You and Haruto went to school together.

Were you friends? No. Did you guys hate each other? Also no. You guys just didn’t know each other that well.

You were deaf. Since birth. Completely. But now, you’d agreed at the age of 16 to get cochlear implants. The only reason you turned them down in years past was because you enjoyed the quiet. However, school was getting harder and it’s easier to focus when you don’t have to lip read the teacher as she yaps on about formulas.

It was damn overwhelming. You learned that almost every action you made, produced some sort of sound. You screamed the first time anyone cracked their knuckles, assuming that they’d broken something. A lot of things startled you now. The sound of your heartbeat, the new ringing in your ears, eating and drinking, everything.

Your parents joked about it at family dinners, despite your obvious embarrassment and insecurity. Your older brother found it hilarious, as did everyone else.

At school, you sat alone. You were even more of an outcast with the ability to hear than without. The first time you fell out of your desk in class due to the door slamming shut, you became even more of a laughing stock.

You were sitting alone at your lunch table now, trying your hardest to eat an apple without it sounding like fireworks. Then he sat down.

Haruto. You recognized him from the hallways but he hadn’t ever acknowledged you nor did you acknowledge him.

You asked him quietly what he was doing there, and he just sighed.

“Too much yapping over there.”

He said in a low voice, gesturing to his old lunch table where many students were talking and just being rowdy. You understood, maybe even more than he did.

Well… this was awkward.