The hearing aid lying silently in his palm caused Ren to lose himself for a moment.
So she really was one of those 'unaware' types... Just a different kind of it.
While Ren was distracted, Shoko Nishimiya—standing across the street—pushed past the crowd of classmates surrounding her and sprinted toward Ren's position. It was obvious she had seen her hearing aid fall into his hands.
Panic consumed her. She had no way of knowing if Ren would treat it like a piece of trash and toss it into a bin. If it just ended up in the garbage, she could at least dig through the filth to find it. But if he casually flicked it away and she couldn't locate it...
Shoko didn't even dare to imagine the consequences of that outcome.
This was already her third hearing aid. If she lost this one, her mother would be saddled with a massive debt. These devices were not cheap, and Shoko came from a single-parent household—and a struggling one at that. Her mother, Yaeko Nishimiya, was the sole provider, supporting her own mother and two daughters, Shoko and Yuzuru. She juggled multiple jobs just to keep their small family from sinking.
One more financial blow would be more than her family could take.
Shoko ignored the danger of the road and ran toward Ren, her only hope being that he wouldn't throw it away. Since it wasn't the peak of rush hour, the street was relatively empty, sparing her from a potentially fatal accident.
Without even stopping to catch her breath or calm her racing heart, Shoko grabbed Ren's sleeve, her eyes wide with desperation and terror. The tugging on his clothes snapped Ren out of his thoughts. He looked down at the girl.
He knelt down. With one hand, he brushed the hair away from Shoko's ear and, with careful precision, placed the hearing aid back inside. Shoko didn't resist. She stood there like a docile doll as he fixed it. His movements were steady and controlled, and she could feel it wasn't hostility.
Once he was sure it was secure, Ren gave her fluffy, short hair a firm rub with a smirk. Shoko, with her hair now a mess, ignored it and reached into her backpack to find a notebook. In her frantic state, she bit down on the tight pen cap to pull it off with her teeth and began scribbling.
Ren reached out, took the saliva-moistened pen cap from her mouth, and waited for her to finish.
"Hello, thank you! My name is Shoko Nishimiya."
When she held the notebook up, she hid the lower half of her face behind it, leaving only her large brown eyes to stare at Ren without blinking. They were filled with intense curiosity.
Ren handed the pen cap back to her and took the notebook and pen.
"Hello. You're welcome. I'm Ren."
Mimicking her exactly, Ren held the notebook up so only his eyes were visible, staring back at her. This made Shoko flush with embarrassment, and she shyly lowered her head. Ren capped the pen, put the notebook back into her open backpack, and then—began to use sign language.
He wasn't exaggerating. Ren was fluent in several languages, and he had mastered sign language as part of his skill set.
"Did you know they were just toying with you?" Ren signed, pointing toward the empty spot across the street where the group had been.
The kids had vanished. Ren wasn't surprised. They didn't run when nothing was happening, but the second things got real, they knew how to disappear? Too late for that.
"Were they toying with me? I thought they were playing."
Seeing Ren use sign language made Shoko's face light up with pure joy. In school, not a single person around her knew how to sign. To communicate, she had to constantly pull out her notebook and write—a tedious, inefficient process. By the time she finished writing a thought to join in, the conversation had moved on, and she was left ignored.
Most people in the outside world didn't have the patience for her. Only her sister Yuzuru and her grandmother would sign with her. Her mother, Yaeko, wanted her to learn to speak and purposefully avoided sign language to force her to vocalize.
Ren hadn't spoken a single word since they met. From the start, aside from the written introduction, he had communicated entirely through sign. It made Shoko feel less alone—like, for once, she didn't have to chase the conversation from behind.
"Yes, they were toying with you. To be blunt, they were bullying you."
"They snatched your hearing aid. Instead of giving it back, they used your handicap for their own amusement."
"What do you think about that?"
Ren explained exactly what had happened, forcing her to see the ugly truth. School bullying was relentless, and in Shoko's case, it could ruin her life. Her hearing loss and her poor speech meant she would likely suffer in silence, unable to even voice her pain.
"What do I think...?"
"I don't know why they would bull... bully me. What do you think I should do? I'll do what you say."
Shoko had started to say "teasing," but since Ren called it bullying, she chose to trust him—a man who radiated a dangerous but protective aura. As a kid, she had no idea how to handle this. She placed the decision in Ren's hands.
"Then follow me. I'm going to get you some justice."
"Okay. I'll follow you."
She wasn't being a blind saint; she recognized someone who actually had the power to act. Ren accepted her trust and reached out his right hand.
Shoko took it. As Ren stood up, her small hand was pulled nearly vertical. To keep her grip, she had to stand on her tiptoes. Noticing her struggle, Ren simply reached down and scooped her up, propping her against his arm.
The sudden lift terrified Shoko. She instinctively wrapped both arms tightly around his neck.
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