opia | k. hitachiin

4 | the ai way

Ai could barely remember her school days before her sight was taken away but she was sure that it wasn't this weird. It wasn't that confusing and it didn't make her want to rip her hair out that much. There was the fact Haruhi had to help her study until the Braille version of the textbooks was ready. Then the fact that she almost sure that Haruhi and Arashi were girls but had no ways to prove it—and no guts to ask about it again.

She huffed for the third time. She was in her father's office, on his couch with a book that she couldn't pay much attention to. Meanwhile, she was sure her workaholic of a father was being much more productive at his desk and finishing more paperwork than usual.

"Something wrong, sweetheart?" Warm tones rang through the room and she relaxed. "Seem a little frustrated."

"Don't worry about it. I think that's typical of every high school life."

"Well." Her father cleared his throat uncomfortably and she could hear soft steps heading towards her then his intruding weight on the couch next to her. "I hope I'm not making things worse but there's something I have to tell you."

She's never heard him sound so nervous—upset, angry, devastated but not nervous. He sounded plain stressed. And if Ai had her sight, she would easily be able to prove that she's right—a week-old stubble, dark eye bags, ruffled collar, clenching fists. Ai started to feel fear creep into her. Millions of possibilities popped into her mind but then—

"You know how you always wanted me to move on? I went to this business party a few months back and I met this woman and I-"

"So soon?" It was a broken whisper and she felt stupid after saying that. It's been years. She was the one who was encouraging him out of his lonely cave to go meet someone and get over her mum's death.

"Do you want me to wait?" A larger, warmer, rougher hand held hers. "Because you know I will."

"God, no. Don't. I don't know why I said that. Do you want us to meet her?"

"Yes, I already told Kei about it and he seemed accepting but I could never tell what that boy is thinking. Anyway, what you think is what matters to me the most."

She wanted to tell him that it's not fair. That he should talk about it with Kei and take his feelings into consideration too. But her tongue was already halfway into a knot with every word he said so she just nodded and gave him a smile.

"Great, next weekend then? I'm glad, relieved actually. I was so worried that you might be against it and I'm so happy you're not. Best daughter I could ask for."

Her smile turned pained.

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"You seem out of it," Kaoru said in their next meeting.

"Yeah." She sighed, book closed on her lap. "My dad is thinking of remarrying. It's not a bad thing. It's just, I don't know if I'm ready."

He hummed, a sweet rumble. "Maybe, when you meet the woman, you'll find it easier to accept. Maybe she'll make it easier."

"Or she could turn out to be my evil stepmother."

"Well yeah, that's another way to look at it. The non-bright way. The Ai way."

"The Ai way?"

Kaoru hummed in confirmation. "Every time we share opinions you always have a dark one."

"Do you think it has something to do with darkness being all that I could see?"

"No, I think you're just too edgy."

She muttered a childish "you're too edgy" back to him and opened her book in indignation—she sent him the universal sign for conversation over, go her—but it's Kaoru, he just kept on and on.

"I think you're too pessimistic about life. Like, remember last week, when I told you about that graffiti art on the bridge and you said that the artists probably almost broke their necks when they were up there?"

It was true. There was graffiti on the side of the bridge that could be seen from the park. Kaoru described every little detail about it and while she enjoyed it, she didn't care about what she couldn't see. So in response, she just gave him a swift, off-by-a-mark glance and said, "Superpowers might be real after all."

Ai felt a tug of irritation. So what if she had different opinions than him? So what if her blindness caused her to focus on other things? She voiced so.

"No, no, it's a breath of fresh air, trust me but I'm talking about—you know what, forget it." He sighed with some foreign feeling lingering behind. "This will just get you madder and I don't want to argue with you."

Ai didn't get it. She really didn't. But she didn't have to worry about it because if there's anything Ai saw, it was Kaoru's impeccable talent of diverting her attention away with simple words. And soon, they were lost in another conversation that only drowning with the sun over the horizon and ending with shy smiles and nudging shoulders.