Chapter Text
You know, it wasn’t necessarily supposed to be this way, but guess it couldn’t be helped at all. Shuichi Saihara, a famous detective prodigy who can’t hear a single thing in everyday life, yet he was still able to solve a very difficult case.
Not that he wanted to. He was just coming along with his uncle for a work trip until he got all caught up into this.
It happened when he was 12, one year after permanently damaging his hearing. He didn’t really mean to find the clue, he wasn’t even sure what they were talking about despite the hearing aids he had on him. He’s seen his uncle work on a case before, so he just thought that the clue they missed was important. He didn’t solve too much, but he at least busted out the motive… and narrowed down between who the killer may have been.
That did the job in finding the culprit though.
Ever since he heard the culprits cries and yells… he hasn’t had much motivation on wearing his hearing aids. Not that he needs it anyways, his uncle signs perfect japanese towards him, other than his parents who’re in America.
Saihara is 18 now, going off towards his third year of high school. Oh to be a third year, what joyous moments will this year bring him. Last year was okay, but it wasn’t as… fun so to say.
Not that he couldn’t hear anything, but he could tell by the stares and looks he gets, nobody’s going to go out of their way to learn JSL to be able to speak to him, let alone get to know him.
Well, except it’s already happened.
First year of middle school. His now known best friend, Kaede Akamatsu, specifically went out of her way to talk to him. It was a tad bit awkward at first, since they had to write on paper, but in between all of her piano lessons, rehearsals, and showcases, she still managed to find the time to learn JSL… just for him.
He’s thankful, of course. Why wouldn’t he be? Kaede even dragged two of her other friends to come and learn with her throughout their three years in middle school all the way up to their first year in high school. Kaito and Maki were pretty nice. Kaito is considerate while Maki is patient as ever. Shuichi couldn’t ask for better friends than them.
Truthfully, the first sign they’ve all gotten to know was ‘sorry’. Funny you should ask, Shuichi’s always been constantly using that sign for the life of him, he apologizes for even the simplest things. To this day, he still does it.
Being deaf served him not much problems. Not that he’s not ever encountered one… but ever since he met Kaede… his problems seemed to have decreased.
The three of them know about how he has hearing aids, and never puts them on, and they respect that. Shuichi was quite nervous when wanting to tell them at first, so his three friends being accepting towards it made his heart beat at a much slower pace when talking to them. His anxiety always gets the best of him at times, so the silence usually is the reason why he calms down. Don’t want to end up breaking down in front of people and have them struggle to comfort him if they don’t know JSL..
He usually only wears his hearing aids whenever he’s alone with someone he trusts, or when it’s just his uncle. His uncle doesn’t really mind, since he is fluent in JSL. Hell he was the one who taught him JSL in the first place… unlike his parents.
Shuichi was awakened by his uncle after moments of laying in bed. He would use an alarm clock, but there wasn’t much of a point of it if you couldn’t hear.
He felt a tap behind his shoulder and rolled over, sitting up on his bed and tiredly rubbed the both of his eyes before looking at his Uncle.
‘Good morning,’ He signed, ‘Breakfast is ready downstairs. I’ll be leaving for work so I trust that you can get to school yourself.’
That was a first, usually his uncle would always drive him. Not that he didn’t mind, it was just something different for a change. He nodded in reply after a small number of moments.
“Okay,” Shuichi answered verbally, reaching for his phone and unlocking it. “I can text Akamatsu-san to come and walk with me then.” He smiled just a tiny bit, walking to school with Kaede is always fun. She’s generally a fun person to be around. He started typing a text message to her, sending it fairly quickly afterwards and looked back up at his uncle.
‘Great!’ He smiled towards him before giving Shuichi a small wave. ‘I’ll be heading off now, tell her I said hi!’
“Bye, see you when you get home.” He called out, watching his uncle leave his room. As he was getting ready, he glanced out at his window, seeing his uncle drive away and off to the agency he worked at.
He wrapped a black sweater around his waist after picking his outfit for the day. The weather says it was going to be chilly, and even though he had black and white striped long sleeves, his uncle usually always suggests that he carries a light sweater with him in case it gets chilly. He tugged his socks on his feet before sliding down towards the stairs, seeing a plate of food on the table just for him with a little note, likely from his uncle. Shuichi went over to it, picking the note up.
It read, ‘Have a good first day of your third year, Shuichi’. He smiled softly at the nice gesture before sitting down to eat his food. After moments of eating and being nearly done with his plate, he felt his phone vibrate and picked it up, seeing a text from Kaede.
`I’m outside of your house Saihara-kun! Answer the door whenever you can`
Swiftly, Shuichi downed his food, moving his plate into the sink and washed it, including his hands. He then ran back upstairs to get his bag before opening the front door for Kaede, which she greeted happily with a small wave.
‘Good morning, Saihara-kun!’ She signed, speaking as she did. Kaede had a habit that whenever she signed, she would say what she was signing. Unless they were at a public place. ‘I saw your text earlier and came as fast as I could.
Shuichi chuckled, ‘Good morning, Akamatsu-san,’ He signed back in greeting, pursing his lips slightly when she said that. ‘You didn’t necessarily have to rush over.’
‘But I wanted to!” Kaede told him, a pout forming on her face, ‘Helping you out with anything is the best thing I could do for you!’
‘You’re very sweet, Akamatsu-san.’ Shuichi signed, giving her a small smile afterwards, to which she gave one back, causing her pout to instantly disappear. Shuichi moved outside, closing the front door behind him and locked it with the spare keys his uncle had given him before starting to walk towards the direction of the school. He turned around, now walking backwards. ‘Come on, we don’t want to be late now do we?’
Kaede shook her head in reply, catching up to him enough to where he was able to walk forward
---
Homeroom was nice. All three of his friends had the same homeroom as him, as well as all of his other classes which were great. Although he didn’t like to do this, it was definitely mandatory for him to wear his hearing aids during class time and lectures. Other than that though, he takes them off. He wouldn’t want his friends to worry about writing down two copies of notes from class… just for him. They’ve actually tried it before, but it didn’t really turn out too swell.
First block was a bit loud, and he didn’t like it. He was glad Kaede was sitting next to him in that class though. Truthfully, he wouldn’t know what he’d do if Kaede was here with him. Maybe he’d have a breakdown, maybe he wouldn’t. It’s most likely the breakdown bit though.
Second block wasn’t all that bad, but due to some circumstances, Shuichi had to sit in the front because of his lack of hearing. Kaito was one seat away from him, so that reassured him just a bit. He feels sorry for needing to always rely on them though… he just couldn’t help it- not like he was doing it on purpose.
The rest of the blocks were chill, but during lunchtime, they managed to get the best seating area in the cafeteria. A rounded table with comfortable chairs, and enough space for them all to fit and spread their food out.
Throughout the entirety of lunch, The three of the friend group chatted about their day while Shuichi aimlessly ate his food. Occasionally, the three of them would try and get him to join the conversation, it didn’t really end up too well because of Kaito not being able to keep up, so Shuichi just ended up saying that it was fine to talk without him.
When he was done eating, he tapped Kaede on the shoulder, telling her that he was going outside to finish one of his novels. He borrowed it from the school library, and it was due to be returned today after school. He really wanted to finish it.
‘Okay, if you need anything send me a text or come right back here.’ Kaede signed, which Shuichi nodded. He grabbed his things before heading towards his favorite reading spot, underneath a cherry blossom tree.
These sorts of spots were typically used for confessions, which he found to be weird. Kaede said the meaning behind it was from a little take of the sakura blossoms related towards the tree. Shuichi never really thought of it like that, so he always ended up going here. It was silent, calming, and a beautiful scenery to look at. Even if it is on school grounds.
Chapter 19 of the mystery novel he was reading, it was getting a little intense. This is the second to last chapter he needed to finish by today, he thinks he can whiz past it. It’s only been a week and he has already made it this far. The novel was stretching out towards the end of where the detective would conclude it’s final case on the mystery she was solving. Throughout the book, her journey concludes to this answer.
Despite already knowing what would probably happen, and calling almost major points that would appear, Shuichi kept reading it. It’s not fun to just always assume, and reading helps him to be more calm, helping his visual skills too.
The only problem was that when it came to sound descriptions… he didn’t know how to imagine it.
He always tries his best, but it’s just too hard. That was the only downfall of him reading a book, he can’t imagine what the sound of scrapped metal, the wind blowing past your face on a sunny day, almost singing a song. He can’t imagine what festive music would be like, he’s never heard it at all.
Shuichi mildly shrugged. It was fine, he was used to this by now. Sound can’t mean everything.
At the verge of finishing chapter 19, he felt a presence in front of him. He didn’t notice it at first, truthfully he only noticed the person in front of him there by glancing up a little from his book. He fully looked up after a few moments, making eye contact with violet purple eyes. He blinked, examining the other’s face. His mouth was moving… oh right- he was probably trying to get his attention. Now he looks like he’s rude.
“Heeeey are you ignoring meee?” Is what the other said, a pout surfaced on his face. Shuichi couldn’t hear him, but it’s not like he knew.
“Sorry, I can’t hear anything you say.” Shuichi told him with a small smile. The other in front of him only got more confused.
“Are you playing jokes with me or something?” They asked again, Shuichi hesitated for a moment. Gosh why are interactions like this so hard.
“I’m... deaf, sorry.” Shuichi told him, glancing down a little, “If you don’t know JSL, talking to me is… kinda pointless.”
The other opened his mouth to say something else before realizing that maybe he was telling the truth. Even though he couldn’t hear it, the sigh was clear in his mind when he did and he watched as he took out a notepad, taking a pen from Shuichi’s backpack before starting to write in it.
‘How come you can speak normally?’ He wrote, Shuichi rubbed the side of his cheek and glanced up at the other.
“Uhm well… it’s because I lost my hearing when I was about 12. Wasn’t really the best year.” Shuichi explained.
The other nodded before writing another sentence down. ‘What’s the book you’re reading? Is it good?’
Shuichi smiled, “It’s uh- a mystery novel from a favorite series of mine…” He told him, “I’m one chapter away from completing it, so if you want to check it out, the whole series is in the school library.” He held up the book, pointing to the number. “This is… book five though, so you might want to start on book one…” He’s… always wanted someone to gush with him over the series. He asked his friends but they weren’t really interested, so he didn’t push on it much more.
The other nodded again with a big grin. Shuichi saw his mouth move a little, which was a little bit hard to decipher. His expression turned into a confused one afterwards. “... What did you just say?” He asked.
The boy in front of him just shrugged, taking the pen to write something down again. ‘How much do I have to catch up on the series.’
Shuichi’s eyes lit up when he saw that written down on the notepad and smiled again. “You’re really going to read it?!” He asked, holding the book in his hands.
The other shrugged with a nod before writing down on the notepad again. “Why not, it sounds like a good series and I’ve got nothing else to do during my spare time.”
“Do- Do you maybe want to uhm… go to the library and check out the book? I need to return this back today… so- I could maybe show you around?” Shuichi paused for a moment, poking his two index fingers. “I mean- you don’t have to, it was just a suggestion-” He mumbled a little, talking about something related towards it until he felt the other boop his cheek. He saw that he laughed a little, and read the notepad he held up.
‘Sure, why not?’ There was a smiley face at the end of the sentence which caused Shuichi to smile.
“O- Okay then!” He doesn’t know why he’s so excited. Maybe it’s because he made a new friend? Wait… what’s his name? Oh shoot-
Luckily for him, the boy talking to him was already on it. ‘Ouma Kokichi is my name, I’m totally in your third and fourth block!’ Shuichi nodded, slowly moving his hands to sign his name, saying it as did so.
“Ou-ma-kun, Ouma-kun.” Shuichi smiled in satisfaction before signing his own name. “Saihara Shuichi.” He said.
Kokichi tried imitating his signing, but obviously failed and pouted a little since he didn’t get it. ‘Okay Saihara-chan it is!’ He wrote with a smiley face with its tongue sticking out. He moved over a little to get a better look at the book in Shuichi’s hands, taking the notepad and showing what he wrote to him. ‘You should really get back to finish reading that book, Saihara-chan. Meet me at the entrance of the library afterschool and we can go inside together!’ He stood up afterwards, giving Shuichi a wave.
Even though Shuichi couldn’t hear what he said, he knew.
“See you later, Saihara-chan!”
Shuichi gave a small wave back, watching as the other left. A delightful feeling was left inside of him. He didn’t know it was because of whether Kokichi tried to understand him, he was interested in the series he was reading, or maybe the fact that they’re going to hang out after school.
Wait, is it hanging out? Or just a quick hung out. He wasn’t fully sure.
He knew one thing though, it’s that maybe this year might not be so bad… He had a good feeling about it.
---
The rest of the school day was as simple as it could get. Classes were being taught and not so much notes were being taken, but Shuichi knew that soon enough it would be. All syllabuses have been passed out, he just hopes that his uncle doesn’t arrive home late so he can sign them in order to be turned in by tomorrow.
I mean he has the whole week, but he’d rather get it done when it can instead of waiting until the last moment, you feel?
At last, the end of the school came. Surprisingly he managed to finish chapter 20 of the book during class. It was a bit split here and there, but it’s all thanks to finishing his work fast enough to be able to read.
Shuichi went over to Kaede, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around, giving him a wave before signing, ‘Ready to go, Saihara-kun?’ He shook his head in response.
“I’m… going to the library to hang out with someone, and to check in this book.” He told her, giving her a small smile.
Kaede’s mouth formed into an ‘o’ shape as if she was oohing. ‘Who’s the new friend? You got to introduce me to them!’
“His name is Ouma-kun… I met him when I went outside to my reading spot.”
Kaede nodded thoughtfully before sending him a wave. ‘Okay, Harukawa-san, Momota-kun, and I are going to hang out in the ice cream store we go to… even though I’ll be third wheeling. If it’s not too late come join us! We’ll be there until five.’
‘Speak of the devils.’ Shuichi signed, speaking as he said that and pointed over behind Kaede. Maki and Kaito were there.
Maki gave a silent greeting as Kaito signed hello, giving Shuichi and Kaede a wave.
Shuichi gave a wave back before speaking again. “Have fun!” He said, “I’ll text you when I’m done! If not I’m probably home.” He gave them all one final wave of goodbye before picking up his things and left the classroom.
Eagerly, he started heading towards the library. He doesn’t exactly know why he was so excited, it was just someone he had just met a little while ago. He shook his head, shoving those thoughts away from his mind. It’ll be fine! It’s not like throughout his entire life he’s only be socializing with the friends he did knew including his uncle-
…
Damnit. That is true. ANYWAYS- it didn’t matter at all! Everything is going to be fine, Kaede always told him to just be himself whenever he was trying to make new friends! Even though he ended up being a whole mess. He’ll just- try not to stutter too much. He managed to get through their conversation at the tree, so what’s the worst that could happen?
He felt a light tap on his shoulder after a few moments. Woah- guess he spaced out a little. He looked to the side of him, seeing that it was Kokichi. The other gave him a wave, bringing up the notepad and pen and scribbled something down. “Hi Saihara-chan, you ready? Also I accidentally stole your pen. Whoops!’
Shuichi blinked, seeing that he did in fact, accidentally steal his pen. He laughed softly before nodding, “Mhm. And don’t worry about it, you can keep the pen.” He told him.
Kokichi grinned, ‘Aww Saihara-chan is so nice!’ He wrote, grabbing the other’s arm and started leading him to the library. Once they were in, he jotted something down again. ‘You go check in your book, I need to see something real quick!’ With that, he skipped off to one of the aisles, leaving Shuichi by himself.
He stopped and stared at Kokichi before moving towards the front desk, greeting one of the teachers there.
‘Good evening, Fukawa Sensei.’ He signed, placing the mystery novel down. ‘I came back to return this book.’
Fukawa (or as you readers may know as Toko) looked at Shuichi and gave him a wave, ‘Already done? You’re a fast reader Saihara-kun.’ She signed, bringing the scanner over to scan his book. ‘Are you interested in checking out any other books?’
Shuichi shook his head, ‘No, I’m just here to check that book in and to help someone out.’
Kokichi suddenly came bolting in, slamming two books down on the front desk. It startled Shuichi a little, despite him not hearing it. Boy is he glad that he didn’t have his hearing aids in.
Conversation started between Fukawa and Kokichi, Shuichi couldn’t hear a thing, but he could tell that Fukawa looked a little irritated by what Kokichi did. His eyes trailed down towards the two books Kokichi brought. Book one of the mystery novels from the series he was reading and… his eyes slightly widened at the next one.
‘Basic Japanese Sign Language’, was the title of the other book.
Shuichi glanced between the book and then to Kokichi, then back towards the book again. Every few seconds he would change between those two. He was confused… yet happy. Kokichi literally just met him, and now he’s going out of his way to learn JSL to be able to speak to him properly? He couldn’t help but feel a warm feeling inside of him.
After moments of just staring off into space, Kokichi tugged on his arm and held up both of the books, a big grin on his face. Shuichi just ended up smiling, leading them both towards one of the tables. Kokichi sat down in front of him and scribbled something on the notepad once again. “I’m going to learn JSL so I won’t have to keep writing on this small notepad! You should be grateful, Saihara-chan!”
Shuichi smiled softly, “I am grateful…” He told him, glancing down at the mystery novel. “You got the novel too?”
Kokichi gasped, putting a hand over his chest. Shuichi just laughed a little at his dramatic reactions. ‘Of course I did!! What do you take me for, Saihara-chan? A liar??’
Shuichi shrugged in response, “Well… you did lie about being in my third and fourth block.”
A pout came upon Kokichi’s face, ‘Aw man, caught me already? You’re very perspective. I now see why you read mystery novels.’ He opened the Basic JSL book before beginning to read a few texts before closing it and sighed. Once again, he grabbed the notepad to write something for Shuichi ‘I’ll learn some things later. Do you wanna hang out Saihara-chan?’
Shuichi blinked and looked at the notepad before nodding. “Sure. Some of my friends are hanging out at an ice cream store, wanna go?”
Kokichi looked like he groaned, but he shook his head. ‘I meant hangout just the two of us!!!!!’ He added a whole lot of exclamation marks… which gave Shuichi a sign that he was complaining about it.
“You… only just met me though…” Shuichi told him, tugging his hat over his head a little. “I don’t understand… why you would really-” Before he could even finish his sentence, he felt Kokichi boop him on his cheek again, shoving the notepad paper into his face.
‘I want to get to know you. Is it really that bad to want to become friends with someone, Saihara-chan?’
Shuichi paused, reading what he had written a few times before glancing down. “I… I guess not…” he mumbled, looking back at Kokichi again. “Well then, if you want to know me… that bad Ouma-kun, where do you want to hang out?”
Kokichi thought for a moment before his eyes lit up. He scrawled something down hastily yet again, bringing the notepad back up for Shuichi to read. ‘There’s this really great restaurant that sells some delicious dango as dessert. My brother’s taken me there before and I’ve been meaning to go there again!’ He pulled out his phone, opening the internet maps and showed it to Kokichi, pointing to where the school was and where the restaurant was.
“Oh- it’s only a couple of blocks away…” Shuichi mumbled, to which Kokichi nodded. He was about to put his phone back into his pocket until it started ringing. He frowned, declining the call before turning to Shuichi and wrote something down.
‘We can go there tomorrow! Sorry to leave you here Saihara-chan, but I have to head home, my big bro is getting worried.’
Shuichi frowned, looking a little disappointed but he nodded. “Ah, it’s alright Ouma-kun, no need to apologize.” He told him before getting out of his seat. “I can walk you there if you want me too.”
Kokichi followed after him in getting out of his chair, writing something else down before showing it to him. ‘Not necessary Saihara-chan! I want you to be a surprise for my beloved big brother!’ He grinned, putting the notepad away and grabbed the two books, pointing to them both as a gesture that he was totally going to read them once he got home! He started heading towards the exit of the library, giving Shuichi one last wave before running off, leaving him by himself…
Again.
Not that he minded of course, it was just… he was looking forward to it, but guess that was going to have to wait until tomorrow.
After standing there for a few more moments, Shuichi pulled his phone out, texting Kaede that he won’t be making it to her hangout at the ice cream shop with her, Maki, and Kaito. He was just going to head home, do homework, and probably sleep. He can’t really go anywhere without being with someone, and by the time he was done with whatever he needs to do, Kaede and the rest would probably be long gone from the ice cream shop.
Shuichi got a quick reply back from Kaede saying that it was fine. He shoved his phone back into his pocket once he read the text and waved goodbye to Ms. Fukawa., making his way back to his own house.
His uncle shouldn’t be home until later on or tonight, so he basically has the house to himself until then. Usually when these sort of things happen, he either hangs out with Kaede, or sits around to try and entertain himself.
Thankfully, he got home safely. Didn’t run into any cars or anything specifically dangerous. His hearing can be a downfall to him sometimes… but it was fine. The silence was nice from time to time. He just wished he could hear his friend’s voices. I mean, he technically could, but he doesn’t like using his hearing aids.
Shuichi sat down on his chair, pulling his binder out from his backpack before beginning to do his homework. It was only from math class, but homework on the first day? Not his way. About thirty minutes later and he was done, he put all of his work away and started stretching in his chair letting out a yawn. It wasn’t that late, but he just figured it’d be better to sleep… since he doesn’t want himself to end up doing something he may regret later on. Like for example, heading outside to try and make his way somewhere, or over to Kaede’s house.
Even though Kaede’s house wasn’t that far, he still didn’t want himself to risk it. It was getting dark anyways, and he definitely does not want to go outside in the dark. His uncle would always tell him that if he was going outside when it was late, he had to be with someone he could trust. Otherwise substandard things may happen.
Oh well, he didn’t care too much about it anymore. He was in bed now, closing his eyes in relaxation and drifted off to sleep.
---
“Ran Raaaan- I made a HUGE mistake!” Kokichi complained, running from his room down to the kitchen.
Rantaro was currently making dinner for everyone. It was his turn to cook today for the family. “What is it lil’ bro?” He asked, turning away from the stove to look at Kokichi.
“Ugh! My friends made a deal with me, daring me to befriend that deaf kid. You know- the one with the silly looking hat?” Kokichi rested his head and arms on top of the counter, letting a pout come on his face.
Rantaro arched a brow, turning his head forward. “Well… why did you take the dare in the first place if you’re just going to end up trying to complain to me.”
“I lost to a bet!” Kokichi defended, crossing his arms afterwards. “And now that I’ve actually talked to him, he’s just- aaauugghhh” He wiped his hands over his face, sliding them down before sitting on a stool.
“He’s just what?” Rantaro asked, turning the stove off afterwards and went to sit in front of him.
Kokichi made some frustrated noise, “I don’t know- he seems like a genuine nice guy but I don’t want to like… go too far into this whole thing!”
“Then don’t?” Rantaro replied.
“Then I’ll look dumb.”
“You know you don’t have to do things like these right?” Rantaro went over to the stove again to turn it on. “Just hang out with him tomorrow and then be over with it.”
“But I don’t wanna look like a douche bag to him!” Kokichi yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. “High school’s all about your appearances, physically and socially!”
“And it is also about the days where you’ll mostly forget the minor days.” Rantaro responded, “Just give it a rest Kokichi, if you don’t want to hang out with him, well then don’t hang out with him. He’ll give up on it.”
“Fine- fine I’ll just hang out with him for a bit and never speak to him again!”
“See? Easy fix-up.” He smiled, getting the plates all ready and set them down in front of Kokichi. “Set up the table for everyone please?”
Kokichi nodded, bringing a few of the plates to the table at a time. Don’t wanna drop them all of course. He was still worried though, he didn’t want to hurt the poor guy’s feelings. Wait? Why is he even caring?? He’s the one doing this, not him! It’ll be fine.
At least, he hopes it will...