Context: Arika is blind. Afonia is her mute roommate. Fuu is Arika's older sister.

—

Arika's head turned as the front door bell chimed. The noise indicated the return of someone, and figuring that it was still too early for Fuu to be home from college, she hazarded to guess the arrival's identity. "Welcome back, Afonia…?"

The silence that met her confirmed her suspicion. Fuu was always careful to be exceedingly vocal about her presence so as to avoid startling her poor little sister. Afonia, of course, had no such option.

The boy gave two taps against the wall, his quick code for, 'Hey,' before shedding his shoes in the foyer and padding over to the living room. Arika had been busying herself with a few Braille books her sister had borrowed for her, and they lay strewn messily across the coffee table's surface. Keeping tidy had never been Arika's strong suit. She heard Afonia moving the books aside and felt a thin box press into her hands.

"What's this, then?" she chirped curiously, gliding her fingers across a smooth, plastic surface. "A DVD or a game? Is it new?" It smelled new.

Afonia took her hands into his own and signed, /A new video game. I think you will like this one./

Arika's temples furrowed in response. "Another? Don't you remember what a horrible disaster Brawl was? This better not be a fighting game." Her brows itched a bit beneath her facial bandages, so she added, "Also, please take my wraps off. It's too hot for them right now."

The comfort of her own home was one of the few places where Arika felt secure enough to leave her clouded eyes exposed. Her sister always assured her that they looked fine, and if they bothered Afonia at all, he'd yet to express as much. Communication between them took a lot more effort and consideration than a simple verbal comment would, so the boy tended to only say what was absolutely necessary, and everything else was expressed through touch. Physical appearances were just one of those things he didn't deem significant enough to discuss.

He put the box down and curled his hands beneath hers again. /No, not a fighting game. A sound game./

Arika's mouth squished into a small 'o' shape. "Sound game? With music?"

/Yes./ He took her by the wrist and lead her to the television. As per their routine, he popped the disc into their video game system and sat down on the couch with her perched on his lap. He signed, /I will read you the instructions for each song, so you will need to put your controller down sometimes./

Arika nodded and gripped the controller carefully, reacquainting herself with its buttons. It had been a while since she'd tried playing anything.

Cheery menu music met her ears. "The A button, right? Oh, whatever, I'll press buttons until it starts. There, the music changed, did I select the right thing? What now?"

Instead of full-blown tactile sign language, Afonia used their own shorthand phrases to command her. A tap on her upper arm for 'yes' and a tap on the back of her right hand, followed by a stroke of her thumb for 'go right and press A.'

He briefly recalled the first time they'd sat like this, fumbling their way through a game that was a tad too text-heavy for Arika to enjoy. Back then, she had shied away from the tactile signing too much for him to really express himself the way he wanted. Now, she didn't regard their intimate physicality any differently than one might regard a casual conversation. It was just their means of communication now.

"What are those sounds? Am I supposed to press the button at the same time as the sounds?"

His fingers wedged between her palms and the controller so that he could briefly explain the rules. It took a few reiterations, but once she had made her way through the tutorial stage, she seemed to have a better grasp of the concept.

"I think I've got it now… It's got a good rhythm. What's that funny noise, anyway?"

/It is a monkey. A cute cartoon monkey. It makes noises in time with your golf club./

Arika pretended she knew what a monkey looked like, let alone a cute cartoon one, as she curled her digits around the controller once more. "Hmm. Well, it sounds cute. I don't know what a monkey has to do with golfing, though—oh! It's starting, right? Yeah! I've got this. This song is catchy…"

Just as he had predicted, Arika took quite well to the game's emphasis on music and timing, and they ended up tapping out rhythms well into the night. When Fuu returned home from her late class, she found her sister and her roommate dozing in a tangled mess of limbs and couch pillows, a controller still clutched in Arika's hands.