Chapter 08

"Friends"? is the eighth chapter of the Koe no Katachi manga.

Summary
Ishida is still wondering if he can see Nishimiya again. He leaves home with his mother's bike and starts to plan on earning again the stuffs he has sold. When he is eating lunch alone, he notice someone infront of him who is doing the same thing. He recalls the other loner guy is seating behind him and is named Nagatsuka. He finishes his foods fast and leaves because he doesn't want to think they are the same. He is still wondering if he is now befriend with Nishimiya and thinking of ways to see her again. The possiblities he could think of are joining the sign language club, pretending it is a coincidence, or straightforwardly meeting her with a token or honest feelings. But in the end, he always see himself being slapped by Nishimiya's mother.

As he is parking his bike, he hears a voice behind him. It is Nagatsuka whom his bike is forcely taken. He coincidentally makes eye contact with Nagatsuka who is begging for help. He plans to ignore them but the time he met Nishimiya pushes him to make a change. He makes a resolution where he suggested his bike to be taken. The guy is pleased but Ishida pisses off when Nagatsuka curls up with his feet. After school, Ishida is in shock not seeing his bike in the parking, thinking the guy has stolen his bike.

He gets worried at first because the key for the bike's chainlock was never returned to him and he is more worried since it is his mother's bike. He thinks this is how the world doesn't want him to see Nishimiya and decides to walk home but he happens to get a coupon from a bread shop that gives him hope of seeing Nishimiya.

He visits the sign language club with a baguette he bought in the bread shop. A young boy (Ishida thought) opens the door after he knocks in the room where Nishimiya is. As he tries to explain the reason he came for, the child is keep answering Nishimiya is not there at the moment although Ishida can see her clearly reading in her desk. He fails to talk to her and leaves but as he walks home, he meets Nagatsuka all dirty retrieved his bike. Nagatsuka explains he looked for it and found it in the middle of the field. Ishida looks happy and please as he makes offer of the bread he bought and for the first time, a crossout has been removed–a sign of trust.

Characters
In Order of Appearance:
 * Shōya Ishida
 * Shōko Nishimiya
 * Miyako Ishida
 * Tomohiro Nagatsuka
 * Yaeko Nishimiya
 * Yuzuru Nishimiya