Two Queens

Act I - Repair

Chapter One: Yamaku

I began to realize that I was becoming increasingly nervous as I walked through the halls of of Yamaku. It was partially due to the unfamiliarity of my surroundings, and the fact that I didn't know what to expect.

Finally, I stopped in my tracks and looked around me. Am I lost?

"Excuse me." came a voice from behind, making me jump. I turned to see a rather depressing looking man standing there, dawning a black button-up and tie, along with a long, brown jacket. He had no facial expression, and all I could think upon seeing him was: What a downer...

I realized that I was just standing there, looking stupid. "I u-um...Do you know where Class 3-3 is?" I asked him with a slight smile.

He raised an eyebrow at me, then pointed beside me. I looked over and saw, to my dismay, the class number was clearly marked above the door there.

"Oh..." I said simply. I turned back to the man and saw that he had his hand extended towards me.

"I'm Mutou. I'm assuming you are Hisako Na...Ni...Niki?" the man stumbled with my last name for a moment and looked around awkwardly.

"Nakai." I corrected him, lightly shaking his hand. He nodded.

"I'll be your homeroom and science teacher. The nurse asked me to tell you to go get a quick check-up, so I waited in the lobby for you...But you came in and left before I could call out to you." Mutou told me with no emotion.

I felt my face turn pink a bit. "S-Sorry!" I told him, bowing respectfully.

When I looked back up, Mutou glanced at his watch. "I'm a bit late to class as it is, so you'll have to go see the nurse on your own time." he told me, and I nodded to him. "Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"

I nodded, and he turned to the door, opening it and making his way in. Whatever talking that was going on turned to whispers and mumbles as Mutou headed to stand in front of his desk.

"Good morning everyone, sorry I'm late again." he said. I took a step towards the door, but froze in place.

Dammit, pull it together! I told myself, This is going to be hard, but...You've just got to work with it.

I wasn't one for crowds, and the thought of having a class full of eyes staring at me while I fumbled for words ...It was pretty unsettling.

However, I was able to work up my nerves and step inside of the classroom. Once inside, I made my way over to where Mutou was standing and looked around the room, not wanting to meet the gaze of my peers.

I noted that the classroom was a good size, with a spacious ceiling and plenty of room around the desks. The fact that the only thing on the back wall was a blackboard, and the windows in the room were tall and old-fashioned, only made it seem bigger.

After a few moments, my eyes eventually settled on my new classmates. From first glance, they appeared to be pretty normal. But then again, why would they be here if they were?

I began to pick out a few details without allowing myself to get caught looking. One girl at the front looked aloof to whatever was going on, and had a bandage around where he left hand should be. Another, by the windows, had fake legs that would not have been noticeable at all had I not been looking.

Mutou had started giving a speech about my arrival, but I wasn't really paying attention to it. A flash of dark hair moved my eyes to the back of the room, where an eye-catching girl is staring at me. Upon seeing me look back at her, she places a hand over the right side of her face, as if it will make her invisible.

Beside her was a boy with his eyes closed and a cane leaning against the small lockers beside him. It was odd seeing someone so young with a cane.

Movement dragged my eyes over to my right, where two girls were taking turns with making various hand signals. Sign language? The girl with the glasses gazed at me for a moment, then went back to whatever she was doing.

"...please welcome our newest classmate." the end of Mutton's speech tuned into my mind, mainly due to the lack of enthusiasm in it.

I was surprised when Mutou began to clap, and the others followed suit, except for the dark girl in the front whom only had one hand. I cringed a little, but bowed respectfully not to let it show.

Once the applause was done, I realized that I should probably say something. "I-I'm Hisako Nakai," I said, stumbling a bit at first, "My hobbies are reading and soccer. Um...I hope to get along with you all." I told them, bowing to stop my nervousness from showing.

There was silence for a few moments, before Mutou finally took it that I was done. I stood up straight and zoned out again as he began to talk about helping me settle in at the school. I took one last sweep across the classroom with my gaze, noticing that most people were only half-paying attention, and only a few girls were murmuring and looking my way. The few boys in the class seemed indifferent.

Well, it could have gone worse.

The class began to clap again. The girl with the missing hand joined in, tapping her good arm on the wood of the table. I felt a little bad and adverted my attention.

"Alright," Mutou began to say to me, "We're doing group work today, so this will be a good time for you to get to know some of your classmates. Is that alright with you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's fine." I answered. If I was able to make a friend or two, the upcoming weeks may not be so bad.

"Good. You can work with Hakamichi. She's the class representative." Mutou told me, "If you have any questions, she'll answer them for you."

Everyone broke the silence, and I turned to see them getting into groups, ready to do the assignment. Mutou took some papers off of his desk and began to disperse them...

But I simply stood there, looking around. Who is Hakamichi? Mutou finally realized that I was lost, and his face showed that he realized his error.

"Oh, right. Hakamichi is right over there. Shizune Hakamichi." he told me, nodding towards the bespectacled girl I saw before, and a bubbly-looking girl with an odd, pink-colored hairstyle, who waved at me.

Sure enough, beside the pink-haired girl was an empty seat. I took it, and, as I sat down, the girl suddenly got in my face, causing me to move back in surprise. "Hello!~" she said in a cheery tone.

"Um...Hi." I replied, feeling myself blush a little. Seeing this, the girl moved back and gave me a grin. Not wanting to seem like I'm shy, I continued, "You must be Hakamichi right? I-It's nice to meet you."

The girl paused for a moment, then laughed loudly. It took me off guard.

"It's nice to meet you too, but!...I'm not Hakamichi, I'm Misha! This is Hakamichi Shicchan~!" she exclaimed, pointing at the girl beside her, whom I noticed had been staring at me the whole time. She nodded to me, and I raised my hand in greetings, but she turned back to the paper in front of her.

"Um, it's nice to meet you." I told her. She looked over at me, then at Misha. They began to exchanged a few signs, so fast that I couldn't even attempt at picking out their meanings.

"You look kind of confused," Misha said, turning back to me, beaming. "You see, Shicchan is deaf, so I'm the one who translates things back and forth for her! I'm like an interpreter!" She laughed slightly as if the thought amused her. "Oh, and she says it's nice to meet you too!"

I felt a slight blush come onto my face. I just tried to talk to a deaf person, I thought with a sigh.

"What's the matter?" Misha asked, giving a small, pouting-like frown my way.

"O-Oh, nothing. I guess I just have to get used to my surroundings..." I told her. Misha laughed, and it took me off-guard yet again.

"It's a big change, isn't it?" she said. Then, seeing Hakamichi beginning to sign something, she turned towards her, then back to me again. "Shicchan says that you can ask her anything you want to know!~ And you can ask me too, Hisako!"

"Well...I don't think I need to know anything right now, really..." I told them. Misha pouted a little at that response, but brightened up quickly.

"Well~! If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask! At lunch, we can show you around if you want!" Misha told me with a smile. I nodded.

"T-Thank you." I said. Hakamichi- No, I guess I should call her Shizune, just so I'm not too formal, began to sign something, and Misha suddenly looked flustered.

"Oh yeah! We better get to work on the assignment!" she exclaimed, quickly turning to the paper in front of her. It was in that moment that I noticed she was still signing. It must be a natural instinct for her to sign everything that she says for Shizune.

We moved our desks closer together, and we began to work on the assignment, which, to my relief, was something we had covered in my old school a couple of months ago.

Besides the slightly awkward beginning, I realized that this school may not be so bad after all. I looked around the room at my new classmates, who were chatting with their groups happily. I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I was able to see them as happy students, not ones with disabilities...

Then, I noticed the dark-haired girl at the back of the classroom stand up slowly, not making a sound. If I hadn't been looking, I probably wouldn't have heard her. Mutou looked up at saw her though as she crept across the back of the classroom and exited through the back door.

What was that about? I wondered. For a moment, I pondered on whether I should bring it up or not.

"Um, why did that girl just stand up and leave?" I asked. Misha turned to me and raised an eyebrow, then glanced back to where the girl was sitting moments before.

She turned back to me and opened her mouth to explain, but then stopped and thought about it for a moment. "Well, Hanako is...kind of anxious. But even so, I don't think she should skip class so much~! Shicchan and I will get onto her later." Misha exclaimed.

With that, Misha seemed to drop the subject. I, on the other hand, became more interested.

Lunch time came rather quickly. Most of the students stood and quickly left the class to go eat, leaving only me, Misha, and Shizune.

"Alright~! Hisako, you can come with us to Lunch!" Misha exclaimed, shooting up out of her chair. Shizune stood up slower and much less energetic.

"Um, I'm not really hungry at the moment," I told them, "Could you tell me where the Library is?" It wasn't a complete lie, since my appetite had been off since I was in the hospital, but I also didn't feel like being in an unfamiliar, crowded lunch room at the moment.

Misha looked disappointed. "Aww, but we could tell you more about the school~!" she exclaimed. From behind, Shizune signed a few things to her, looking a bit disappointed too.

"Ah, okay Shicchan~!" Misha said to her. Turning back to me, she said, "The Library is just down the hall. You can ask someone if you get lost~!" There seemed to be a bit of hostility in her voice, but her playful pouting expression made me realize that it was being used jokingly.

"Erm, thanks..." I told them, nodding to Shizune and picking up my bag, quickly leaving the classroom.

I knew I would end up getting lost, but walking through the empty halls helped clear my head a bit. I hope I didn't seem too rude or anything, I thought as I explored around, looking for the Library.

Maybe this is it? I wondered, approaching a door that had no other doors beside it. It looks like it's got enough space to be the Library. I set a hand on the knob and opened the door slowly.

Sunlight from a window in the room hit my eyes, and I had to adjust for a moment. However, I quickly realized that I wasn't in the library, for the room was much too small...

And two figures sat at the table near the windows. One looking calmly forward, her blonde hair very bright in the sunlight. The other was one whom I recognized: Hanako. She was looking at me with an expression of surprise.

"Oh?"the blonde-haired girl spoke up, looking my way, but more towards the ground. "Who is it?"

I realized quickly that she must be blind, mainly from the lack of expression in her eyes. "U-Um, sorry, I was looking for the library and..." I trailed off, feeling myself blush a little.

Hanako had turned her head to look out the window, one hand covering her face like before, as if she was hoping I hadn't seen her there.

"S-Sorry for intruding..." I said, beginning to close the door...

However, I stopped as the blonde-haired girl asked, "Would you like to join us?"

I stopped and glanced at the table in front of them. They were having tea, which wasn't exactly my favorite. Hanako seemed surprised by the girl's question, and looked at her as if pleading to take it back.

"Um...Sure." I answered, not wanting to turn down the invitation. I closed the door, then stepped up to the table and cautiously took the seat beside Hanako, hoping she wouldn't jump up and run away...

But to my surprise, she didn't. I glanced over at her and caught something that I didn't see before: On her right hand was a scar, which appeared to trail up her arm length. Seeing me out of the corner of her eye, Hanako turned to me in surprise, and I couldn't help but be startled by what I saw:

The right side of her face was scarred. Her bangs hid most of it, but it was still visible. I noticed the texture of it, and realized that it must be from a burn. Seeing my reaction, Hanako covered her scar with her hand and jumped up out of her chair, then made her way over to the door, leaving quickly.

"W-Wait!" I called to her, but she was already gone.

The blonde-haired girl sighed, and I noticed that she had a surprised look on her face, probably wondering what had happened.

"I-I'm sorry..." I told her, although I know I should probably apologize to Hanako.

"It's okay..." the girl said, "Hanako is very...Frail, I should say." she told me.

Obviously, I thought, still feeling bad about what happened. I thought back to the burn markings, and how Hanako was always trying to hide them.

How can I let others feel pity for me, when there are people as hurt as that in this school?...

Surely my broken heart doesn't compare to visible scars...Does it?

To Be Continued

Next Chapter - Apologies