1,853Chapter 1: A Silent Voice #1
When Shouko Nishimiya noticed him for the first time, she got scared out of her wits and accidentally dropped the long piece of french bread she was carrying with herself to feed the fishes in the lake. He had noticed her immediately even though it seemed like he had been completely engrossed in his light novel just a moment ago. He looked at her, then at the fallen piece of bread and said something which she couldn't quite pick up.
It wasn't because her lip reading was terrible. It was because the two of them were now standing in the shade of multiple trees in the park which overlooked the lake, the place where she should be going instead of being stuck here with this complete stranger.
But he was not a total stranger. He was here, inside the campus, so it meant he was a student here in the university just like her. She tried to obtain some sense of security from that strain of thought. He was a harmless man, reading a book and she had disturbed his peace. It was really her fault. There was no reason to feel scared of him. He hadn't done anything to harm her.
Yet, a voice in the back of her mind reminded her.
She tried to shake her head and took a step back, closing her eyes to calm her down. She was now an adult woman, attending a prestigious university, living on campus and she couldn't let the fears of her childhood traumatize her any further.
She had made peace with her disability, knew there would never come a time when she would be able to listen to the voice of anyone, neither those who loved her nor those who would come to hate her. She was completely deaf in one ear, the one which didn't have a hearing aid, and there would be a permanent scar there, always as a reminder, though hidden from view because of her shoulder length pinkish-brown hair.
He was moving closer and she felt a scream die in her throat. He had eyes which were scary, now that she had a proper look and there was something in them which she couldn't un-see. She took another step back and wondered whether she could feed the fish today. Then she wondered whether her present problem could be solved by a simple apology. Nothing ever did, but there was no harm in trying.
Without thinking she closed her eyes and bowed deeply and she felt her head collide with something and in an instant she opened her eyes and found the large piece of bread which she had brought to feed this fish was now broken into two large chunks. One of them was lying on the grass. The other was in this man's hand. He was holding onto it awkwardly and shifting to the side, moving away from her and for a second she wondered whether he was hungry, which was a strange thought to have.
Then a second later he was the one bowing his head and apologizing and she didn't know what to do when he reached down and picked up the other piece of bread and held them up to her with a blush marring his features.
He was embarrassed of his own behavior, Shouko thought.
It was strange to see a scary looking man with those eyes look embarrassed at something simple. It was just bread. She was sure the fish wouldn't mind. Then she thought whether he had caught a glimpse of her hearing aid. It was red in colour and stood out prominently even though she tried her best to keep it hidden beneath her shoulder length hair.
She didn't know why she did that. It was not like she could keep the fact that she was deaf a secret. People found it out soon, whenever they came up to her to talk about one thing or another. She felt especially horrible when guys did that. They would come up to her with an open body language, full of smiles and that look in their eyes which said they found her attractive.
She still didn't know how to react to it and they would see her blush and find it cute. But the moment they would try to engage her in conversation and she would be unable to communicate and her voice would come out as a garbled mess, they would have this look on their face which made something break in her heart each time it happened and there was nothing she could do about it.
Except hide her hearing aid beneath her shoulder-length hair for those few seconds of one sided interaction which gave her nothing but false hope that there was someone there who might still be capable of falling in love with her, despite her disability, despite her inability to hear their voice, despite never being able to communicate the words 'I love you'.
Shouko Nishimiya saw him, this stranger who was a student of this university and who had come here to the lakeside to relax like her and wondered for a second whether she could have the courage to strike up a one-sided conversation.
"My name is Shouko Nishimiya. Nice to meet you."
This is what she tried to say but it probably came out as a garbled mess. She realized this with each word that came out from her mouth. She could never properly enunciate the words and using sign language with a stranger, someone whose name she didn't even know, was taking too much liberties with thier self and patience.
She was well aware he hadn't understood a single word and as she swiftly took the two pieces of bread from his loose grasp and tried to ignore the dumbstruck look on his rather handsome face, she made a mental note to never do this again.
It was better to be alone that have to deal with this embarrassment all the time. He would be just another guy with a look of sympathy, pity in his eyes and looking for a way to get away from her at the first convenient chance which presented itself to him.
This time she would take pity on him and leave, that's what she thought. But then at the last second he moved his lips and she could tell that he was making a conscious effort to enunciate his words, so that she could read what he was saying by studying the motion of his lips and grasp everything phonetically.
"My name is Hachiman Hikigaya. Sorry about the bread."
A/N: This will be a collection of infinite one shots with 8man and any anime girl you can imagine! Please leave their names in the reviews or PM me!
Everyone is attending Neo Tokyo-University and most of the action will take place on campus. Having said that there will be a lot of girls, taking note of our favourite rotten dead fish eyed loner.
Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.
Leave lots and lots of reviews, follow and fave.
Won't betray your dreams.