Clannad

The Lost Girl – Redux

Hey hey hey! How's everyone doing? I'm back with a redux for one of my classic stories, The Lost Girl!

This is something I've wanted to do for quite a while: Re-write The Lost Girl. This is because of my greatly-improved writing abilities, as well as my better understanding of dialogue exchanging, character interaction, etc., etc.

All in all: This is a complete MAKEOVER for the original. 99% of the plot will stay the same. Only the writing itself will be completely re-polished and lengthened.

Hope you enjoy, even if you haven't read The Lost Girl already or if you decide to re-read it through this! (If you can't wait, the original fic can be found via my profile!)

Extended Summary: 17-year-old Tokoi Konoda ends up moving to the town of Hikarizaka, where he has a chance encounter with Ushio Okazaki. Their story together unfolds as Tokoi finds that he has an innate sense to protect Ushio, as they meet new friends, fight the tribulations of life, and find comfort in each other. Will it end in happiness, tears, or anger? Either way, this is the story of a boy, and a Lost Girl.

Please Read, Review, and ENJOY!~

Chapter One

Transfer

"Konoda! Over here!" I turned towards the voice that had called out to me. There, my child-hood friend, Yurino, sporting his usual mess of blonde hair with his uniform tie completely loosened, came bounding up to me, a large grin on his face.

"Oh... Hey Yurino," I said. It was then that I noticed the overly-large backpack on his back. Raising an eyebrow, I questioned, "Did you bring an elephant with you?"

"No, even better!" Yurino took the backpack off, and I sighed, watching as he looked around suspiciously and motioned for me to get closer. I bent down, peering at the backpack. He opened the flap ever so slowly...

Whoosh! Suddenly, a storm of confetti flew out of the backpack. Yurino quickly closed the bag once more, though it had lost about a quarter of its size. I stood there, dumbfounded.

"Uh..."

"Well? What do you think?" Yurino grinned sheepishly at me.

As I picked the pieces of confetti from my hair and uniform, I looked from the bag to Yurino, trying to figure out just what was going on. Is this a prank on me, or is he just really stupid?... Only one way to find out, I thought. I gave him a thumbs up. "It's amazing!"

Yurino's eyes lit up, and he raised a fist into the air. "Yes! Those Freshmen won't know what hit them!"

"W-Wait, what?" I instantly regretted what I said, watching Yurino as he struggled to put the backpack back on happily. So, he is an idiot...

"Come on, Tokoi! We have to set this up before the assembly begins!"

"Won't this get us in a lot of trouble?"

"Only if we get caught! Come on!" Yurin grabbed my arm and started to tug me along with him.

"H-Hey! I don't agree to this!"

So thus, there we were, atop the rafters of the school's auditorium. It felt like a tight-rope act being that high up, and I found myself struggling not to look down.

"Alright, this should be good," Yurino said, setting the backpack down gently on the rafters, looking down below. "It's far enough back to hit a lot of the Freshmen, while avoiding any teacher casualties! Haha! It's the perfect plan!"

Not to a smart person, I thought with a sigh. "Why do you even need me here?"

"I'm not sure, actually. I guess you can act as a look-out," he stated, much to my disdain.

"Well, I'll 'look out' from somewhere not dangerously high in the air," I stated, turning and heading back towards the door we had come through.

"Oh, come on!" I looked back to see Yurino waving his fist at me. "Coward! Cowaaaaaarrrrr-" His knee suddenly bumped into the backpack, making it wobble towards the edge. "Crap!" Yurino quickly grabbed for it, but I could tell instantly that he was going to go with it.

"Yurino!" I quickly darted across the rafter towards him as he wobbled with the bag over the edge. The moment seemed to pass in slow-motion as I extended my hand to him. The bag left his grasp and fell,88 and Yurino reached out to me...

But I missed him. Our hands never even touched as I attempted to save him. I could only watch his terrified expression as he fell...

I closed my eyes before the impact, hearing the thud as his body hit the ground.

"We do not tolerate such outrageous actions in this school," I hear a booming voice say from within the School Administrator's office. "What good has this prank done? None! It left a student with serious injuries! I believe that this school..." His voice trailed off as I stood, not wanting to hear anymore, and walked out through the front doors of the school.

It's not my fault, I thought with irritation. That idiot Yurino... I lashed out at one of the trees in the front entrance of the school, punching it, ignoring the pain as I hit the bark. Tears welled up in my eyes, and a calm breeze came by, sweeping some of them away.

A hand settled on my shoulder. "Let's go." It was my father, who had just gotten lectured by the Administrator about my actions. Without even lifting my head, I turned and began to follow him.

As we exited the gate to the school, my father suddenly turned to me, grabbing me by the collar, taking me by surprise. I looked at him, his eyes full of rage.

"What were you thinking? I thought we raised you better!" He turned, throwing me to the ground. I landed on my bottom. I glared up at him. "Would your mother want this to happen, if she was still here?"

I quickly got up, approaching my father, anger rising within me from his statement. "Don't bring her into this!" In my anger, I shoved my father hard, making him stumble back a few steps. He seemed appalled by this, and I instantly regretted it.

"You... You're the reason that she's gone! You can't do anything right!"

My eyes widened, burning with hatred for the man standing in front of me. I quickly ran forward, bringing my right hand forward in one, swift movement, striking my father in the face. His glasses flew off, hitting the ground, their lenses shattering into several pieces.

We stood there for a few moments, both shocked. I retracted my hand, staring at my father as he placed a hand on his face.

Why did I do that...? I wondered. My father looked around at the ground for a moment before finding his glasses, picking them up and examining them before placing them into his pocket. He then turned away from me.

"I...I don't want you to live here anymore," he stated, to my surprise. "I'm going to transfer you to a school far away, so I never have to see you again." His voice was low and quiet, but I could feel the hostility boiling there, the innate sense of anger that began to surface not just from the recent event, but the memories of my mother as well.

"Good riddance then," I mutter as my father begins to walk away. However, I'll never know why I spoke those words, because far beneath my anger, my hate...

I was fearful. I began to doubt his words as I walked, taking the long way back home.

He didn't mean it, right? It was just the booze talking, I pondered, staring down at the ground so much that it began to burn into my memory, background images for the true matter at hand. There's no way he'd kick me out...

Right?

Merely a month later, I found myself at the gates of a new school, Hikarizaka Private High School. As I stared up at the building, I felt a surge of relief that the building itself did not seem overly fancy or shiny-new. Being a private school, I expected to be put up to a certain standard.

Well, guess I can relax then, I thought, taking my first step onto the grounds, loosening my tie a bit. As I did this, however, a figure suddenly stepped out in front of me. It was a girl. As I looked down at her, the wind began to blow past us.

The girl had dull-orange hair accompanied by deep-blue eyes that looked up at me sternly. Her uniform, I noticed, had a red trim to it, as well as her shoes, symbolizing, from what I had read, that she was an 11th Year, just like I.

"So, you come late to school, and then you decide to not even look decent?!" Her accusations took be by surprise, and I found myself unable to respond for a moment. "Well?"

"I... er..." As I searched for the words to find, the girl put a hand up to her chin, examining me up and down.

"Oh, so you're the new student I heard about?"

"Yeah... You heard I was coming?"

"Of course, I am the Student Council President here," the girl stated proudly. "My name is Keido Risha. No need for formality, so just call me Risha."

"I'm-"

"Tokoi Konoda, right? Hmph." Risha turned, motioning towards me over her shoulder. "Since you're so late, let's just get you to your class."

S-So heartless, I thought, a bit ticked off. I sighed, following the girl towards the front steps of the school. As we entered, I was greeted by a cool breeze from within. I shivered. It's so cold in here...

As if reading my mind, Risha stated, "Because of the majority of girls at this school, I was pushed to make sure that the school stayed the temperature that all of the girls could agree upon," she stated.

"That's... not really fair," I commented. She looked back, eyeing me.

"I'm pretty fair, but I am still a girl, after all."

Hardly...

We walked through the halls, headed up a flight of stairs, and eventually came to a hallway where the classrooms were marked: '2A', '2B', '2C', and '2B'. I could only assume the pattern continued as the doors went down the hall.

"Well, this is our class," Risha stated, pointing up to the 2B sign.

"Our class?"

"Yep. You're lucky enough to be in the same class as me. Don't let it go to your head," Risha said, placing a hand on the door. She slid it open and walked in, completely uniformly. I followed her, hesitating for a moment, wondering if I should act the same. After a moment, I entered...

As I entered the room, I looked to the left to see several pairs of eyes staring at me. I gulped, realizing that I was in no way prepared for this moment. Risha said something to the teacher, a younger-looking woman with dark-blue hair, before glancing at me as she headed back to her desk, near the back.

"Well, class, it seems the new student I told you about has arrived," the woman stated, in a surprisingly cynical tone that caught me off-guard. "What a great way to start his time here, wouldn't you say?"

This comment sparked conversation and some laughs from the other students in the class. T-This is a nightmare! I thought.

"Come on, don't be shy," the teacher told me, motioning for me to step forward. I nodded, standing in front of her podium, facing the class.

"H-Hello, my name is Konoda Tokoi," I spoke. Everyone hushed in an instant. "I'm looking forward to being in class with all of you." I did a quick bow, then stood back up, looking around at them. There was silence for a few moments, and I gulped. Tough crowd...

Thankfully, to my relief, chatter began to spread across the room, piercing through the deadly silence.

"Alright, Konoda. Your seat will be in the back, behind our beloved Student Council President," the teacher stated, pointing towards the back-left of the classroom, where Risha sat with an empty desk behind her beside the windows, staring outside, seemingly uninterested in what was happening.

"T-Thanks," I stated, walking towards it.

"Oh! How rude of me," the teacher stated. I stopped, turning to her. "I am Mrs. Sagara. I'll be your homeroom teacher!" The woman winked and flexed her right arm, placing her hand on it in a sort of "I can do it" pose.

I gave a quick bow to her before retreating to my seat, letting out a sigh of relief as I sat down, slouching back into my chair, closing my eyes... However, something suddenly swatted me across the nose, making me sit up, staring forward at Risha, who was looking back at me angrily.

"You aren't thinking of sleeping on your first day, are you?"

"Of course not... You were the one who was day-dreaming over here," I pointed out.

"It's not my fault you're boring," she said, turning back to look towards the front of the class.

I gritted my teeth and sat back in my chair. I'm not sure what to think of all this... Luckily, a bell began to chime. Mrs. Sagara clapped her hands together.

"Great! Time for lunch! But don't slack off," she told the class, waving and quickly retreating from the room so fast that I could've sworn she kicked up dust trails.

Risha stood, fumbling through her bag before pulling out a small, pink bento. It was the perfect opportunity.

"Ehh? Isn't that a bit cutesy for you?"

Risha tossed a glare at me. "Don't talk like you know me at all," she stated.

"I'm just saying-" I was cut off as Risha suddenly grasped the front of my desk, pulling it up, tilting me back. What the- Before I could react, she flipped my desk entirely, making me tumble along with the desk into the back wall of the classroom. I laid there, groaning, and Risha merely scoffed before leaving the room. Some of the other students watched her in fear, and, well, I couldn't blame them.

S-Such strength...

It took be a while before I had recuperated from the super-human that was Risha's wrath. As I rummaged through my bag, I quickly realized, with a groan, that I had forgotten to pack any kind of lunch.

I guess I'm not that hungry anyways, I thought, shaking my head. Looking around, the classroom was empty now, leaving only me inside. I guess I'll go look around.

I headed towards the door and slid it open. As I stepped outside, I suddenly found myself running into somebody with a hard thud! I stumbled back a bit, but I managed to not fall down. The other person, a girl, didn't fair so well, falling back onto her rump.

For a moment, I rubbed my chest, feeling a bit of a pain from where she had run into me. "Hey, watch where you're-" I stopped in mid-sentence as the girl looked up at me, stunned as her amber eyes seemed to pierce through me.

"I...I'm sorry!" The girl blushed intensely, dipping her head and clasping her hands together.

"It's fine, I guess... I'm to blame to," I told her, stepping forward and extending a hand down to the girl. She looked up at it, then hesitantly grasped it. After I helped to pull her up, the girl dusted herself off, and then gave a bow.

"Thank you..." The girl stood up, looking at me. For a moment, I found myself staring into her eyes, feeling as though they were pulling me in...

Then I realized what I was doing. Both of us blushed after our eyes locked for a few moments,, and we looked away.

"U-Um... I came to give this to Keido..."

"Risha? She'll probably be back at the end of lunch," I told the girl.

"O-Oh, then could you give it to her?" She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out an envelope, handing it to me. I looked at it for a second.

"Yeah, I guess I can do that..." I'm tempted to 'lose' it...

"Thank you," the girl said, giving a quick bow before turning to leave.

"Wait!" I reached out to the girl, and she stopped, turning to me. I blushed, unsure as to why I had stopped her. "My... name's Tokoi. Tokoi Konoda."

The girl turned back to me, smiling. "I'm Okazaki Ushio," she began, dipping her head, then looking up at me. I felt lost in her eyes, her smile...

"Nice to meet you~!"

To Be Continued...

Next Chapter: Encounters

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the redux! Expect fast chapter updates, since, well, this story is already written! All I have to worry about is making it look better for you guys! ^~^