Shizu and Ai

The young girl watched the moth silently sleeping on the windowsill of her classroom. Chin resting in her hand and head turned away from the morning hustle and bustle, she observed the sleeping moth listlessly.

Shizu was not a talkative girl in middle school—she never had been since the first year of elementary school. Lost in her own thoughts and world, she didn't seek out social interactions like her peers and preferred the safety of solitude. If she didn't speak, then things would be alright.

A wandering butterfly with yellow wings and a dash of blue meandered next to the moth. Shizu knew it was a Yellow Pansy. She had more books as friends than people, and somewhere in one of those books she had memorized the names of all the pretty butterflies as a child.

Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Instinctively, Shizu flinched away from the touch and quickly pulled her sleeves over her wrists, hiding her hands beneath the desk.

"Uhh... sorry?" replied a girl with pink hair tied into two pretty braids.

"Erm... no, it's my..." Shizu stumbled over her words before trying again in a very timid, low voice. "How— what do you need?"

"What was that, Miss Ishida? I couldn't hear you."

Clearly flustered, Shizu tried once more, this time a little louder.

"How can I help you, Miss Tanaka?"

"Ah! I was the one who called you over. Silly me, I'm sorry about startling you."

"No... it's—" mumbled Shizu in a timid voice.

Ai cut her off before she could finish, completely unaware that Shizu had been trying to say something.

"You jumped like a frightened cat. It just took me by surprise. I've never seen someone react that much before! Anyway, the teacher asked me to collect the homework before she arrived, so I've been going around trying to get it done. Honestly, a lot of people didn't complete it, but I kind of understand that. Especially that part about—"

A sheet of paper was suddenly thrust in front of her face.

"Oh."

Ai blinked.

"Oh wow, you completed the entire homework, Miss Ishida!"

Ai could practically see Shizu's discomfort as the girl used the paper to block her face while turning away.

Quietly accepting the homework, Ai offered a small smile.

"Thank you."

And for the first time since approaching her desk, she moved on.

After a bit, Shizu saw Ai was chatting happily with other people and then she realized how awkward the interaction between her and Ai was. She turned back to the window—slightly embarrassed—only to see the butterfly and moth gone.

***

Unfortunately for Shizu, Ai did not seem to understand social cues.

Or perhaps she understood them perfectly and simply chose to ignore them.

Every morning, Ai would stop by Shizu's desk before class started. Every lunch break, she would somehow find her way to wherever Shizu was hiding. And every afternoon, she would spend at least five minutes talking before finally going home.

"Do you know what happened to my pencil?" asked Ai to Shizu close to the end of the day. Shizu sat pretty far from Ai to have noticed anything so she couldn't help but wonder why this girl was so persistent in talking to her.

"No." replied Shizu flatly, trying to shut her out.

"I lost it."

"...I see."

"I bought it yesterday too."

"That's unfortunate."

Ai stared at her.

"What?" Shizu was taken aback by the sudden silence.

"You're really bad at conversations."

Shizu looked away.

"So are you."

"That's different."

"It isn't."

"It totally is."

For some reason, Ai looked pleased by the response. Shizu still didn't understand her. A week later, she understood her even less.

The girls in their class had been assigned groups for a presentation. Unfortunately, Shizu's group consisted of three girls who clearly did not want her there. Not that it mattered. She wasn't particularly interested in working with them either. In fact, she found herself wishing that she was part of Ai's group. Ai would have handled all the interactions with other people for her. Without realizing it, Shizu had started looking for Ai help talking to other people.

But her current group was not as friendly to Shizu as they were to each other. The first day, they divided the tasks between themselves.

"Hey miss Ishida, can you make the poster? We'll handle all the other parts"

"Sure." replied Shizu in a timid voice.

"Huh? What was that?"

"I said sure" replied Shizu with a louder voice.

The girl who was talking to her scowled, thinking Shizu was being sarcastic.

The next day, the group of girls mostly just chatted to themselves instead of working together. Finally, one of the girls looked at Shizu and said, "I was too busy hanging out with my friends yesterday so I totally couldn't get any time to do my part. Can you write the summary too?"

"Okay." replied Shizu without hesitation. She had expected that from the beginning

The third day.

"Actually, can you just do the bibliography as well? You've already done the summary too."

"...Alright."

It wasn't difficult work for Shizu and it didn't bother her as much. In fact, Shizu preferred it. The less she had to talk, the better. The problem was that the girls apparently had very different opinions.

"I swear she's so creepy."

The voice came from behind the gymnasium during lunch break as she was walking by. Shizu stopped. She was able to recognize the voice instantly.

"I hate how she always tries to correct me. Isn't my opinion valid too?" said one of the girls as Shizu recalled when she had pointed a small mistake in the other girl's work on the group project.

"Doesn't she like sit in a corner and always reads books by herself?" said another.

"She acts like she's better than everyone."

"No, I think she's just weird."

The girls giggled amongst themselves as Shizu quietly turned around. There wasn't much point listening to the rest. It wasn't the first time she had heard these things about herself. Just as she began walking away, another voice spoke up.

"That's kind of mean."

The girls stopped laughing as Shizu's heart stopped when she heard that voice. It was the same voice that she had gotten used to for the past few days. The voice that belonged to the chirpy, pink haired girl who made it a point to have meaningless little interactions with Shizu everyday.

"Oh... miss Tanaka. We weren't talking about you."

"I know." said Ai as she smirked, "That would have been really impressive if you were."

The girls exchanged awkward glances.

"Anyway," continued Ai, "I think Shizu is nice. I don't think she's creepy at all."

The silence that followed was somehow even more awkward but it was only uncomfortable for the other girls. Eventually one of them laughed nervously.

"Right..."

The conversation between them didn't last long and Shizu didn't stick around. She was too flustered to stay and listen any longer. She had never seen anybody stick up for her before. The words themselves weren't particularly special yet, for the rest of the day, they refused to leave her mind.

The next morning, Ai arrived at her desk as usual.

"Good morning."

"Good morning!" replied Shizu.

Ai froze.

The greeting had been far more energetic than what she was used to hearing from Shizu. Ai stared at Shizu with her mouth slightly open. Suddenly conscious, Shizu replied, "...What?"

"You smiled."

Shizu immediately looked away.

"Did I?"

"You did."

"I don't think I did."

"You absolutely did!"

Ai narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"You're happy today. So, did something good happen?"

Shizu opened her book trying to dismiss Ai's question.

"Not really."

Ai rested her chin on the desk and mischievously looked up at Shizu.

"Then why are you smiling?"

Shizu hesitated for a moment before quietly replying,

"I was just thinking that some people are nicer than they look."

Ai blinked in surprise.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Maybe."

"Wow. You're really bad at compliments."

Shizu turned away—obviously flustered—as Ai switched topics and the two talked till the teacher came in.

***

Ryuuji stared helplessly at Ai's horror-struck face as she turned around and looked at him. With a raspy voice, she asked, "Did you see it?"

"I— I.. Yeah. I did see it."

Ai stared at her phone, her lips trembling.

"No..."

The phone slipped slightly in her hands. Only then did the tears begin to form.

Futaba immediately jumped into action. She sat next to Ai and comforted her, rubbing her shoulders gently. Once Ai had calmed down she asked in a soft tone, "Ai, can you tell us what happened?"

Ai nodded quietly as she wiped her tears.

"Yesterday, " she began with a shaky voice, "Shizu confessed to me."

The room immediately fell silent.

Slowly, Ai explained everything that had happened. How Shizu had suddenly confessed. How she had spent the entire day trying to figure out what to say. How every message she sent afterward had gone unanswered.

And finally, she showed them the message.

"Let's go visit her then." blurted Ryuuji out as soon as Ai finished.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

Ryuuji shrugged, "We're making this way more complicated than it needs to be."

"Ryuuji..." Ai murmured.

"Ai, if Shizu really wanted to disappear forever, she wouldn't have sent that message."

The room fell silent.

"The fact that she messaged you means she wanted you to know how she felt."

He softly placed his hand on Ai's shoulder.

"So instead of sitting here imagining the worst-case scenario, let's go talk to her. Besides," said Ryuuji, as the familiar grin returned back on his face, "We're the Odd Jobs Club, right? Helping people is literally the whole point."

For the first time all day, Ryuuji looked like himself again.

Hearing Ryuuji say that, Ai felt a small bit of hope return. Futaba looked at Ryouta as he nodded quietly and then quick glance at Hinata who nodded and smiled as well.

"Alright Ai," said Futaba as she handed her a handkerchief from her pocket, "Let's go get your friend back!"

***

The club members quietly waited as Ai stepped forward and rang Shizu's home's doorbell. This was the first time Ai was actually visiting Shizu's home. Whenever they hung out, they would always meet up at Ai's place. Thinking back on it, Shizu had always been strangely insistent about that.

Just as the door opened, Ai couldn't help but put hand to her nose from the strong whiff of alcohol. She stepped back immediately—a little confused—as she saw a man appear at the door with an overgrown, unkempt beard. The man barely put together a string of words together as he asked, "Wha... *hiccup* What are a bunch of children doing here?  *hiccup* Are you- Who are you?"

Ryouta immediately stepped forward from the group as he signaled them to hang back a bit.

"We're friends of Shizu Ishida. Is she here?"

"Shizu? Friends? Ahaha... Shizu doesn't have any friends."

Ai squeezed Futaba's hand out of anger and fear but stayed quiet.

Just then, they saw Shizu come down the stairs as she quietly peeked over. Shizu was shocked to see the group outside her house. She immediately scurried over to the man and in her timid voice began, "Dad, they're my friends. Can I talk—"

"Huh?"

The man turned abruptly.

His arm caught Shizu across the face as she stumbled backward and crashed onto the floor.

The man barely reacted. As if knocking her over wasn't unusual. As if he expected her to simply get back up.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

Shizu herself didn't seem surprised. She simply lowered her head and began picking herself up from the floor.

Futaba couldn't take it anymore as she stepped forward.