(Private) New Roommate

Ichiko looks slightly confused. "Why'd you have to grow it out? If you hate long hair so much, just keep it short like I do!"

Nayumi chuckled slightly. "It's, uh... Out of necessity, really. The people taking care of me insisted that I keep it long, and I'm afraid all my objections have been overruled!"

"Oh, I see...kinda." Sounds like her parents are kinda pushy.

"Sorry, it's just... really hard to explain" Nayumi spoke out. For a moment, she considered just pulling the bandana down and showing Ichiko exactly why she needed long hair, but figured that would only raise even more questions. Instead, the girl decided to try and shift the focus away from her own hair, at least for a bit. "What about you? Any trouble with your parents or something? I mean, I don't think that's your natural hair color... is it?"

"Nah, my parents are cool. They paid for my arm, they let me wear it without my casing, they let me go here instead of a more..." Ichiko makes air quotes. "...'normal' school. So yeah, they're pretty cool folks. And yes, my hair is a natural pastel blue." She beams as though proud of having abnormally-coloured hair. Considering her pride in her abnormal arm this is probably the case.

"Huh? You actually want to study here? Why?!?" Nayumi asked. Her roommate's responses were confusing her. After all, why would anyone WANT to be branded as "disabled" and denied normality? Of course, nothing about Ichiko seemed conventional - she appeared to be a person who absolutely loved being different in as many ways as possible... but would she really go that far as to spend her high school years in a school for disabled students just because it was different?

"Well, partly because there are some cool people here, but mostly just because this place can help me regarding my disabilities. At my past schools the teachers made me wear the casing on my arm in case it freaked the other pupils out - which it didn't - and any help I did get was always related to my arm. They don't seem to realize that only having one eye comes with its own problems, like a lack of depth perception. But here they help with that as well as my arm, everything's further apart so I don't bump into things by accident, just little things like that to help. I don't mind having these disabilities - heck, I love my bionic arm, as you've probably guessed - but sometimes they do get in the way, and when they do it's nice to have a helping hand, you know?" Ichiko's mouth finally grinds to a halt. "Wow, I said a whole lot just then, didn't I? Sorry if I'm talking too much."

"No, don't worry about it" Nayumi assured her. "I don't often get a chance to just... talk to someone, y'know? I don't really go outside much... And people don't usually come into my room, obviously. Last time someone tried, he ended up smashing the door to pieces in an attempt to get in..." the girl sighed and shook her head as she remembered that little accident. "But yeah, it's... It's good to finally have someone to talk to. And yeah, I can kinda see your point. It's just that... I think I'd prefer a normal school, if I had a choice"

"Yeah, it's good to have someone to talk to, otherwise you end up going loopy." Ichiko smiles widely. "You know, Nayumi, I think we're going to become good friends."

"Yeah... Yeah, I think so, too" Nayumi nodded. It had been a while since she had such a great conversation with a stranger. For some reason, something about Ichiko just made her feel like she could tell her anything without being judged - something she couldn't say about anyone else she had ever spoken to after her conversion. Suddenly feeling a lot better about sharing a room with someone, the girl lowered her head and focused back on her drawing.