Chapter 2

One Fateful Meeting

The next day, Rise leaves her house, saying her quiet good-byes to her parents, who are just too busy talking with each other. After closing the door, the dark-haired girl walks to the train station to travel to the middle school. Just another day of loneliness. When will it ever end? She still wishes to make friends, but now it's impossible for her considering how quiet and shy she is. She even wonders if she'll ever make a friend with this personality.

Right before the train leaves, Rise is about to get on when a girl with short red hair sprints to the station and stops to catch her breath. She randomly turns to Rise and asks, "Am I late yet?"

Rise shakes her head and whispers.

"Oh, good! Thank you!"

Rise whispers a "No problem" wondering how in the world could this girl understand her. The two walk in the train together and sit on one of the seats as the train leaves the station. Both are silent throughout the whole ride, except Rise stealing some glances at the red haired girl. She is still wondering why this girl is able to understand her through her whispers, just like Nana.

By the time the train arrives at the next station, both of the girls exit the train and head toward the school. The warning bell rings, causing the red-haired girl to panic.

"Oh, no! I'm going to be so late!" she starts to sprint down the path to the entrance without even realizing that one of her notebooks fell out of her bag.

Rise was going to tell the girl this, but because of her talking in quiet whispers, she knows that it's impossible to reach her in time. She slowly walks over and picks up the notebook and reads the name "Akari Akaza" in the front cover. She will have to remember to return it to her later.

Throughout the morning, Rise saw no signs of Akari anywhere between the next 3 periods. Then again, she doesn't even know Akari's schedule, so it's a little impossible to track her down that way. Maybe she'll find her during lunch time. If she doesn't find her there, all she could do is look for her after school. She really needed to return that notebook to Akari because it's very important for her, and Rise knows that.

By the time lunch came around, Rise is still unable to find Akari anywhere, where it would be in the cafeteria or outside where the other girls are. So, she just sat and ate by herself while staring at the notebook. Various scenarios form in her head on how Akari reacted when she lost her notebook and realized that someone must have taken it. Rise is not going to give up that easily, for she knows that she must return it after school immediately or if she's lucky, between afternoon classes.

Finally, when the time came, Rise rushes out of the classroom and looks around for the girl she's been searching for all day. Nothing. While every girl is exiting the school and getting emptier and emptier, Rise looks at the notebook and clutches it tightly. She's still not going to give in just because she's failed to find the student that lost something very important, so she rushes down the halls and continues her search. However, her search is short lived when . . .

BAM!

She accidentally hits someone when she's not looking and both of them topple over to the floor. Both slowly recover while rubbing their heads in pain as they look up and their eyes widen in shock.

"H-hey!" Akari says while pointing her finger at her. "You're that girl from this morning!"

Rise nods as she whispers and stands up. She holds out her hand, offering to help Akari get up, in which the red-haired girl accepts.

"Thank you," she says. "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Rise shakes her head and whispers.

"You have something to give me, you say?" Akari asks.

The quiet girl nods again as she holds out the notebook. Akari's eyes widen in happiness as she takes it and gives her a hug.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she says, happily. "I was looking for that all day! I would have never had it back if I didn't find you!"

Rise lets out a small smile from her face as she returns it. Both of them pull away after about a minute.

"Oh, um, would you like to, um . . . walk together to the train station?" Akari asks while fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

Rise whispers, wanting to know she's not hearing things.

"Well, sure! I mean . . . we're the only ones here now and we have to catch the train before it leaves in a few minutes, right?"

Rise nods as she grabs her bag and whispers.

"Yes! Oh, by the way, my name is Akari Akaza! What's yours?"

Rise whispers her name.

"Rise Matsumoto. What a nice name! Well, nice to meet you, Rise-chan!" Akari holds out her hand, in which Rise gently grips it and shakes it. She had never been called "Rise-chan" other than her family. Still, that's very nice of her to call her that.

With that, the two exit the school together with smiles on their faces. For Rise, she had never walked with anyone before in her life. And now she is with her new friend, Akari, which makes her very happy.

Once the two get on the train, they sit next to each othwr in the same seats as they did this morning and stay silent for about a few more minutes before the train leaves.

Akari fiddles with the hem of her skirt before turning to Rise. "S-so, um, Rise-chan . . . how have you been? I've never seen you before."

Rise whispers her situation.

"Oh, I see," Akari says while nodding. "You've been having a problem with interacting with other people because you're very quiet and shy. And no one ever pays attention to you because of that."

Rise nods and whispers.

"Well . . . to tell you the truth, I'm having the same problem. Most people treat me like I don't really exist, even though I try very hard to interact with other people. Even my own parents treat me the same way. The only person I ever talk to is my older sister, Akane. This has been going on for years."

Rise nods as she had listened to the whole story. She had no idea that Akari has something in common with her: lack of presence, only Rise's problem is far worse than hers.

"But now I get to talk with you for the first time!" Akari says with a smile. "And it felt really good to finally tslk to someone that doesn't treat me the same way as other people!" Akari hugs the dark haired girl for a second before pulling away.

Rise whispers a question.

"Hm? How did I understand your quiet whispers?" Akari says. "That's . . . a very food question. To be honest, I'm not even sure myself. Somehow, when you were talking to me, I can really hear your voice. I know my hearing's not that great, but it just . . . happened."

Rise looks down at the floor, wondering if this is all true or if Akari is just pulling her leg. No one other than Nana could understand Rise, so how can someone like Akari also understand her? Thy stay silent for the rest of the ride until they reach their stop. Both of them exit rhe train and stop for a bit.

"Um, it was nice talking with you, Rise-chan," Akari says. "I'll . . . see you tomorrow."

Rise waves as the red-head turns and dashes off. As a light breeze blows past the dark haired girl, making her black tresses sway, a small smile comes across her face. She feels that she can really get along with Akari since she's the next person to understand Rise very well. And she had never talked with anyone more than a minute with someone othr than Nana either. For her, Rise's life is going to change for sure. She finally made a new friend . . . and she's happy for that.

A/N: I know these are shoet chapters, but I promise it will get better soon. Oh, and this will mostly focus on Rise since she's my favorite character. So feel free to give out any suggestions, questions or concerns and don't forget to review. ;)