⟦ℂℍ𝔸ℙ𝕋𝔼ℝ 𝟡⟧
Kagami and Tadano had packed their bags and were waiting patiently on Shouko, who seemed to be considering saying something to them. "Shouko, aren't you going home?"
She fidgeted in place before turning to them, and flipping to a page with a prewritten sentence on it. "I heard photo booths are popular." Kagami nodded animatedly, but Tadano seemed much less enthused, putting a damper on Kagami's excitement.
Tadano immediately noticed the dip in her excitement. Not wanting to disappoint her, he spoke hesitantly. "So... Do you two want to go?" Shouko's cat ears popped out, and Kagami grinned broadly, both of them nodding happily.
Unfortunately, Kagami's joy was short-lived as both Osana and Yamai invited themselves along. She didn't mind Osana accompanying them, she was sure that they would have been invited anyways, but Yamai really pinched a nerve. Presumptuously Pushy Yamai was right.
Shouko caught sight of a cat keychain claw machine and tugged Kagami's sleeve to show her. The pair stared at the keychains in desire, while Tadano watched in amusement. The group was put back on track by Osana's shout, pulling them over to the photo booth.
They crowded around the input menu, going through the mods before deciding against using any for Shouko's sake. As they began to pile inside the machine, it became noticeable that it was much too small for five people, and that even four was pushing it.
Upset, but not wanting to ruin the experience for Shouko, Kagami slunk back outside and waited for them to be done. When they exited the machine, it seemed like everyone was too giddy to even notice Kagami's absence from the photo's.
It stung, but she didn't want to make anyone feel bad, so she kept her mouth shut, and smiled along as everyone chatted animatedly, and decided to get lunch. Shouko stopped on the way out to stare at the keychains again, before Tadano diverted her attention back to the group.
Shouko quickly caught up to the group, leaving Tadano to lag behind to keep pace with Kagami. "I noticed you didn't join us in the photo booth. Was it Yamai-san?"
"Um... there wasn't room... so I just... waited outside. I didn't want to ruin everyone's fun. You guys were so happy and excited, I didn't want to bring it down." Tadano's face crumbled slightly, upset for his friend.
"We could go another time to get photos. If you'd like, that is." Kagami perked up immediately, causing a smile to make its way onto Tadano's face. He was glad that he was able to make her happy when she was sad.
"Really?" She asked, eyes wide, sparkling with hope.
"Yeah, we could even go after everyone starts to go home, that way you don't have to deal with Yamai-san." Tadano offered. Instead of answering, Kagami rushed forward, sweeping him up into a tight hug.
He stiffened immediately, but relaxed after a moment. He curled his hands around her waist, chin on top of her head. The smell of oranges and vanilla filled his nose, causing his face to flush slightly. He could always smell it faintly, as she sat next to him, and was constantly around him, but she had never been this close.
She smelled... really nice. Don't be a creep, stop smelling her. His hands loosened as she began to pull back. Her face was slightly pink, but that was easily overshadowed by her glowing smile.
She seemed to float through lunch, not even dimming for a second when Yamai tried to save the chopsticks that Shouko used to eat. Kagami and Tadano hung back as everyone began to leave for home, no one even sparing them a glance as they chatted happily.
The pair turned back to the photo booth, deciding to go with no mods for realism's sake, and chatted about what they should do for the photos. Kagami browsed through the props they could use, picking up a pair of sunglasses and fake mustaches on sticks, offering them to him with a hopeful smile.
Instead of answering, he took them from her hands and slipped them onto his face. She grinned and followed suit, leading him into the booth. They ended up taking several photos, some with props and some without.
A silly photo where they were both cross-eyed and sticking their tongues out, another silly one where they wore the sunglasses with the mustache stick held above their pursed lips. A goofy photo that featured Kagami jumping onto Tadano's back, a look of surprise crossing his face. Another where they held up peace signs with matching grins.
But her personal favorite photo was one that Tadano had picked out the props for. He had pointed it out hesitantly, but Kagami was quick to agree, slipping the purple furry cat ears onto her head, and handing him the matching red pair. In this particular photo, they stood close together, cat ears perched on their heads, and their hands up by their faces, in loosely held fists to resemble cat paws.
They made sure to print two copies, one for each of them, and as Tadano was the only one who had a phone, sent his personal favorites to him, with the promise of emailing them to Kagami when he got home.
On their way out, Tadano paused by the keychain machine. "Komi-san looked like she really wanted one... Should I try to get her one?" Kagami nodded, watching as he walked over, inserted some money, and began to operate the machine.
She watched in anticipation as the claw descended and closed. Luck seemed to be on his side, as the claw came up with not one, but two keychains. Tadano chuckled lowly as he bent down to get them from the machine. "I was going to try to get two keychains anyways, because I noticed that you wanted one too, but it seems like today is my lucky day."
Kagami froze in place, color flooding her face. It shouldn't surprise her how much he noticed, but it did every time, and it was always the same. Incredibly sweet. He extended his arm, holding out the tabby cat keychain and pocketing the black cat one.
"Thank you..." It was Tadano's turn to flush, leaving him stuttering and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it, please." Kagami nodded, then turned back towards the machine, deciding something on the spot. Retrieving some money, she fed it to the claw machine, and tried her hand at it. She was determined to get Tadano a keychain for himself, especially since he went through all the trouble of getting one for her and Shouko.
Tadano watched her in confusion as she operated the machine. Did she not like the keychain I got her? Should I have offered her the black cat keychain? Before he could spiral any further, Kagami was standing in front of him, holding out a gray cat keychain.
He stared at it in confusion, leaving her to huff, grab his hand, and force the keychain into it. "For you. You won a keychain for Shouko and I, so I wanted to get one for you too. Do you like it?" She looked up at him through her lashes hopefully.
Tadano held the keychain up to the light to admire it, before putting it into his pocket. "I love it. Thank you, Ishioka-san." She beamed up at him, a light pink dusting her cheeks before she whipped around and began leaving the store, Tadano trailing behind her in confusion.
The next day, Shouko's eyes zeroed in on the tabby cat keychain dangling from Kagami's bookbag. Kagami sat down, turning to her friend and noticed the look of jealousy over the keychain attached to her bag. She smiled knowingly at her friend, signing, "Tadano-kun has a surprise for you~".
Shouko's eyebrows knit together in confusion, but turned to him expectantly as he approached his desk. He turned to her as soon as he sat down, pulling the cat keychain out of his bag to give to her.
"This is for you. I noticed you were looking at them yesterday, and I thought you might want one. But if you don't want it, that's fine." Kagami couldn't hear the conversation exchanged, but she did see her friend's eyes widen, and the blush that spread across her face.
"Look Shouko! I have one too! Put it on your bag so we match! You too Tadano-kun." Shouko was quick to snatch the keychain from Tadano's hand and clip it to her book bag, but Tadano hesitated in anxiety over matching with two girls.
Despite his worry, he still ended up clipping the gray cat keychain to his bag. As soon as he saw the twin smiles from his friends, he knew it was worth it.
Tadano was swamped with paperwork. His desk was completely covered with papers, and as he laid face down on his desk, their teacher threw even more onto the pile, some of it sticking to his back.
Kagami threw a harsh glare to the back of their retreating teacher before reaching over and taking a stack from her friend's desk and began to sort through it. She was so focused on her task, that she hadn't noticed Onemine Nene stop Osana from running out the door and drag them over to Tadano's desk.
She did notice when Tadano attempted to take the stack from her, and began to furiously swat his hands away and slam a protective arm onto the papers. "Don't you dare. Our class gives you far too much work for you to do by yourself and I'll be damned if I let you do this all on your own. Besides, I am the class secretary, after all." Her glare softened, and her gaze shifted over to the brunette standing next to him.
She was undoubtedly pretty, her short hair pulled up into a ponytail with bangs framing her face on both sides. She kept her shirt untucked, and had a small beauty mark on the left side of her chin and under her right eye. Kagami looked back to Tadano with confusion clouding her eyes. "Who's this?"
"Oh, this is Onemine Nene, she's in our class, remember?" Now that she had a name to match the face to, she did recall seeing her in class and around the school.
"Would you mind translating for me, Tadano-kun?" At his nod, she turned to face the pretty girl. "My name is Ishioka Kagami. It's nice to meet you."
There was a pause as Tadano spoke to her, and then listened before turning back to Kagami. "She says it's nice to meet you too, and was wondering if you'd be joining us to drop off the paperwork."
"Yes, if that's alright with you." With both of their approval, the group began to make their way to the office. Tadano and Onemine chatted along the way, leaving Kagami to do her best at reading their lips so she could attempt to be in on the conversation, but there was only so much she could do.
When they finally reached the office and put the papers down, Tadano was able to catch her up on the conversation, before they made their way back to their classroom.
Along the way, Tadano was absentmindedly translating what Onemine was saying as they walked. He had gotten a lot better, and now he only had to fingerspell every once in a while, and didn't have to focus completely on translating.
At the term "normie" she shot a glare at Onemine behind Tadano's back- causing the girl to falter and switch terms. It wasn't much better, but it was something, so she let it slide. For now.
Ahead of them, Kagami noticed Shouko peeking out from behind the wall, jealousy in her eyes. Kagami shook her head in amusement, grinning slightly as she ducked back around the corner to hide in embarrassment.
The next afternoon, Onemine approached Kagami in the middle of the day, holding a notebook with a greeting on it. She flipped the page before handing it off to the deaf girl. "I don't understand sign language yet, so I figured this would be the next best thing. I'll do my best to learn JSL for the future though."
Her heart warmed at the thought, a smile gracing her lips. Onemine found herself feeling pleased with her reaction and waited as Kagami began to write something on the notebook. "This is how I usually communicate when Tadano-kun or Osana-san aren't around to translate for me. Thank you for putting in the effort to talk to me on your own, and taking the initiative to learn JSL for me. It means a lot."
Onemine smiled brightly, a laugh escaping her. "You're a lot nicer than I thought you were."
Kagami frowned at the words, raising a single eyebrow in question. "What do you mean?"
Onemine shrugged, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "Well, it's just that you're always with Komi-san, she's kind of daunting? She's always glaring at people, and yesterday you glared at Tadano-kun when he went to take the papers from you, and then you glared at me when I was talking to him in the hall."
"Shouko isn't overbearing, she's just shy and comes off scary. I glared at Tadano-kun because he was trying to do all the work himself and was trying to not let me help." Kagami held the notebook out to Onemine, who had a single question on her mind.
"But then, why did you glare at me?"
Kagami huffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Seriously? Why does everyone think the same incorrect things about Tadano-kun? Taking back the notebook, she neatly began to print out her explanation in the kindest way possible.
"You started to call him a 'normie' and then switched to 'a regular guy', which really isn't that much better. He's not a normie, and he's also not just a regular guy. He's scarily intuitive, the kindest person I've met, and he tries so hard for everyone but himself. He may seem ordinary at first glance, but the simple fact that he's able to understand what Shouko is thinking and feeling when no one outside of her immediate family has been able to do that ever, speaks volumes about his capabilities."
Onemine paused as she read over Kagami's note again. Does she- She read it one more time for good measure. "I guess I never thought of it that way. You're right though, thank you for pointing that out. You're really good for him, you know? I'll be rooting for you."
Kagami tilted her head in confusion, feeling her eyebrows knit together. "Why would you be rooting for me? We're already friends."
Onemine huffed out a laugh, amused by the oblivious girl in front of her. "You like him don't you? I'm rooting for you to go out with him." She watched as Kagami's entire face flooded with red, reaching even the tips of her ears.
She shook her head in vehement denial, but stalled when she noticed that Onemine was just standing in front of her with a knowing look on her face. She looked down at her hands, playing with her fingers before nodding once in confirmation.
"It doesn't really matter though, does it?" At Onemine's questioning gaze, she added, "he likes Shouko, just like everyone else. I can't blame him by any means. If I were into women, I'd like her too. She's gorgeous and kind."
Onemine pressed a finger to her chin in thought before shaking her head. "No, Tadano-kun doesn't like Komi-san. I've seen how looks at her. Strictly platonic." At the look of disbelief that crossed Kagami's face, she shook her head once more. "You don't have to believe me, but I know what I see."
With that final sentence, Onemine left for her desk, leaving the notebook with Kagami. I should probably burn this.
The end of the day approached quickly, leaving Tadano swamped with even more work than the day before. Kagami didn't even hesitate before grabbing a pile off of his desk and beginning to sort through it.
A hand waving in her face brought her attention up to Onemine, who had approached the pair with a friendly smile. "Is it okay if I sit on the opposite side of your desk to help?" Kagami nodded with a smile of her own, watching as she slid the chair out and snatched a pile of papers from Tadano before he could protest.
Her attention was brought over to the side as Shouko had returned to the group, hiding behind her notebook that read, "I want to help too." Her cat ears popped up as everyone agreed to accept her help, allowing her to slide into her chair next to Tadano, who began to point out what they were doing with them.
Halfway through his explanation, he leaned over to Kagami to ask her a question about the paper, who answered kindly and watched on as he turned back to Shouko to relay the information.
Onemine's eyes flicked back and forth between the exchange. She saw how Kagami's eyes dulled slightly at the loss of Tadano's rapt attention, but she also saw how Tadano snuck glances at her when she refocused on her work. These two... so oblivious. Unfortunately, she also saw how Komi looked at Tadano when he wasn't watching. Oh dear...
School had been let out for a while when the quartet finally finished with all of the paperwork, and Kagami was exhausted to say the least. Her eyes hurt from trying to discern what was written on the papers, her back ached from being hunched over, and she was completely spent.
So when Onemine pulled her aside on their way out the door, Kagami was understandably wary. Tadano had paused in the doorway to wait for them, but the pair waved him off, promising they would be leaving soon themselves and not to wait up for them.
"Say, Ishioka-san, would you like to come over tonight for dinner? I'd like to get to know you a little better and maybe you could give me some tips on what type of materials I should look into to learn JSL?"
She waited patiently, seeing how Kagami internally wrestled with her answer. On one hand, Onemine was really nice, and she did want to be her friend, but on the other, sleep was calling her.
"I suppose I could, if it's okay with your family."
"My siblings will be happy to meet someone new. They're brats, but you'll learn to deal with them. My parents always love having people over too, they're constantly asking me to bring people for lunch and dinner."
Kagami surprisingly had a great time at the Onemine residence. The younger kids were a little hyper, but somehow that made it more fun. The way everyone interacted and conversed reminded her of how her family used to be.
Despite the melancholy and jealousy she felt, she was also glad to be able to have a semblance of that now. Onemine had quickly become someone that Kagami felt comfortable telling all her secrets to.
While she wanted to be able to share everything with Shouko, she felt that it would cause an uncomfortable situation if she mentioned her crush on Tadano, since she was pretty sure that Shouko liked him too.
Kagami could share everything but her feelings for a certain boy with a flower in his hair with her best friend, but with Onemine, there were no roadblocks.
Well, there was her family situation, but she wasn't ready to share that with anyone. If she had it her way, no one would know, not even Osana. But they had an annoyingly freakish ability to hear any and all gossip within the whole country.
Before she left the Onemine residence to head home, they had exchanged email addresses, and Kagami pointed out a couple of books and websites that would help her new friend learn sign language, but reminded her that she by no means had to go through the trouble of doing so when they could communicate perfectly fine through notebooks.
She had received a slap upside the head immediately after Onemine had finished reading her message. "You deserve to be able to communicate at the same pace as everyone else. Even my family agrees."
She left feeling lighter than a feather. She had someone she could come to about her feelings for Tadano. A chaotic family filled with love and laughter that wanted to learn sign language just for her.
As she had promised Onemine, she went directly to her laptop to send her an email telling her that she had gotten home safe. After clicking send, a new notification popped up, this one from an unknown email. She opened it curiously, eyes widening when she saw who it was from.
>>From Katai, Makoto<<
Re: Hangout?
Dear Ishioka-san,
I'm sorry it took me so long to email you, but I was nervous that you had just given me your email to get me to leave you alone.
I'm hoping that isn't the case, or this will be really awkward. I was wondering if you would like to hang out sometime. We could meet at a park, or we could hang out at my house.
I recently started a new patchwork quilt that I'd love to get your opinion on.
Sincerely,
Katai Makoto
Kagami's lips twitched upwards and immediately started drafting a response.
>>To Katai, Makoto<<
Re: Hangout?
Katai-kun,
I was hoping you would email me soon. I was beginning to think you didn't want to be my friend anymore :( .
I would love to hang out sometime. Would your place be okay? I'd really like to see your quilt. I'll bet it's coming along great.
Let me know what time works best for you, and I'll make sure to be there.
Sincerely,
Ishioka Kagami
With a giddy smile stretching her face from ear to ear, Kagami collapsed into the bed, excited at the prospect of solidifying her friendship with Katai.