Vibrations

“Italicized” - Signed
“Regular” - Spoken

…

It was just another normal day. Ako had just finished up school for the day. She rushed to the live house. This was a very common thing for her. She always went there after school to listen to all the performers. Well, kind of. She couldn’t listen to the singers, but the ones who played instruments she could.

You see, Ako is deaf. Profoundly deaf. She can’t hear anything. But, she still enjoys music. She just can’t understand the lyrics to any songs. She can just feel the tempo and beat. Ako was amazed when she first heard her sister play the drums. She wanted to do that as well.

It was tough to do. Being deaf was making it even harder. But, Ako managed and was very proud of her skills. She hoped that one day, she could join a band and show the world just what she was capable of. There was a lot of stigma in the music world about deaf people. The majority didn’t like deaf people creating music.

Ako had a few favorites that she liked to listen to at the live house. One of which was none other than Sayo. While Ako was able to feel bass easier, guitar wasn’t that hard to feel either. Ako really enjoyed Sayo’s playing. Though, the rest of the group she was with was lacking.

Ako had always wanted to talk to her, but that seemed almost impossible. For a lot of reasons. One, she was deaf. Now, she could talk, but she hated doing so. Ako was forced to talk and lipread at home. Her parents were ashamed to have a deaf kid and refused to help her at all. Tomoe wasn’t like that, though. She helped Ako first start learning sign language, since their parents wouldn’t hire a teacher.

Another reason was that Sayo seemed pretty… intimidating. Ako was nervous to even try. She didn’t know if Sayo would just scoff at her because she was younger than her. Ako never approached any of the performers she liked. She was too nervous and afraid. She felt like they’d just call her a freak once they found out the truth. Ako was pretty decent at pretending to be hearing, but it was really hard. She slipped up a lot. Most people thought she had some sort of mental disability because she would just say her brain couldn’t process their words very well.

There was another performer Ako liked to watch. It was pretty shocking that she liked her. They sang. They didn’t play any instruments. But, Ako just could see how confident and professional she was out there. Who is this person? Yukina.

Ako was excited to see that she was back again. She watched her as always, wishing she was closer to see her lips better. Ako wanted to know what she was saying, but she always hung out in the back. She always wanted a way to escape if something went wrong.

After Yukina had finished, Ako left the live house. She had seen everyone she wanted to. As Ako was leaving, she spotted Yukina and Sayo talking to each other. Ako nervously got closer and watched them. She couldn’t make out too much, but she got a general idea of what they were discussing. She could understand that they were talking about creating a band together.

Ako wondered if they might consider her to join. She always wanted to join a band just like Tomoe had. But, every time she tried to recruit people herself, it ended in failure. No one wanted to work with her because she was deaf. Ako didn’t know why, but she wanted to try. Even though they both seemed intimidating, she wanted to try and join their group.

“E-excuse me?” Ako nervously called.

They both looked at her. Neither seemed very interested in her. Ako expected that. She was just a kid to them. She knew that very well. Not many people really took her seriously. Her personality made that hard to do.

“I heard you guys are making a band.” Ako stated.

“You aren’t joining. Why’d we want a kid. This is a professional group. We don’t have time to play games.” Sayo was the one who responded first, even before Ako could ask.