I'm on a roll. :3 Let's go further, shall we?
Somewhere around halfway to the nurse's office, Hisao was able to walk on his own without my or the pigtails girl's help. That being said, he was still extremely pale and didn't look any better despite his weak statements that he's perfectly fine. We've finally made it to nurse's office though and, thankfully, not a single problem was encountered on our way.
"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked him one more time. He nodded weakly in response. To be honest... That wasn't especially convincing. The girl raps her knuckles against the door of an office. We wait for a while before the door opens up, revealing a young man with short hair and closed eyes. He opens up the left one and I can see his eyes are blue.
"About time you two showed up." He says with a wide smile. I can't help but think about Misha's constant grin. "Thanks a bunch, Emi."
"Not a problem, Nurse." The girl with pigtails smiles slightly.
"Alright, let's go alphabetically with it. Hisao, if you please." He makes an inviting gesture, allowing Nakai to go inside.
There's a longer moment of silence between the two of us.
"Thanks for helping me out here." I finally say, trying to strike the conversation. "If it weren't for you, I doubt I could help him out just on my own."
"You're both welcome." Emi responds with a smile. My Misha-esque sense is tingling. Again. What's with all those people around? So far, of all people I talked to – discounting Hisao and Mutou – only Kenji and Shizune didn't have a perpetual smile crept across their faces. That's sort of unsettling. Perhaps that's one way to deal with your disability. Shut it out of your mind and pretend you're perfectly normal. "Though, to be honest, that looked crappy." She adds, looking a little worried. I nod. Yes, that indeed looked bad. Makes me think Hisao has some sort of a heart condition. That must suck big time for him. "And it's my fault too."
"Well, nothing long-lasting happened, I think." I respond, seeing as she really looks down because of it. "It was just an unfortunate accident." Now that I think of it, no one but Hanako and Hisao seemed very interested with my own injury. I'm glad that's the case, to be honest. "So, uh... I din't think I got your name."
"Emi Ibarazaki." She responds with a grin. She's similar to Misha alright, but her smile seems less obnoxious. Maybe it's the case of her being so moe. Short, with pigtails and... Gah! The worse part of your otakuness starts to kick in.
"Casper Stratoavis. A pleasure to meet you." I respond, tipping the hat. The fact that I wouldn't be able to wear it from tomorrow makes me cringe a little. Of course, I could, but I doubt it will go well with white-and-green uniform, being all black. "A runner, aren't you?"
"Yup." She says with a smile. "I'm a part of track and field club. The best runner out there."
"And definitely the most modest out there." I reply with slight sarcasm.
"Hey, that was mean." She says with a pout, but I can see she doesn't look all that angry. I was about to ask about the prosthesis, but I decided against it. I dunno, this would probably be too much for someone you see for the first time.
"Sorry." I respond absentmindedly. Emi smiles slightly.
"That's not a problem." She responds. "So, you two are the new guys in here?"
"Yes, that would be correct. Today is our first day in here."
"That would explain why you're still not in uniforms." I cannot hide the groan. "What?" She seems surprised.
"I don't like uniforms..." I respond after a while, making a small shrug. "Not very comfortable with ties."
"Oh. I see." It's pretty obvious that we have problems with carrying on this conversation. She's from track and field club, for crying out loud. I cannot even run one kilometer before tiring myself out. At steady pace. There's one thing though that I can consider a physical exercise that I'm not pathetic at.
Bicycle.
"So... Any sports you're doing?" She has good intentions, but it's getting harder for her to build the conversation as well.
"I'm an amateur bicyclist." I respond just as the image of my new folding bike appears in my head. Since I couldn't take my good ol' mountain bike with me, my parents decided to provide me with a new machine to move on. My new folding bike had some errors I needed to live with though, most notably a lack of its rear brake. There were at least three cases of me getting somersaulted over the handlebar. Not pretty, considering my new face hurts like hell when you so much as touch it with a little more force.
"Oh..." Seems I piqued her interest a little. "Have any clubs you're going to join?"
"Maybe a literature club. The newspaper one seems pretty interesting as well." Seeing as this isn't the answer that pleased her, I make a small shrug. "I'm not too much of a sportsperson. Maybe Hisao will, but given his condition..." Because I'm pretty sure you just can't have a prosthetic heart to go with.
"I'm pretty sure he just needs to watch for himself." Emi responded in deep thought. "Well, anyway, the coach is probably pretty pissed off at me for being out for so long. Catch you later!" She smiles before departing. The loud clicks of her artificial legs can be heard from a mile away.
Since it seems Hisao's checkup will take a while, I decide to give myself to music. I pull out my MP4 player and absentmindedly search for a track to reflect my surprisingly good mood today. Hm. "Spanish Flea" will do the trick. It was hard to achieve, but I've managed to got myself a ten minute long version. Considering how awesome this song is and how the original lasts only two minutes or so... It's a shame that the loss of my right ear cost me that much of a sound... Oh well. At least I'm not completely deaf like, say, Shizune. Now that I think about it, it must suck to be in a world where you can't hear a thing.
I'm on my fourth loop when Hisao finally comes out of the infirmary. He definitely looks better than when I last saw him.
"Now... Casper Stratoavis, was it? Come in." Nurse gives me an inviting gesture and a smile. I swear... If I had a nickel for every person that smiled to me today...
Much to my delight, my visit was fairly short. The nurse proved to be an affable guy, even if his sense of humor is hilariously bad. I got a gel to put on the other part of my face once a day before sleep. Hm. That shouldn't be a problem. It probably won't repair my ear and eye, but I could at least look a little bit more normal. I'm about to leave when nurse suddenly stops me, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Oh... Right, I almost forgot about it." He says with an apologizing smile. I'd rather you really forgotten it. "There's a matter of your... mental condition." I don't respond, letting him do the talking. The smile drops a little. "I didn't get the full review of the case, so if you'd be so kind to provide me with information about it, I'd appreciate it."
"What do you need to know?" I reply with a question, giving him a glare. I really hoped he wouldn't have mention it.
"When does it kick in?"
"Hm." Actually, that's a good question. "I suppose it's a matter of heavy emotional shock. Immense physical pain, especially the one regarding my face, could also possibly make him awaken." He starts smiling widely again.
"Well, if that's the case, I hope no-one will break your heart anytime soon." Considering Hisao is just next door, I find the joke to be... slightly disturbing. "If you're in need of a help though..." His smile drops again. "A counselor is available on the last floor. Just so you know."
"Thanks... So, are we done?"
"Oh yes, we're done." He nods enthusiastically. "If you need anything, call us straight away. There will always be someone in here to help you out." 24/7 medical staff? Okay... I suppose that this being a school for people with disabilities, such a service is necessary.
Hisao awaits me just before the infirmary. Nice of him.
"Any plans for today?" He asks me. I make a small shrug.
"I suppose I'll check the library for now..." I respond. "Checking those clubs... I think I'll leave that for tomorrow."
"Oh? I was about to go to library too." Well, what a coincidence.
"Well, no time to waste. Oh, right... You sure you're okay?" I ask him. His slight smile disappears, replaced with a frown.
"Yeah... It wasn't pleasant, but I'm good." He responds after a while.
"Hm. That Emi girl suggested you might be interested in taking look at track and field club." I mention offhandedly.
"Huh. I suppose I can give it a try... I'm not in the best of conditions right now though." I bite my tongue just as I'm about to ask about his heart condition. "Besides... I don't think Shizune and Misha will let me go."
"Huh?"
"They want me to be in Student Council." I nod slowly, thankful that they didn't ask me about it. Being a class rep is already too much for me to bear. Being a representative of all students would be nothing short of a suicide. I'm not even responsible enough to clean up the room every week or so.
Well... My old room, that is. I quickly bat the bad thought away.
"Good luck with that." I say to him. He gives a slight smile, but I can most definitely see he doesn't like the prospect of being Shizune's lackey.
Took us some time to find the library, but here we are. The place is huge and that's a welcome thing. I've always liked reading, but dropped it off at some point to be more online. Well, now that web connection here is so uncertain, I hope I can get back to that.
Surprisingly, there's no librarian in here... No one to show us around.
"Hello?" Hisao says. It is then that we hear a loud THUD! somewhere from beneath the counter, complete with a silent whimper of pain. A second later, a girl – she can't be much older than us – with glasses, red hair and definitely embarrassed expression perks up from under the counter.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't hear you coming!" She is quick to apologize.
"That's not a problem, Miss." Hisao responds, looking slightly perplexed.
"I take you're the librarian?" I ask her. She nods enthusiastically, albeit it didn't entirely cover her widened eyes. I suppose not everyone is as resistant to this.
"Yes, that would be me. My name is Yuuko Shirakawa."
"Hisao Nakai." Hisao introduces himself, giving a small bow.
"Casper Stratoavis." I follow the suit, tipping my hat. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Shirakawa-san."
"Oh, just call me Yuuko." Huh. What's that with people being so informal? That's... so not Japan-like. "Anyway, since you're new here, I take you need a small trip around?"
"That would be nice." Hisao says, nodding. The librarian smiled.
"Well, follow me then." She responds brightly.
Turns out, this library is even bigger than I expected it to be. Wow. I'm not even all that interested in what Yuuko says – something mentioning that library consists also of books written by Braille and audios – instead looking at titles of books laying peacefully on shelves. Most of those are in Japanese, though I caught a few English titles as well.
I'm not gonna lie, my Japanese still needs to be polished. By comparison, my English is probably the best known language to me. Even my native languages, German and Polish, started to get a little rusty, what with no one to talk about anything in those.
I continue to absentmindedly look at all those bookshelves before two beanbags catch my attention. They look like a nice place to sit and enjoy a book. Interestingly, one of them is taken by Hanako. The girl with a fringe is reading a book and judging from how intently her eyes dart through the content, she probably hadn't notice us. If the title of the book is anything to go by, this is some sort of a romance. Hm.
Something tells me to go and apologize her. For what? For startling her? She looked like so much as looking at her funny could send her into panic. Still... I gave a quick look to my cellphone. It was still some time before sunset. I suppose I could sit here for a while. Snatch some fantasy bo...
…
Holy shit, is that Sapkowski's "Last Wish"? In Japanese? I snatch it almost instantly. Oh boy, I hit the bullseye. Along those there's a vast number of fantasy novels here and there, mostly from American authors, though I caught one Japanese surname. I got three books for starters. Should be sufficient for now. Hisao, however, takes a different approach and quickly collects a stockpile of books to read. Yuuko seems pretty surprised.
"I developed a habit of reading." Hisao replies, making a weak shrug. "I didn't really had anything other to do in the hospital during my recuperation." He adds, providing an explanation. After all the formalities, Hisao's about to leave the library, presumably to drop it all in the dorm and begin reading.
"You're not going?" He asks me. I shake my head in response.
"I think I'll stay here for a while. The atmosphere's nice." It didn't escape me that Yuuko beamed slightly. A pleasure to serve as always.
"Sure thing. See you later." And with that, we part ways. I decide to go back to the unoccupied beanbag. Hanako's still here, reading. Hm. How to make a good second impression? The first one didn't really go well, considering she just turned away her stare and didn't say even a single word.
"Um... 'Scuse me..." I start. She looks at me and almost immediately hides her face behind the book. While her fringe does a good job at covering her face from a distance, it didn't mask the faint shape of a burn scar.
Holy shit, how big that thing could possibly be?
"Uh... Sorry for scaring you earlier morning." I say, trying to save the already doomed conversation. "I, uh... Didn't want to startle you."
"...I-it's okay." She responds with a quiet, barely audible voice.
"Well, uh..." This is getting nowhere. "Shall I introduce myself again or...?" She nods weakly. "Casper, Casper Stratoavis. A pleasure to meet you."
"...H-Hanako Ikezawa." She responds. Of course, I already know her name, courtesy of Misha, but eh.
"...Mind if I sit here?"
"...G-go ahead." She goes back to her book. Well, that went... surprisingly good, I think. At least she talked back this time.
The next hour or so is spent on both of us reading their respective novels. She seems to be an avid reader, as from the moment I talked to her to now she seems to read through almost the whole book. Every now and then, however, I would feel her eyes looking at me, presumably at my own injury. Dunno what to make of it. Perhaps she's curious, but too shy to ask such a direct question. Can't say I blame her. I suppose most people around have a story they'd like to tell to someone, but want to be absolutely certain that the person they're talking to is a friend or at least someone they can trust. The fact that no one in here asked me about it something I consider surprisingly pleasant. It's a nice change of pace.
If her burn scars are at least up from her face to her hand then it's at least half of a body, maybe a third part. That's too much for a simple accident. It had to be something big. Maybe she was in a fire...
It is then that I realize our eyes are locked in a stare. I've had to accidentally glance at her while she was doing the same. Her eyes have a purple tint to them. An awkward silence lasts for at least few seconds.
"...Can I help you?" I finally ask. She opens her mouth as if she was trying to say something, but then suddenly burns up with a massive blush and rapidly stands up.
"Ivegottodosomething!" Before I can even retort to that hasty response, she's already out of the library, holding her books closely to chest.
...What happened here?
That was most definitely an eventful day. Turns out, Hisao got ambushed by Kenji at some point and now was listening to the guy with glasses intently going about something I wasn't quite sure about. Deciding that I don't really have enough power for today to enter a wacky chatter, I decide to just shift into my room, quickly change, apply the gel and spend an hour or two trying to get some internet connection. Hm. Gotta ask someone about getting some better wi-fi here. Maybe Shizune would know.
...I'm tired. I'm tired with the perspective that this will be my new school. People are nice, even if a little weird(or, in Misha's case, very weird), but still... I will need to work on my own feeling of tact. Saying something inappropriate here may hurt much more than if I've said it my old school or anywhere else.
Gotta get used to it. It surely cannot be that bad, can it?
I suppose there might be a small delay between this chapter and another ones now that I will have less of a free time. I'll hope to post at least one more chapter this week though, so stay tuned. Read and review as always. :)