Kokoro: Sorry, but I will forever choose to bump into you in every life

Kokoro blinked, her expression filled with confusion as she gazed at Tomomi and Taro. Both of them stood frozen in the doorway, eyes wide, mouths hung open in shock as they stared back at her.

“What is happening? Why aren’t they moving or talking?” Kokoro asked herself in her mind.

“Kokoro,” Tomomi said in a quiet tone as she took a careful step forward. “We heard you.” she added. “Singing. We heard you singing, and we can hear you now.”

Kokoro tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows in even more confusion. Yes, she had been singing, but how could Tomomi have known? She tried reaching for her phone so she could write out a message, but Tomomi shot forward and stopped her hand.

“There is no need for that anymore.” Tomomi said, gazing into Kokoro’s eyes. “Just talk to us. The device. It’s working. We can hear you.”

At the mention of a device, Kokoro’s eyes shot open in realization. She slowly lifted her hand up and felt the cold, metal ring of Taro’s invention still resting on her head. She had forgotten to remove it when she left his workshop earlier. She had felt the sudden sting in her heart when the device wasn’t working, after Taro had spend so much time and even sacrificed school just to make it for her. She was not ready to see the disappointed look on his face, and that was why she left.

But now, she couldn’t believe what Tomomi was saying.

“So, you, you, you can hear me?” Kokoro asked Tomomi through closed lips, and the short haired girl squatting in front of her responded with a nod. Then Kokoro slowly turned her attention over to Taro. He was still standing by the entrance of the doorway.

“How about you?” she asked softly. “Can you also hear me too?”

Taro, with his matted hair, puffy red eyes, and tired expression, still managed to respond to her with a smile.

“Yes.” he said. “And you have an amazing voice.”

So many emotions suddenly collided in Kokoro’s brain in that moment. happiness. Anger. Frustration. Sadness. Relief. She had gone nearly all of her life being silent and unable to speak, and now it was apparently over.

Her emotions soon converged in her heart and began leaking out of her eyes, rolling down her cheeks in the process. Tomomi quickly reached forward and wrapped her in a hug, and Kokoro hugged her back without wasting another second. They stayed like that for a moment, with Kokoro silently appreciating the warmth, kindness, and support of a friend like Tomomi, who was one of a kind. There were no others like her, and if it weren’t for Tomomi, none of what was happening would have ever happened.

While she was still hugging Tomomi, Kokoro opened her eyes and caught sight of Taro walking back into the house. He was trying to give them some space.

“Wait.” she said, and Taro stopped in his tracks and turned around.

Tomomi pulled away from the hug and was now standing beside Kokoro on her wheelchair.

“I want to know.” Kokoro said. “What I sound like. I want to hear it. My voice.”

Taro initially tried reaching for something in his ear, but Tomomi gestured for him to hold on while simultaneously reaching for something in her own ear. And after pulling it out, Tomomi then handed it over to Kokoro.

As Kokoro accepted it into her opened palm, she now saw it was a single earbud. Was that how they were listening to her? She placed the Bluetooth device into her ear and pressed the forward button on her wheelchair. She stopped when she was directly in front of Taro. She looked at him, and he looked at her. Then, without moving her lips, she spoke.

“Hey.” she said.

“Hey.” Taro replied.

Kokoro observed the static that came through the earbud with her voice as she talked, but other than that, she sounded like any normal teenage girl.

“You look tired.” she refocused her attention on Taro and commented.

“Yeah, I’ve had one too many late-night coffees I think.” Taro replied smiling, but Kokoro’s expression remained serious.

“You really need to get some sleep.” she said. “You don’t look all that cute when you’re tired, and it’s only making me worry about you.”

Taro smiled for a moment, but Kokoro could see the sadness that suddenly appeared in his eyes.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about any of this sooner. I wasn’t sure if I could do it, and I didn’t want to make you hopeful, only to then disappoint you. So, I chose to keep it a secret until I figured it out. Sorry for making you worry.”

Kokoro quickly reached out as she noticed Taro’s hands were starting to shake. She held both of his hands steady, while she continued gazing into his eyes.

“Thank you.” she said. “For giving me my voice back, for coming into my life. Thank you.” she added, squeezing Taro’s hands a little. “Also, is this what I sound like now? Bleh. I use to sound way cuter as a kid.”

“Oh.” Taro suddenly said in a panic. “Are you talking about the static noise over-laying in the background? Because I can fix that. I think the problem might be coming from…”

Kokoro suddenly yanked down on Taro’s hands, causing him to lose his balance and topple forward. Then she pushed herself off the back of her seat, wrapping her hands around Taro and catching him midway with a hug.

“No.” she said in his ear. “Your invention is perfect. I was just making fun of how adult me sounds. That’s all.”

Kokoro wasn’t sure what Taro was thinking. She had basically hugged him without his permission. Again. She needed to stop doing that. However, when she felt his tensed body relaxed into hers, she knew it was okay.

Their hug lasted for almost a full minute without either of them pulling away or saying anything. It was a tender moment Kokoro wanted to preserve for as long as she could. Her body against his, his body against hers. She never wanted to leave this place. But then, Tomomi cleared her throat.

“Just get a room already.”

And hearing that, Kokoro and Taro quickly pulled away in an instant.

***

Kokoro and Tomomi were now heading to board a hover-bus back home. It was getting pretty late.

“I told you Taro was a good dude.” Tomomi said, walking beside Kokoro. “Who knew the only reason he hasn’t been showing up to school was because he was attempting to pull off a near-technological impossibility, just so he could help out the girl he likes.”

Kokoro’s cheeks suddenly turned bright red at Tomomi’s comment, but her friend pretended not to notice.

They were finally able to board a shuttle and were now leaving the city as they made their way home. Tomomi had fallen asleep in the corner of the cool and dimly lit interior of the floating bus, while Kokoro was wide awake and occupying her mind with thoughts of Taro as the large vehicle drove on.

After she had taken off the neural link from her head, she handed it back to Taro and forced him to promise her that he wasn’t going to work on it that night. He was clearly exhausted and needed to get some sleep, so she made him promise to do as she had said. Taro agreed without hesitation, and for a brief moment as they locked eyes, Kokoro played with the idea of planting a kiss on his lips. But when it seemed like their faces were drawing closer, a glowing blue ball suddenly floated up between them, ruining the moment.

“Master, are you trying to get a closer look at her face? I could take a snapshot for you and analyze the photo down to its molecular structure. What you are currently doing is completely unnecessary.”

Kokoro could almost swear Taro had an annoyed look on his face following the AI’s intrusion. But she simply smiled in response, and waved goodbye as she left with Tomomi.

Recalling the memory, Kokoro suddenly felt a soft warm travel allover her body despite the cool interior of the vehicle. And in that moment, Kokoro became fully aware of three things.

She had her voice back.

She could not only communicate better, but she could sing again.

And Taro, Taro, Taro.

There was no other boy like him. She wasn’t even sorry anymore; she was glad she had bumped into him with her wheelchair. If that hadn’t happened, they would have simply passed each other in the school hallway and never become partners. And since it was their last school year as seniors, they would have graduated never knowing each other.

The Kokoro of yesterday might not have had a problem with that, but the Kokoro of today, most definitely will. Because a world without Taro, was a world without so many things. Her voice included.