However, there was one thing about Akiko's smile that only the girl herself knew, a little secret that she had to keep to herself after she realised that she was not like other children.
Akiko sensed the world a little differently to normal people. In her mind, the endless space was filled with shapes of different colours that reflected moods.
For example, if everyone around her was happy, the shapes would be of lovely hues, pinks and oranges and yellows, reflecting the warmth of emotions. The shapes would have indistinct edges, too, so that they appeared even warmer and fuzzier. However, sadness brought with it cold and pale blues and greens, and all the shapes would be long and thin: drooping. When someone angry was near, the colours would clash: dark brown mingled with eye-wrenchingly bright red and dirty green with streaks of grey. The shapes grew jagged edges, too, as if warring with each other.
On the day of Akiko's birth, everyone around her was so happy that the shapes she saw were of the most harmonious and beautiful colours and looked perfectly delightful. This was what prompted her first smile.
At first, the little girl didn't realise that she was the only one who could see these shapes. Indeed, her mother Mina and her father Hayato were surprised and even distressed that Akiko persisted in mentioning "those pretty colours in the sky". Akiko, although she didn't understand the whispered conversations of her parents, noticed that the shapes around them grew sadder and more confused each time she mentioned the shapes, and after a while stopped pointing them out. The parents were relieved, and attributed the whole thing to Akiko's wild imagination.