𝕂𝕆𝕀 ℕ𝕆 𝕐𝕆𝕂𝔸ℕ {Tadano Hitohito}

『𝕆𝕊𝔸ℕ𝔸 ℕ𝔸𝕁𝕀𝕄𝕀 𝕀𝕊 𝔸ℕ 𝕌𝕄𝔹ℝ𝔼𝕃𝕃𝔸 𝕋ℍ𝕀𝔼𝔽!』

⟦ℂℍ𝔸ℙ𝕋𝔼ℝ 𝟜⟧

It was only the start of the day, and Kagami was already feeling heckled. Someone had left a deaf joke in her locker. She arrived at class later than the rest of her friends, feeling dejected over the knowledge that people were making fun of her. She always had anxieties about it, but so far the year had been good, and she had been beginning to think she was just paranoid.

But then the note came along and the fragile glass castle she had built had come crashing down. Now her body was left covered in microscopic but innumerable burning cuts from the shattered shards that littered the ground. Tadano immediately picked up on her sorrowful mood. "Hey Ishioka-san... Are you feeling okay? What happened?"

She felt her lip begin to tremble. It seemed that anytime someone asked if she was okay, no matter how hard she was fighting back tears, they would begin to cascade down her face at those four little words. Her hands shook as she raised them to explain herself.

"I'm sorry, Tadano-kun. I know I've been really emotional lately, but I swear I'm not usually this hard to deal with. It's just that... I thought I had been doing really well this year. I finally made friends, and things seemed to be coming together. I was finally starting to believe no one thought I was weird for not being able to hear, but..." She sniffled softly. "Someone left a note in my locker, teasing me about being deaf, and everything just came crashing down."

She looked up from her hands to stare at Tadano with forlorn eyes, glistening with tears. Tadano shared a look with Osana, the pair glanced at Komi who now understood that Kagami was upset because of the joke she had left in her locker. All three of them began to frantically explain what had happened.

Komi held her notebook up, eyes wide and teary in fear of losing a friend. "Ishioka-san I am so sorry. I saw something on the TV that said humor is important to communication. They also said the best humor is relatable, and I thought the joke might be something you would like because you related to it. I wasn't trying to make fun of you for being deaf, I promise."

Kagami took a second to let the words sink in. The joke had really hurt her feelings, but Komi had only been attempting to communicate better by following instructions from the television, and hadn't meant to hurt her. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "Komi-san... I won't pretend that your joke didn't hurt my feelings, but I know you meant no harm by it, and it helps knowing that it wasn't a random person making fun of me."

Komi tearfully began to apologize over and over again, until Kagami stopped her and gave her a reassuring smile. Tadano took over the situation, turning the situation into a humorous one, explaining how a joke Komi left for Osana sounded like a death threat, freaking them out completely. Osana jumped in to tease Tadano and Komi on their dad jokes. "I asked Tadano-kun to show Komi a good joke and he responded with a lame pun!" Osana cackled loudly.

"You put me on the spot! I can make better jokes than 'cats make purr-fect pets'!" Tadano protests sharply, face flushing in embarrassment. Kagami shook her head in amusement, eyes twinkling with mirth.

"I liked your joke Tadano-kun." Komi wrote out in her perfect scrawled handwriting. Kagami nodded in agreement. It wasn't the traditional funny joke, but puns and dad jokes always held a special place in her heart. Her father loved them, and couldn't go a day without using at least one in conversation. If possible, Tadano flushed a shade darker, the red color burning from his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears. He wasn't accustomed to having two incredibly beautiful women backing him up and complimenting him.

Before anyone could say anything more, the teacher walked in, signaling the start of the class.