Lilinah’s Day
Riri’s eyes fluttered open as the lights turned on with a quiet click. The rhythmic sound of her heart’s beat echoing off the walls quickened as she rose. She stretched. The sound of her back popping was thunder to her ears. She sighed. Her exhale was a hurricane. The cacophony from her every movement, would’ve been agony to anyone else, but she was used to it. It didn’t really hurt her if she knew a sound was coming. She could handle predictable.
Riri took a moment, just listening to herself. Her ears twitched happily. She enjoyed her predictable sounds. They were comforting. She could fall asleep to the sound of her heartbeat. But… that was just a comfort from living in a sound-proofed room.
Her ‘bedroom’ was a closet-sized space just large enough for her bed. A black painted door rest less than a meter from the edge of her bed’s frame. Acoustic panels lined her walls. The room was stiflingly hot, she couldn’t stand an A/C’s horrible rattling. It was fortunate she liked the heat.
She wished she could stay like this a little longer, unfettered yet comfortable, but she didn’t have a clock in here. Even a digital clock was too loud. She had no way of knowing, objectively, how long it’d been since those timed lights turned on to let her know it was time to get up. There were no electronics in here at all aside from the noise cancellation devices on her pink night stand covered with a white doily.
The earplugs were small round devices that would fit snugly in Riri’s enlarged ear canal. They were rubber tipped reminiscent of air pods. She both loved and resented those things. Without the ear plugs the outside world was sheer torture to live through, but… she’d never outgrow them. While she could handle predictable, a sound she wasn’t ready for could be sheer agony.
She’d never be able to overcome her weakness. She’d always be dependent on them. If she ever fell in love, the only way she’d be able to hear her lover’s voice was through a fucking filter.
Riri grabbed her ear plugs from her night stand and, with a grimace, put them in.
bzz
The sound of her heartbeat deadened to almost a whisper. Like the sound of a bass from a concert miles away. The tinny sound of-- tinny?
bzz
Riri frowned. It was faint, even to her, but there was a slight buzz in her right ear’s protection today, like a mosquito trapped in a jar. That… hadn’t happened before. She’d have to ask mom to get her a replacement pair ready.
bzz
She bit her lip. Maybe she should stay home? She didn’t want to risk her ear plugs breaking in the middle of school. However, she’d promised Ysmir… fuck, the group project! Riri shot out of bed. Staying home wasn’t an option!
Riri walked to school next to a squat old man dressed in Shiketsu’s uniform. His name was Okimoto Chisaka, her oldest, and before this year, only friend. He was an arrogant know-it-all asshole who cared way too much about ‘family image,’ but he was a kind arrogant know-it-all asshole.
Bzz
She winced the buzzing in her ears was getting worse. Mom had promised she’d have a new pair for her by lunch. Dad had suggested she stay home, but--
“You okay Riri?” The old bastard next to her asked.
Bzz
“Fine.” Riri bit.
“A ‘no’ would’ve sufficed.”
“… sorry Octy, it’s my--” She gestured at her ears. “Protection’s on the fritz.”
“Ah, do I need to keep my mouth shut?”
“No. Noise filtering’s working fine, but it’s buzzing.”
Bzz
“That sounds… uncomfortable.”
“Horrible.”
“Why didn’t you stay home?”
“You sound like my dad.”
“Your dad IS a genius.”
“...God I hate you.”
“As is clearly evidenced by the fact we’ve been walking to school together since April.”
“We’re neighbors, that’s all.”
Bzz
“… are you coming because of the group project?”
“Yea—”
“He would’ve understood.”
“…”
“Bullseye?”
“First of all, we’re just friends.”
“Uh-huh”
Bzz
“Second, dating’s against school policy.”
“A most effective policy, I’m sure.”
Bzz
“Third…” ‘What’s the point? I’d never be able to...’
BZz
Riri’s ears lowered.
“Third?”
“He’s not my type.”
“…”
Riri could feel Okimoto’s stare boring into the side of her head. He didn’t believe her.
BZz
Riri sighed. “You’re not always right Octy.”
She hurried ahead.
Okimoto watched his neighbor hurry away with the disinterested stare only one of his advanced (mentally) years could manage. Lilinah had a good poker face, a great poker face, but even she had tells and Okimoto had the misfortune of knowing her since they were children.
Okimoto nodded to himself. “Bullseye.”
Bzz
Riri came to the classroom alone. She’d left Octy alone to his delusional musings after that conversation. Poor bastard’s quirk must be giving him abnormally early dementia. Might be time to put him in a home--
BZz
NEXT to these damned ear plugs!
“—I’m telling you I will find proof!” Riri’s ruminations were cut short by the low deep voice of one of her classmates. A tall boy with a lizard-like appearance. His name was Daniel Rain, the resident ‘tough guy’ who spent his days picking fights with everybody in class. It was rare to see him leave his corner, but given whom he was talking to, it wasn’t hard to imagine why he’d left. He was towering over a young blonde girl wearing a gasmask, Isabella Nakahata.
Isabella was the daughter of a rival pharmaceutical family and one of the smartest people Riri had ever met. She also had a long standing feud with Daniel over his attempt to ‘conquer her desk’ earlier in the year. … Riri hadn’t understood what he’d hoped to gain from that. Ever since, the two had been at each other’s throats, if Isabella called the sky blue, Daniel would insist it was green.
BZz
“Oh yeah?!” Isabella challenged. “It’s on the third floor, knock yourself out!”
Riri took her seat next to Isabella.
BZz
“I will!”
“You’ll knock yourself out?” Riri questioned.
“GAH!” Daniel jumped back 4 feet as Riri’s voice cut through the still air. Even Isabella jumped in her chair.
BZz
“...sorry.” Riri bowed her head. It was hard to remember to make enough noise so that other people would hear her.
Daniel took a moment to calm down. Isabella started wheezing under her mask, she was laughing. Daniel, having been Isabella’s enemy since the beginning of school, recognized her laughter and glared balefully at Riri.
“I’ll not forget this!” Daniel snarled.
“I didn’t--”
He stormed away.
BZz
“That was wonderful.” Isabella wheezed. “Thank you Riri!”
Riri shook her head, “I didn’t mean to—hah, whatever, you’re welcome Izzy, what was that about?”
“OH!” Isabella held up her phone. “I was reading an article on Shiketsu’s 7 mysteries and you know the 3rd mystery? The one of the groaning ghost in the 3rd floor bathroom? That appears every Wednesday morning?”
BZz
The tips of Riri’s ears hit her shoulders. Because of her quirk, she happened to know the truth of that particular mystery. Isabella didn’t notice.
“I accidentally said out loud that there’s no such thing as ghosts and Daniel overheard me. The rest…”
Riri sighed. Daniel would make it his life’s mission to prove Isabella wrong. Poor bastard. “Hope he hasn’t eaten breakfast.”
“Why? Do you know something Riri-chan?”
“Unfortunately.” Really the secret was simple. Tuesday was unlimited taco night at Majestic-sensei’s favorite restaurant and he had no self-control. Riri hoped Daniel didn’t have a strong sense of smell.
BZz
“Do tell?”
“I’d rather not.”
BZz
“You’re making me curious! Maybe I should join Daniel on his little stake out.”
Riri looked at her friend, specifically at the gas mask she always wore. “...well you’re dressed for the occasion.”
Isabella tilted her head in confusion. But, didn’t press further. Instead she turned her attention to her phone while Riri moved to do the same. Just as she opened LINE, a massive blond boy entered the classroom. He was tall, so tall he had to stoop awkwardly to avoid slamming his head against the top of the door. His face was long. His hair reached down to his chin. He was looking down at his phone, brow furrowed in consternation.
BZz
Riri smiled when she saw him. “Y-kun! How’re you?”
Ysmir grunted a “fine,” but kept his nose his phone.
Riri could see why Okimoto thought she was attracted to Ysmir. He didn’t have a bad face and she tended to go for tall, but… there were limits. By ‘go for tall,’ she meant someone more around 180cm, not 240cm. Also the man’s fine motor control was--
Bzz
--terrible. Riri rubbed her ear. She was getting tired of this damn buzzing. Hopefully lunch would be here soon.
Ysmir took his seat behind Riri. He didn’t say anything else, which was odd. She could usually rely on him to give her a ‘how was your night?’ Something must be bothering him.
Riri frowned. “‘Sup?”
“Ruga’s not coming.”
“What? Why?” Ruga was the other member of their group project team, alongside Okimoto.
Ysmir flipped his phone around to show her Ruga’s text, it read ‘I’ve fallen in battle, avenge me!’
Riri sighed. “He tried the bottomless beef bowl challenge again didn’t he?”
“Probably.”
“Boys.” Riri grossed. Ysmir had conquered the Yasuke Bottomless Beef Bowl Challenge at the beginning of the year. Ruga had been attempting it ever since. He’d not succeeded so far. “So, are you ‘avenging’ him?”
“They won’t let me do it anymore. Why don’t you do it? You’ve never tried.”
Riri glared at him. Did he really just ask a girl to eat 4 kilos in under an hour?
“I’m on a diet.” Riri deadpanned.
“Really? Why?”
Riri’s ears raised a fraction of a centimeter, but she managed to keep a smile off her face. “Masochism.”
Ysmir’s eyes widened in shock. Then, his brow furrowed in thought. Then, he sighed. “Ah.”
Riri stifled a giggle.
“Don’t laugh, second language sarcasm’s hard.”
“Sorry.” She wasn’t.
Their phones buzzed at the same time. Riri pulled out her phone and read the text. It was from Okimoto:
Youngatheart
My sincerest apologies, I’ve suddenly come down with a cold and won’t be able to make it to school today. It is my sincerest hope we can work on the project together at a later date.
“… was he born old?” Ysmir asked, in awe of Okimoto’s formal language.
“Yes.” Riri answered instantly. She was just walking with him, there’s no way he suddenly got si--another text flashed across her screen.
Youngatheart:
Good luck~
“And an asshole.”
thelistener:
死ぬ
BZZ
Riri rubbed the base of her right ear to stifle the plug’s latest protest. So it was just going to be her and Ysmir doing the work of 4 people and that was supposed to be a favor? She glanced at Ysmir out the corner of her eye.
“I’ll be at the library during free period, you want to join?”
Ysmir nodded, exasperated. “Guess I better.”
Riri smirked at Ysmir’s tone. Quickly wiping the smirk off her face, she leaned back in her chair so that she was staring up at her friend. She affected a pout. “Wow, is spending time with me that onerous?”
Ysmir’s eyes widened. “That’s not what I meant! I was--” Riri’s face broke into a smile at his earnest tone.
Ysmir stopped talking, narrowed his eyes at her, then sighed.
“You’re being mean today.”
Riri’s smile grew.
The sun reached its winter zenith over Shiketsu. Students were in their final class before lunch, most barely paying attention. They imagined the cafeteria’s incredible indulgences just waiting around the corner for them.
Riri sat alone at a small tabled festooned with history books and old newspapers. She had a free period before lunch and had elected to use it researching for the group project. Ysmir was supposed to be joining her, but he was a little late, strange for him, but she wasn’t worried. He never broke a promise.
The class assignment was to present on how to advertise in the wake of a tragedy. Half the class had chosen to research, ‘what to do when a client dies in the line of duty.’ That just wasn’t interesting enough for Riri and she’d badgered the other 3 into accepting what she wanted to research instead. She’d wanted to find out what to do when a top hero dies in the line of duty, one who isn’t your client.
BZZ
Riri thought it was more relevant now than ever, what with the Night Parade, the Five and a dozen other international groups deciding to make their homes in Japan. It might be ghoulish to research how long other heroes were supposed to observe a media blackout after a top hero died, but it was something she didn’t know. None of them did. The obvious place to start their research was what was done after Sun Man’s death… but that had yielded surprising results.
Riri turned her attention to another newspaper, advertising the triumph of Chromium over the Horsemen’s second-most powerful member, War. This had been printed the morning after Sun Man had died at the hands of the Horsemen’s leader, Death. The idea that there was no media grace period following such a major tragedy had been shocking until she’d thought about it.
BZZ
People had been so shocked by Sun Man’s death, it wasn’t strange that certain agencies made the decision to risk backlash in order to push their own clients. In a way, this naked opportunism must’ve been comforting to people, selling another hero as Sun Man’s successor while his body was still warm just reminded people that other heroes existed. That they weren’t abandoned. There had been backlash of course, mostly from the other heroes… but it wasn’t as much as Riri would’ve thought and it wasn’t entirely about the nakedly ghoulish tactic.
BZZZ
There had been rumblings that Chromium had stolen credit from another hero named--
BZZZZ
but she hadn’t really fought for the cre--
BZZZZZZ
Riri held a hand to her ear. The buzzing was getting worse. She ground her teeth.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Her ear grew hot. She heard the crackled of electricity. She reached into her right ear. If she could readjust it maybe it’d stop this infernal buzzing!
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
She just needed this damn thing to work for one more hour--
BZZzzzzzzz--
In Tokyo a gun fired.
In Osaka a child wailed.
In Kyoto 4 million hearts beat.
In Shiketsu an ear plug failed and a young girl was hit by a tsunami of noise.
Riri covered her ear with her hand. It did no good. She couldn’t cover every centimeter of her oversized noise catcher. Every sound slammed into Riri like a sledgehammer. The pulsing incoherent mess of an entire country’s noise drove into her mind like a nail. Her jaw clenched. Teeth cracked. They sounded like buildings collapsing. Her nails dug into her scalp. It sounded like a dam burst above her ear. Blood trickled. That trickle of blood was a raging river.
Riri whimpered. She couldn’t scream. Her every breath was already a typhoon. Her vision trembled. Her shaking eyes scraped against her eyelids; the sound was like nails on a chalk board.
There was thunder to her right, a low deep rolling thunder that was somehow familiar. The thunder was lost as a car’s horn blew outside the school and a fresh wave of Hell washed over Riri. She gasped. The thunder cracked again, a sharp whip of a sound. Riri screwed her eyes shut. Tears started to flow like waterfalls. Then a stampeded started.
Riri started to turn away from the rolling stampede, but she was too slow. A hand caught her shoulder and another, massive hand, managed to fully envelope her right ear
The sound of another’s pulse drowned out the waves of Hell rushing into Shiketsu. It still hurt, but it was predictable bouts of agony. She could handle predictable. Thunder rolled again, Riri trembled, the thunder stopped mid-roll with a sharp inhale.
Riri grabbed the hand that was protecting her ear. She felt the pulse quicken a hair. She dried her eyes with her sleeve. She turned, holding the massive hand firmly against her ear, to see Ysmir’s towering form. The poor boy flushed like he’d just run a marathon. Had that thunderous sound been his voice?
She grinned. The sound of her lips parting filled her ears like the sound of wet paper being torn. “Thanks Y-kun,” her voice was nonsense to her, like the sound of a wind tunnel. She hoped the memory of language would still let her communicate, “can you take me to the music room?”
Riri sat in the middle of Shiketsu’s music room. The light were off. She sat at the edge of a great wooden desk. She was alone. Her ear plugs lay beside her on that same desk. Abandoned instruments lined the wall. Noise penetrated through the inadequate sound proofing, but it wasn’t much. Here and outside lay the difference between a loud cafeteria and a warzone.
She closed her eyes, her head pounded. She was still recovering from what she’d just endured. What she’d just been rescued from. Poor Ysmir, having to walk through the halls holding a girl’s head, rumors must be running rampant. Poor boy, Riri thought he’d drop dead any minute from the sounds his heart was making. To make matters worse, he’d had to ask the general studies course to leave while they were in the middle of a music lesson. He was lucky that the music teacher knew Riri’s particular situation, so he didn’t just throw the boy out.
Riri frowned. ‘… I’m going to have to bake Y-kun something aren’t I?’ He had done more than anyone should’ve been expected to given the circumstances and if she just thanked him he’d brush it off as ‘anyone would’ve done the same.’
He might reject thanks, but he would never reject food.
‘I could make him a bento, but he always brings 3 from home… cookies? Nah, too basic. Maybe I can ask Ruga--’
A light flashed across Riri’s face. Riri looked towards the door. Staring through the door’s thin glass window holding a handsome black pencil case in one hand and a flashlight in the other was a woman that could’ve Riri’s sister. She had the same dark skin, the same white hair and the same long ears. The only notable difference was the woman wore a pair of thick glasses. Riri smiled.
“Mom.” Riri whispered, profoundly relieved.
Riri waved. Her mother pointed to the pencil case and then motioned for her daughter to cover her ears.
Riri obeyed. Her mom quickly cracked the door open and slid the pencil case in before hurriedly pulling the door closed. It was so quick even Riri barely had time to feel uncomfortable.
Without hesitation, Riri leapt off the desk. She dashed for the pencil case and opened it excitedly. Inside were two new ear plugs. They were a glossy black with a faint blue glow. It was ironic, just this morning she resented having to wear ear plugs all her life, but after being reminded what life was like without them… she put them in.
Riri leapt into her soft bed. Today was done!~ Her head still throbbed like someone had been at it with a jack hammer, but it was over! She’d been through Hell and now she was out! Her new earplugs lay on her night stand. She sighed in relief. The agony of today was already a memory, soon it’d be a distant one. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling.
IF there was anything good about today, it was that she’d gotten to see Ysmir’s protective side. She smiled. She’d even gotten to hear his voice without the filters, she just wish she’d been… able… to…understand….
Riri sat up. …why the Hell was she glad about hearing Ysmir’s voice? Riri sat in bed a moment, confused. Then, her eyes widened in understanding. Starting from the tips of her ears, crimson spread over her face. Hearing his voice had been… important to her, that meant… oh no.
In a rage, she put in her ear plugs, left her bed room and entered her spacious sitting area. In one corner was a desk buried under mess of computer parts, a tower still under construction. One wall bore an overburdened, groaning, book shelf. In the middle of the room was a small beige tea table for when she had friends over. She stomped over to the tea table and grabbed her still charging phone. She opened LINE.
THAT MEANT OKIMOTO WAS RIGHT ABOUT SOMETHING!!!
Okimoto sipped tea as he read his novel. The novel was a bit trite, but it was the perfect thing to bore him to sleep. He’d have to put in extra effort tomorrow to make up for his absence, as well intentioned as it may have been. His phone buzzed.
Okimoto sighed as he reached for his phone. He abhorred screen time before bed, it gave him wrinkles, but if one of his friends truly sought his advice how could he refuse them? He’d feel simply awful if--
He picked up the phone. A LINE message shone in brilliant blood red from his lock screen.
thelistener
FUCK YOU DIE!
Okimoto stared at the message for a moment. “… I don’t believe I deserve that.”