Chapter Text
One year later...
Being blind is something no one should ever have to experience; like many things in life, it brings pain and confusion in ways you would have never known before. But it can also bring you a collection to declare yours. This collection can be of items that bring comfort or animals who keep you company. For Senku, these are his friends. They help him see that his disability is not a ticket to the end of his life, but rather the start of a new, different one. Because even someone with all the logic in the world can get lost in a pit of his own sorrow.
School has been weird; it feels like Senku is never alone anymore. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but previously, he would have moments to himself; now, his three friends swarm him more than ever. Tsukasa helps lead him around, Taiju gets mad at kids who mock him, and Yuzuriha is always a quiet support of small treats to brighten a now dark world. The attention would've been maddening in the past, but now having those voices ring through the dark are like beacons of relief. Because they handled it well, they cried for him at first, but then they pulled themselves together and got to work. Byakuya was grateful more than ever for those three, for sticking with his son, for going out of their way to make his days easier.
Currently, it's lunch time. Senkus stands up and gathers his things. A year of this makes it easier, especially if you make a map of your desk with a particular spot for everything. That doesn't mean that he doesn't always hear the extra breaths near him, helping gather his things into his bag. Tsukasa always insists on helping, despite Senku having roughly memorized where the lunch room is, Tsukasa always takes his hand and leads him there. They meet up with Taiju and Yuzuriha in the hallway to walk together. Senku can always hear the whispers, even a full year later, people don't stop forming jokes or making comments. Not everyone is cruel, but that doesn't erase those who are. Actually, a part of why Tsukasa always leads him by hand is because anytime he dared go ahead to get them a table, Senku would show up late with something of his destroyed. It made all three of his friends super angry, but they could never actually do anything except tell a teacher who only sometimes punished the kids. So his friends just decided to never separate from his side.
"What's for lunch today?" Yuzuriha's voice pushes through Senkus's thoughts, and he's brought back to the present moment. To the feeling of Tsukasa's hand and to Taiju's loud voice. "Turkey Sandwiches!"
Senku can hear Yuzuriha groan, "But they made that yesterday." It made him smile softly to himself.
By now, he could tell they had made it to the lunch room; other kids' voices would overlap the sounds of adults scolding them. Tsukasa led Senku over to the table they all usually sat at. As quick as always Taiju and Tsukasa dropped their bags while Yuzuriha sat next to Senku.
"We'll be right back." Tsukasa's mellow voice rang in his ears, he and Taiju usually go and get the four of them trays while Yuzuriha stays back to keep Senku company.
He always wondered if they secretly didn't trust him to not get hurt in the lunch line, not that he could blame them, being blind can make you more accident prone. Senku has especially gotten hurt more often, to the point that Yuzuriha always carries around a small bandage pack at her hip. It's a little embarrassing having to be catered to like that. He hears their footsteps fade into the others, one of the two much more high-energy than the other.
"Your blindfolds slipping," Yuzuriha recalls. Senku reaches for it and tightens it in the back so it fits a little more snugly around his face. He only wears a blindfold because, for the first few weeks of his new blindness, he would wind up accidentally staring at someone without knowing, and eventually they'd confront him and get upset, so he wears a blindfold so people can tell it's not actually staring rather than aimless looking.
"How's your crochet project going? You said you were trying to make a scarf." Senku hears his own voice; alongside that, he can hear the moment Yuzuriha starts grinning.
"It's going great, I'm already halfway done, and I'm thinking about trying to make it fade into another color."
"Red then?"
"Ooh, that's perfect, it'll blend into purple and blue I've already done."
She was absolutely grinning, her voice had this chipper quality to it that makes any feeling of grief dissipate into quiet relaxation. Simply talking about what colors she was gonna use for her scarf project had this much of an intoxicating feeling to it. And when two sets of footsteps approached once more, he could tell it would only get better, because they always made it better.
"Back." One simple word from Tsukasa and a dozen from Taiju. "We got the apple slices instead of the oranges because Tsukasa said he saw the lady preparing them not to cover her mouth when sneezing." Those dozen words are, as usual, blunt and loud.
Senku could feel the table weighing down a bit more as the two sat down. The table itself is round with stools surrounding it; the stools are attached to the underside of the table. Tsukasa sat down on Senku's other side while Taiju sat down on Yuzuriha's. A tray was pushed in front of Senku, and the sound of others hitting the table accompanied it. He slid his hand up the side until he found an apple slice. For a while, they sat there, each eating and talking. Taiju is putting all of his attention into listening to Yuzuriha talk about her project, and Tsukasa is on the brink of giving Senku too much attention. A habit he had developed when Senku went blind was asking these strings of questions about whether he was ok or needed help with something. Senku could hear the start of it in his voice.
"Senku, is your food okay?"
"Don't start again." His voice came out a little harsher than he meant it to. Yet, Tsukasa didn't sound hurt, more embarrassed. Senku could guess Taiju and Yuzuriha were staring at the other boy now. "Okay, just tell me if something changes."
Through the bits of awkwardness, Taiju spoke up, "Did you guys get your permission slips signed?" The field trip, right, the teachers were taking the kids out to an ice skating rink this Wednesday. Senku had forgotten to give his slip to Byakuya over the weekend. He told them all such which had some colorful reactions.
"But it's tomorrow. If you forget again, you can't come." Tsukasa's voice sounded upset at the prospect.
"It's not like I can skate anyway, skating with perfect vision is dangerous enough, let alone blind." Senku wasn't upset with not being able to; he just didn't care.
"We could lead you; you wouldn't be going around alone."
"Tsukasa, quit it. I don't mind, I don't even care, just make sure to turn your slips in. I'll stay back at school while you guys have fun." After a long second with no one responding, he adds, “It's the most logical option.”
"Absolutely not." Each of them said in unison.
Okay, point taken.
The next day came swiftly, the line for the Shinkansen(A fast bus in Japan generally meant for traveling long distances) was long, since it's such a public form of transportation, it was more than just children from their classes getting on. They had to take the Shinkansen because the skating rink was far off, it's in a more central region due to the ice being real rather than artificial. With this in mind, of course, the owners would need more customers for this seasonal way of doing things; they need to make money after all. Taiju had led them to an empty row of seats where they had been for two hours while being mercilessly watched by chaperones and teachers intending to keep them safe and well behaved.
Now they were just outside the ring while teachers did head counts.
“You sure you don't wanna give skating a try? None of us will let you fall.” Yuzuriha’s voice was warm and sure, her trust in the two boys a truth that would never dissipate.
Taijus's usual loud timbre joined her case, “Yeah! We can go slow!”
Tsukasa stayed silent.
“You can't change my mind even one millimeter, just let me sit out and ‘watch’ while you three skate.”
The three responded non-commitally, “Fine…”
“...31, 32, and 33! All set, everyone's here!” One of the teachers finished counting and called to another. That teacher began leading the kids inside while a chaperone began herding any runners back in line.
Tsukasa helps to lead Senku inside, Yuzuriha and Taiju following close behind. The doors made a click as they opened, the cold air inside enveloping them in its embrace, a stark contrast to the warmer air outside. The doors now make a bang as they close, as if protesting the group of kids leaving them behind.
The kids around them were being loud and disruptive, teachers tried desperately to shush them so they didn't bother other skaters. Everyone walks over to the fence lining the circular ice rink. Senku placed both his hands on this thick fence; the texture was rough and grippy, perfect for people to catch themselves on. The sound of ice being shredded through filled the cool air, followed by the rhythmic blowing of fans keeping the ice solid.
He turned reflexively to his side. Whenever some place felt this cold, it meant their breath could be seen, and undoubtedly that meant Taiju would pretend he could shoot out ice breath. Most kids would make a peace sign with their fingers and pretend to smoke, but he always insisted that it was bad, even if it was purely fake.
Footsteps sound from behind them, someone large and tall.
“Yes, Mr. Takahashi?” Tsukasa's voice rings out softly, followed by one of a gentle grown man.
“You kids are aware your friend there won't be able to skate. I apologize, but it's just not safe.”
“I know Mr. Takahashi,” Senku says.
Senku becomes aware of a sign nearby, Yuzuriha no doubt. Had she been holding onto hope?
Tsukasa grabs Senku's hand again, leading him over to a bench. Senku sits down and pulls out a Rubik's Cube from his school bag. Byakuya glued little shapes to each square; every color has its own shape, so he can differentiate and solve it.
The other three drop their own bags by the bench, say quick farewells, and head off with the other kids to get their skates.
Senku sits there alone, feeling the shapes and turning the sides with deliberate care; it takes him a lot longer to solve it than it had before. Seeing colors is a lot faster than feeling shapes. However, it does make the action of completing the pocket-sized puzzle all the more satisfying. In the past, it was pretty easy, but now he has something to actually challenge him, even if only mildly.
Senku can deduce that theirs a long line for skates, he can still hear the original ones, but now it's been accompanied by five slower pairs and a teacher attempting to lead the nervous children. Teaching them with kind words and suggestions.
Over time, more and more skates hit the ice, some the hesitant ones of children, others the more confident adults. Each new pair makes him wonder if his friends have begun yet, but each new voice doesn't match theirs.
He can't help the slight feeling of loneliness he's conjured; he's always liked to believe he could handle solitude, but that's simply not true. He likes his friends, that's why he calls them friends to begin with; of course, he’d want to skate if it meant he did so with them.
…
If he could see, the bench he is seated on wouldn't be facing the rink; it's placed back against the fence, facing away, meaning the sounds of people getting into the rink and sitting down to put on skates are off to the side.
That's why he gets confused at the sound of rapid footsteps coming from ahead of him… toward him.
When the footsteps arrive in front of him, one of those sets speaks.
“You're close to completing it again.” Its Tsukasa, the other two must be Yuzuriha and Taiju, that would explain why only one of them is breathing a little heavier from running. Taiju and Tsukasa rarely get tired from running due to their built-up stamina. They always enjoyed gym class, while Yuzuriha and Senku preferred to sit out and talk, their gym teacher didn't like the two very much for that.
“I thought you three were supposed to be skating. Why are you over her-”
“Because if you can't skate, we won’t either.” Taiju had interrupted him; he was so loud that Senku got the sense people had looked over at them.
“It's not just that I can't, I simply don't want to.” Senku corrects.
“Then we don't want to either,” Yuzuriha speaks. She sounds just as determined as Taiju.
“Can't you guys just go? Now you have to start at the end of the line again.” Despite Senku's insistence, another protest came.
“Senku,” Tsukasa always said his name like a prayer, though Senku never knows why. “It's no fun to skate without you, especially not with the thought of you sitting here all alone. You can't change are minds.” He sounded so sure, so honest, it made that loneliness Senku felt before lurch itself away to go die somewhere. Now that feeling was replaced with a warmth that started from the bottom of his heart to the top.
These friends, his friends who stay through deaths and losses, through fights and moves. They stick around because they want to, not out of some sense of pity or guilt, but of genuine care.
Senku could feel a small uncontrollable smile perk at his lips, the kind of smile where your muscles disobey your own will and curve up anyway, like that occurrence of twitching beneath your eye or shaking of your hands. The kind of smile that is natural and in its realest state.
Now this smile would eventually fade, Senku would gain control over it again, and those muscles would relax themselves, but this feeling of warmth would last; it’d be internalized into a memory to be looked back on, a memory to give birth to another one of these smiles. He would look forward to that warmth every single time.
Across the large echoing room stood Mr. Takahashi, he had let out an amused sigh when those three kids had slipped past his legs off to go reunite with their friend. He didn't stop them. Why would he? They made their choice, and that choice was Senku.
Mr Takahashi looked over at that bench, poorly placed right by the fence and currently seating four kids, three stubborn and one charmed, all stuffed shoulder to shoulder. It would probably be more efficient for them to have one or two get off and sit on the floor beside it or the thick fence above it. He knew they wouldn't do that, though. Because even a slight distance upset them, so they would never move or fight, they would never lose each other, and they would never let something like death keep them apart.
…
The other kids skated for an hour or two, our main four stayed seated, talking about what they'll eat for lunch, a test coming up, a bully whom they'll report, all things that seem so important and not important at all.
Field trip over, they went out to eat, and none of them acted on the lunch choices they had made before. On the way home, each felt warm, each felt peace, and each felt a sense that their next excursion would be just as enjoyable because they would make sure it was.