Hello everyone, back with Chapter 7. Ryou and Youhei finally got together... took them long enough! As it stands right now, this will be the latter half of the story. I plan to focus it primarily on how Ryou and Youhei change in their new relationship and the struggles they go through. Remember to leave a review at the end of this chapter as I appreciate all forms of feedback on how to improve. Nothing's going to develop from that mini section at the beginning of chapter 3. That was just me trying to make the story bigger than it actually is.
NOTE: "bro" is substituted in place of "onii-chan" and simply "Youhei"
Disclaimer: I don't own CLANNAD just incase you couldn't tell.
Youhei pondered what to do now. School was out and it was already late evening.
There was a knock at the door, "Hey bro, can I come in?"
Oh yeah, I forgot I invited her to hang with me this evening. Youhei thought to himself, "Sure Mei, you can come in."
Mei entered the room. "Geez, I'll need to help you clean this up before I leave... so, what did you call me here for?"
"I just... don't know what to do about me and Ryou." Youhei's figure slumped down, "Maybe you can help me?"
"Eh..." Mei was confused at the thought that she, who had yet to date, would be able to help out her brother, "Sorry bro, but I just can't help you with that kind of stuff."
"I pretty much expected that." Youhei says, shrugging in the process. "Anyways you're leaving on Wednesday, right?"
"Right..."
"Well good news, I've just gathered enough floor change to afford a small meal for two at the place I went to with you, Ryou, Okazaki and Furukawa just a week ago, do you want to head over there and get dinner?"
"Actually bro," Mei began, "I just bought a meal for myself from another restraunt..."
"Oh." Youhei responded, looking more disappointed than ever.
"But you know what, I can just put it in your fridge. It's rare you do things like this, if ever. Let's go!" Mei exclaimed.
"Oh well that's great!" Youhei cheered up quickly, "Do you know what else is great? Ryou let me borrow her car for the week, so I can drive you there."
"Oh, that is great..." Bad move, Fujibayashi. Mei thought. "Lead me to it."
Youhei lead Mei to the car and they drove off to the restaurant to eat.
"So bro, what has you in such a generous mood?" Mei inquired, "You usually spend cash only for yourself."
"I don't really know myself, I guess I've just felt this greater sense of responsibility lately... well, more like the only responsibility I've ever felt." Youhei added.
"That's not really surprising though, right? A lot of people feel that when they think they've found purpose in your life. Well, at least that's what my friends tell me. I don't know myself..." Mei took the first bite of her dinner.
"It's probably Ryou, as I said earlier." Youhei started eating as well. "I don't know why, but... I just feel she has expectations of me, you know?"
"You shouldn't eat with food in your mouth, bro." Mei said, dissatisfied at her brother's inability to meet set expectations that may not even exist. "Anyways, don't get so worked up about it, if she did have expectations of you, they were met when she decided to date you. Okay?"
Youhei smiled. "Thanks Mei, I'll stop worrying so much. Let's talk about something else, is there anything you want to do with me tomorrow?"
"Not really. I haven't seen much of the town since I've been here, so I'll probably just explore tomorrow." Mei responded.
"Okay then." The two continued to chat about random topics until they parted ways.
It was now a new day. And sadly for Youhei, it was a new school day. He was already 5 minutes late, so he slowly lifted himself from his bed and found whatever clean clothes he could find before heading out the door.
Why do they even have school anyway? It's not like we wouldn't learn everything from experience otherwise. Youhei went over this thought in his head as he walked out of the dorm, into the school and finally into the classroom.
The classroom glanced towards the door and the teacher made a comment. "It's nice to see you're finally here Youhei. Please take a seat."
Youhei did as he was told and took his seat. A few minutes later all attention had diverted from him, so he tried talking to Tomoya. "Hey Okazaki. Wanna talk about anything?" he asked.
"No Sunohara. Believe it or not, our finals are coming closer by the day, so I'm paying attention in class from now until our tests."
As unbelievable as it sound coming from Tomoya, he was right. Finals were quickly approaching and he definitely wasn't repeating senior year. So for once Youhei decided he'd pay attention too.
The bells finally rang, signalling it was time for lunch. Tomoya asked Youhei what it was he wanted to talk about.
"Nothing really, I just didn't feel like being bored, that's all." Youhei stood up from his chair.
Tomoya followed suit. "In that case, I'll need you to apologize for wasting my time... Sunohara, say 'I'm sorry for wasting your time. I shall never doeth so again!"
"Like Hell I would, I'm a man of standards you know!"
They continued their usual teasing of one another until Tomoya stopped, "Hey, I promised to meet Nagisa down at the courtyard for lunch in a few minutes, so I'll be off."
"See you later then." Tomoya left the room leaving Youhei alone by himself.
Youhei, not hungry, now has nothing to do. He finds Ryou alone by herself and decides to initiate a conversation with her. "Hey Ryou, how are you doing?"
"Good, Youhei. I'm actually just going to eat my lunch in here, so you can sit next to me if you want." She smiled as Youhei took the desk next to her. "Do you want to talk about anything?"
"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Drama Club after school? It's been a while since I was there."
"That's be great! I've actually been wanting to go back to the Drama Club for awhile now, we I haven't gone there since the thing about impressing your little sister began... Hey, Youhei?"
"What is it?"
"Since I've, you know, started dating you, what do you think I should do to improve as your girlfriend?" Ryou asked.
"Um... nothing?" Youhei was perplexed by the question. "Why do you think you need to improve?"
"I just want to be the best person I can be." Ryou sighed.
"Well don't worry Ryou. I already think you're the best person you can be. Don't push yourself." Youhei said with a reassuring smile.
"Thanks Youhei, that's very sweet of you." Ryou smile, pulling Youhei into a short hug.
They talked until lunch break ended and promised to meet at the drama club after school.
The school day finally came to an end. Today, however, Youhei was heading to the drama club. The club, which consists Kotomi Ichinose, Ryou and Kyou Fujibauashi, Youhei Sunohara, Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furukawa, agreed to get together today and unsurprisingly they all came through.
"Sorry, Ichinose..." Youhei said.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I... forgot all about you."
Tomoya sighed, "You have the memory of a stick, Sunohara."
"Hey, I try my best, that's all that matters, right?"
"No, I'm afraid your best will never be enough. I feel sorry for you." Tomoya faked a few tears and sent the majority of the club laughing, with the exception of Youhei. "Anyways, do you have any costumes today, Nagisa?"
"Why are you asking, Tomoya?"
"No reason," Tomoya began, "I just think we ought to do something, don't you agree?"
"Yes, but I don't know what..." Nagisa put her head down unsatisfied. "But I do have costumes."
"That's all we need then. Go get the costumes." Tomoya had something up his sleeve, Youhei was sure of it.
"Hey Okazaki, what are you planning?"
"To put you in a maid costume, of course!"
"There's not a chance in any universe I would ever do that!" The club had fun for an hour before they all parted ways, Youhei went home and read a few newspapers he had lying on the floor before remembering his sister was leaving tonight
He texted her, "Are you at the plane station."
"Of course I am, no need to worry."
Satisfied, Youhei closed his phone and went to sleep.
Hope you all liked this chapter. I plan to release these on a week by week basis. Please remember to leave a review as all feedback is appreciated!
