Looking for Kana's Eyes, parts 13 - 17
This story was written online as part of the Kana: WAFFO! (Write A Fun Fanfic Online) project. Odd-numbered instalments were written by JPop4Life, and even-numbered instalments were written by Darkling.
13.
It's time...
"...so we're going with soft contacts and..."
The lady is helping Kana with her choice of contacts while I'm sitting down looking at a magazine. I offered to help Kana, but she decided she wanted to handle this on her own.
"Okay. So we'll go with this, then."
Kana nods as the lady takes the rest of the paperwork. Kana sits next to me.
"Everything okay?" I ask.
"Everything's fine," she says.
"Kana Todo?"
A gentleman comes from the back, asking for Kana. It must be the doctor for her eye exam. Kana stands up and heads with him.
"I'm Doctor Tanaka. Please come with me."
"I'll be back soon, Bro." Kana waves as she walks into the back room.
"Please have a seat."
I sit down in the examination chair and look around. The room is dimly lit, and there's a big contraption full of lenses and stuff.
The doctor asks some simple questions since I've never had an eye exam before. He writes his notes down and begins the examination.
"Okay... Put your chin here for me, please."
Doctor Tanaka brings the lens contraption in front of me.
"This will help us figure out what we need for your eyes."
I follow every instruction he gives me, trying the best I can with what he asks.
"Okay. I'm going to just look at your left eye first. Now..."
He turns off the lights, but I can see a reflection of light with some letters.
"Let me see if you can read... this line for me, please."
"Um... A, V... uhhh, Z, E and T?"
"You only see five letters, Kana?"
"Think so," I uncertainly say.
"Well... let's see how you do with this."
"Um... T, U... um, 5-"
"5? Well, let's try something else. Just so you know, there are no numbers, Kana."
"Oh!"
The letters move and they're larger than the ones before. It's easier to read those.
"Let's see... B, V, C, F, T, O."
It goes on like that for a little bit then he swings around some lenses.
"Okay... How does this look?"
He flips a glass lens down and it clears my vision.
"Good."
"How about this..."
That goes on for a while, then he moves to my other eye and repeats the process.
"Okay, Kana... Now I'm going to look at your eyes and see if they're healthy."
He shines a light in my eye.
Oh, good god!
The bright light hits my retina, almost making me want to shut my eye. But I endure the procedure.
"Good... Now I'm going to put this in your eyes. You'll feel a bit of pressure and I'll look at your eyes again."
Before I get a chance to say anything he tilts my head back and squeezes a couple of drops in each of my eyes.
AAAAHHHHHH!
I've never had anything in my eyes before. I feel the pressure he talks about and it makes me want to cry.
"I'll need you to try to keep them open, please."
It must be the most difficult thing I've had to do. I try to force my eyes open but it seems I'm only doing half as good of a job I should. I feel liquid run down the sides of my cheeks.
Must... keep... eyes... open...
"Okay. That's it. Your eyes look good."
He hands me a box of tissues which I quickly grab and begin to clean my face. Doctor Tanaka finishes explaining what my eyes mean.
Basically, I'm near sighted. I can see better closer than I can far away. I do need glasses badly, he says. But everything went well. With that, he leads me back to the front desk.
"All right, Kana. We have your prescription and everything is set. It will take about fourteen business days for them to come in."
"Okay. Thank you," I say.
I catch up with Bro on the way out as we head back home.
"So how did it go?" he asks.
"It was hard with him shining his light in my eyes, and the stuff he put in them," I say, scratching my eyes.
He laughs. "Well, you better get used to that sort of thing."
"I think it'll be easier when I do it. Besides, if Miki can do it then why can't I?"
"Hmm..."
It's the last word he speaks before changing the subject as we both head back home.
14.
"Bro?"
"Hmm?" I turn to look at Kana, who's sitting next to me in the train carriage. Brief flashes of light dart across her face as the sun glances off the buildings nearby. Her eyes still look a bit bleary, but they're getting clearer.
Ka-thunk-ka-THUNK, ka-thunk-ka-THUNK...
"I was just, um, wondering..." she starts, then trails off, looking down at her white sneakers. "...if you... th-that is, what you thought... of..."
"Kana?"
She's still not looking at me. The train rocks gently as it hurtles down the track. Our stop will be coming up soon. Mom and Dad won't be home tonight, so Kana and I are going to have dinner together. Well, actually, Kana's going to cook dinner. She wanted to repay me for going with her to the optometrist's today.
Kana bites her lip, her brow creasing slightly. "Um... how long it's going to take," she says, finally, her shoulders slumping. "Don't you think fourteen days is a long time?"
"Contacts can't be easy to make," I say, offhandedly, not knowing much about the subject. "And companies like that have a lot of clients to cater for."
"Yes," Kana murmurs, with a sigh. "People need to replace their contacts every few weeks, so you have to keep ordering new ones."
"Kana?" I reach over and take her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Her eyes widen, then she turns and looks at me, her violet eyes warm. "It'll be okay," I tell her. "It'll all be fine."
She smiles. "I know, Bro." Her fingers tighten around mine. "I just... Oh."
The train flashes past a huge billboard advertising cellular phones. It's a close-up of a girl's face, holding the phone up next to her to show how small it is. The slogan reads: 'Choose your look.'
"It's a nice phone," I say, non-committally.
"No, I was..." Kana's head droops again. "I was looking at the girl."
"You want one of those that you can keep in your pocket?" I tease.
"Bro!" she sputters, in protest. "Don't be so... so... dirty!"
"Well, what was it, then?" I ask.
"I... I see her in a lot of ads," Kana says, wistfully. "I think she has beautiful eyes. Brown eyes... so warm and friendly. Don't you think, Bro?"
I shrug. "I've never really noticed her before."
"So you... you don't think brown eyes are pretty?"
"I didn't say that. But..." I let my head tilt back a bit as I picture the girl on the billboard again. She was definitely pretty, yes, in a photo model kind of way. But still... "I prefer your eyes, Kana."
"M-mine?" She looks frightened for some reason. I look at her again and smile.
"Your eyes have always been the prettiest to me."
"Ah." Her cheeks start to colour slightly. "I... uh..."
I tighten my grip on her hand again. "You'll look just fine, Kana," I tell her. "After all, no-one will be able to see the contacts, right? You won't look any different to the way you did before."
Kana's fingers twitch briefly in my grasp. She sighs.
"Yes. I guess..."
15.
Taking care of the store, reading my books and watching TV, all I could think about was how the new contacts were going to make all of this easier... even possible. The phone rings and I answer it. The conversation finishes, and I slowly set the phone down with a smile.
...They're here.
I'm at the optometrist's office, awaiting my contacts. The lady brings me a small box and opens it up. She begins to explain what's inside.
"This is where you put your contacts. And this is your cleaning solution. Remember to take them out every night and make sure you clean them every time before you put them in your eyes."
"Okay... Thank you. Um... when do I have to get new contacts again?" I ask.
"Oh, not for another month. We have you already on schedule, so you can just come by every month and pick them up."
"Oh, I see... Thank you."
I grab my new contacts and head home to try my new eyes for the first time.
I've laid out all of the stuff on the bathroom counter and begin to quickly prepare my contacts for use.
"Okay... make sure my hands are clean..."
-washing hands-
"...then I take the contact and clean it with the solution."
-drip... drip... drip-
"...then I just lift up my eye and-"
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"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
16.
"Hey, Kana."
"Bro!" I look at him, smiling, as he walks up to the counter. It's late morning and the street outside is almost painfully bright, as usual at this time of year. The sun glares off car windows as they drive past outside, and casts bright halos around the shoppers walking down the street. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon!"
He grins at me as I step out from behind the counter, then gives me a brief hug. He doesn't like to venture into 'employee territory' when he's here. ("Someone might think I actually work here!" was the way he put it when I asked.)
"So?" he asks, drawing back and looking at my face appraisingly.
I blush instinctively under his scrutiny. "Um... so...?"
"Your new eyes, silly!" He laughs. "You got your contacts yesterday, right? How are they?"
"Oh!" I summon a smile from somewhere. "They're great, Bro. I don't know how I got by without them. Everything is so much clearer now."
"That's great, Kana! See? It wasn't such a big deal after all, was it?"
"Not... at all!" I manage, keeping the bright smile plastered on my face. "I honestly don't know what I was making such a fuss about..."
"I'm glad." He grins at me for a moment, then looks back over his shoulder, casually. "Hey, Kana, do you like that girl's skirt?" he asks, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the street.
"Skirt?" I turn and look where he indicated, but no matter how hard I squint, I can't make anything out. Then I have to hide the amount of effort I was making as he turns around to face me again.
"Yeah, that girl over there in the green skirt. It's pretty, don't you think?"
"Oh, her!" I laugh. I can just barely make out a greenish blob across the street. "I don't think it would suit me, but it looks good on her."
"Kana, that's a rubbish bin," Bro says.
"It is?" I laugh again, though it sounds more nervous than amused now. "The things they make skirts out of these days..."
"Kana, you're not wearing your contacts, are you?"
"I, uh... of course I am. It's just so bright out there, and-"
"Kana."
"They hurt!" I wail. "I put one of them in yesterday and no-one told me it would feel like that! There was... there was something in my eye! It just felt all wrong. It did!"
"So you're not going to wear them?" He doesn't sound disappointed, and he doesn't sound disapproving. His voice is very carefully neutral, and I sigh, knowing what that means. He's going to appeal to my common sense, the way he always does, without making an argument out of it. Oh, I hate it when he does that! It's like he... he thinks he knows me so well that... that...
Abruptly, I feel really warm inside. Warm, and almost embarrassed. Because he does know me that well.
He does.
"Remember when we went and bought you those sneakers?" he asks, pointing at my feet.
I nod, biting my lip.
"You said they were too tight, and that they pinched your toes. We tried some different styles, but you didn't like the way those looked, so we kept coming back to these. And what did I tell you?"
"You said... you said they'd get more comfortable," I murmur. "You said I'd get used to them."
"And did you?"
"Well, yes. But-"
"You have to give it time. You have to give yourself time. Kana?" He reaches out and gently lifts my chin with one finger. I look up at him reluctantly. His eyes are so kind. "No-one's around at the moment," he says, encouragingly. "Come on, Kana. Let's go give them another try."
I can't help but smile at him. "Okay, Bro."
17.
"Come on, Kana, you can do it."
Bro watches me as I stare at my contact case. I slowly open it up and pull out the contact. It sits on my finger, but I can't bring it any closer to my eye.
"Kana? Do you need any-"
"I'm fine, Bro. I can do this."
It's no problem. It just simply goes into my eye. Everyone does it all the time. There's no reason I can't do it too.
I take my free hand and hold my eye open. Slowly... I bring the contact to my eye...
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I quickly pull it away.
"Come on, Kana. You can do this," Bro cheers me.
"I can do this... I can do this..." I chant.
Again I try. I hold my eye open. I bring the contact upwards. Just a little bit more...
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"Ah!"
No good.
I closed my eye at the last moment, not being able to follow through.
"You need to keep your eye open, Kana."
"Ah... hai."
Why can't I do this?
I look at myself in the mirror. I stare into my deep purple eyes. Those eyes that are so different from everyone else's.
I face myself. I gain my courage and composure. Again, I bring my contact to my eye.
"I'll do it this time."
Determined to overcome this, I keep my eye open and bring it into my eye.
I can change.
I put the contact into my-
"Itai!"
"Kana!? Are you okay?"
"Ugh... I'm fine, Bro."
I poked my eye with my finger. The contact didn't stay in my eye and still rests on my finger.
"It's okay, Kana. You're almost there."
Moisture builds up in my eye. I quickly rub it, wiping growing tears away. I refocus myself again.
This time I'm going to do it. Nothing's going to be accomplished unless I do this.
Again I go for it. I hold my eye open, I bring the contact towards me, I slowly... ever so gently, place it in my eye.
It's in! I got the contact in my eye. I feel a little bit of pressure, but it doesn't really hurt. However, I'm covering my eye at the unnatural feeling of it.
"I did it, Bro!"
"That's great, Kana! Let me take a look."
Bro gently moves my hand covering my eye and looks at me.
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"Kana?"