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Meiko woke up feeling like someone had beaten her brains into a pulp with a sledgehammer.
Groaning and rubbing her temples, she tried to remember what happened last night. She remembered drinking. A lot. She remembered Kaito laughing at her for slurring her words and being so uncoordinated she knocked two cups and a bowl off a table. She remembered Luka egging her on to take another shot because “You’re so serious all the time, honey, let loose a little.”
Then nothing. A void. A black hole in her memory.
Her skull throbbed, and she told herself for the millionth time that she was never going to drink again.
Ugh. Whatever. Compared to other hangovers she’d dealt with before, this was nothing. Now she just needed to focus on getting up and taking a shower and starting the day.
She staggered over to the bathroom and got as far as brushing her teeth, when she realised something was wrong. Very wrong.
There was a strange silence in her left ear.
She snapped her fingers next to it. Nothing.
She clapped, causing an awful ringing which made her wince.
Then she snapped next to her right ear. Crisp and clear.
The hell?
She checked, and there didn’t seem to be anything stuck in there. She smacked her ear a few times as if it were her malfunctioning computer, but besides leaving her reeling in the wake of even more piercing ringing, nothing happened.
For a brief moment, she panicked. But then she remembered it was a Saturday, she had work soon, and she did not have the energy or time to deal with this right now. So she did what any responsible adult would do. She ignored it.
Meiko trudged into the kitchen, where Rin and Len were sitting at the table eating cereal.
“Morning, onee-chan!” Rin chirped. The sound was a lot more muffled than usual.
“Morning,” Meiko said back.
“You look terrible,” Len remarked, eying her sluggish movements.
“Thanks.”
“You hungover?”
“No.”
Len raised an eyebrow.
“...Yes.”
Rin looked at her in concern. “Are you okay?”
“I think I lost my hearing in one ear.”
Both twins stopped chewing.
“...Huh?
Meiko lazily gestured to her left ear. “Can’t hear out of this one.”
Len leaned forward. “Wait, for real? Did you like, burst an eardrum or something?”
“I have no idea. I just woke up like this.”
“Did you get into a fight and someone punched you in the ear?”
She rubbed her head. “No, not that I remember…”
“Should you see a doctor?” Rin asked.
“Huh? Shove me in a locker?”
“No. I said, should you see a doctor?” she repeated.
“Good to be a talker? Why?”
Rin and Len exchanged worried glances.
“ONEE-CHAN. WE THINK YOU SHOULD SEE A DOCTOR,” Len said very loudly.
“Ohh…” Meiko mumbled, then waved a hand dismissively. “Eh. It’ll probably fix itself.”
Len snorted. “That’s what someone who definitely isn’t dying would say.”
“I’m not dying.”
“Are you getting old?” Rin asked curiously in a completely genuine tone.
“Yeah, hearing loss is a symptom of aging,” Len added with a second snort.
“I’m not that old!” Meiko snapped, crossing her arms.
“Haaah! Grandma Meiko, Grandma Meiko!” Len childishly chanted as he pointed at her and laughed.
“I’m not even thirty yet!”
Rin frowned. “What if it’s permanent?”
“Nah, probably not,” Meiko said. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took a long sip. “I think it’s just… I don’t know, an alcohol thing.”
“An alcohol thing,” Len repeated flatly.
“Yeah.” She couldn’t think of anything else.
“Are you sure, onee-chan?” Rin asked worriedly. “I don’t think alcohol should be doing that to you.”
Sensing her little sister’s nervous energy, Meiko plastered a smile onto her face. “Don’t worry, Rin. I’ll be fine. It’s probably nothing,” she reassured her. “Anyway, I’m going to work.”
Len tilted his head. “You’re just gonna go to work like that?”
“Yep.”
“With half your hearing gone?”
“Yep.”
“...Respect.” He saluted her.
Meiko gave him a lazy thumbs-up before grabbing her bag and heading out the door.
On her way to work, she almost got run over by a bicycle because she couldn’t hear it coming from her left.
***
Meiko’s shift at the yoshoku restaurant was normal, of course ignoring the fact she was completely deaf in one ear.
It took her about an hour to realise that the customers kept having to repeat their orders. It didn’t help that the place was filled with people and all kinds of noises floating around that she had to filter through, making it difficult for her to make out what the person in front of her was saying.
“Excuse me, can I get a set meal A but remove the pickles?”
“...Sorry?”
“Can I get set meal A–”
“Come again?”
“Set meal A, remove the pickles.”
“Set meal A and what?”
“SET MEAL A NO PICKLES.”
“Oh. Right.” Meiko flushed and let out a nervous wheeze.
Another time, she thought that a customer ordered “iced coffee” when they actually said “hot tea”. This resulted in an awkward moment where neither of them could figure out why the other looked so confused. She had bowed profusely to them in apology, wondering how the hell she could have possibly screwed up that bad.
It was soul-crushingly humiliating. For a moment, she found herself inwardly panicking again. What if this is permanent? What if I get fired for not being able to do my job properly anymore?
But she quickly snapped herself out of it and forced herself to power through. It’s probably just temporary, like a hangover.
Her coworkers caught on.
“Meiko, table six asked for more napkins.”
“Who?”
“Table six.”
“What?’
“Table six!”
“Sorry, I can’t hear out of this ear.”
“...Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just randomly lost my hearing this morning.” She shrugged and walked over to table six.
Her coworker looked at her in mild horrification.
During lunch break. Luka sat next to her as usual and started talking, but since she was sitting on Meiko’s bad side, she could only nod along and pretend she had the faintest idea what she was talking about.
“Yeah, totally,” she said at some random pause.
Luka’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”
Meiko froze. “...What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Luka smirked as she rested her chin on her hand and leaned forward. “I just said that you look hot with eyebags.”
Meiko almost spat out her water. “Huh?”
“Wait, what did you think I said?”
Meiko turned red. “I- I don’t know! I wasn’t listening.”
“You weren’t listening to me? Meiko, how could you do that?” Luka said dramatically, pouting.
“No, I actually couldn’t! I think I lost hearing in my left ear!”
“What?”
“I woke up like this,” Meiko said, poking at her food with her chopsticks. “Just suddenly became deaf in my left ear. No idea why. But I’m sure it’ll go away soon.”
“Ohh, no wonder you seem so out of it today!” Luka exclaimed in astonishment, the dots finally connecting in her head. “I assumed you were just suffering from the prolonged effects of getting utterly shit-faced last night.”
“Yeah, I’m still not entirely sure whether that had anything to do with it.”
Luka frowned. “Shouldn’t you consult a doctor about this?”
“That’s what my younger siblings said.”
“Perhaps you should listen to them.”
“If my hearing doesn’t come back by tomorrow, then I’ll see a doctor.”
“Both of us are aware you aren’t going to do that.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
***
The hearing loss lasted for the rest of the day. It was one of the worst days of work she ever had, having everyone she encountered think she was a bumbling idiot. By the time Meiko ended her shift, she felt miserable, exhausted, frustrated, put to shame.
She stepped out of the restaurant and stretched her arms.
And that was when Kaito decided it was a good idea to sneak up on her.
“MEI-CHAN–!”
Normally, Meiko would have heard his footsteps from a mile away. She would have sensed his presence and dodged him with ease. He wasn’t exactly skilled at being stealthy.
But today, she didn’t even notice he was there until a pair of arms tackled her from behind. An uncharacteristically high-pitched screech left her mouth.
“GAHHH—! OH GOD!!”
The next thing she knew, she was airborne. Kaito had lifted her clean off the ground and was spinning her around like a lunatic.
Meiko, whose body had briefly left her soul, instinctively elbowed him.
“OOF—“
He let go, staggering backwards. “Ow…”
Meiko whirled around, panting hard. “WHY DIDN’T I HEAR YOU?!”
“Glad to see you too, Mei-chan!” he greeted sunnily.
“Wait, did you come in from my left side?!”
“Uh… yeah? Why?”
She clutched her head and groaned.
“What? What happened?”
She looked at him and sighed at having to explain it again for, like, the fifth time. “I woke up this morning and I suddenly lost hearing in my left ear. I don’t know why, and it still hasn’t come back.”
In an instant, Kaito’s cheerful smile transformed into a look of horror. “WHAT?! MEI-CHAN, ARE YOU OKAY?!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She waved him off. “Just don’t do that again.”
He immediately reached for her hands, studying her face. “ARE YOU DYING?”
“No, I’m not dying.”
“Are you sure? You should see a doctor.”
Meiko inwardly rolled her eyes at being told that exact same thing at least four times today. “I’m sure it’ll come back, Kaito. I think this is just an alcohol thing.”
“You mean your liver got so sick of you abusing it that it just shut off your ear as revenge?”
“That’s my theory.”
He frowned. “That’s dumb.”
“You’re dumb,” she couldn’t resist firing back.
“Mei-chan, you’re the one who drank so much last night you couldn’t walk straight and I had to carry you.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me…”
He grinned. “I will never let you forget. Honestly, you were really cute. You were all clingy and giggly-“
“STOP,” she barked, her hands flying up to her ears to cover them.
“You don’t actually have to do that for both ears, right? Since you’re already half deaf,” Kaito pointed out with a laugh.
Meiko didn’t respond since she was deaf.
He grabbed her hands and gently pulled them away from her ears. “Anyway, you should really go see a doctor.”
“If my hearing doesn’t come back by tomorrow, then I’ll go.”
Kaito sighed. “Okay then. You better.”
“Hey guys!”
Both of them turned to see Luka walking out of the restaurant, hands in her coat pockets. She had that usual lazy smirk on her face as she glanced at Meiko, then at Kaito. Meiko instinctively turned her head so she could better hear whatever it was she wanted to say.
“Lover boy here to pick you up?” Luka teased.
Kaito’s face lit up. “Hey, Luka! Long time no see!”
Luka gave him a look. “What do you mean? We literally saw each other last night.”
“I know. It’s just fun to say that.”
“Okay, weirdo. Speaking of fun, last night was pretty fun, huh?”
“It was! Especially when Meiko got drunk out of her mind.”
“Can we please stop bringing that up?” Meiko grumbled.
Luka chuckled. “I don’t know, honey. You were very entertaining. Your face was so red and you couldn’t stop giggling every five seconds. And then suddenly you launched into a violent tirade about automatic flushing toilets.”
Both Kaito and Luka burst into laughter at the memory.
Meiko crossed her arms and glared at them as she tapped her foot. “Are you guys done making fun of me?”
“We love you, Meiko.” Luka reached out to pat her head placatingly. Meiko smacked her hand away. “Anyway, where are you two headed off to?”
“I’m walking Meiko home,” Kaito answered. “She’s in a vulnerable state right now.”
Meiko narrowed her eyes. “Vulnerable?”
“Honey, you’re missing half your hearing,” Luka pointed out.
Meiko frowned, unimpressed at all the patronization she was getting from the two of them. “I’m not vulnerable. I can take care of myself just fine,” she huffed. “I can handle a little hearing loss.”
“I witnessed you almost getting hit by a bicycle this morning,” Luka said.
Her eyes darted around momentarily as she muttered, “It was the cyclist’s fault. He wasn’t paying attention.”
“Uh huh.” Luka looked unconvinced. “Maybe I should walk you home.”
Kaito shook his head. “Unfortunately, the job as Meiko’s personal escort has already been taken.”
“Come on, Kaito, look at the traffic.” Luka gestured at several cyclists on the street passing by. “I think she’ll be needing two bodyguards today.”
“We’re leaving,” Meiko said hastily, grabbing Kaito’s sleeve and pulling him away before Luka could say anything else.
“Okay, bye bye~” she waved and called after them, laughing. “I was joking anyway! I don’t have time for that. Gotta go home and feed my cats!”
Kaito waved back cheerily before turning his attention back to Meiko who wasn’t slowing down.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while, their hands intertwined as Kaito swung them together back and forth every so often. He made sure to stand at her good side so she could actually hear him.
“Wait, so you actually can’t hear anything at all in your other ear? Like, completely nothing?”
“Pretty much.”
He shifted positions and experimentally murmured something directly into her left ear. Of course, she didn’t even realise he was saying anything and thought he was just trying to look inside her ear hole or something.
“Oh my gosh, this is really bad,” he said incredulously after returning back to her right side.
“Did you say something just now?” Meiko asked.
“I was singing the national anthem,” he replied. “Okay, but this is actually pretty concerning, though. Do you think your brain got so drunk that it forgot how to process sound?”
She thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know.”
“Or, maybe,” Kaito continued. “It's some kind of cosmic karmic punishment. Maybe you unwittingly did something to offend some higher being. Have you gotten any weird, cryptic signs lately? In the form of a dream, maybe?”
“No, but you’re scaring me.”
“Or, some strange insect could have crawled in and burrowed itself deep into your ear canal while you were sleeping.”
“Kaito, you’re not helping!” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Sorry, sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood. I don’t like seeing you all grumpy and suffering.”
“How is that supposed to lighten the mood?”
“I’m helping you decipher the cause of your predicament.”
She sighed. “It’s fine, Kaito. I don’t wanna think about it anymore. Let’s talk about other things.”
“Alright.” He didn’t press further.
After fifteen minutes, they’d arrived at Meiko’s doorstep, and Kaito invited himself in as usual. He always lingered for a while to say hi to the twins and hang out and maybe stay for dinner.
“I’m back~” Meiko called as she kicked off her shoes and placed them on the rack.
“Hi Kaito!” the twins rushed over and greeted him cheerfully.
Meiko frowned as she watched them surround him and start chattering excitedly, completely ignoring her. They liked doing that to mess with her.
Kaito crouched down slightly to their level, beaming. “Hey guys! What’s up?”
“Hello?? I was the one who said I was back,” Meiko said, waving a hand in front of their faces.
“Oh, were you?” Len said absentmindedly, still looking at Kaito. “Anyway, Kaito, you should check out this new insane combo I pulled off in Street Fighter!”
“Hey Kaito, let’s play Mario 3D World again!” Rin exclaimed excitedly, tugging at his arm.
Kaito laughed. “Hold on, I’m not sure if Meiko is up for it, though. She had a rough day today.”
The twins turned and looked at her like they’d only just remembered her existence.
“Oh yeah… You’re still deaf?” Len asked.
“Yeah.”
“So much for “fixing itself”.”
“You should really go see a doctor,” Rin said worriedly.
“Okay, fine, tomorrow.”
“But you’re fine with us playing without you, right?” Len dived in and asked shamelessly with zero hesitation.
“Yeah, sure, go ahead.” She trudged into the house and started up the stairs to go to her room.
Kaito looked up at her concernedly as Rin and Len pulled him toward the living room.
“You sure you don’t wanna join?” he asked Meiko. When she didn’t respond, he repeated it louder.
She waved a dismissive hand, her voice sounding dead. “I’ll pass. I’m tired.”
Kaito watched as she disappeared upstairs, his eyebrows creasing. He wanted to press further, but he knew when Meiko had made up her mind about something.
The twins booted up the game console and pressed a controller into Kaito’s hand, each sitting on either side of him.
While Len was busy pairing the controllers and stuff, Rin, who was actually concerned for Meiko, unlike her meatheaded brother, turned to Kaito. “Onee-chan isn’t doing that great, is she?” she murmured.
“Yeah…” Kaito sighed. “She’s trying to act like it’s not a big deal, but I can tell she’s upset.”
“Well, duh,” Len chimed in. “Losing your hearing all of a sudden is scary.”
“Especially for someone like Meiko,” Rin added. “She always tries to downplay things, and she has a habit of bottling it all up if it’s serious.”
Kaito frowned. He hated seeing Meiko like this– so closed off, trying to shoulder everything by herself. “Maybe I should check on her,” he said.
Rin and Len exchanged a glance. “Hmm… maybe give her some time,” Rin suggested. “She might get annoyed at you if you hover too much. You know how she is.”
“Of course he does.” Len smirked. ”He does that a lot.” He patted Kaito on the shoulder impatiently. “Okay, enough yapping. Let’s play.”
***
After an hour or so of playing with the twins, Kaito couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in his chest. He kept getting distracted and glancing towards the stairs, his mind wandering back to Meiko– how quiet she had been (more than usual), how she didn’t even try to argue with the twins, how she had just shut herself away upstairs. All the while Rin and Len yelled at him for constantly dying.
He couldn’t take it anymore, he had to go and talk to her. He had to make her feel better.
“Alright, guys, I think I’ll stop playing now,” he announced, stretching as he set his controller down.
“Why, too hard for you? Are you rage quitting?” Len snickered.
“Of course not! I’m no quitter,” Kaito said defensively. “I just want to check on Mei-chan.”
“Okay, Kaito.” Rin nodded in understanding. “Let’s stop playing too, Len. We haven’t had dinner yet.”
They started discussing which leftover option available to them in the fridge was the worst one as Kaito made his way upstairs. He knocked gently on Meiko’s door. “Mei-chan? Can I come in?”
No response.
He knocked again, this time a little louder. Still nothing. Maybe she couldn’t hear him.
He hesitated for a moment before slowly pushing the door open. The room was dim, the only light source being Meiko’s bedside lamp, which casted a soft glow over her. She was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees and facing the wall. She had her earpiece on, one hand clutching the wire and absentmindedly rubbing her thumb against it.
Kaito stepped closer and gently called, “Mei-chan?”
She didn’t react.
“Mei-chan?” he tried again, this time tapping her on the shoulder.
She sprang upright and whipped her head towards him, her features briefly flashing with shock. But when she realised it was him, her expression softened, though he still caught a trace of frustration lingering in her eyes.
“Hi,” he said, giving her a small smile. “You okay?”
She pulled out her earpiece and nodded. “Yeah.”
Kaito understood that as Meiko speak for no. He sat beside her on the bed. “What are you listening to?”
Wordlessly, she tilted her phone toward him, showing the song title on the screen.
He recognised it instantly as one of the songs in her ‘wallowing in misery’ playlist. He knew Meiko wasn’t the kind of person to put her feelings into words, so she let music speak for her.
He glanced at it, then back at her face, instantly knowing what she was thinking. “It’s not the same, is it?”
She shook her head. “It’s weird. I can still hear the song fine in my right ear, but it all feels wrong and unbalanced. Incomplete. And I keep thinking the left side is broken, but it’s not. It’s me.”
Music was Meiko’s entire world. It was her comfort, her escape. Kaito knew how much she loved and took it seriously, so something like this would understandably bother her a lot.
“That must be really annoying,” he said.
“It is.”
Kaito glanced at her face, noticing the tightness in her jaw and the way she kept her arms wrapped around herself. He knew that look. It was the one she had whenever she was trying too hard to pretend something didn’t bother her.
“You know, I was just thinking,” Kaito started. “If I were the one who suddenly lost my hearing, I’d be freaking out. A lot.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Meiko huffed in amusement. “I did freak out,” she admitted. “Just in my head.”
“That sounds exhausting,” Kaito said. “You don’t have to do that, you know. You’re allowed to freak out out loud.” She was quiet again. Then reluctantly, she murmured, “I don’t like feeling helpless.”
Kaito didn’t like the way she said it as if it were something shameful. “You’re not helpless,” he said firmly. “You’re just… dealing with something pretty weird and scary right now. But you don’t have to suffer in silence.”
“I know,” Meiko said quietly, facing downwards. “It’s just… frustrating. I’ve thought about it really hard, but I still don’t know why I suddenly lost my hearing. And the answers on google are scaring me. What if it's permanent? What if it never comes back and I can’t–” She stopped herself, shaking her head. “Nevermind.”
“What if you can’t what?” Kaito prompted gently.
She hesitated, twirling the wire between her fingers. “What if I can’t enjoy music the same way anymore? I don’t just listen to it Kaito, I feel it. And it’s supposed to surround you, fill the space around you. But now it’s all lopsided, and it’s wrong.”
He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it lightly. “Then I’ll just enjoy the music twice as much for you.”
Meiko looked at him. “What does that even mean?”
“If your left ear won’t cooperate, then I’ll listen together with you. I’ll be your left ear.” He said it as if it were the most obvious thing ever.
She stared at him incredulously for a second, then let out a soft chuckle. “That’s just dumb.”
“You’re dumb. Blegh blegh bleghhhhhh.”
Meiko playfully thwacked him on the top of his head with her fist. “Don’t you dare use my own words against me.”
Kaito recovered quickly, instantly catching the hand she used to hit him. “You’re not getting away with that, Mei-chan!” He grinned and pulled her into a loose headlock, ruffling her hair.
Meiko let out a startled noise, struggling against his hold. “Kaito, you idiot–!”
He hooted with laughter, dramatically tightening his grip for a second before loosening it and letting her break free. She huffed and shoved him off, her hair now messed up and unruly.
“Real mature,” she muttered as she combed her hands through her hair, trying to fix it.
“At least I got you to smile,” he said smugly.
Meiko tried to glare at him, but it didn’t work when she realised she indeed had no argument for that.
He smiled as he scooted back closer to her, picking up the left earpiece and slotting it in his ear. “So, what do you wanna listen to?”
Still fiddling with her hair, Meiko sighed and slotted the other side into her good ear. She knew that the ‘being her left ear’ thing was just a dumb joke, but she just humoured him.
“Is it working?” Kaito asked excitedly as the song played. “Do you hear it? Do you hear it coming through my left ear?”
She let out a tired sigh. “That’s not how ears work.”
“Are you sure? Because I swear I can feel my soul transmitting the sound waves to you,“ he said dramatically. “My left soul.” He started vibrating his body, flailing his left arms and legs like he was having a left-handed seizure. Meiko let him be, all determined to keep a straight face.
The song came to an end and another one started playing. Kaito finally ceased his erratic movements, instead bringing his hands down to his knees and tapping his fingers against them. Meiko turned her head slightly, watching him.
She knew he was trying. He always tried. It was like he had this ridiculous belief that he could magically make everything fine as long as he was there. And the stupidest part was that it actually worked to some degree. Something about his boundless optimism and unwavering presence made things seem manageable.
“Mei-chan?” he said, cutting through her thoughts.
“Yeah?”
“I’m coming with you to the doctor tomorrow.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
“Okay.”
With the stupid earbuds connecting them, she closed her eyes, feeling the music flow through her right ear, and Kaito’s shoulder pressing against hers. Maybe her hearing will come back tomorrow. Or maybe it won’t. But she realised the silence in her left ear didn’t feel so scary anymore for the first time after waking up that day.
"Thanks, Kaito."
"For what?"
She shrugged, embarrassed, but determined to say it. "...For being my left ear."