Mute Or Just Scared? (Mitsukuni 'Honey' Haninozuka Love Story)

Sad Stories

That night, I kept talking with Taiga. At least, I did until I could feel my voice starting to go out on me. After that, I swapped back to writing in my notebook. Taiga was disappointed at first, but after I explained the issue, she was okay with it.

"Hey Suzu," she asked me as she stared up at the ceiling. "Why did you stop talking to people in the first place? I mean, you couldn't have been this quiet all of your life, or else you wouldn't be able to talk at all."

That wasn't a question that I'd been expecting. To be honest, I really didn't want to answer. If I'd had a choice, I'd love to forget every bit of it. Taiga was my friend though. This wasn't exactly something that was easy for me to talk about, but in the time I'd come to know Taiga, I felt comfortable enough to talk to her.

For a long time, all they ever did was hurt me, I wrote. Taking a deep breath to keep my nerves calm, I began to write it all out. Since it was a bit of a long story, I tried to keep it short and simple.

Sometime during the middle of my elementary years, all the girls decided to start picking on me. In the beginning, I was able to ignore it. But when I got into middle school, it grew worse. It started as just harmless insults, but then it grew into accusations of being an unholy monster, followed by tidal waves of jokes about those creatures directed at me, most of which were rarely said right to my face.

For a moment, I stopped writing to stretch my hand a moment before writing the last bit. Over time, I started talking less and less. Until one day I almost stopped completely.

"That's awful..." Taiga's words echoed my own thoughts. It made me want to smile, but because this was such a serious topic, I restrained myself. "No one should ever be treated that way. I mean, it's not like you did anything to them to deserve that."

As far as I remember, I've never done anything to hurt anyone, I wrote. My memory was usually quite good, so I doubted I'd ever even considered doing anything to hurt any of them. But some people never need a reason for the things they do.

They never physically did anything to me. After I wrote that, I immediately crossed it out and wrote something else. They did throw balls of paper at me. Thinking a moment, I scribbled down a bit more. And a piece of hard candy once. I heard it bounce off the wall when it missed me. It was one they'd gotten from the teacher that day.

"Those jerks! You really should have kicked their asses!" Taiga's reaction made me smile. It was nice to have someone on my side for once. But as to her comment about hurting them in return, all I could do was shake my head. "Why not?"

It wouldn't have made me any different than them if I had, I wrote, smiling as Kiseki ran up and sat down on my notebook. Taking revenge on them would only make me as bad as they were. If I just push past it and don't let it get me down, then that makes me stronger than them.

"But... doesn't that hurt you?"

I just nodded, leaving us in silence. Wanting to get away from such a depressing topic, I tried to think of something to do. I know, let's do something fun.

Taiga sat up. "I've got a better idea." As she spoke, a smile spread across her face. "Cookies sound pretty awesome right now. What do you say to going to find some?"

Even better idea: Let's make them instead.

The smile on my best friend's face quickly shifted to a look of surprise. "Are you any good at that?"

Second best in Japan. As I wrote the words, I added a cute smiley face. Baking was one of the small number of things that I was good at. My family's bakery was actually pretty famous and I often helped out when I wasn't in school. Actually, it was more my father's, since my mother wasn't any good with that sort of thing and usually stayed away from anything related to it.

"Second best? Who's first then?"

My dad is. Barely a second passed before I got another brilliant idea. Why don't we make some for Kasanoda and the guys at the Host Club too?

Before I'd even finished writing it, she was thrilled with the idea. "That's a great idea!" Taiga pulled me into a sort of sideways hug. In a way, I felt like she was saying 'you're brilliant Suzu.' Even if her words didn't say it directly, the feeling in what she would say was the same. "Honey really likes sweets, so it's sure to score you some points!"

It had merely just been a kind gesture, so I hadn't even considered that. But as Taiga and I got to work, I couldn't help but smile at her words.