Shape of a Miracle EP 1 - The Pied Player

Three Years Prior

Three years ago.

"I think you should stop talking in front of people."

Those words span round the head of a young Shoko Nishimiya. They were the words her sister once told her. The words said right after Shoko had witnessed her sister get rocks thrown at her by a couple of their classmates. But Shoko didn't need to worry about the safety of her little sister anymore. As her classmates had destroyed so many hearing aids that her mother decided to transfer Shoko to a new elementary school. Suiman Elementary school.

A few months prior to her exchange to her new school. Shoko's late grandmother took both her and her sister to a gift shop, insisting that they both get a little something for themselves.

Shoko watched her little sister fuss over plushies and hair clips, constantly asking her what she wanted. Shoko had no intention of actually getting herself anything. Shoko had already gotten a new haircut against her mothers wishes just earlier that same year. She needn't be any more selfish than she already was. So, she was planning to instead use the money her granny gave her to get another gift for her sister.

Yet as they walked through an aisle filled with cards and books, one particular item stood out to her. laying on the shelf, was a dirty pink notebook. Her little sister noticed her staring at it and picked it up and shoved it into Shoko's hands. The pages and the cover felt like good quality, and it had a wonderfully crisp new book smell. But she couldn't let herself get enchanted by it. she didn't really need another notebook. She was going to get plenty of them once she would enter the new school. What would she need a personal notebook for?

Suddenly her sister pulled her back and out of the way of an incoming trolley. She must have been expected to see it coming as she then got scolded a little by the staff member pushing it.

"What are you, deaf?"

That was the only part Shoko could make out of the workers' chiding. As the staff member walked away she watched her little sister make a face. The way things were, weren't quite working, Shoko knew that. She needed a way to avoid situations like these, not just for her sister but for herself.

Shoko looked down at the notebook still in her hands. Was this the answer she was looking for? It would be a very convenient and easy way for people to communicate to her and for her to communicate to them. She looked up at the shelves of cards filled with pictures of friends and smiling faces. With this notebook, would her new school be just like that?

Her heart skipped a beat. Hoping no one could hear her even dare to dream that.

A flash of light suddenly engulfed her vision. Her sister had just taken a picture of her with one of the cheap digital cameras the store was selling. She must have finally decided what she wanted.

Shoko smiled. She had as well. Hand in hand they both skipped to the counter. Shoko was so excited that the second her new notebook was bought she immediately ran home, grabbed the nicest pen she owned, and wrote in bold letters right in the front of her new notebook:

SHOKO NISHIMIYA – COMMUNICATION NOTEBOOK