Chapter 6: Going back to school (II)

And so 10 days passed like this, and my father has left us again for his work.

"Little Raiha..it's time to wake up." I shook Raiha as she wriggled about in her futon. "Onii-chan.. let me sleep a while more." as she fell back asleep. 'Sigh, whatever am I going to do with you.' I thought as I tickled her body. "Wake up now, little Raiha. If not, you will miss breakfast.." Raiha immediately jumped out and went to wash up after hearing she would miss breakfast. Knowing that delicious breakfast was waiting for her, she ran around the house, preparing for her childcare center. Despite being pampered and spoiled, Raiha still grew up to be sensible, though she still acts her age. While my mother does the household chores, I would sometimes help as well.

"Onii-chan!" Raiha screamed down the hallway, "Hurry up and prepare the food!!" Within 10 minutes, everything was prepared, and she started to devour everything. It was a simple breakfast. We were not very rich, but my father worked hard enough to put three meals on the table every day for us. "Raiha-chan~ Why didn't you ask me to cook for you? You don't love me anymore?" My mother was fake crying, letting fake tears roll down her cheeks.

"Ah no, no no..." Raiha hurriedly comforted her, "It's just that...onii-chan cooks better..."

When she heard that, she felt as though an arrow had pierced her heart. Her pride as a mother didn't allow her to lose to her son in terms of wifey-power.

"But I still love okaa-san the most!" Raiha smiled brightly, and it was so innocent that both of our hearts melted.

She was about to say something back, but Raiha's following statement just made her sit down and smile smugly at her son (me). Looking at my mother's expression, I just snorted and continued eating my breakfast. I did not bother to argue with my mother as I was a man. It's definitely not because I can't win against her.

After filling our bellies with food, my mother washed our plates and left home together. On the way to Raiha's daycare center, our neighbors greeted us warmly. We saw a family moving in next to us, but we didn't stop and greet them as we were rushing for time. After dropping Raiha at her daycare center, I hurriedly rushed to school while my mother returned home to do whatever she needed to do. I reached the school on time, and after greeting my friends, I sat down as the teacher walked in.

"Good morning class, a transfer student is coming in today. Let us treat her warmly, alright? Allow her to introduce herself." The teacher told us as a young girl walked in. She has light brownish hair, a cute, longer-length bob-cut hairstyle with front bangs to her eyebrows, and side bangs falling just below her chin. She also has big, adorable eyes that are auburn in color, set in a round face with a slightly pointed chin. When she walked in, what caught my attention was her hearing aids that were in her ears. She took out a notepad and started writing on it. On it, the words were present:

"Ohayou-gozaimasu! (Good morning!) Nice to meet you. My name is Nishimiya Shouko. Please treat me well!"

After introducing herself, the teacher directed her towards the empty desk next to mine. The ratio of male to female is 2 to 8 (20% is male). In this class of 30 people, only 6 people are boys, including me.

Shouko- Hello! Nice to meet you. My name is Shouko!

She wrote on her miniature notepad, looking at me with a bright smile planted on her face.

Fuutarou: [Hello, nice to meet you too. My name is Ue-su-gi Fuu-ta-rou.] I replied in sign language, which caused her to widen her eyes in surprise. Although I wasn't a grandmaster in sign language, I could still converse with her to a certain extent. This little moment was ruined, however, by a spoilsport.

Teacher: "Uesugi-san, you will have plenty of time to talk to her after lunch. So please pay attention now as we are going to begin our lesson." I replied as I laughed it off.

As a charming and kind boy in a society of girls, I was very popular with the girls. Every day, I would be surrounded by girls, and my kind personality often makes it hard for me to reject them. After all, they were not doing anything weird, right? The fact that I was intelligent and hardworking, excelling in sports and academics while not being arrogant and treating everyone kindly, made me the most popular boy in school.

I remembered an anime from my previous life, 'A Silent Voice', where Shouko was the main character. I remember her life being very harsh since young, making her mature faster than others her age. She was bullied due to her disability, lost her grandmother, who was very kind to her, had a not-so-good relationship with her mother, and caused her younger sister to take up a creepy hobby just to help cheer her up. I really hope that I can help her in some way in this life. 'I will let her enjoy her childhood this life, not letting her suffer any hardships.' I resolved myself. 'And the first thing I need to do is to cure her deafness. I guess the senzu bean is coming out once again.'

As soon as lunchtime came, people started to surround us, asking various questions, some even pretty offensive about her hearing aids. While this happened, I rushed to the rooftop, trying to escape from the girls, following my usual routine and eating lunch there. Unbeknownst to me, I was followed by someone. Right before I opened my hand-made bento, I felt a little tap on my shoulder and turned around, only to be greeted by Shouko.

Shouko- Uesugi-san...

NOTE:

From now on, I'm going to use these when communicating/having a conversation.

name: "..." ----->talking

name: [...] ----->sign language

name- ... ----->writing on notepad

[] ----->system

'...' ----->thoughts

And I just realized that Shouko could actually hear, though just barely early in her life. But because of the escalation of bullying, it caused her hearing to deteriorate and by high school, she was almost fully deaf.