A Silent Voice

Chapter Two- New Arrivals

            After a couple of hours comes the end of our long road trip, everyone except for Ken who was still passed out in the car climbed out and stretched before getting everything out of the car. "Shouldn't someone get Ken?" Said Akeno. "Nah he will be fine, not like he's gonna be going anywhere else." Said Chibi. We start bringing everything into the Summer Villa and as my father opened the door a cloud of dust spilled out as if it was an abandoned house that's never been cleaned before. Now covered in some dirt and dust we place our stuff near the doorway and get our cleaning supplies. "Looks like we have a lot of work ahead of us guys!" Said Akeno. "You seem a little too excited about this mom..." I said with a sigh that was synchronized with my dads. My mother loved keeping stuff clean and tidy along with making us do it with her, we usually do it out of fear since my mother turns into a whole different person when she's angry.

            After about another two hours we finish the hefty job of cleaning the house and it's entirety. This is the usual every summer but it's also always tiring. I go upstairs with my luggage and to my room, I store everything away and flop onto my bed. But before I could begin relaxing a bright light coming from the road of a passing car slides past my window, I look out and see the car pull into the driveway of another house a little bit more down next to us. I peer closer to the window to see three people emerge from the car; a older woman maybe in her 40s and two girls who look relatively shorter than me, one with jet black hair and another with a more brownish color. They walk into the house next to us and I lay back down, I've never seen that family before and figured they must've been new around the area, they didn't look fully Japanese either which was quite weird since the part of Japan we were in didnt have much or if any foreigners in it. I walk downstairs to see Ken finally walking in yawning and Akeno siting on the couch watching tv, "Hey mom is there some new people next door?" I said. Akeno looks at me with a slightly confused expression and asked, "No, isn't the tyumayomi family there?" She walks to the window and starts looking out to the house down the road. "No I saw a family of about three whom I never seen before go into that house." I said. "Well then they either sold the house or something." Akeno said. "I'll go over tomorrow to introduce myself you should come with me." I look at her for a moment. "Sure I did see two girls there so I'd come with." I said. Akeno rolls her eyes and laughs a bit. "Ken do you wanna come too?" Ken half asleep said, "well sure but please not too early in the day, maybe around 3 PM?" I interject saying, "that is quite late to be fair." Akeno rolls her eyes again and said, "just be up before 11." Ken sighs and accepts while walking upstairs to his room.

            I climbed back up the stairs and go to my room to lay down. I stare at the moon through my window while thinking about the new family next to us. I hear some rustling from the bushes and I look outside my window and spot a person in the grass going down to the beach at the bottom of the hill instead of taking the staircase. They look quite short and after looking a bit closer I realize it's a girl- the same girl as before with the jet black hair. I could barely see what she was wearing since it was only the moonlight to help me see. Without a second thought I opened my window and quietly climbed out and fell on my feet about 2 stories high and started a little roll until hitting a tree. "Argh!" I cried in pain before quickly covering my mouth so my mother doesn't hear. I look over and see the girl looking at me from a little bit farther down the hill. We make eye contact and she looks away while running down the hill. "Hey wait!" I call out at a whisper. I start jogging after her, and she ends up tripping and rolling a bit down the hill before sliding onto the beach. I jog down and go over to her, she had some scrapes and cuts on her knees from the sand. "Hey are you ok? Want me to help you up?" I said. She stares at me not speaking and I stare back at her, locking eyes. "Um... hello?" I said with a puzzled look on my face. Looking closer in the open space of the beach I clearly see her in a oversized tank top and shorts with slippers. I reach for her and help her get up, "your knees are bleeding a bit... come here." I said as I grab her by the hand and start leading her to the water. She cautiously follows me as I use the water to wash her knees. "Good?" I asked. She nodded her head as she let go of my hand and backed up a little. We stared at each other for what felt like forever, the wind began to blow softly while the low sounds of the waves came from behind me. "Why are you out here anyways?" I asked breaking the silence. She just stared at me, and never said a word.