Love is Blind: a Jouno and Tetchou story

We're not using the app

Jouno predictably arrived in the park first, and rematerialized on the edge of a fountain. "Got you." Tetchou arrived a few seconds later, and it sounded like he'd been sprinting. There was still no catching Jouno when he wanted to go somewhere though.

"You're fast." Tetchou said. "And you're totally cheating by the way." He paused. "So, what are we supposed to do now?" Jouno shrugged. "Walk in the park until we have to get to the planetarium." Which was another reason why Teruko was bad at planning dates. One of the things Jouno had noticed about Tetchou, after being partners with him for so long, was that he hated crowds like Jouno hated small fluffy creatures.

"Okay." Tetchou said, seeming resigned to his fate. "Let's start walking." They'd only taken a few steps when Jouno started to smell smoke. "Tetchou. Is someone having a barbecue?" He asked sharply. "Nowhere near us." Tetchou said, sounding confused. "Then I think something's on fire."

Tetchou ran off in one direction, and Jouno dematerialized and took off in the other. Today was just full of things he hated: feelings, felines and fire. Jouno's one weakness ability wise was fire. If he was ever dematerialized and got burned badly enough, he wouldn't be able to reform. As a result, Jouno tried to avoid being burned. However, it appeared that today, he was going to have to contend with a fire.

He quickly rematerialized when he could feel the temperature rising, and the smell of smoke became overpowering. "Tetchou I found it." He texted. His phone gave him an audio message saying it was shutting down because of the heat. Typical. Jouno hoped his message went through to Tetchou.

"Okay, everybody get back." Jouno yelled as loudly as he could, which was sometimes not as loud as Tetchou's speaking voice. Certainly not as loud as Obnoxious Bob, the former hunting dogs receptionist who thought that Jouno being blind meant he had to speak as loud as he possibly could. Jouno actually had a much better sense of hearing than most people, thank you very much.

From the sounds of hurried footsteps racing heartbeats, and random people yelling "oh my god it's on fire", Jouno assumed that the citizens were making their way away from whatever was burning. This was where he really could have used Tetchou. Jouno couldn't get close enough to tell what was on fire, and he didn't want to risk dematerializing.

It was then that Jouno remembered something about the park. There were sprinklers everywhere. See, Tetchou? Memorizing the layout of places before going there is a good idea. Jouno ran over to the nearest sprinkler and pulled the top off. Usually these things would spray everywhere if you took the top piece off. Jouno had taken Teruko to splash pads frequently enough this was something he knew with great certainty.

Jouno was engulfed in a wave of water, but hopefully whatever was burning would be too. Then again, knowing Jouno's luck, that was probably too much to hope for. He'd probably have to go around taking the tops off of all the nearby sprinklers, and hoping that somehow contained the blaze. God. Anyone watching would have thought he was a complete amateur.

That was when the familiar whizzing sound of Tetchou's swords came flying across the open space. Jouno heard the blades connect with multiple pieces of metal, and heard multiple jets of water being released. "I just got your text." Tetchou said. "That was smart, opening the sprinklers like that." Jouno sighed, and tried to squeeze some of the water out of his shirt. "I have my moments."

Nobody said anything for a few minutes. "So, what's actually on fire?" Jouno asked. "A couple of trees." Tetchou replied calmly. Jouno crossed his arms. "Oh, great. So a flaming branch could have fallen off and that would have been the end of me." Tetchou grabbed Jouno by the shoulders. "Don't joke like that."

"Is the fire out?" Jouno asked, sensing that feeling welling up in him again, and desperately wanting to change the subject. "Mostly." Jouno raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean mostly?" He asked. "Well, we contained the fire, but the trees have mostly burned down at this point, so I think we just have to let them go. It's sad, but it's the circle of life."