A Silent Voice: My First Kiss Was with Nishimiya Shouko

Teacher Yoshinaga stood on the podium and looked down at the children. She silently called their names in her mind, and when she confirmed that no one was missing and no accidents had occurred, she let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Teacher Ueo spoke loudly to the children below, "Today is the first day of school. Can the teacher teach you how to fold paper cranes?"

Hearing Ms. Ueo's voice, Akira, who was sitting bored in his chair, suddenly became interested. He seemed to have folded paper cranes a few times when he was in elementary school in his previous life.

But almost none of the other children knew what a thousand paper cranes were, including Shouko, who looked at Ms. Ueo on the podium with a confused expression.

Ms. Ueo smiled softly at the children's curious faces—it was very cute to see such innocence.

She asked the children to sit down and fold one crane to show her. Then she took out some square, hand-painted sheets of paper from the drawer next to the podium. In just a few seconds, she folded a bright red paper crane and held it high so the children could see clearly. She received admiring gazes from all the children except Akira.

Ms. Ueo walked to the first child on the left and asked them to pass the crane around one by one. Then she returned to the podium and distributed stacks of hand-painted paper to the children.

Akira looked at the five square sheets of paper in different colors that were given to him. Ms. Ueo called out to the children, "Okay, children, look at me and fold together."

She demonstrated the first step of folding to the children, then walked around to check if anyone made mistakes. Only after confirming everyone was correct did she move on to the next step.

After the final demonstration, Teacher Yoshinaga looked at the children's cranes below. Some were skillfully folded, others a little messy, but all were clearly paper cranes.

The crane Akira folded was nearly identical to Ms. Ueo's, earning him an admiring look from Shouko sitting next to him. Shouko eagerly asked Akira to teach her step by step.

"Children, you can start folding. If you don't understand, come up and ask the teacher," said Teacher Yoshinaga, then bent her head to continue folding on the podium.

"Good!" Ms. Ueo encouraged the children.

Under Akira's hands-on guidance, Shouko perfectly folded a beautiful paper crane. She happily held it up to show the little girl next to her, proudly saying that Akira had taught her.

After folding a dozen paper cranes, Teacher Yoshinaga looked up at the children, who folded quietly and obediently, ignoring Akira and Shouko. She felt a warm joy and clapped her hands loudly to get the children's attention.

The children looked at Ms. Ueo in confusion. Ms. Ueo pulled out a small red flower sticker from the drawer, waved it at the children, and said gently, "The teacher will now check your cranes one by one. If you fold well, you will be rewarded with a small red flower."

Then she walked toward the first child.

Nervous but excited, Shouko placed her five folded cranes on the table and asked Akira, "Akira, which one of mine looks best?"

Akira looked carefully, then pointed to the one he had taught her first. Shouko smiled happily and said, "Hehe, I think so too." She put the rest in the hole in the table.

Akira suddenly felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach and said to Shouko, who was grinning at the cranes, "Shouko, I'm going to the bathroom. Don't worry about me." After saying that, he stood and spoke briefly to Ms. Ueo before leaving the classroom quickly.

When Ms. Ueo reached Shouko's seat, she first gave some serious advice, then stuck a small red flower on Shouko's left cheek and said kindly, "Shouko, this beautiful crane will be kept by the teacher."

When Shouko heard this, she frowned and quickly stretched out her hands to protect the paper crane. "I don't want the little red flower anymore! You can't have this crane, teacher!"

"Why?" Ms. Ueo asked, curious about Shouko's strong reaction.

Shouko gently held her crane, lowered her head, and stammered, "Because… this is the first time Akira taught me how to fold it, and I don't want to give it away!" After saying this, Shouko felt a little sorry for Ms. Ueo and hurriedly took out the other four folded cranes from the hole in the table for Ms. Ueo to choose from. It was okay to take all of those.

Teacher Yoshinaga smiled quietly and didn't say anything. She randomly picked one of the four and gently touched Shouko's head, chuckling, "Okay, teacher won't take that one." Then she looked toward Akira's empty seat and remembered he had gone to the bathroom.

By the time Akira returned, Ms. Yoshinaga had finished the checks and returned to the podium, but she still came over to Akira's seat holding a small red flower and gave him some serious advice.

Akira nodded perfunctorily in response. Ms. Ueo thought it was about time, so she tore off a small red flower and was about to stick it on Akira's face.

Akira quickly raised his hands to protect his face and said, "Ms. Ueo, please give my little red flower to Shouko for me."

Ms. Ueo didn't know what to say to the two kids, so she turned around, gently touched Shouko's right cheek, took one of Akira's paper cranes, and returned to the podium.

Seeing another red flower on her face, Shouko asked Akira in confusion, "Akira, why don't you want the little red flower from Ms. Ueo?"

"Because I saw you liked it, so I gave it to you. Besides, other kids only have one flower, but Shouko has two." Akira chuckled as he answered Shouko's question.

"But if you do this, won't you get no flower?"

Akira didn't answer, only smiling as he patted Shouko's head.

At that moment, Ms. Ueo clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. She said loudly, "Children, next the teacher will tell you the story of the thousand paper cranes."

The whole morning was spent listening to Ms. Yoshinaga's story. She told them that if they folded a thousand paper cranes, their wishes would come true.

The children listened seriously. Shouko even told Akira she would fold a thousand cranes to wish for the Miyamura and Nishimiya families to be safe and happy.

Akira couldn't help but ask Shouko curiously, "Why not make your ears normal?"

Shouko turned her head and looked seriously at Akira. "Because you're the most important to me. If the first wish really comes true, I'll fold a thousand more and make another wish."

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