Chapter Text
Scribble...
Scribble...
Scribble...
Pulling your blue pen away from your notebook after writing a sentence, you started to re-read it to make sure what you wrote was how you imagined it in your head. As you were in your little world, people around you were talking, cars were driving past you, the sound of a person dropping their spoon clanked against the floor, people calling out to a waiter, and the simple sounds of dishes being placed on the table.
Could you hear any of it? The answer is simple: no, you couldn't. Because you were deaf. You were born deaf, and it runs in the family, so it's normal for you. It doesn't feel unusual to have a loss of hearing. It's very normal for you not to be able to hear like other people. Granted, it is possible for you to hear some things depending on your hearing range or if things are loud enough for you. It also helps with your pink hearing aid, located around your left ear and hidden by your hair.
A sudden light tap was felt on your left shoulder, driving you out of your world. Peering up, you saw Nagisa, who was sitting across from you. His blue eyes look at you with his kind, gentle smile. You were having lunch with the blue-haired boy outside of a small cafe. For the past two weeks, since you moved here to Tokyo, you've been having lunch with Nagisa at this cafe. The cafe had seats outside, so you and Nagisa often ate out there since the weather was so lovely today.
"What are you writing?" The boy named Nagisa signed with both of his hands as he spoke.
"Just brainstorming ideas for a story I have in mind." You signed back.
"Cool. You sure do everything in that book." Nagisa was referring to your cute galaxy notebook on the table that was open. You had it for a few years, and so far you've only used it to communicate with others who don't know sign language or to write down random things and doodle on it whenever you're bored.
You nod with a small smile.
"Mind if I know what you're story is about?" Nagisa asked, signing.
Your face fell into a sheepish and embarrassing look. "It's not worth sharing yet. I am just brainstorming. And it's just for me to write for fun." You signed.
Nagisa smiled at you. "That's fine." He signed. "Since when did you start to write?"
You pursed your lips with a thoughtful expression. Soon, you brought your hands up again and began signing. "Not for very long. I just suddenly found interest in it after writing to others who want to communicate with me."
Nagisa ate his sandwich as he watched you sign to him, understanding the communication due to the classes he's taken.
Taking a short break from writing, you started to eat your sandwich as well. You noticed that behind Nagisa, there was another table that was occupied by a young couple. You noted that they seem to be arguing, judging by how they both look mad at each other and how aggressively their mouths moved as if they kept spitting venom at each other.
Not wanting to pry into their business, your eyes avoided the couple and just continued to eat.
"Hm." Nagisa stole a quick glance at the young couple behind him. He heard the two having a small talk, but it soon escalated into a heated argument. No yelling, however, just a very rough talk.
'They've been arguing for a while now.' Nagisa thought.
You were wondering if Nagisa didn't like the couple's argument. You waved your hand to get Nagisa's attention then sign, "are they bothering you? Do you want to move seats?"
Nagisa shook his head. "It's fine. They are not bothering me, but thanks for asking."
With Nagisa flashing you a reassuring smile, you believed everything was okay. "Alright. By the way, how is school so far? You mentioned something about your classes being up in a mountain."
Nagisa swallowed his food. "Yeah." He continued to sign, "but it's not so bad, the view up there is actually nice." Nagisa didn't want to tell you that he and his classmates are treated pretty lowly, so he just told you all the good things about the class.... well, tried being the keyword.
"JERK!" Nagisa's conversation with you was cut short when he heard the woman from behind yell to the man before throwing her drink at him.
You flinched when you saw how she just tossed her drink at the man, leaving him all soaked. After that, she grabbed her purse and stormed off. Your eyes went back to the male.
Seeing all this, you grabbed whatever napkins you had left from your table and walked over to the man.
"(Y/n)?" Nagisa questioned, wondering what you were doing, but his question was answered when he saw you handing the napkins to the man.
The man noticed you next to him, looked at you with a grimace, and seemed annoyed that you were trying to help him.
"I don't need your help. Leave." He smacked the napkins out of your hand. At his action, you almost stumble backwards. You did an apologetic bow before bending down to pick up the napkins, which seemed to have angered the man a little more. "Hey, don't pick them up! I said leave!"
"Ah," Nagisa immediately jumped in between you and the male as you kept picking up the napkins. "I'm sorry, please don't yell at her. She was just trying to help you." Nagisa spoke politely and calmly to the man with a hint of nervousness.
"Well, I just told her that I don't need her help. What is she? Deaf?!"
"Uh," Nagisa felt a little awkward. "Actually, yes, she is deaf," Nagisa replied as you stood up when you finished collecting the napkins.
Nagisa saw a twinge of embarrassment and remorse on the guy's face. "Oh." He muttered, avoiding eye contact before standing up and leaving as well, wanting to save whatever dignity he had left.
You felt a little bad for how things turned out with the man and felt worse that Nagisa had to step in for you to solve the issue. Soon, a waiter came by apologizing for the inconvenience before cleaning up the table along with another one of their co-worker. You and Nagisa sat back down at your table after all that.
'If Karma-kun were here, he would have probably handled the situation better than me.' Nagisa thought, taking another bite of his food. 'Wait a second, what am I saying? He would have probably ended up punching the guy after provoking him.'
"I'm sorry, Nagisa." You signed, with an apologetic look. "I didn't mean to cause you trouble."
Nagisa seems totally fine. "It was no trouble." He signed as he spoke. "You were just doing the right thing. Don't think too much of it."
You just weakly nod. You didn't like being such a bother to others...
What kept you from continuing on another conversation with Nagisa was when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. Taking out your phone from your pocket, you saw that it was your father texting you to come home already.
You waved at Nagisa, and earned his attention, he signed, "I have to go now. Text me later?"
Nagisa nods with a small smile, "Sure." He signed. "See ya next time."
The two of you parted with a goodbye before you left the cafe and headed home.
Another school day has ended for the E Class student. All the boys and girls were leaving the old campus from the top of the mountain, isolated from the main campus and all the other students.
"Today's English lesson was so boring," Karma drawled as he walked beside Nagisa and Sugino, making their way through the tunnel of trees surrounding them. "I should have skipped class."
"Didn't you skip P.E class as well?" Nagisa inquired; his face seemed to know the answer to his own question.
"Yep~" Karma simply smiled, like it's no big deal to skip classes.
Sugino sighed, trying to get used to the redhead and his rebellious side. "Hey, speaking of classes," Sugino spoke on. "How are those sign language classes coming along, Nagisa?"
"Good," Nagisa responded. "It doesn't take up a lot of my schedule, so I do have time to study. And (y/n) is able to understand me just fine, so that's good."
"(Y/n)-san?..... oh, isn't she the girl you mentioned before?" Sugino inquired.
"Yeah, I've met her when we were in kindergarten, but she moved a year later, two weeks ago she moved back here, so we've been hanging out lately."
"So just that we're clear." Karma chimed in. "She isn't your girlfriend?"
"Why are you asking him that?" Sugino meekly asked the boy.
".....No...." Nagisa replied sheepishly.
Karma seems to have lost interest in you. 'I kinda wanted to see a love triangle between Kayano-chan and this mystery girl.' Karma thought, thinking a little love triangle would entertain him.
"Well," Sugino spoke up. "I would like to meet this girl."
"Sure, eventually, Nagisa agreed. "Once she has free time to hang out with us,"
The walk continued until the three of them reached the gate entrance of the school.
"I guess this is where we part ways. I have to be somewhere else, so I won't be taking the train today," Sugino announced before waving and heading off
"Sure, see ya tomorrow." Nagisa and Karma waved before the two of them headed off in another direction.
However, Nagia's walking stopped when his eyes captured a female figure leaning against the wall. Karma noticed this and paused as well, wondering why Nagisa stopped. "Uh... (Y/n)?" The blue-eyed boy inquired when he saw you leaning against the wall that surrounds the school. You appeared to be reading something from that familiar notebook you keep around, and while sporting a different uniform that was different from he and Karma's.
Karma followed Nagisa's gaze. "Oh, is that the girl?"
"Yeah. I wonder why she's here?" Nagisa mumbled before walking towards you. "(Y/n)?" Nagisa tapped your shoulder.
You looked up from your notebook and saw your friend, and next to him, you saw his companion. With a quick glance, you caught a pretty good look at the boy. He was tall, but the first thing you noticed about him was his short, burning, crimson red locks.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?" Nagisa signed as he spoke so Karma could understand him as well. Nagisa's hands were going accordingly to what he was saying. This was the first time Karma had seen Nagisa using sign language.
He was offered by Nagisa to come to sign language classes with him, but he found the idea boring and didn't have any motivation in doing so, and thus turned down the offer.
"I got let out of class early." You signed back to Nagisa. "So who is your friend?"
"Oh," Nagisa remembered his manners, then signed, "This is Akabane Karma-kun. The two of us are in the same class. Why don't you introduce yourself to him?"
Beaming a smile, you happily nod before getting your blue pen from your pocket and turning around to use the wall for you to write in your notebook.
"Isn't it easier for you to translate rather than having her write it?" Karma asked Nagisa as you were still writing.
"True," said Nagisa. "But (y/n) would rather introduce herself. She doesn't mind the extra work."
"Hm." Karma just hummed.
It was then that you finished your writing you handed the open notebook to Karma.
Hello, my name is (y/n) (l/n), please refer to me by my first name. It's nice to meet one of Nagisa's friends. In case Nagisa hasn't told you, or you haven't gotten the picture, I am deaf. Just thought I'd throw it out there.
You saw that Karma's facial expression seemed to have a poker face the whole time as he read your note.
"Her writing is messy." Karma finally said something, still looking at the writing.
"That's the first thing you're gonna say?!" Nagisa exclaimed in disbelief, forgetting to sign for you. You didn't understand why Nagisa got so worked up over what Karma said. What did Karma say? Lucky for you, Nagisa eventually translated for you. "He says your writing is messy."
You sheepishly smiled, then signed, "I was writing on the wall after all. Sorry."
"Don't apologize. Karma-kun was probably just trying to make you mad; he tends to do that to people."
"That's kinda mean." You signed.
"He is mean sometimes," Nagisa said as he signed with a small grin.
"If you're gonna insult me, then just sign it, don't say it out loud." Karma flicked Nagisa's ear.
Nagisa sheepishly chuckled at the boy. "I thought I would tell her about your flaws so she is prepared ahead of time."
"Anyway," you signed, smiling. "Do you and your friend wanna hang out? I have time."
"Oh," Nagisa muttered before smiling sheepishly and signing, "Sorry, I can't right now, I have to get home soon because of my mother."
Your face sank into disappointment.
"Again, sorry." Nagisa kept his smile, feeling bad for turning you down. Suddenly, a light bulb went up in his head, his hands moved once again to speak with you. "Why don't you just hang out with Karma-kun?"
"Huh?" Karma's eyes went to Nagisa, giving him a disapproval stare.
Your (e/c) orbs glanced at Karma, wondering if he wasn't annoyed by that. "If that's okay with him." You signed at Nagisa.
"Is it okay with you?" Nagisa asked Karma while signing.
"Hmmm." Karma thought about it for a moment. It's not like he has any plans anyway, and doesn't have his parents waiting at home for him. Yeah, hanging out with someone he just met wasn't his idea of fun since he knows nothing about you, but he couldn't think of anything better to do.
"Sure." He eventually said. You smiled and clapped your hands, understanding what he said from lip-reading. 'Wait a second, she heard that?'
"Cool." Nagisa was satisfied.
"Do you think I can get a discount somewhere if I bring a deaf girl with me?" Karma was in thought.
"Please tell me you're joking." Nagisa deadpanned as he signed.
Karma laughed wholeheartedly, "Yes, I am, don't worry about it."
The blue-haired boy exhaled.
"What did he say?" You signed, with a confusing look.
"You don't want to know." Nagisa signed back, you saw his face was a frown.
You blinked slowly a few times, but shrugged it off.
"Well, anyway, bye." Nagisa waved at you and Karma. Karma watched his small, blue-haired friend leave before turning back to you. Karma saw that you were writing something in your notebook and once again using the wall to help you write. When finishing, you turn back to Karma and hold out your open notebook for him to read what you wrote.
'What do you wanna do?'