Yamato waved us over as we entered the school auditorium. His band members, some teens in his and Taichi's grade, were already here. Along with Takeru, Daisuke, Ken, Mimi (who was here from America visiting us for a little while), Sora, and Koushiro.
"Konnichiwa!" Taichi yelled out and I waved in return gesture, to allow them to see that I was glad to see them.
"Konnichiwa!" They called back, though at different times so it sounded more like "kochwawaiwa!" A smile curved my face at this sound. Such an odd word they'd made.
"Hikari! Come over here. You can help me sort these cords! No one else will!" Koushiro called from his spot on the stage where he sat, legs hanging off the edge of the stage. He had a mess of cords and wires, obviously not very well taken care of.
Of course! I'd be happy too. I signed as I jogged over, pulling off my jacket. Reaching the stage, I put my jacket on it and turned so my back was to it. Putting my hands on the stage behind me, I hoisted myself up onto the stage, sitting off the edge like Koushiro. I turned to adjust my jacket and caught Yamato's drummer, Haku I believe his name is, looking over at me. I smiled and waved, a geasture of friendliness. He gave me an odd look but after a few second, gave a small wave back before turning to his work. Wonder what that was about?
"Apparently, Yamato has no clue how to use these," Koushiro held up a cord sorter (those thin little velco strips that you can hold cords with. Forgot what they were called... XP) to show me what "these" were, and continued, "so now we have to go through, wrap the cords, and put a cord sorts on each one."
A cough was heard behind us, and a small laugh from the people who stood on the ground in front of us. Koushiro and I turned to see Yamato standing behind us. "No clue how to use it, huh?" One of his blond brows raised in question. Koushiro gave a small, sheepish laugh.
"Well... ya see... umm..." Koushiro was having difficulty saying exactly what he meant, and for that, I giggled. I made no noise when I giggled, just hiding my mouth behind my hand as my body moved slightly at the movement of the giggle. I poked Koushiro to get his attention and that made both him and Yamato look at me. Are you afraid of Yamato? I signed, a small grin upon my face. "Of course not! I just..." You are so scared of him! Admit it! Why else would you stammer? I was having fun teasing Koushiro.
"Hey, Koushiro, can I talk to you. Alone?" Yamato asked, looking down at both of us from his standing position above us, I noticed he was looking more at me than Koushiro. You see, I've never actually met Yamato, as Takeru and Yamato don't live together. I've seen him a couple times, at school and such, but I've never once actually talked to him, nor do I even know if Taichi told him about me. Maybe I should ask? Koushiro shuffled, getting ready to get up, but I stopped him instantly by placing my hand on his knee. He looked at me, confused. I place my other hand on my chest, showing that I would be the one to leave. I grabbed my jacket and hopped off the stage, heading over to where Takeru and Taichi were talking, but I stopped walking when I heard Yamato ask Koushiro his question.
"Who was that?" Yamato asked, my sharp ears catching it. I've always been a good listener, my ears sharp and catching almost every noise that was made. I listened, standing where I was, pretending to put on my jacket, making a little show of it so they wouldn't think I was actually listening in on them.
"Uhh... Yamagi Hikari. Don't you know her?" Koushiro's confused voice answered. "I figured you would, seeing as your best friend is her older brother."
"No, actually," Yamato answered. "I've never met her before. Taichi told me he had a sister named Hikari, but that was it."
"Do you know she's mute?" Koushiro asked.
There was silence, then, "No, I didn't know. Taichi didn't mention that."
This angered me. I don't know why, but it did, yet it also made me smile. Taichi didn't refer to me as Hikari, my mute sister, just Hikari, my sister. He didn't go around telling everyone I was mute, which made me smile, yet it also made me mad. If Taichi didn't tell them I was mute, they wouldn't bother to learn sign language, which means that I would never talk to Yamato. Not that I thought he would talk to me anyway, but that was not the point!
I didn't want to hear the rest, so I continued over to Taichi and Takeru, not really wanting to go over to them. I suddenly felt... wrong in a way, like it was bad being me. First Haku giving me that weird look and then Yamato actually calling Koushiro away to talk privately about me. What next?
"Hikari!" Sora called and waved to me, ushering me over. Mimi was next to her, or rather, above her, stand on the ladder that Sora was holding steady. I turned and headed over, smiling and returning the wave. "Thank gods you came over. Could you steady the ladder for me? I've gotta..."
"She's gotta piss, really badly," Daisuke said, standing up from his crouched position by a speaker, which he had just set down. "She wanted me to hold the ladder for her, but I've got other things to do. I would hold it, but Yamato will kill me."
I nodded to Sora and she smiled at me, waiting till I was holding the ladder before she fled to the bathroom to relieve herself. I chuckled, my shoulders moving in the joyful mannor of a laugh. I took this opportunity to look around. All of Yamato's band members were on stage, checking out the equipment and such. Takeru, Taichi, and Ken were setting up a table near the back. Daisuke was moving speakers to where Yamato instructed them to be. Mimi was currently hanging some decoration, which was obviously hers and Sora's job. Koushiro was back to untangling the mass of cords and waved me over to help him again. I held up a hand to signal that I would come and help as soon as Sora got back. Koushiro gave a thumbs up, showing that he understood.
"Alright, I'm good now!" Sora chirped happily as she came jogging back and resumed what she was doing. "Go and help, Koushiro. Heaven knows no one else will." Sora smiled warmly. Sora had always been like a sister to me, for as long as I can remember she has been with us. I knew Sora back when I could talk, Taichi and I did. She went with Taichi when he went to learn sign language, so she could talk to me as well. She actually learned it quicker than Taichi, so for about a month we could talk about him and he wouldn't know it because we would just sign to each other. With each friend Sora and Taichi made, I got a new friend as well. Everyone in our group knew sign language, or was learning, all except Takeru and Yamato. Takeru was learning, though, but he'd only been learning for about a month now. By the way Yamato spoke to Koushiro, I don't think he knows any sign language.
"Hey, welcome back, Hikari!" Koushiro greeted as I walked up to the stage. "Yamato has another box of cord he'd like us to organize. They aren't for this, but he figured he'd use us to help him organize some other stuff." I smiled. That's ok with me. I like helping. Koushrio nodded. "I know. The box is back stage, so could you go get that and then we'll sort cords together." I nodded and bound off, going around the stage to the stairs in the back.
Haku was standing at the top, blocking my path, along with another boy, who's name I didn't know at all. I couldn't exactly ask them to move, so I cleared my throat, but it didn't get their attention. They were to busy talking to each other to hear me. It was times like these that embarrass me. I'm shy and timid unless I'm by someone I know, but I didn't know either of these boys and I didn't want to just push past. Timidly, I moved my hand forward and gently tugged on Haku's sleeve. This got his attention and he looked down at me.
"Yes?" He asked, almost sounded annoyed that I had interupted them. I blushed from embarrassment and they saw that and looked at me, one of Haku's eyebrows cocking up in confusion. I opened my mouth, than closed it, really unsure of what to do. "Hey, girly? What do you want? You deaf or something?" I shook my head. I wasn't deaf, I was mute! Jerk. "Do you speak Japanese?" Now how was I suppose to answer that. I couldn't speak it, but I know it, I sign it. I just stood there, unsure of what to say. The boy I didn't know leaned over to Haku and whispered, not to quietly, as I could still hear him, "Maybe she's mental. Or just dumb."
That comment stung. People had often thought something was wrong with me when I didn't answer them but they had never direction called me dumb or mental. Not to my face or within my hearing, so I didn't know wheither anyone had called me dumb. It hurt, really. I had good scores in school, keeping up on my work and I knew quite enough to get passed. I was even taking a higher math class than my brother because I study hard. Dumb was defaintly something I wasn't. I felt tears form in my eyes. I'd never been one to take bad things well. Taichi often called me moody, but Mom referred to it as emotional.
"She's not deaf, nor is she dumb or mental," an icey voice broke in. I looked up to see Yamato standing a bit behind them, his arms crossed over his chest, a dangerous look in his eyes. "She's mute. There's nothing wrong with her."
"Sorry," Haku held up his hands, though his voice held sarcasm. "Didn't mean to insult your girlfriend, dude."
Yamato glared at him at him. "She's not my girlfriend. Just be nice to her." Great, now they were talking like I wasn't even there!
"Why? It's not like she could actually tell us to be nice," No Name said, shrugging his shoulder. I felt the tears again. How could they just stand there and talk like I wasn't directly behind them? Hadn't we established that I wasn't deaf?
"That's not the point!" Yamato growled as he looked passed them and to me. Pity. I saw pity in his eyes. I get it. He wasn't helping me because it was the right thing to do, he was helping because he thought it was the only thing to do. He pitied me for not being able to talk. To defend myself. I'd heard enough.
I shoved past them, all of them, and grabbed the box that had the cords in it. I marched over to where Koushiro sat at the edge of the stage and set the box down. Koushiro looked up at me as if to ask what took so long. Before he could actually speak though I put my hand up to stop him, shaking my head. I didn't want to tell him.
"Hey, Hikari, right?" I heard Haku say. I turned to look at him. "Hey, I'm sorry, ok?" He sounded sincere enough, except for the fact that Yamato was still behind him, watching him like a hawk. Yamato told him to apologize and was making sure he did it correctly. I glared and turned to Koushiro. Tell him what I'm saying. Don't ask about it, I'll tell you later. Koushiro nodded and stood.
"Don't you dare apologize to me," Koushiro said, while watching me sign. "I know you don't mean it and you know you don't mean it. I'm not dumb or mental. I can hear better than you can, by far, and I don't need an apologie from a jerk." Koushiro hadn't exactly said it with vigor or anything, but it had gotten the point across. Everyone in the audotorium had heard it, too, and was now looking over, confused. Taichi, though, looked angry.
"Hey, look, I apologized. What more do you want?" Haku said.
I signed one more thing before I turned and jumped off stage, heading towards the door. I heard Koushiro tell him what I wanted. "For you to mean it, without Yamato to tell you to." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taichi hand whatever it was he was holding to Ken and he followed, heading out the door, which I slammed shut. I'm pretty sure it echo throughout the auditorium, too.