Prologue: An Old Friend
/
I hate this city.
Every day, it's all the same. Go to school, attend lessons, prepare for the future. Spending time with friends, talking, laughing, crying, Day in, day out, nothing changes. Today was just like one of those boring days. No one was out on the streets as I made my way to school at this unholy hour; everyone was already in school for at least two hours now. This was how I went to school; always alone, not minding anybody, always late. My mind began to dismiss this as just another ordinary day I'd have to endure and pull myself through.
That is, until I saw her.
She was standing at the bottom of the hill that led towards our school. She seemed unsure; it was as if she was torn between going up the hill towards school and standing there for all eternity. Her chestnut colored hair billowed in the wind, secured by red hairclips at the sides.
I slowly approached her, upon which I noticed that she seemed to be sporting a pair of ahoge[1] which were, oddly, located at the front of her hair in such a way that she appeared to have a pair of antennae. I took a peek at her face, and thought that she might be slightly airheaded[1]. She reminded me of an old friend, a genius, one who I missed for the past ten years.
I idly brushed the thought aside. Kotomi was someone from the past, a past I painfully longed for. Long before my father stopped treating me as his son. Long before Kotomi secluded herself in her house ever since the day of her seventh birthday. I didn't even know her surname, or if she also went to Hikarizaka Private High School.
My thoughts were interrupted when the calm air was penetrated by the girl's timid voice.
"A-Anpan[2]!" she exclaimed softly.
I was standing right beside her, unsure if whether or not she was talking to me. I raised an eyebrow, and she continued,
"Do you like this school?"
I still had no idea if she was talking to me or not. She didn't bother waiting for me to answer though.
"I really, really, love this school. All the good things, all the happy things. However, things can't just stay the same forever. Even so, can and will you still love this place?"
She seemed like she was talking to someone deep within her heart. Even so, I was the only other person around her, so I felt compelled to answer,
"Just find them. Just find new and happy things."
"Eh?"
"When the happiness you see around you disappears, you'll have to stand tall and create your own happiness. Come on," I said. "Let's head off to school."
I don't know what compelled me to say that, but I felt that she needed encouragement. Somehow, I felt that we had something in common, as if she were a kindred soul.
That was all I thought of as she followed me up the hill towards school, with one exception: How come I felt like I had seen this girl before?[3]
/
When I arrived, fourth period had just ended, and people were milling about the classroom, talking about universities, upcoming examinations, and other things I deemed mundane to even spend a minute thinking about. I nonchalantly sat down in my place by the window and gazed upon the empty seat beside me. Apparently, Sunohara hadn't arrived yet.
Youhei Sunohara was a kindred soul. We were both delinquents who had a chance meeting in our freshman year, and we've been hanging out with each other ever since that day. Both of us found school boring, but with a companion abreast each other, we didn't give up, and despite the fact that it was half-hearted, we still attended school instead of dropping out altogether. I was about to peacefully rest my head on my desk to catch up on some more sleep when someone suddenly started to talk to me.
"Umm…"
I looked up at the voice and my eyes fell on a girl with short, mauve hair. She was slightly red in the cheeks and she seemed to be quite nervous. I raised an eyebrow and said,
"What is it, Fujibayashi?"
"Umm… I think you should go to school properly and on time more often, Okazaki-kun," she replied timidly.
I smirked and said, "Hmm, seems like you're acting like a real iinchou[4] today."
"N-not just like… I really am the class iinchou," she mumbled.
"Oi Okazaki, don't make the iinchou cry," barked one of my classmates. "If you do, that aneki[5] of hers is gonna come running in here."
"I'm fine. I'm not crying," Fujibayashi weakly uttered in protest at my classmate.
I knew Fujibayashi's aneki, so I decided to defuse a potentially dangerous situation and decided to play along with her.
"Fine then, but it'll depend on how I'm feeling tomorrow," I said flatly.
Her face brightened and turned redder, and then she continued,
"Umm then, in that case, please allow me to read your fortune for tomorrow."
She took out a deck of playing cards from her skirt pocket as she said this.
"Since it's my hobby, please let me, Okazaki-kun."
She nervously began to shuffle the deck, but her hands were shaking, so naturally, the deck exploded and the cards scattered onto the floor.
"Hey Fujibayashi, why are we playing fifty-two pickup? Come on, I'll help you."
"Wait! Okazaki-kun, you'll be late tomorrow," she said abruptly.
I literally fell out of my chair at such a half-assed fortune-telling. After all, how could she possibly get a credible reading from fallen playing cards?
"Fujibayashi, are you picking a fight with me?"
"But that's how the cards came out. I think that's how this brand of fortune-telling works."
"'Think?' You're not sure of what you're doing, aren't you?" I asked testily.
"That's not the case. Here, look," she said while picking up a card that had fallen face-up on the ground. "This is the queen of spades. On your way here, you'll have a romantic meeting with a kind girl."
Clearing her throat, she continued, this time indicating another card,
"This is the ten of diamonds, and this is the ace of hearts. You'll lose track of time and arrive late. Very detailed, isn't it?"
She held her arms up to her chest, as if she was afraid of pissing me off. Did I really look that intimidating to her right now?
"It's a maiden's inspiration," Fujibayashi said with conviction in her voice.
"Hey you, Tomoya Okazaki!" called a brash female voice.
I turned towards the voice and saw a Japanese-French dictionary flying towards my head. I ducked, the projectile barely missing my head, and shortly after, the windowpane, by mere inches.
"Onee-chan[5]," said Fujibayashi.
"Kyou," I muttered, facing the person who mere moments ago had nearly decapitated me. She looked exactly like her sister, only that her eyes were colored like an amethyst and she had waist-length hair.
This is Kyou Fujibayashi, Ryou Fujibayashi's older sister. She's got quite the temper, a temper which would soon be invoked, given the situation.
"Tomoya! You've got some guts to pick on my little sister," she shouted.
She marched towards me and roughly grabbed my necktie. What Kyou, are you going to drag me off to form some kind of weird after-school club dedicated to finding the mysterious?[6]
"You loser!"
"I was just talking to her," I defended myself.
"Yes Onee-chan, Okazaki-kun wasn't picking on me or anything," said Ryou unexpectedly.
Reluctantly, Kyou let go of my necktie, and her gaze moved over to the fallen cards.
"You had Ryou read you your fortune?" she inquired, nonplussed.
"Yeah. According to her, I'm going to have a romantic meeting with a girl, and thus, be late tomorrow," I replied with a hint of skepticism in my voice.
Kyou thoughtfully rubbed her chin and started grinning like a baboon that had just gotten hold of some food.
"What's with the weird grin?" I asked.
"Nothing important. Well, good luck," she said, patting me on the shoulders. She then left the room, skipping all the while, leaving both me and Fujibayashi standing by the mess that was her scattered deck of playing cards.
/
Lunch break came, and Sunohara was still nowhere in sight. I decided to get myself some cutlet sandwich at the cafeteria, but upon arrival, saw that it was jam-packed. I bought my cutlet sandwich and left the cafeteria, searching for a place to eat. As I wandered across the halls, I heard a few students talking by the lockers.
"A ghost?"
"Yeah, I heard she appears every now and then."
"Do you mean the ghost of that girl who got into an automobile accident some time ago?"
"Nah, it could be something else."
"Why wouldn't it be her? I even heard rumors saying that she was cute."
I didn't give their conversation much attention, and continued to walk the halls, searching for a place to eat. Something then caught my eye, and I stopped walking, instead looking out of the windows into the courtyard. My eyes fell on the girl I met at the bottom of the hill this morning, and I decided to approach her. Once again, I wasn't sure why, but I felt this girl wouldn't mind talking to me.
"Hey. You alone?" I asked. "Why don't you eat in class with your friends?"
She paid me no heed, and she continued to munch on her anpan, similar, but not as good as the confection I held in my hands.
"Hey, are you even paying attention to me?"
"Please excuse me, but I'm eating right now," she replied nonchalantly.
"Okay," I replied, sitting down beside her on the stone bench.
I didn't do anything for the next few minutes but observe her while eating my cutlet sandwich, and soon enough, she finished and properly disposed of her trash in the trash bin. She sat back down on the bench, and slowly turned to face me.
"Umm, what can I do for you?" she asked politely.
"Nothing, actually. I just wanted to ask why you're eating lunch out here alone," I replied.
"Do you like this school?" she asked once again.
I grimaced slightly, and replied,
"Not particularly."
"I really, really love our school," she said. "I used to have friends and teachers that I got along with, but now…"
She trailed into silence, leaving me wondering just what had happened to her.
"Did something happen?"
"During the previous academic year, I was on leave for quite a long period of time. So I'm…"
She hesitated, and I completed her sentence for her.
"You're repeating."
"Yes, I am repeating," she said with a small smile on her face.
The smile looked sad. After all, she seemed to be facing all these difficulties alone.
"All the people I knew graduated, and now, I don't know anybody here in school," she said, her voice laced with sadness. "I feel like a fish out of water… Ah, I'm sorry, the things I'm saying to someone I've just met."
"Didn't you join any clubs?" I inquired.
"Well, I really wanted to join the Drama Club, but I'm physically weak, so I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to participate in the club's activities."
"Nevertheless, you still should've tried, at the very least. It would've been better for you to try then fail rather than not trying at all. All you have to do is participate to the extent that you can, so that you won't regret anything. Hey, look up there, on the rooftop," I pointed towards two girls chatting up there.
"If you always look this sad, you won't make any friends. Why don't you try waving at them, get them to notice you?" I suggested.
She reluctantly did so, but by the time she had mustered enough courage to wave her hand, the pair was gone.
"Guess they didn't notice you," I remarked neutrally.
With a sigh, she replied, "I don't have much of a presence in class either."
I knew exactly what she was talking about, but for different reasons. She was bad at making friends among complete strangers, but Sunohara and I were avoided because we were delinquents. Suddenly, a mechanical sound rang in the distance, by the track oval.
"Hey, what's that sound? Let's go check it out," I said, as the two of us got up from where we were seated and followed everyone else towards the commotion.
I found Sunohara exuberantly watching the commotion that was happening on the field, so I decided to ask him what the hell was going on.
"Sunohara, what's up?"
"I think those guys are here for a fight," he said, pointing at what appeared to be a gang of delinquents from the nearby engineering school on scooters.
Suddenly, quite a few girls squealed, pointing at a lone figure approaching the delinquents.
"What's she going to do to them? Lecture them?" asked Sunohara.
"I'm going to go over there and help her out," I said, taking off my cream-colored blazer. "I can't just sit here and watch a girl get torn to shreds by delinquents from that other school."
"You don't have to worry, it is Tomoyo-san after all," said a girl that was watching the scene with much interest.
"Eh? Tomoyo?"
"You don't know her? She transferred here as a second year starting this spring," the girl replied. "Tomoyo Sakagami-san. She's really strong, and I think you might just get in her way if you go out there."
I looked at the field and saw that Tomoyo was just at a standstill with those delinquents on bikes. I just decided to listen to the girl's words and watch this entire thing unfold on its own. Apparently, whatever Tomoyo was saying was ticking off the delinquents, because they suddenly gunned their scooters towards her. In a flash, I saw her leap off the ground, and squarely kick both riders in the jaw, sending them both flying off their scooters. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted at what I had just witnessed. Leaving Sunohara and the bystander behind, I turned and saw that she had just been standing behind me and Sunohara during the entire event, and we silently made our way back to the courtyard.
"So she's a transfer student," said the girl.
"Yeah. She's in the same boat as you, and yet she's immensely popular. Everything depends on the individual," I said sagely.
"I guess you're right," she mumbled.
Looking at this in context, I realize that I am a hypocrite to be lecturing her like this. Of all the people who could possibly talk to her about making friends, I'd normally be one of the last people to ask. I'm one to talk, I guess.
"Hey, I have to go now," I said, standing up.
"Wait! Umm… Thank you very much," she said sincerely, bowing.
I guess after sharing such a talk, the least I could do was to introduce myself.
"I'm Tomoya Okazaki from 3-D," I said.
"I'm Nagisa Furukawa from 3-B," she replied in turn. "It's nice meeting you. Yes, nice to meet you too, Tomoya Okazaki-san."
She smiled at me, and I said,
"See you, Furukawa."
Afterwards, I made my way back to my classroom.
/
"Hey, Okazaki," whispered Sunohara.
"M?" I sleepily answered.
"Tag along with me. I'm going to do some investigating on Sakagami," he replied.
"Mm," I replied, going back to sleep.
It seemed that I had unwittingly agreed to accompany Sunohara on his investigations on Tomoyo. He called her out of her classroom, and so here we are talking in the hallway, with Sunohara insisting that she rigged the fight with the delinquents earlier that day.
"I bet you paid them or something just so they would lose on purpose, and then you'd become popular," said Sunohara. "Or maybe you paid them with, ah, other things. Stupid guys like them would fall for such tricks."
"I was thinking I wouldn't have to hurt people in the same school, but your insults have seriously offended me. I'll make a special exception and fight you," said Tomoyo.
I took a step backwards, while Sunohara continued taunting Tomoyo,
"You're so cute acting tough. Deep inside, I bet you're scared stiff that you have to fight against someone as athletic as I am."
"You make the first move and strike me. I would like this to be labeled as self-defense," said Tomoyo in a crisp tone.
"Don't be so full of yourself!" exclaimed Sunohara as he rushed towards Tomoyo, his right fist clenched tightly.
I seem to have remembered hearing about Tomoyo Sakagami long before this moment. The story of a young middle school student, walking around Hikarizaka City, picking fight after fight with gangsters who troubled ordinary folks, and disposing of them easily. Her actions had become stuff of legend by this time.
"So that's how the rumor went," I flippantly told a Sunohara who had painfully fallen face-first onto the floor, thanks to Tomoyo.
"Thanks a lot, Okazaki," grumbled Sunohara.
"Please do not trouble me any longer," said Tomoyo, as she turned away from us and walked away.
Class had already ended, and I decided to go to the third floor of the old school building. If I wasn't mistaken, this was where the Drama Club should be located. My expectations were met, as I saw Furukawa standing outside a door, hesitating to go in. I read her lips utter the word "hamburger", and she opened the door.
"Excuse me, umm, but… eh?"
Her voice was surprised, and I immediately rushed towards her. I looked into the room, and saw nothing but piles of cardboard boxes irregularly stacked on top of each other. That's when I remembered that the Drama Club had closed down in March due to lack of members.
"Okazaki-san. I didn't know you were there," said Furukawa.
I pat her head gently in a gesture of comfort, and she asked,
"What's this hand for?"
"No reason."
We ended up hanging out in the courtyard again, and I decided to tell her what I remembered.
"You know Furukawa, I just remembered that the Drama Club closed down last March. It seemed that they didn't have enough members to continue club activities. Of course, that means that if the right conditions are met, the Drama Club can get reinstated and back on track," I explained. "Why don't you give this another shot, huh? I'll help you too."
She stiffened, and asked,
"Okazaki-san, why are you being so kind to me when we've just met each other?"
Indeed, why? Why am I being really nice and helpful to Furukawa, whom I had just met this morning? Even going as far as to pledge my assistance; this was most definitely out of character for a person named Tomoya Okazaki. I just decided to be honest with her when I said,
"Why? Yeah, I do wonder why…"
She just gave me a bright smile, and said,
"In that case, I'll look forward to working with you in the near future, Okazaki-san. Umm, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home. I still have to prepare dinner."
"I see. Let me accompany you for a bit then," I replied.
We left school and walked up to the intersection. She stopped and said,
"My house is the bakery just ahead, right in front of the park. If you ever feel like it, please come and visit us."
"Alright Furukawa. You take care, and see you soon," I said.
"Goodbye, Okazaki-san," she said.
I turned away from her and decided to go back to school. It wasn't even five in the afternoon yet, so I guess I'd waste my time in school until I was forced to leave. I didn't want to run into my father at home again. I continued to think about why I wanted to help her, despite having just met her. Maybe it was because I longed for a good female friend? I did have Kyou, but things were pretty much like a see-saw with her, the way her temperament was. And then I thought of her again… Did I really see that much of Kotomi in Furukawa?
Upon arriving at the school grounds, I entered the new building and thought of a good place to waste time. I thought of two places, the main library, and the smaller library, which was now a reference room: a repository of literature and teaching materials that weren't used often by both faculty and students alike. I decided on the former, thinking that I might be able to find some of the manga I once read as a freshman. To be frank, this was the first time I visited the library ever since that day in my freshman year where we were toured around the school.
I made my way towards the library, and carefully opened the door and entered. The library looked quite empty, and this was the perfect place to take a nap until the janitor sent me away and locked the place up. I was about to settle into a sofa when I saw a person sitting in a seiza[7] position on the floor of the library. I approached the person and saw it was a girl, and she was surrounded with technical books, books that I would be able to comprehend as much as Ancient Greek literature.
The girl looked up as I approached and we both gasped loudly at the same time. Her mouth formed a perfect "O" as she dropped the book on particle physics she was reading. I myself was shocked; I didn't expect to find her here.
"It's you. You finally came," she said in a small voice. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Yes. It's me. I've missed you for all those years… Kotomi-chan."
/
Author's Notes:
[1] – ahoge – An ahoge is a small tuft of hair which vertically stands up on a person's head. It is believed to indicate idiocy or airheadedness, but this is not always true.
[2] – anpan – Quite literally, sweet bean bread.
[3] – If you've finished the Clannad TV anime, the extra episode of After Story featured Nagisa bump into Tomoya at the opening ceremony when he was still a junior.
[4] – iinchou – In case you don't know, which I doubt, the iinchou is the Class Representative.
[5] - aneki, onee-chan – You probably know this already, but these terms refer to one's older sister.
[6] – This is a reference to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, as that is exactly what Haruhi did to Kyon on the day she declared that she would create the SOS Brigade.
[7] – seiza – A seiza sitting position is a sitting position where the person folds their legs with the instep of the feet being the area where the most amount of weight is placed on.
I don't think I've ever written anything this detailed in all of my history as a fanfiction writer. I've analyzed other good fics, and I realized that the bulk of my fics is often made up of dialog, which renders the background and surroundings relatively colorless. From hereon out, I've decided to be a more descriptive writer, but not to the point of sacrificing plot just for the sake of Purple Prose.
Read and review please, and until next time! :D