Chapter Text
It was a cold, drizzly Sunday afternoon in February when Isamu called his sister at home and a boy answered the phone in her place.
"Taki residence."
"Who are you?" Isamu blurted.
"This is Tanuma Kaname." He at least sounded a bit apologetic about it. "Taki's not able to come to the phone right now—" He paused. "Oh, sorry, is this Taki's brother?"
"Yes," Isamu gritted out. He did vaguely remember that name, and he was pretty sure this guy was a friend, and had been for a while…but that didn't really improve his mood. "Can you put Tooru on the line or not?"
"She's…" There was a pause. "She's sick."
That sounded suspicious, mainly because it wasn't the sort of thing someone in the house with her would have to stop and check. "She can still talk, can't she?"
"No, she can't." Tanuma seemed to have recovered from the embarrassment of the situation, as his reply was very even. "She's lost her voice completely. She's been writing things down to communicate all day."
Isamu blinked, taken aback. "If that was true, she could have texted me to let me know."
"…It came on suddenly." There was another pause. "Taki says she's sorry she forgot to tell you. She'll text you to reschedule soon."
Isamu didn't like it. It was one thing to know his kid sister was living on her own—he'd more or less had to accept that by now, especially as she'd been doing it on and off for years and seemed to be perfectly competent at it. It was another for there to be a strange boy in her house with her, and for her to be sick enough that she couldn't even explain herself.
(Assuming, of course, that she actually was sick, and this wasn't some strange excuse for…something else. But Isamu wasn't willing to jump to that conclusion based on the very scant evidence he had.)
He sighed. "Thanks for explaining the situation. Tell her to text me."
He thought that Tanuma sounded a bit relieved when he answered, "I will."
"Great." He hung up and waited.
A minute later, his phone buzzed with an incoming text. I really am sorry, nii-san. I've had a fever all day, and I forgot you were going to call. Natsume-kun and Tanuma-kun are looking after me, though, so I'm all right.
All right, so there were two boys with her while she was sick in that old house. That…was better than there just being one, actually, especially since that Natsume kid seemed at least vaguely reliable. If he was anything like Natsume, then this Tanuma person was probably helpful, too. Tooru had pretty good taste in friends, as far as Isamu could tell.
He sighed and tilted his head back to stare up at the ceiling. He was through the worst of finals, which was why he'd planned on calling Tooru today. He hadn't spared much thought for her these past few weeks—it was way too easy to lose contact with distance, he was realizing, and it just got worse every year. He'd been planning to make up for it today by finding out how she'd been.
He lifted his phone above his head and texted back. Let me know when you're able to talk, and we'll make it up then. Get lots of rest and hydrate in the meantime.
The reply wasn't long in coming. I will, don't worry! <3
And that was that…except then she didn't reschedule.
A week passed, and then two. He got around to texting Tooru again to see if she'd just forgotten, and she replied saying she hadn't—her voice was still gone.
That didn't sound like a mild cold. Have you been to a doctor?
It's not like that! I only had a fever for the first day. It's just really affected my throat, that's all. I'm sure it'll get better soon.
Isamu was at a community center near the campsite he'd chosen for the first couple weeks of break, using a nearby cell tower to get in touch with civilization after a week of mostly-off-the-grid fieldwork. He'd kept things flexible for the past few weeks on purpose, after all. So he messaged back: I'm coming home next week for a bit. If your voice isn't back by then I'm taking you to an ENT.
Her reply came quickly: You don't need to do that! I'm fine, I promise!
She sounded a little too flustered, and he briefly second-guessed himself. Did she not want him to come home? Was it just because she couldn't talk, or for some other reason? …But no, he decided. Tooru had been strangely on-edge with him the last time he'd visited, too, but she'd adjusted just fine once they'd managed to talk it out.
Talking it out might be a little harder this time, what with her voice apparently being gone. But if worse came to worst, they could text each other from across the room. It'd work out somehow.
I'm still coming. He paused before sending to check his planner, and settled on a day. I'll see you Tuesday evening.
Tooru replied with an affirmative, and Isamu decided not to overthink things till he saw her himself. It was silly to overthink messages sent at too far a distance.
Seeing her in person, as it turned out, didn't relieve any of his misgivings.
She was still herself, at least. She clasped her hands nervously when she let Isamu in, watching him put away his luggage in his old room and then walking right back outside to put his bike away. She watched him with careful and hopeful eyes as he settled in the living room, and brought in tea.
The trouble was, she never spoke a word.
Isamu had heard, once or twice, about Tooru being shy. He didn't really see it himself; he might characterize her as nervous, sure, but shy seemed like a step too far. She was too lively for that.
But he'd heard from few folks around the neighborhood that said that Tooru hardly ever said a word to anyone, especially after starting high school. This was the first time he'd been able to bring himself to even imagine it, and he didn't like it at all.
"Can you still not talk yet?" he asked as she poured the tea.
She nodded as she set the teapot down, and then reached into a pocket and pulled out a small notebook. She flipped through it till she found a certain page, and then turned it around to show it to him.
My voice is still gone, unfortunately. The words were smudged pencil, and the notebook no longer looked new.
"I guessed," he deadpanned. "I don't think I've ever seen you this quiet. Have you really not been to a doctor?"
Tooru shook her head, turning the page. It doesn't hurt. I just need to wait for it to heal.
So she got this question a lot, it seemed like. Isamu frowned at the notebook, and then back at her. "How have you been handling school? It seems like it'd be a pain not to be able to ask questions."
Tooru made a wry face and pulled a pencil from…behind her ear. Well, that was practical if she was using it regularly to communicate. She flipped to a blank page of the notebook, wrote for a minute, and then passed it to him.
I write my questions/answers and pass it to the person next to me. It's not so bad.
It sounded like she was getting along with her classmates okay, then. That was good, and not really surprising; she'd always had pretty good people skills, better than Isamu's. He nodded. "I'm still taking you to see a specialist."
Tooru sighed silently and nodded, and Isamu started doing research. There was an ENT not too far away by bus, so he called them and checked about an appointment. This mostly went smoothly, except for how they clearly expected his "younger sister" to be considerably younger than the high school student she was.
Tooru looked uncomfortable, probably at being fussed over, but it couldn't be helped. It would be even more awkward for a friend to have to schedule an appointment like this for her, though he suspected that if she'd asked she would have found them willing to do something like that.
It bothered him a bit, that she hadn't asked. Surely she wasn't okay with simply being unable to talk for weeks at a time?
With it confirmed that they did walk-ins and could see them tomorrow, he set down his phone and nodded to her. "We're going to figure out what's going on."
Tooru just nodded, still looking a bit conflicted. There wasn't much Isamu could do about that, so he'd just have to stick with her and make sure the appointment went smoothly.
The next morning, Tooru had to go to school. Isamu lay in his bed and listened to the quiet sounds of her getting ready, unsure whether he should disrupt her routine. In the end, the quiet of the house got to him, and he found Tooru in the kitchen making a quick breakfast.
"Morning," he said, and she jumped, turning around. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She had a set of chopsticks in one hand and a pan with a sunny-side up egg on the stove, so her hands were full.
"You don't have to answer," he added. "I can help with breakfast. Just point at what you want me to do."
She started to point the the fridge, paused, and then let go of the pan and handed him the chopsticks.
"I can finish this, sure," he said. "What else is on the menu?"
Tooru pointed to a bowl of miso soup—the instant kind you could make with hot water—and then to the toaster. There was just piece of toast and one bowl, so it seemed she hadn't expected him to be up yet. Fair enough—he wasn't on the timetable she was.
"I can make my own stuff later," he said, and slid the egg lightly around the pan, making sure it wouldn't stick. Tooru, buttering her piece of toast, gave him an apologetic look. "It's no problem. You need to focus on being on time."
Tooru nodded. When the egg was done, they switched places so Tooru could slide it onto her toast. She ate it with a knife and fork, sipping at a mug of tea between bites. Isamu got his own slice of toast into the toaster and contemplated the eggs in the fridge. He decided to make them scrambled.
He was about ready to sit down at the table himself when Tooru stood up to leave. "Have a good day at school," he said. Tooru waved a bit awkwardly on her way to the entryway to slip on her shoes.
The door fell shut behind her, but the strangest thing about the silence that followed was that it didn't feel so different from before.