A/N: Hi guys, I'm back after a short, unintentional break~ (truth is, I've had part of this written out for like a month now, and I finished the rest about a week ago, just haven't had time to get it typed out) so here you go with a nice advancement on this story. :) Don't forget to leave reviews and such!
After the long weekdays had finally passed, it was Saturday, the day of the pretend-couple's act. Ryou had practiced with Youhei every day and, finally, Mei was coming to visit her brother and his supposed girlfriend. Ryou had dressed comfortably in a lavendar sweater and knee-length blue sskirt. She didn't wear anything special since she had never felt she especially had to work to impress Youhei.
Kyou was sleeping in much later than she ever had before. Ryou watched her, showing concern outwardly while she stifled the delight in the pit of her heart. In recollection, she thought she heard lots of sniffling before she had gone to sleep last night. When she looked over at her sleeping sister, she noticed that her eyes were rather puffy and dark around the eyelids.
Ryou knew that what she'd asked Kyou to do was difficult, but somehow, Ryou felt that she and Tomoya would make a better couple. Kyou hardly ever acknowledged Tomoya's romantic attempts, unlike Ryou, who knew she herself would most certainly reciprocate if she had a boyfriend as wonderful as Tomoya. She had liked... no, lovedTomoya for much longer than he and Kyou had been dating. In Ryou's mind, her love for Tomoya was absolutely justified.
Ryou slipped the sapphire pendant over her head, practicing which smile she would offer to Mei. Giving a small nod to her innocent reflection, she was ready to head out and meet with Youhei and his sister.
. . .
"Ryou-chan!" Ryou perked up immediately at the sound of her name. Youhei was running to her, pulling an ocean-haired, young girl behind him. "Sorry for being late," Youhei apologized, a bit embarrassedly.
At the reference to time, Ryou checked her watch unconsciously and found that it was ten minutes later than they'd agreed to meet. She hadn't exactly noticed how quickly the time had passed; she'd been busy thinking about all the wonderful series of events that would take place after this date was finally over.
"This is Ryou-san?" Mei asked in bewilderment.
"Yup~! This is my girlfriend!" Youhei happily came to Ryou's side and placed an arm around her. Mei stared in amazement as Ryou bowed and said it was a pleasure meeting her.
"How did you manage to get such a cute girlfriend, Big Brother?" She then turned to Ryou. "Did he threaten you to get you to go out with him?" Ryou blushed nervously at the suggestion.
"O-of course not! I... I really like your brother!" Ryou caught Youhei's eye and found him grinning ear-to-ear in response to her declaration. She blushed down at her folded hands as Mei sent her brother a furtive smile.
"Whatever it is you do around Ryou-neesan, don't stop!" The two siblings bickered while Ryou found herself marveling over how strange and wonderful it felt to be called "Big Sister."
"Let's go to the arcade," Youhei suddenly suggested with an enthusiastic gleam in his light-hearted blue eyes. Mei was quite taken with the idea, while Ryou, on the other hand, seemed to have been shaken from a trance quite abruptly. She allowed herself to be pulled along by Mei and Youhei until she remembered that the arcade had a love calculator. After making this realization, Ryou was sure to catch up with the siblings.
. . .
The interior of the arcade was illuminated only by the bright screens of the entertainment systems. Mei looked around for her favorite game. Finding it, she shrieked and yanked Youhei along after her so they could play together.
"Youhei-kun," Ryou called to him before he was too far away, "Do you mind if I go try out another game?"
Youhei looked over at Ryou, seeming a bit surprised, since the two were supposed to act like a couple together, but he nodded anyway, looking just a tiny bit offended.
"Sure, Ryou-chan," he called back, "Come find us when you're done!" He waved to her before disappearing into the crowd.
The rest of the arcade seemed to become completely silenced as Ryou nervously approached the machine dubbed, "Love Calculator." Her heartbeat suddenly appeared in her throat and her breath became wispy and quick as she laid her shivery, small hands on the controls.
"Please enter your name," the screen directed in pink, heart-embellished font. Ryou typed in her name rapidly, incredibly eager to know her percentage of compatibility with the boy she loved. "Please enter your crush's name," the screen prompted. This time, Ryou was extremely careful to type in each letter of Tomoya's name correctly. She knew the kanji used in his name by heart, and she felt a trill in her chest as she gazed fondly at his name next to her own. When she regained her wits, she pressed the 'Submit' key.
"O-oh, wait," Ryou mumbled to herself as she noticed she had typed in Ryuu instead of Ryou. While the calculator processed Ryuu's compatibility with Tomoya, she giggled nervously, trying to shake off her mistake.
"Oh well... Fate knows that I meant to write my na- w-wha..?!" Ryou's crystally eyes locked onto her compatibility percentage in horrified disblief. "Only... 14%...?" Her trembling fingers clenched over the controls and, without any way of stopping herself, she pressed Restart and reentered her name, checking thrice to make sure it had been spelled properly. Once she had finished her name, she entered Tomoya's name, pressing each key tenderly. When she was done, and finished looking at her name, she felt someone's arm come around her waist, eliciting a terrified "Eep!" from her already anxiously-parted lips.
"Hiya, Ryou-chan! Whatcha doin'?" Youhei was standing over her shoulder, and looked at the screen. A knot formed in his stomach when he realized Ryou was checking to see her compatibility with Yomoya, and he quickly pressed Reset, without allowing either Mei or Ryou to see the compatibility percentage. He knew that if Mei had seen Ryou's name next to Tomoya's, it would make things increasingly difficult.
"Whose compatibility were you checking for, Ryou-neesan?" Mei inquired, unknowingly.
"Uhm... my sister is having problems with her... boyfriend, and I thought I would check to see what the calculator had to say about their relationship," she explained, with a weak smile.
"Cool," Youhei commented, seeming to take interest in the calculator. "Let's try our names and see what percentage we get!" Ryou nodded, shakily, seeming more than a little upset that she hadn't been able to see her compatibility with Tomoya. She typed in Youhei's name and her own, again making sure that everything was corrent.
"94%! Yeah, we're soul mates!" Youhei cheered as he threw his arms around a disbelieving and unsuspecting Ryou.
"That's incredible," Mei simpepred tearily. "My brother might not die as an umarried virgin after all!"
Youhei was about to give his snappy retort when Ryou spoke up. "M-Mei-chan, are there any boys at schol you like that you want to check your compatibility with?"
Mei backed away from the Love Calculator, suddenly seeming almost disgusted by it. "Ah, no, I don't really like any boys... They're all gross!" Ryou giggled a bit while Youhei struggled with a way to speak up for all the members of the male sex and defend them.
"You''ll find one who isn't so grosss, I'm sure, Mei-chan." Ryou stepped away from the Love Calculator, her forlorn hands falling away from the controls.
. . .
The day had passed without as much pain as Ryou had expected. In fact, she was able to keep from thinking too much about the situation with KYou and Tomoya.
"I'm going to walk Ryou-chan home by myself," Youhei informed Mei, sternly. "You can go wait in my dorm room." He handed her his key, still seeming rather militant about the whole exchange.
"Yes, sir," MEi teased, then sent a girlish wave towards Ryou. "Bye-bye, Ryou-neesama! I had fun meeting you!" She then stuck her tongue out at her brother and scampered off to his dormitory.
"Are you sure it's all right for her to go by herself?" Ryou inquired, hesitantly.
"Sure I'm sure! This is a safe town," he assured.
Youhei started reaching over to take her hand as inconspicuously as he could when Ryou suddenly broke the silence. Her voice quivered, but her intention was boldly cruel to Youhei's intentions, "I'll bet you're glad to have all this over with," Youhei withred his hand sharply to his side, "I know I'm sort of a pain to be around..."
"Not at all! It's been fun getting to kiss someone without getting slapped," Youhei replied, giving a perverted grin.
"I-is that.. so...?" Ryou replied, rather wistily as it seemed she had somehow wished he had tried to convince her that she had been a nice partner for the deed, or something alng those lines.
"In fact, I've been meaning to ask... Well, I mean, I've been waiting until this was all over so that I could ask you..." Ryou's stomach churned uncomfortably. Surely he wasn't going to ask her out! Certainly not! Her face glowed dark vermilion.
"Y-yes...?" Youhei started to continue when both Ryou and Youhei noticed two figured standing in front of the Fujibayashi residence. It was dark out, at this point, so it was difficult to make out the identities of the two figures.
"I don't understand, Kyou..." a deep voice spoke, sounding frustrated.
"Like I told you, we have to stop seeing each other..." Ryou recognized this voice to be her sister's, even though the tone was devastated and weary. "It wouldn't be fair to any of us... Please just go out with my sister instead..." There was a heavy silence between the two. "Don't ask why... I'll be happiest if you go out with Ryou instead of me."
The next silence was painfully long, to all listeners. "If she says no," the deep voice began, "I'm asking you out again, like it or not. And then we'll continue on, as though nothing ever brought us apart.." Kyou's quiet sobs followed quickly after her love's dedicated promise. The boy's retreating footsteps came after that.
"Okazaki," Youhei called out, recognizing Tomoya under the suddenly cold, heartless tint of the street light.
Tomoya looked up and met eyes with Youhei briefly before locking eyes with a very stunned Ryou. With that, he crossed the street, his stoic dullness glazing over his tired eyes as he left the pretend-couple standing there, hardly acknowledged.
"Uh, Sunohara-san?" Ryou said suddenly, reverting to the name she called his before they started 'dating.' "I have to go," she stated, starting to turn. "Thanks for paying for so much, and for such a fun time, and-"
Youhei caught her by the wrist. "Wait... er- this may seem a little perverted, but this is probably my last chance to kiss a girl for a while... How about one more time, for old time's sake?" Ryou looked reluctantly at Youhei, her cheeks going pink. There was a sound of a door shutting, indicating that Kyou had gone inside.
"I-if... you want to.." Ryou heard herself saying. Youhei pulled her closer to him, seeming to be trying his very hardest to end their time together properly. He had understood the conversation between Kyou and Tomoya, and that Ryou still had her heart set on Tomoya. He didn't want to believe he had developed genuine feelings for shy, quiet Ryou. He also understood how hopeless his feelings would be; maybe that was why he wanted to be able to share one last kiss with her.
She tipped her head (as she had every time they'd kissed before), to give him access to her lips without bumping noses with him, and Youhei ever so lightly touched his lips to hers. COmpared to many other couples, their kisses were quite innocent: close-mouthed, planed, and certain to stay within each member's comfort zone. He pressed a little closer than he'd dared to before, the outline of his mouth enclosing Ryou's dainty lips completely. His hands on her back stroked carefully, up and down, then in circles. He wanted to be able to make her feel like he did every time they kissed, but he knew that the whole thing was obligatory. She sighed lightly during the kiss, but Youhei assumed she was getting annoyed with how long this kiss was taking, and thus he pulled himself away from her.
"Er- ..good night!" Youheic ouldn't bring himself to go back to calling her Fujibayashi-san, and thus refrained from addressing her with any specific title.
"Goodnight, Sunohara-san," Ryou replied, offering the same smile she would offer to anyone else, and she turned and left him standing there, alone in that same cold-hearted lighting that had been so beautiful only moments ago.