Silent Resilience

An Invite

(CW: Some blood)

Adriel did not trust Akira Komatsuzawa.

"Hey, what are you eating for lunch?"

"Oh, uh..."

"Is this just...rice?" Akira asked, leaning way over the shorter's shoulder. He moved forward from his spot beside Adriel, sitting on the bench by the courtyard's fountain.

As Adriel had promised yesterday, the duo met up in the far garden near the back of the school, where no one would bother them. He had texted Honey and Mori earlier, mentioning that one of the third years asked to eat with him, to which the cousin duo questioned, but did not press. Already the first year was beginning to regret his promise.

Adriel backed away upon the close proximity. "I was in a rush this morning. Couldn't make anything else"

Which technically wasn't a lie, but wasn't the full truth either. This morning, the tan boy had searched through his entire apartment for the pale blue notebook he normally kept in his bag.

'Did someone steal it? Was it Rui this time?' Adriel thought, biting back a sigh.

"Wow, you make your lunch yourself?" Akira tilted his head with a smile. "But you only have one arm now! Why don't your parents do it for you?"

"They're busy most days" was Adriel's short response.

"So you do all these things by yourself. Huh, that's incredible" the third year chuckled. "Seriously though. Don't your parents ever pay you any attention, or are they just really neglectful?"

Adriel did not like the way Akira worded his questions.

"They're busy, not mean" the tan boy curtly answered.

"Alright, alright" Akira wryly laughed, taking a bite of his own lunch from the cafeteria. "Still, it's amazing just how much you get done in a day. I'm honestly shocked. Especially since, well, you know..."

"I'm an amputee?" Adriel lazily lifted an eyebrow.

"Ah..."

"You know, you can say it. I don't mind it when people use that word"

"But don't you feel uncomfortable when people call you that?"

"Not really" Adriel shrugged. "It's just a label. Kind of like 'short' or 'Singaporean'"

"Okay..." Akira muttered in discomfort. "Well anyways, I have a few more questions for you. Care to answer?"

"Sure" Adriel nodded.

He wouldn't have agreed if he knew what the questions were.

"How do you use the bathroom?"

"Do you know how to use a toilet?"

"Can you have children?"

"How do you have sex?"

With a sadly large amount of talent, Adriel managed to dodge every single invasive question.

"Like I always have"

"Yes"

"I don't really care"

"I'm fifteen years old?"

Adriel wanted to eat with Honey and Mori again.

"Okay, another question" Akira nodded, jotting something down in his notebook. He lifted the paper up, reading the words written down on the previous page. "Do you know how to read or write?"

"I'm... here on a writing scholarship?" Adriel couldn't help but feel incredibly bewildered by the questions he was being asked. 'What does this have to do with being an amputee?'