You spied her in the library, alone and cast out like a leper. It was the transfer student, and it was quickly made apparent she wasn't like everyone else.
She was deaf, or near deaf. She needed the use of specialized hearing aids and even then she had to rely on sign language most of the time.
She wasn't bullied, not like in those melodramatic shows or manga. She was just...ignored. Yes, people tried to be friendly and accommodating, but the sheer scale of the communication barrier just made it impossible for anyone to sustain a coherent conversation.
So she sat there, in her isolated corner in the library. It was after school hours. You were only there because you were forced to. You had to volunteer because of your rough housing ways. It was this or getting suspended and your parents whooped your ass when you suggested the latter.
You needed to attend to the shelves in front of her, how would you go about this? You didn't want to make your presence known but there wasn't any real way to get there without being noticed.
You sigh, pushing the cart full of books near her. Well she was deaf anyway, she was engrossed on something on the table. You could probably get away with speeding past her.
You stop, looking over her shoulder. She's staring at something on her book. Her mobile phone?
You recognize something, a long panel showcasing a skeleton of some kind. It didn't seem to be manga.
You're thinking to yourself, should you really disturb her?
You tap her on the shoulder, she jumps a little. She looks up to you blinking. She's a little nervous.
She wore comically massive eyeglasses, that hid her blue eyes.
Eyes likes sapphire in the ocean.
"The Skeleton Soldier." You mouth it out while pointing at her phone. You're not gonna waste time with words and just try to hope she can read your lips.
Her eyes widen, and she nods her head vigorously.
"Oh cool." You take a seat next to her, she's surprised.
You take out your phone.
"That's a pretty good Webtoon. I'm only at episode 38. I see you're quite ahead." You couldn't pass up this opportunity. You've never really met anyone else who read webtoons in this school.
Her stunned face quickly turns into a smile.
"Y-Yesh...I'msh at episodes aightfiifes."She spoke in a surprisingly deep voice.
"85? Shit I need to catch up." You actually manage to understand her.
The two of you talk for a long time, even through her mangled pronunciation you followed her conversation. You learned that she absolutely loved webtoons and manga, rapid firing her favorite shounens and shoujo.
You giving her some of your recommendations, the both of you looking through each other phones. You had to stop when her phone started ringing.
You see the text of the contact. It simply spelled "Father"
"Aill miesh paresnhd." She stands abruptly, retrieving her bag.
She stares at you with a blush, she holds out her phone in front of you with both hands.
"K-Kan I haf uorsh kondact anon?" You stare, her screen opened on LINE.
"O-Of course." You take her phone, inputting your number. You take out your phone and add hers too.
She takes it quickly after you're done, bowing several times before speeding out of the library.
You sit there dumbly, she was fast.
Your phone vibrates.
You open it, you see a message.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." A message sent from Ouro Kronii.
You scratch your head, you don't exactly know what you did that was worthy of thanks.
After that, there wasn't a single day that the both of you weren't talking to one another.
Maybe you shouldn't have tapped her on the shoulder that afternoon.
It would have saved you all the heartache