Silence | Book 1

4-9: Homeward

Hibiki was strapped into the front seat of Kazuo's car as they drove back to Oxford. The highways were empty. Repetitive lights flashed by, and Kazuo's soft, smooth jazz music didn't make it any easier to stay awake. It was so bad that he could feel the strain on his eyes just keeping them open. But somehow he never dozed off, scrolling endlessly through his phone trying to find something to look at. Only for those short bursts of interest to quickly fade into boredom again.

He heard the noise of the engine, softly purring over the jazz; but something else occasionally drifted in over it. Loud and obnoxious, it shook his mind awake: whirring. Harsh, constant, droning. He tried to ignore it, to close his eyes or shake his head, and when he found something to distract him, it did go away. Only for it to get a little louder, a little more invasive the next time he heard it.

'Can you turn off the heater?'

He suddenly signed with quick, agitated gestures.

「It is off?」Kazuo's glance darted between the display and Hibiki, confused by the question. But Hibiki adamantly shook his head.

'It's not, I can hear it. Turn it off'

His signing got wilder, nearly frantic as frustration shone through. Immediately Kazuo tapped through a few menus, then smiled at him.

「There, it is turned off completely now. I must not have heard it over the music」

Hibiki gave a relieved nod, while Kazuo went and turned the volume of the music up a few notches so it drowned out most of the engine as well.

「How about you try to sleep some?」Kazuo suggested, but immediately Hibiki shook his head, to say he wasn't tired.「How about a game then? You always liked memory games?」

Hibiki looked up at Kazuo, about to huff and sign that he was too old for games, but then he sighed and nodded. He folded his hands over his arms and leant forward against the dashboard, intently watching details of the road as it came by.

For a minute or so it was quiet, while Kazuo remembered a sole detail about the road to question him about. Not one too absurdly long ago, but enough to be a challenge.

「Tell me the numberplate of the red car we passed a minute ago.」

'CE62XBK'

「And the sign we passed right after that?」Kazuo grinned, trying to throw Hibiki for a loop. Hibiki closed his eyes for a moment and recalled the image in his head, like a burn-in of what he had seen. It was a fleeting thing, that faded after more than a few minutes, but long enough to recall the details of what he had focused on. It was great for taking notes, and remembering entire sheets of formulas and definitions to then pen them down on the back of his exams – or playing dumb memory games.

'Hillingdon, Ruislip and Ickenham'

He typed out on his phone, as he couldn't be arsed to even begin signing those names.

「How about that one?」Kazuo quickly asked pointing at a sign that already passing by, causing Hibiki to swivel around to catch it – only for him to turn back and give an angry puff at Kazuo, blowing a few strands of hair out of his face. The sight of it made Kazuo chuckle, but Hibiki crossed his arms and gave another annoyed huff through his nose.

「I still can't believe how good your memory is.」Kazuo mumbled with a slight shake of his head.

Hibiki just shrugged, never having known anything else for all his life – there were even days where he disliked it, as it could be invasive and tiring. Sometimes he felt it undermined any of his accomplishments, knowing people would ascribe it to his eidetic memory, and not his hard work or understanding. But if anyone knew that, it would be Kazuo, since he was one of the few people that actually saw him put in effort.