Kanao Can't Communicate

•~chapter thirty-three: hanafuda~•

Kanao was in her sitting room, minding her own business and doing nothing at all. It was almost the end of the year.

She suddenly heard the doorbell ring. She listened to Kanae's footsteps running over to the door.

"Kanao!" said Kanae's voice from the entrance hall. "There are some people over that I really want you to meet!"

Kanao jolted. Normally, whenever people came over, Kanae would warn her and she would spend the day hiding up in her room. But tonight was different.

Trembling, Kanao walked slowly over to the front hall. She saw two people at the door-both of them were dark haired, so Kanao assumed they were siblings, at least until she saw the rings glittering on their ring fingers.

"Kanao, I'd like you to meet the Soyamas-Koyuki and Hakuji. They go to your school, but they're in the fourth year." Kanae said, gesturing to the pair. "As you may have noticed, they're also married."

Kanao nodded, although she was still a bit shocked that these two were married at such a young age.

Not knowing what to do, Kanao looked down at her feet and she began to tremble. Koyuki and Hakuji were not surprised; Kanae might have told them about Kanao's speaking problem.

Kanao walked slowly up the stairs. Once she reached the top landing, she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

She walked down the stairs again, since she didn't want to seem rude while there were guests over.

Kanao entered the sitting room, and she immediately registered Koyuki and Hakuji sitting on the sofa. They were drinking some boba tea that Kanae must've bought earlier.

Kanao sat down on a cushion next to the table. She raised her hand in a weak wave, which was returned by Koyuki almost immediately.

"Hi, Kanao!" Koyuki said joyfully. "Sorry for the awkward greeting earlier. Do you want to play Hanafuda with me?"

Kanao nodded, although she hadn't played before. She jolted in surprise when Koyuki suddenly burst into tears.

"Don't worry about it." said Hakuji from his place on the sofa. "Koyuki always cries when she's happy like this."

Koyuki was still bawling as she set up the cards for the game.

Once she had finally stopped sobbing, Koyuki asked, "Why don't we play koi-koi? It has the easiest rules, after all."

Kanao nodded, although she seemed slightly confused.

Sensing the confusion, Koyuki asked, "Do you know how to play, Kanao-chan?"

Kanao shook her head, so then Koyuki proceeded to tell her the rules.

Before this, Hakuji had left the room due to the racket Koyuki was making with her sobbing. However, when Kanao and Koyuki were about to start their game, he entered the room again and he sat down beside them at the table. He stared down at the cards and then he looked up to his wife.

"Koyuki," he began, "how about this. You play against me. One point is one-hundred yen that I will give to you for your New-Year's gift."

"If you lose, you have to treat me somewhere and buy me something with that amount of money." he said softly.

Kanao looked over at Koyuki, to see how she would respond. Kanao jolted when she saw a shadow pass over Koyuki's face as she agreed to this battle.

Don't get me wrong. Koyuki and Hakuji love each other dearly, otherwise this marriage would not have gone well from the get go. But when there's competition and games involved, things get a little...tense.