~Aimi Hayashi and Ayako Koizumi~

“Oh, Aya-san. There are so many people here!” The small purple-eyed girl breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down. Even after a few weeks at this school, it didn’t make it any easier to cope.

“Calm down, Aimi-chan. They’re all like us.” The older brown-haired girl calmly pushed her friend’s wheelchair, even though she couldn’t see where she was going.

“Wall! Aya-san, wait-” Aimi yelped as Aya walked her right into a wall. This particular wall had been trouble for them since the school year had begun. They’d been moving at a fairly high speed, and the wheelchair, having been through much trauma already, came entirely apart into a jumble of wheels, cloth, and carbon-fiber tubing.

“Oh dear. That’s wreck number four this week. You’re okay, right?”

“I’m fine. My wheelchair just came apart and I’m pinned under it and I can’t freaking move, but I’m fine. Thank you for your “concern”, Ayako.” Aimi’s voice was bitter and it seemed to Aya like she was on the verge of tears.

“Aimi-chan, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. How can I help?” Aya knelt down, running her hands over the parts of the collapsed wheelchair, trying to make sense of what was a part of Aimi and what was a part of the wheelchair. She tugged on something that felt like a finger. “Aimi-chan, am I pulling on your finger or a piece of wheelchair?”

“I don’t know! I can’t see, my head’s under a cloth, and you know I can’t feel anything! Why don’t you open your eyes and actually look at what you’re doing?” Aimi all but shouted, tears running down her face.

Aya gasped, her blind blue eyes welling up with tears, and pushed herself back to her feet, leaving her friend helpless on the floor. “Because I can’t! I’m sorry I’m so useless to you, [i]Senpai[/i], I’m just going to go curl up in a corner and die, thank you.” She stumbled off down the hall, repeatedly bumping into other students and walls, not caring that there were tears pouring down her cheeks. A breath of wind on her face and she realized she must have stepped outside.

“A-Aya… P-please come back… D-don’t l-l-leave me h-here…” Aimi said, but it was too late.

For Aya, without her companion acting as her eyes, the world was terribly disorienting. As she stepped outside she heard a screechingly loud voice start prattling on about mandatory homework, mandatory sports fairs, blah blah blah.

She tripped over something, only to hear a slight “oof” as she did. Wait—god, was that a person she’d tripped over?!

“Oh goodness, forgive me!” she mumbled, flailing and trying to get her feet under her. In the process she managed to figure out the configuration of the person she’d tripped over—a girl, curled up in a ball with her hands over her ears.

“Are you alright? I’m so sorry I tripped…”

[@liferusher]