“Why?”
“Because I’m blind.”
Giving that sort of reason first was definitely just an escape. Because I’m blind, because I’m handicapped, weren’t really the main reasons. It was just easier to blame his problems on his own deficiencies.
“When I was first hired, several of my coworkers were concerned about me. But—-”
Whenever someone was talking about something a blind person wouldn’t be able to understand, they would suddenly fall silent. Tatsumi could tell everyone around him felt like, ooh, this person wouldn’t understand, or we started talking about something a blind person wouldn’t get, and sensed the awkwardness they felt even if he couldn’t see it. There were people who felt sorry for him, and people who thought it was a pain to have to worry about making him feel awkward. Everyone had their own way of thinking, so there were even people who were worried about Tatsumi not being concerned. He had never really told anyone, could you please refrain from talking about that since I’m blind, nor had he ever wanted to. He didn’t care if he couldn’t find out in real time if there was a pretty flower in bloom, or if the manager was wearing a really obvious hairpiece. Even if he didn’t know, he wouldn’t be aware of it anyway, so he wasn’t worried about it.