back to the woman and watches her leave, with her blonde hair swaying in the wind. A small smile creeps on her face. She wanted to see that woman again someday.

A/N: Sorry it too so darn long to update. For starters, I had major writer's block. Second, I was writing some other stories for the time being. So, here's another chapter for you guys.

I'm so glad that you guys enjoyed the story so far. And I agree with some of you. I'm very surprised that there are no stories about Rise and Nana and they really do make cute couple. I just wish some people would write about Rise just so that I could get an idea of how to write Rise's way of speaking. But, oh well.

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