Taro: My partner

Taro wasn’t really sure how long he sat there on the floor, staring at the blond girl seated in a wheelchair in front of him. It was almost as if time had stopped. In that moment, he found himself unable to do anything.

The girl had immediately tried helping him back up after he had tripped and fell as a result of her bumping into him with her wheelchair. She had quickly spun her two-wheeler around with a worried expression on her face, before hastily extending her right hand down towards him. But he didn’t accept her offer right away.

He was frozen in place for a few seconds, gazing into her eyes which were large and expressive. Even after he had regained his composure and allowed her to help pull him up, his gaze never left hers.

Taro was now back on his feet but their hands were still touching. The girl didn’t immediately let go of Taro’s hand and for some reason, Taro didn’t want that either. But then they heard the rapid approaching footsteps of someone running up to meet them, and their hands separated. The girl suddenly averted her eyes from looking at Taro and he did the same.

“Kokoro!” shouted a friendly sounding voice from behind Taro. He briefly glanced over his shoulder and found Tomomi, a girl he recognized from being in the same class as him.

She was waving and running over to meet up with them.

She shot right passed Taro and stopped beside Kokoro, the girl in the wheelchair.

“Sorry I’m late Kokoro,” she said. “I couldn’t find Maya anywhere. So, I partnered up with this other girl from her class instead. How about you? Have you found a partner?”

Kokoro responded with a shake of her head before turning to face Taro.

“Oh, hey Taro.” Tomomi said, also turning to face him. “Sorry I didn’t see you there.” she added, smiling. “How about you? Have you found a partner for the class project?”

The moment she asked the question Taro took notice of something he hadn’t observed before. Kokoro, the girl sitting in the wheelchair, was a student. How had he missed that?

She had on the same standard uniform as all the other girls, but her’s was a little different from Tomomi’s. different in the sense that Tomomi was wearing a red neck tie indicating that she was a science student, while Kokoro had on a blue one, indicating that she was an art student.

“And just what do you think you’re looking at?” Tomomi suddenly asked Taro after noticing him glancing at Kokoro’s chest area, and he quickly averted his eyes to avoid any misunderstanding.

“Umm, sorry. What was your earlier question again?” Taro asked Tomomi while he panicked and pretended to scratch the back of his head.

“Hmm. You men are all the same.” Tomomi responded to Taro with a serious annoyed expression on her face, and he suddenly had the sinking realization that she might have miss-read the situation with what he was looking at before.

“Anyway, my question was, have you gotten a partner for the end of year special exams?”

“Ah, no. I haven’t.” Taro replied. “I actually came over here looking for someone to partner up with. But I haven’t gotten much luck.”

hearing that, Tomomi then took a step back and shot a cursory glance at Taro, then at Kokoro. Then at Taro again, then at Kokoro. Then at Taro again, then at Kokoro.

Just as Taro began to wonder whether Tomomi was secretly a clone that was starting to malfunction, he caught sight of Kokoro taking out her phone and typing in something before flipping her phone over and showing the screen to him.

He leaned in for a better look.

“I think she wants us to become partners for the special exam.

Is this okay by you?

I’m afraid she won’t stop until she hears an answer or gets dizzy.”

Those were the messages Kokoro had written in her phone for him to read.

At first, he was a bit confused. Why would she use her phone to write him messages instead of talking to him directly? But then he thought about it, and figured it out.

From the moment he saw her she hadn’t spoken a single word to him. It wasn’t because of shyness or hesitation like he initially thought.

No.

The reason she had remained entirely quiet throughout their interaction, was simply because she couldn’t speak.

“Well, what’s your answer?”

Taro suddenly snapped back to attention when he realized Kokoro had typed in a couple more messages on her phone for him to read.

“Yes.” he replied almost abruptly, causing the two girls to flinch back in fear at how quickly and eagerly he responded. Seeing this, Taro immediately cleared his throat before continuing.

“I mean I would love for us to be partners on this project if you don’t mind of course.” he said, bowing his head a little. “Nothing would make me happier.”

That last part was probably overkill, but Taro needed to show his gratitude and sincerity. And as he was headed out of campus after school, Taro smiled when he saw that he now had Kokoro Takahashi listed as a contact in his phone.

***

Getting on his bike, Taro turned on the ignition and settled in his seat as the large machine rose up a few inches off the ground. However, just as he prepared to drive off, Taro caught sight of Kokoro and Tomomi boarding a hover-bus in front of the school.

He gave a wave of his hand when the three of them locked eyes, with Kokoro waving back at him while Tomomi stuck her tongue out.

Smiling, Taro then locked on his helmet and twisted his hoverbike into overdrive. Then he made a beeline in the opposite direction from the bus before engaging boosters and blasting off to his appointment with the board of Science and Innovations.

He just hoped the board would listen to what he had to say.