Heaven's Senses

XXIII

~~~~Soma~~~~

After the whole competition was over for the day, I carried my sister back to the Kyokusei dorm and basically locked her in her room for decompression. She told me that she was fine, but I didn't believe her, since her eyes were wide and her breathing was off, not to mention that her hands were almost always over her ears. She needed at least half a day.

So, I laid her in bed, helped her take her medicine, left her plenty of food to get her through the night and turned up the power on her hearing aids so she could sit in perfect silence. I told her to text me if she needed anything and went to go celebrate with the others in Zenji's room.

"Gather around folks!" Yuki said lifting her cup, "To the Fall Selection's theatrics. To its crazy conclusion, we celebrate the results and all our hard work. Let's par-tay!" 

We all shouted in cheers and ate and drank our fill, laughing and celebrating. Although, Isami and Takumi got a little distracted with Isshiki's form of dress. But they'd get used to it sooner or later, once they start hanging out with us more often.

"Say, where're Shun and Hikari hiding out tonight?" Ryoko asked.

"I'd bet Shun's holed up in his room feeling sorry for himself." Yuki answered, "He may not let it show, but I think he was pretty upset. And with Hikari, you have no idea what's going on through that girl's head. Maybe I should go over and drag them both out here."

I laughed and set down my cup of juice, "You can do that with Shun, but not with my sister right now. She's going through decompression."

Everyone's eyes were now on me, confused by what I said about my sis.

"What do you mean by that, Soma?" Takumi asked.

I faced him, "Well, you see..." I trailed off trying to find a way to explain the whole situation with Hikari, "You all know how my sister has that crazy ability with her enhanced senses, right?" They nodded, "Well, it's actually a double edged sword."

"A double edged sword?" Megumi repeated.

"Yeah. My sister can hear even the smallest sounds, pick up the faintest scents, and her sense of touch can help her differentiate all sorts of things just by feeling it." I frowned as I thought back to the times when my sister would go completely silent. She wouldn't even get under the blankets sometimes because her senses were too whacked up to handle the feeling of her cotton sheets and blankets.

"However, sometimes those enhanced senses get a little too strong and her body and mind try to reject the overstimulation. So, when that happens, Hikari has to go through a kind of 'sensory detox'. And depending on how strong the backlash is, she spends anywhere from a couple hours to even a full day in her room trying to decompress herself from it all. That's why we call it a Decompression period."

"That sounds tough." Takumi said, "Did she have to do that a lot when she was younger?"

"Yeah, but that's because her senses weren't completely developed. It's gotten better over the years." I said with a smile, but I could never forget that one period of our lives when she really got bad. I never wanted that to happen again, which would explain why I was so protective of my sister and insisted that she take half a day.

I continued having fun at the party with the others until it was time to get to bed. As I walked to my room, I paused for a moment to listen in on my sister. I knocked three times as soft as I could. It was a system that we made when we were kids in case she was in a decompression period. When I knock three times, I'm asking her if she's okay. And when I heard three knocks in reply, she was telling me that she was all right.

She never steered me wrong when it comes to her decompression periods, so I didn't try to go into her room and returned to mine to get some sleep.

~~~~~Hikari~~~~~