Three years ago, at the Nishimiya family home, Yaeko Nishimiya dragged her tired body into the kitchen to make dinner for her two daughters, as usual. Dinner was simple: rice, cabbage soup, and natto. Since it was payday and the supermarket had a sale, she added fried fish to the meal. A single mother, two young daughters, and an elderly mother formed their family. As the sole provider, she couldn't stop working. She had a night shift as a cashier at the supermarket and couldn't even eat dinner with her daughters. Just as she was about to call them for dinner, she heard a sentence from their bedroom door that struck her like a bolt of lightning.
"I... I want to die."
It was her older daughter, Shoko Nishimiya. The cheap rental apartment had poor soundproofing. Yaeko felt like her soul had been ripped from her body, and she froze in place.
"Sister, what are you saying?!"
Yuzuru Nishimiya's reaction in the bedroom was even more frantic. She pulled aside the makeshift curtain that divided their shared bedroom into two spaces. On the other side of the curtain, Shoko was curled up on the bed, hugging her knees and sobbing softly.
"Sister..."
Yuzuru had never seen her sister so helpless. She felt flustered and at a loss. She pushed her sister's shoulder, but Shoko didn't move. Yuzuru then carefully pushed aside the hair from her sister's ear. The hearing aid was gone!
"Sister, don't scare me. Can you tell me what happened? You just made new friends at your new school yesterday, didn't you?" She patted Shoko's shoulder, using sign language this time. Yuzuru was terrified that her sister might do something foolish after saying such a thing. She remembered the genuine smile on her sister's face when she came home yesterday, talking about her new friends. She tried to use that happy memory to get her attention.
Shoko didn't respond. She just held out her small hand and opened it. In her pale palm lay a pair of hearing aids, soaked and broken. Shoko finally spoke, feeling her sister's hands on her shoulders. "Yuzuru, I'm so useless. I'm just a burden on our family. If it weren't for me, people at school wouldn't call you the 'deaf girl's sister.' If it weren't for me, Mom and Dad wouldn't have gotten a divorce, and Mom wouldn't have to work so hard every day. Maybe... maybe it would have been better if I had never been born. Someone as useless as me might be better off not in this world."
Her eyes were filled with tears, and her voice was choked with sobs. Shoko, already emotionally unstable, spoke so unclearly that Yuzuru had an even harder time understanding her. But Yuzuru still understood her sister's meaning. She climbed onto the bed and hugged her with her small body, trying to offer a little warmth to her despairing sister.
After Shoko calmed down, she told her exactly what happened that day. Her "friends" from yesterday were curious about her hearing aids, and a few of them started playing a game of catch with them by the pool. They threw the hearing aids into the water, and they were ruined. Perhaps from exhaustion from crying, Shoko eventually fell asleep in her sister's arms.
The next day, when Yuzuru came home, her beloved long hair was gone. She was wearing a dirty tracksuit and a boyish buzz cut. Her face was bruised and scratched. "Yuzuru, what happened to you?" Yaeko asked, rushing over to her.
"I went to school and beat up those guys. As for my hair, I think this looks cool, hiss…" Yuzuru said in a cool voice, wincing as she touched a wound on her face. Our family doesn't have a man, so I'll become the 'man' of the family. She would do everything in her power to protect her sister. From then on, she never grew her hair long again or wore cute girl's clothes. She learned to talk like a boy, kept her hair short, and wore athletic clothes that were practical for "fighting."
When Yaeko learned of her younger daughter's true motive, she didn't scold her for once. She just warned, "Don't do that again, Yuzuru. Mom will get you some medicine for your scrapes." After applying the medicine and wrapping her daughter's face in gauze, she walked into their bedroom. Shoko hadn't gone to school that day. She sat on her bed, staring out the window at the free-flying birds, just as she had yesterday.
Yaeko walked over to her older daughter and pulled out a small, brand-new box. She had spent what little savings they had on the most expensive hearing aids she could find. She had overheard her daughters' entire conversation from outside the door yesterday, but she didn't dare go in for fear that she would completely break down. As a mother, she understood her daughter's guilt. The hearing aids were indeed very expensive for their family. Yaeko carefully opened the box and placed the new hearing aids in Shoko's ears.
"Shoko, you are my most important daughter. You're not allowed to do anything foolish, do you hear me? After your father abandoned us, you're all I have left." With her hearing partially restored, Shoko nodded obediently. Shoko didn't fear death because she had lived in a world of silence. Seeing her mother's heartbroken expression and her sister peering in with a bandaged face, she cast away the thought of killing herself.
Yaeko vowed, "Shoko, you have to be strong. If you can learn to be a normal person and not be isolated, no one will ever bully you again." She believed that bullies only target those who are alone. If her older daughter could blend in with the rest of the class, she wouldn't get bullied, and her younger daughter could go to school without having to worry. From then on, Shoko tried her best to become the most normal person she could be.
Inside the office, Ryosuke's conversation with Yaeko continued.
Ryosuke's words had touched a nerve in Yaeko, who had already decided to take her daughter away and transfer her immediately. She planned to enroll Shoko in a school for the hearing impaired, where she would find other people like her. Even though that choice would mean Shoko would never live a "normal" life, it was better than being bullied, wasn't it?
"Please don't come near my daughter again. Shoko will find companions who truly accept her, just like everyone else," Yaeko reiterated, her tone firm.
"So, deep down, you still hope that Shoko can live a normal life like everyone else, right?" Ryosuke asked.
Yaeko remained silent, her face unreadable. She refused to listen to anyone else.
"But you only told Shoko to be strong and to fit in. You didn't teach her how to do it. That's… quite irresponsible of you," Ryosuke said, trying to provoke her. He had to resort to this extreme measure to get a reaction. She had been completely impassive when she hit Shoya Ishida and when Miyako Ishida had knelt before her. It was clear she had made up her mind to cut ties with everyone there and take Shoko away. Why waste words on people you'll never see again?
But Ryosuke knew that with Yaeko's method of raising her, Shoko would likely repeat the tragedies of the past. Running away wouldn't solve her problems.
As expected, hearing someone call her irresponsible enraged Yaeko. Her face contorted, and she shouted, "Don't be ridiculous! Who do you think you are?! Do you have any idea how much I've sacrificed for Shoko?!"
Ryosuke took a step forward and took Shoko's other hand. He didn't panic in the face of Yaeko's anger. He spoke with a sincere and firm voice.
"Yaeko-san, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ryosuke Hiratsuka."
"If you give me one semester, I can let Shoko live a normal life and stop her from being bullied by others."
He turned to face Shoko, whose eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape, looking lost and a little foolish. He spoke slowly, at a pace she could clearly hear.
"If you can, please... entrust your daughter's future to me!"