Pangrammatic Window/Transcript: Difference between revisions

}}NARRATOR: "I've been neglecting my sign language studies, so I should probably spend some time studying up on it. Although, I think I've learned a lot just by osmosis. I'm very proud of that, and will have to be careful not to brag about it. Most of the books I brought with me aren't manuals on learning sign language, but studies about different signing “dialects.” I know Shizune has some secret signals with Misha that only the two of them know the meaning of. fter seeing a couple of them, this book caught my eye in the school library. Maybe I should incorporate some examples into my own signing, to mess with them, because I'm pretty sure that they have started using their code words more when I started learning sign language. That will teach them. After a quick break for a shower, I resume practicing my signing in the guest room mirror. Yesterday, I crashed my fingers against each other pretty hard. It still smarts, and I don't want a repeat of that to happen again. I hear knocking on the door behind me and turn to find Hideaki standing inside the doorway, staring at me. How polite of him to knock, but usually you don't open the door first."

NARRATOR: "That isn't the point. I don't even know what he means by that. It's not like I was doing something that I would be ashamed to have people see me doing. Although, sign language must look strange to most people. I'm only used to it from being around Shizune and Misha so much."

HIDEAKI: "... Why?"

NARRATOR: "He says it plainly, but his body language is nervous, showing that he clearly needs to put some effort in to ask. I guess Hideaki likes his sister after all. I'd think Misha is a lot more approachable though, so I wonder why he didn't ask her. Secretly, I'm shouting “yes!” inside. I had thought he wanted to learn sign language and even brought it up, but he had evaded the subject skillfully. It turns out I was right after all. I don't really know why this makes me so pleased."

NARRATOR: "But now that I think about it, I'm not a sign language teacher. I don't even know where to start. In class, I'd be learning stuff gradually over a week. Does Hideaki expect me to teach him anything usable in a one-day crash course? My teacher spent a couple days just giving a history of sign language. I decide to start off with that, to buy some time while I figure out how I can segue it into the hard stuff. Five minutes in, Hideaki raises his hand."

NARRATOR: "It's like scientists managed to create a process to suck out all the hyperactive, infuriating, and childish qualities of a small child and then implant them into the dad, creating a raging jerk dad, and leaving behind Hideaki. I begin to feel claustrophobic, despite the fact that the guest room is three times bigger than my dorm room and there's just the two of us in here. It's all in my head, I know it, and I don't care. I still use it as an excuse to move the lesson outside. It's a lot easier to concentrate out here. Even the precious few seconds it took to relocate managed to allow me to sort my thoughts. There were no questions during this time. Hideaki can't seem to talk and walk at the same time. Eventually, however, I start to realize that if I'm going to teach him anything I have to keep the lesson constantly moving. The second there's an opening for it, he'll ask a question, which will lead to more questions. Then there's no end to it. The second time he asks me why a certain hand motion means what it does, and I have to reach deep into my memory to look for etymology I don't know about a gesture I only knew about a month longer than him, I start looking for an out."

HIDEAKI: "Okay. What is your school like?"

HISAO: "What's it like? I never really thought about it. It's on top of this mountain, so it feels kind of isolated and lonely up there sometimes, even though that's also why it has a pretty great view. The students there are interesting. Actually, I felt bad at first. You know what kind of school it is, right?"

HISAO: "I felt bad because I didn't want to go there. I don't even remember exactly what I was thinking at the time. Probably it was something like, a school for crippled people would be a depressing place. They were telling me to go be forgotten there. Then, everyone there was just living their lives, for the most part. So I felt even worse. It wasn't different at all, so I felt like kind of a jerk. Shizune was the first person I met. She's in most of my classes. Misha, too, they're always together. I guess the school is accommodating enough to pair them up as much as possible. There's this girl in my class, [[Hanako]], whom I feel bad for. She has these burns, and seems to have a complex about them. But I think she looks fine. She's a cute girl. And friends with [[Lilly]], too. You know Lilly, right? Does she bring up Hanako?"

HISAO: "I'm trying to remember who else is interesting. We have a [[Emi Ibarazaki|little track star ace]] who runs on these prosthetics. There's this one girl, [[Rin]], who doesn't have arms, but she's a great painter. All her art has this harsh, alive quality. Have you ever been to Yamaku? You've probably seen some of it hanging around. A little weird, sometimes, but I've always heard that artistic and creative types are like that. That reminds me, [[Kenji Setou|the guy lives across the hall from me is pretty weird, too]]. But he can be interesting, at least."

HISAO: "That's right, I do talk a lot. I don't think I used to. I think... It's probably because of all the time I spend around Shizune and Misha. Talking with them, I get caught up in all their circular logic and just how they do everything. I feel like I'm going to be drowned out, or left behind."

NARRATOR: "He doesn't look happy. Someday, I will see Hideaki laugh. I might just try tickling him, if I have to. The back door flies open and Jigoro strides out of it, keeping his back straight and taking giant, slow, regal strides, like either a king or a huge jackass. I try to turn away, using the train of logic that if I can't see him, he can't see me. Unfortunately, it doesn't pan out and he comes over so fast it's like he appeared out of the air over my shoulder."

JIGORO: "I am writing an autobiography of my life and times. And by “writing” I mean I am dictating it to my biographer. Unfortunately, she is running late. Unprofessional. Perhaps you should read it when it is published later this year. I can put you on the waiting list. Maybe it will give you the moral compass you seem to lack in your life, and inspire you to stop sucking."

NARRATOR: "It can't be sustainable for him to be so casually insulting to everyone. Though, Hideaki is likely too detached to even notice, Shizune is deaf, and most of the insults must fly over Misha's head. But surely Akira must have an opinion on this. I try not to think about it. If he is doing this to psyche me out, then I have to stay calm or he wins. He must absolutely, definitely not win. This must be how Shizune feels."

JIGORO: "I was guessing, a guess based on the fact that you are stupid. It's like how you are assuming I am a lawyer, except you have no reason to think that. If you want to know what I do so badly, why don't you preorder my autobiography? Now you are insulting my book, and, by extension, my entire life. What gives you the right to do that? Arrogant. I'm trying to think of how I could make you understand my struggle. Maybe by beating you. With my autobiography. I hope you walk away from the beating having learned a valuable lesson, like not making assumptions."

NARRATOR: "I'm ready to give him a piece of my mind, for talking like he had to walk fifteen miles in the snow to ride a coal train, that he had to shovel coal into himself, before climbing up a mountain while fighting ogres to get to school. But, now that I finally want a fight, Jigoro is happy to have a good thing going just continuing to ramble about how difficult it was growing up one generation ago, twirling his sword like a baton and stopping occasionally to yawn or check the time. The tardiness of his autobiographer is still foremost in his mind. That means the whole time he's been insulting me, he must have been doing it just to pass the time. To add insult to insult, his watch is also really nice."

NARRATOR: "Misha runs around us once in a wide circle before stopping next to Shizune. For the first time, she hasn't put her hands over my eyes, although now I see she has bags of her own to carry, so it's not like she could have even if she wanted to. Although I am positive she's tried before. Her meticulously styled curls are gone now, in favor of a much shorter, sportier look. Misha looks even happier than usual, probably because she knows she won't have to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning just to do her hair."

JIGORO: "What a shame. Even her old haircut would suit you so much more than your current, slacker haircut. Awful. As for you... Hmmm... Actually, this is much less garish than your other haircut. I like it."

NARRATOR: "I can't think of anyone more unqualified to talk about what's garish or to chastise someone else on shouting at people. It's like a parade of hypocrisies and the hits just keep coming. An unusual reaction seems to be taking place. Misha apparently finds Jigoro funny and laughs pretty much every time he says something, which only makes him berate her harder. I guess this is what they call a vicious circle. Misha's voice is punctuated with explosions of laughter and seems to come from everywhere. On the other hand Jigoro's is booming and directed like a cannon. In any case, they are both unbelievably loud. The more they talk to each other, the more they seem to play off each other's volume and get louder."

NARRATOR: "Shizune's hands wrap around my eyes from behind, something I'm so used to Misha doing that for the first time I find myself confused by it, since Misha is in front of me. She lets go and holds a finger up to her lips."

SHIZUNE: (signing) "It wouldn't be as fun. It's decided: it's a secret mission. Escape without being detected. Extract Hideaki for bonus points."