Misha's Picnic

"So, are you feeling better today?"

When I speak up, she gives a little start. I imagine that spending all of your time with someone who can't 'speak up' in its literal sense would leave you a little sensitive to the sudden breaking of a silence.
I notice that she has been staring at me as these thoughts tumbled through my head. Caught, I tell her what's on my mind.

"Oh!" She perks up. "It wasn't that. You've heard Shicchan snap her fingers enough to know that." She fiddles with the lid of the picnic basket we brought with us, still unopened.

It's true, I have. But I also know that she hasn't answered me, and tell her so.

She glances at me. The lack of eye contact is strange and out of place."I'm used to it, Hicchan. But some days are harder than others."

It is strange to hear her talk like this. Her voice completely lacks her usual volume and upbeat nature. It worries me more than I can say. I'm uncomfortably reminded of our talk on the rooftop, the time when she pressed herself against the fence, as if she could slip through it and away from all of her problems.

"Did you want to talk about it some more? Shizune won't be joining us for a while yet. We have some time..."

She finally meets my eyes. I'm not entirely surprised to see them glistening in the bright afternoon sunlight. Her mouth, though, perks up in a close approximation of a happy smile.

"I think I've said everything I can say, Hicchan. I'm not really good with words, not like you, you smooth talker you!~ Whaha!"

Forced or not, her smile and trademark laugh relax me enough for me to drop the subject.

We spend the rest of the next hour in silence, and the silence is entirely unbroken by Shizune joining us.
But that is how it is, isn't it? And that is how it will be. For as long as the three of us are together, this silence will be there.

Maybe it is better this way.