Chapter 33 The Loudness

A weirdo. An alien.

When Kurayami Kuroe first learned the concept of words, those were the first few words she heard from her peers on her first day of school as a kindergartner. Not knowing what they actually meant, she thought that they didn't mean anything bad by it, that's why she never bothered asking them about it.

'Kuroe, don't forget, okay? Whenever someone talks to you, make sure that they're using opening their mouth. If they're not, then that means they're not talking to you even if they were addressing you. You must not forget that, okay?' Kuroe took her mother's advice from the start and so, whenever someone talks to her, she had to confirm if they were opening their mouth or not. If not, then she won't talk to them and would just let them be.

But on her first day of school, she realized that such a thing was not normal. And that people don't talk when they don't open their mouth. When she asked her teacher about it, all she received was a weird stare as if she was a weird person. And so, she decided to keep quiet about it, thinking that what's happening to her was probably a curse and that there was no way she could break that said curse.

"She's a weirdo, don't talk to her."

"Why is she looking at me? She's so weird."

"I'm hungry."

"I want to eat something!"

"Mommy! Mommy! Where are you?!"

"Waghhh! I don't want to be here!"

"Why are they crying?"

Although no one spoke in the classroom, Kurayami Kuroe could tell that everyone was being really loud, making her unable to focus on the clay she was trying to mold. She grew more and more agitated as seconds ticked by, and the loudness in the surroundings wasn't getting any quieter.

Even though she was just five years old, she was smart enough to realize that she shouldn't lose her composure over the overwhelming noise that seemed to fill her ears to the brim. Instead, she closed her eyes and covered her ears, hoping that the noise would die down and that she wouldn't have to confront it just like how she initially thought in her mind.

Throughout the entire school day, Kuroe controlled herself and suppressed her emotions that badly wanted to come out. She had the urge to throw her desk at anyone or anything, just so everyone would be quiet. One or two people talking was bearable for her, but now, at least more than a dozen classmates were in the room with her, and all of them had especially noisy minds because it was the first day of school.

When the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day, Kuroe immediately headed out of the classroom as soon as they bowed towards their homeroom teacher. She couldn't bear to hear the noise a second longer. Disregarding the goodbyes that everyone uttered towards her, she headed out of the classroom, down a flight of stairs, and towards the school's parking lot. She didn't even get lost despite being a five-year-old kid and that's because she could hear her mom's thoughts from far away. All she had to do was follow the noise and voila, she found herself standing in front of her mom's car as if she was supposed to be there.

"Yes, honey, I just got to school. Did you say curry? Yes, we're going to have curry for dinner. Hold on, I'll call you later once Kuroe and I get back ho— Kuroe? Dear, what are you doing here?"

Kuroe's mom couldn't believe it. The moment she turned her eyes towards the side of the car, Kuroe was standing there, motionlessly still, waiting for the car door to open. At first, she thought that something wrong happened and that she was about to get an earful from Kuroe's teacher, but after realizing that there wasn't anyone around in the parking lot except for her daughter, she almost freaked out.

"Why are you here? Is school over? How did you get here?"

Kuroe nodded. She wasn't in the mood to speak, all because she got tired of hearing everyone else speak.

"Are you already dismissed? Did you say goodbye to your homeroom teacher before heading here? How did you get here?"

"I... I followed your voice." Kuroe simply answered. "Everyone is so noisy in school. You told me that I shouldn't talk when the teacher is speaking, but everyone is doing it. They don't get tired talking."

"Come here."

Kuroe didn't expect her mom to hug her and before she knew it, she was already crying in her arms. Even then, the pain in her heart didn't subside. She knew she was different, she knew that she had an ability that not everyone else has, and yet, she didn't want to admit that she is. All she wanted was a normal life but now, it seemed more impossible than breathing.

"That power of yours... Kuroe, that doesn't mean you're different from everyone. In my eyes, you're still a five-year-old, just like all the five-year-old kids I saw on my way to this parking lot. You're no different from them. The only difference between you and them is that you're born with a blessing, a superpower that only you can use. You should embrace it, Kuroe, because that's a part of you, okay?"

"But... they're too loud." Kuroe sniffled.

"You'll learn to control it in no time. Just don't... don't come to hate it. Whatever it is, your mom will always be proud of you. See? What's in my mind right now?" Kuroe's mom challenged, closing her eyes and smiling.

.....

Mom...

"Psst! Psssst! Kuroe, what are you doing?" Satoshi hissed, trying to shake her off of his shoulder. "Why are you sleeping? Wake uuuup!"

"Mom?" Kuroe asked as her eyes fluttered open. After letting out a yawn and wiping her drool on Yuuta's sleeve, she turned her head to the side and stared at Yuuta, still out of sorts after the dream she just had. "Oh, Yuuta, good morning. Yawn~"

p "Good morning my foot. We're in the middle of class right now! Good thing Knighthawk didn't catch y— "

"Satoshi, Kuroe, stop flirting and go to page five. You read the second paragraph together." Knighthawk called out of the blue, smirking at the two of them.