Koe no Katachi(A Slient Voice)

Chapter 7

Nishimiya Shouko POV:
I looked at the watches, they all suited Ishida. I went to grab the brown watch that had caught my fancy with a leather strap but as I was about to reach for It another guy that I had not noticed was also standing next to me about to reach for it. Our hands touched and I quickly withdrew my hand letting out a gasp. I looked up at the guy just to see who the person was. As I stared at him, I found him very familiar, he had fair skin, green eyes and short spiky auburn hair along with a white shirt and blue jeans. Oh........................Akihiko!.
Flashback: One week ago after our situation between me and Ishida.
After my first class, me and my friends Sara and Akari walked to a bench that will give us a perfect view of the boys playing basketball whilst also eating our lunches. I folded back the wrap covering my sushi and as I was about to gorge my first tasteful bite my eyes caught Akari wave her hand and signed "Don't you think the guy over there.." my eyes followed her finger only to see it land on a classmate. "Yeah your talking about Akihiko from our class right" I signed, and Akari nodded, she finishing her sentence by signing again "Don't you think he is handsome". I was utterly shocked, that approximation had not crossed my mind...sure he had nice, soft auburn hair that looked like they should belong to a girl and a tall frame that gave the Impression he would be quiet good at basketball, but... he was nothing compared to Ishida....I mean Ishida's hair was ten times better, and he was of perfect stature, and his smile.... well his smile lighted the darkest place in my heart. I didn't realise that I was smiling until I noticed Sara sign "Don't you dare think of my twin brother that way". I signed "Oh no I'm sorry I wasn't smiling because of that," I looked across at Akari for help and she responded by gathering her hands to apologise with a cheeky grin on her face. "But just look at him isn't he cool right Shouko" I signed "Everybody has different opinions but I think his alright, I mean his no geek statue" I didn't mean to disagree with Akari, but if I agreed It felt like I was betraying Ishida. I looked at Akari and saw a dreamy expression cross her face, her head rested on her folded arms and her eyes executed a glazed look." Oow" Akari said, It appeared Sara had punched her, "Stop staring like an idiot I don't want my brother to think that my friends are creepy" Sara said. "Hey" can I not admire someone, geez its not like I'm breaking the law". Sara stared at Akari realising there was no way she could change her friend, she let out a sigh and smiled "Fine, do whatever you want but don't blame me when your feelings are unrequited". Akari adopted a shock expression on her face, "Excuse me, I'm pretty and I'm pretty smart too, so there is no reason for him not to like me" Sara Ignored her. I was so entertained by the exchange between Sara and Akari that I hadn't noticed a ball flying toward me.. well that and because I couldn't hear it coming toward me. "Watch out there is a ball coming toward you" I saw them sign a second too late. I looked behind and was frozen Into shock, I raised my arms getting ready to cover up my face but suddenly I saw a shadow fall over me, uh oh.. its too late, I thought. The shadow moved It took the shape of a person...Akihiko, and then I felt his arms shield me from the ball, the ball bounced of his head and I looked at his face but no painful expression was present to Indicate the measure of pain he had endured for....me. I looked at him about to say thank you with my voice but he raised his hands and signed "Are you okay Nishimiya?" oh my god, I was stunned. I could feel my mouth gaping open..he knew sign language.. but how. I quickly realised I should say something. I smiled up at him and signed "I'm okay and thank you for saving me from the ball" he smiled and I saw him call someone from the soccer field. I saw someone approach him, he was quite tall as well with a messy pile of black hair atop his head that looked like it had seen better days. I saw Akihiko turn to him and talk. I couldn't understand what they were talking about, they were talking too fast and softly I couldn't keep up with the lip reading. But then I saw Akihiko signed to him "I'm sorry" , what why was Akihiko saying sorry to him.. and In sign language, was he deaf too. No, that couldn't be It, If there was someone also deaf from this school I would have known about it. Then I saw the boy with the messy hair come to me with a guilty smile, he waved and then signed "I'm sorry" . Understanding dawned on me,...oh so Akihiko had been teaching him to sign to me.. that was sweet. Akihiko signed to me again "He said he is sorry for throwing the ball at you and he says it was an accident" I was surprised I waved my hand "No you don't need to apologise I mean he didn't need to apologise but thanks anyway". I saw him smile and I decided to smile too. Akihiko signed again "Okay then make sure you are careful next time" I saw him wave to me goodbye and I waved back as they left I saw Akari blushing and she signed "Omg!! Shouko did he just hug you". As I remembered what had previously conspired soon, I felt the heat of a blush coming forth. Akari signed "Both of you are so cute together" I started to blush but I signed "No I don't think so, he just saved me" they all looked confused and Sara signed "Do you have someone else you like instead of him" as soon I saw Sara ask me this, my mind went back to the memory the day when I confessed my feeling to Ishida but he misunderstood and thought I was referring to the moon. But I forgive him for that misunderstanding and locked my feelings away, never to be expressed again. I signed to both of them and said "no." and then I signed again to Sara "How does your brother know how to sign?" Sara signed back and said "He learned how to sign when he was a kid, he taught me too". She signed "He had a childhood friend, they were very close friend, he was also deaf like you so he taught Akihiko a bit of sign language so they could communicate. But then he committed suicide when he was 13". I signed "that is so sad".
End of Flashback.
As I saw Yuzuru, she said something to Akihiko and he put an arm at the back of his head and smiled at Yuzuru. Then he faced me and I saw shock register his face as he realized it was me. He took a step toward me and signed "Nishimiya sorry I didn't know It was you" but I quickly signed to him "No it's okay I'm sorry too I didn't notice you were there." I saw him pick up the watch and pass it to me. He then picked up another one that looked exactly like mine and signed " You can have that one and here is another for me." I smiled at him and signed "Thank you". He was soo friendly If only all my classmates were like him. I looked at him and he was wearing his school uniform, the tie around his collar was a bit lose, he was holding his blazer by his fingers over his left shoulder. Yuzuru came to me and signed to me "Who's that guy and how does he know how to sign?" I signed "He is one of my classmates and his name is Akihiko, he learned sign language when he was a kid." Yuzuru eyes widened and she looked quite surprised. Just then I saw Akihiko turn to us and sign with a laugh playing across his lips "It looks like my twin sister, Sara, already told you everything about me" I started to blush and signed "No, no, I was just curious and I asked her" then Yuzuru patted me on my sleeve and showed me the time on her phone I was shocked we had only 20 mins till our little restaurant dinner. Yuzuru walked up to Akihiko and it looked like she was talking to him about something. Akihiko signed to me and said "Would you mind, I can take you guys to the restaurant" I thanked him as we went to check out and walked to his car. His car had a nice dark blue paint coat. Akihiko opened the car door for me and Yuzuru. We arrived at the restaurant 10 mins late. As I and Yuzuru were about to get out from his car I thanked him and he signed to me "No problem, by the way, who did you buy the watch for?" I signed to him "Oh... It's for a friend" just then I saw Yuzuru walking to someplace. My eyes followed her and I saw her going up to restaurant steps, more specifically to the guy who was waiting on the steps. I looked up and saw Ishida. His eyes were locked on the Akihiko and a frown was forming on his lips. I've never seen him frown so strongly, I wonder what the problem was.