Hello!

Sorry for the long wait but here it is. The first chapter to the 'After' Arc.

Oh, Tamako, your obliviousness always amazes me but it's endearing.

After

Mute

Tamako knew she never really caught onto things at a normal speed. Never mind not noticing someone else's feelings, she was painfully slow with technology. But she had her reasons; most of her days were spent at school with her friends or at home working with her family. It was a small circle of activities that made up her treasured life. But eventually she would have to face this unknown realm called video chat.

"Okay, so next, go to your desktop and-"

"Wait!" Tamako's shriek caught Mochizou off guard, he jumped in his chair nearly losing grip of his phone.

"It says it's still installing!" She mumbles. He could picture her face flooding with red when she catches herself reacting before she can explain. He had the urge to jump on the nearest train to go see it. But this is what they were trying to solve; seeing each other.

It's been three weeks since Mochizou left for college. And two months since Midori and her other friends left. Letters were frequently passed between the two. Tamako insisted that Mochizou send her hand written letters. Mochizou argued that sending an e-mail would be quicker but Tamako retorted that "You can't keep e-mails in a box." He couldn't argue when she had a habit of slowly getting closer to him with every word she said to get him to agree.

After a small pause, Tamako started humming making Mochizou unconsciously smile.

"Tamako?" He almost whispers.

"Hm?"

He toys with a pen in his hand and his grin spreads, "W-what are you wearing?"

He hears what he could only describe as a gust of noise and panic on the other side of the call. She huffs and hears her adjusts her phone back against her ear. Mochizou lifts his hand and bites on his knuckle to keep a laugh from escaping. Tamako is still flustered by his question but quickly tries to regain composure and clears his throat.

"Mochizou!" She gasps, "Is this why you want to start video chatting?

He chuckles, "Nope. It's to see your reactions. And just. . . to see you, Tamako. Christmas is my only break but that's still a lot of time to wait to see you," His eyes flicker to the framed photograph of him and Tamako by his bed, " I really want to see you."

Out of habit Tamako looks over to the her window, where across, was Mochizou's former bedroom. Most of his things were there but the lights were always off and the curtains always shut. She bit her lip and nodded, "I want to see you too."

A ding coming from her computer made her look up, "It's finished installing!"

He sighs his relief, "Great. Now just log in and make sure it connects to your camera."

She wishes that he was here to help her finish but that would eliminate the whole reason of going through this in the first place. So, as quickly as she could, she finished up the installation and typed the number that belonged to Mochizou.

"It's dialing! It's dialing!" She raised her arm in victory and she felt her heart flutter with excitement.

Mochizou spins on his chair when he hears the program's ringtone and smiles. His hand flies over the 'answer' button and a window with Tamako's face appears. Her hair is longer than when he left and undone. Her glasses were on but slightly off place. Her wide eyes also mirrored his amazement and their frustrations of dealing with technology lifted off their shoulders. He small hands flew to cover her mouth in excitement. He hit 'end' on the phone in his palm, "It's gonna be so easy to talk to each other now."

He could feel himself deflate as Tamako flailed her arms and started showing him pictures that were on her lap. Her mouth moved and her eyes glowed but there was no sound emanating from the speakers.

"Tamako!" He mutters, "You muted your mic."