Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.
Chapter 9: Day Out (Part 2)
The Fujibayashi sisters were waiting ten minutes away from the school entrance due to the cold weather both the sisters had put on winter gear: Ryou wore a yellow scarf, a green jumper and dark blue gloves while Kyou just wore a red jumper under her regular clothes.
The wind blew lightly and the twin's hair danced around as they tried to keep it straight.
Ryou checked her watch as she turned her head to look around the area. "Do you think he'll be here?" She asked quietly.
"He should be!" Kyou replied. "How far was his flat from here again?"
"Um..." Ryou thought for a few seconds. "About fifteen to twenty minutes."
"Well if he isn't here in 10 minutes you can show me the way to his flat!" Kyou sighed.
Just then James appeared from up ahead.
Ryou's face immediately lit up. "There he is!" She exclaimed excitedly.
Kyou chuckled to herself glancing at her sister as James ran towards the two girls.
"Hey!" James waved.
"Hey!" They both greeted James.
Kyou whacked James on the shoulder a little harder than she meant to, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud.
"Argh Kyou!" James groaned as he slowly rose to his feet.
Kyou covered her mouth trying not to laugh. "Oh my god I did that a lot harder than I meant to!"
Ryou feeling rather nervous started to speak. "Um...s-so what are we going to do?" she started shaking slightly.
James immediately noticed that Ryou was beginning to shiver and removed his trench coat. "Ryou if you're still cold you can borrow my coat for a bit!" He offered.
"T-thanks b-but I'm fine!" She mumbled.
Kyou looked at her sister with concern. "Sorry James she's kind of shy around people."
James gave an embarrassed laugh. "I noticed!"
Kyou put her arms around James and Ryou. "Okay enough small talk! We'll walk to Moth Burger and have something to drink!"
Ryou blushed and began to feel awkward as they began to walk through the busy town.
After a few minutes they found Moth Burger (which James felt was a bizarre name) which looked more like a cafe than a restaurant.
The building was fairly small with half a dozen tables and chairs spread across the outside and a small amount of people were sat around drinking coffee and eating large portions of burgers chips and various other fast foods that you could think of.
Kyou found an empty table and sat James and Ryou down "Ok what are you two going to drink?"Kyou grinned. "It's my treat!"
"Just a cup of tea." James quickly replied.
"Diet coke." Ryou replied.
"Be right back!" Kyou gave them a thumbs up as she entered the restaurant.
James removed his flat cap and placed it on the table. "Nice scarf!" He complimented.
"Ryou blushed. "Thanks!" Her face went slightly pink "Yours is very vibrant!" She then mumbled.
"I brought one of my paintings with me so once we've had our drinks I'll show you what I'm working on!"
Ryou laughed awkwardly. "I brought some of my drawings too but...compared to you they aren't good at all." She stared at her hands on the table in embarrassment.
"I'm sure they are good!" He replied trying to reassure her. "To tell you the truth I don't like half my work yet others seem to love it for some reason"
"W-well you are very talented!" Ryou replied in a more confident voice than before.
"So were you waiting long?" James asked trying to change the subject.
Ryou chuckled "About 10 minutes!"
"I left at around half 9!" He replied "Oh! I spoke with Kotomi in one of the bookstores!"
Ryou gasped. "H-how is she?"
"Well..." James scratched his head for a few seconds. "She told me that because she is one of the more advanced students she can go home whenever she wants..." He paused for a moment. "But I have a feeling that wasn't the case..."
Ryou nodded. "Well I don't think you should ask her about it in case it upsets her in some way."
"I agree." James sighed. "You know even though she's a nice girl she can be a bit weird sometimes..."
Ryou suddenly cleared her throat "James…" She whispered pointing behind him.
"Huh?"
James turned his head and hiding behind a tree was Kotomi observing them.
"This is what I meant!" He muttered to himself. "Kotomi we can see you!" He waved his hand over to her. "Come over here!"
Kotomi slowly walked towards them.
"Does she want to join us?" Ryou questioned.
"I have no idea..." James mumbled to her.
Kotomi stopped as she reached James.
"So...do you want to join us after all?" He asked
Kotomi shook her head.
"So what do you want?" He looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"You still have my scissors..." She mumbled.
"Huh…?" James quickly searched his pockets and found a pair of scissors in his front pocket.
"Oh god sorry about that!" He apologized as he passed them over to her.
Kotomi took the scissors and placed them in her front pocket before James or Ryou could say anything Kotomi suddenly gasped and ran off down the street.
James gave Ryou an odd look. "See what I mean?"
Ryou wasn't sure what to make of what had just occurred. "Well maybe she is still shy around us!"
"Hey you two!"
Ryou and James looked over in response to Kyou's voice and saw that she had gotten the tray of food that they had selected.
"Oh Kyou!" James quickly stood up and helped her place the tray onto the table.
"I guess Kotomi saw Kyou coming out of the restaurant and that's why she ran off?" James thought to himself.
What James and Ryou hadn't realized was that Kotomi hadn't noticed Kyou at all.
A man wearing all grey with a hat suit and suitcase had suddenly began to follow her.
Kotomi was running extremely fast through the street trying to avoid cars and people as she ran further and further away from the man.
Even as her legs hurt with intense pain feeling out of breath and a burning pain in her chest she continued to run until she finally reached her home.
As she reached the door she stopped for a moment to catch her breath and find the key to the front door in her pocket.
In the corner of her eye the man was coming closer and closer towards her.
"Kotomi!" She heard the man shout but she didn't want to listen.
"He's a bad man!" Kotomi kept thinking to herself frantically as she inserted the door key into the keyhole opening the door and quickly shutting the door and locking it again.
The man frantically knocked on the door. "Kotomi!" She heard him shouting through the door. "Kotomi I just want to talk to you!"
"J-just go away!" She shouted covering her ears trying to ignore the noise.
She felt exhausted from all the running but knew that she couldn't let the man in no matter what and kept herself pressed against the door with all the strength she had left.
Suddenly the knocking stopped and Kotomi ran around the house to make sure that all the doors and windows were locked...
...
James carefully sipped his tea which was still very hot.
"So what are we doing after this?" He asked as he placed the cup back onto the table.
"We'll go to the arcade after this then a bit of shopping!" Kyou grinned.
"What are we shopping for?" Ryou mumbled as she took a sip from her diet coke.
"We're going to help James buy a new phone!" Kyou chuckled.
James was very surprised. "Oh thanks! But you really don't have to-"
Kyou quickly cut him off. "No, no, I insist!"
Kyou quickly opened up her wallet and searched through her notes of cash.
"How much did you bring?" She asked as she glanced at him.
James brought out his wallet and brought out three notes.
"I'm not entirely sure how much this is." He explained as he passed her the notes.
Kyou quickly counted it up and passed the notes back to James. "That's 300 yen!"
"Is that enough?" He asked
"Well..." Kyou sighed "With a bit of spare cash from Ryou and I you should be able to get a phone!"
James fiddled with his left sideburn. "I suppose. Really I only need one to text and call so a cheap phone should do the trick!"
Kyou quickly finished her green tea wiped her mouth and placed her hand on Ryou's shoulder.
"Now before we do anything else there is something that we need to discuss!" Kyou exclaimed.
Ryou looked at her sister confused and James raised an eyebrow.
Kyou turned her head to her sister "Now Ryou you've told James that you have a crush on Okazaki right?"
Ryou's face went slightly pink. "Y-yes!"
"Now the reason that you haven't been able to ask him out is because your waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too shy!" Kyou exclaimed in a patronizing tone of voice.
"So we're discussing ways for Ryou to get more confident around him right?" James asked with interest.
"J-james d-don't you start!" Ryou stuttered with a yelp.
Kyou chuckled. "Sorry I tend to tease her about that! Anyway I think I've come up with the perfect plan!"
"Oh?" James glared at Kyou as she chuckled to herself
"As soon as we finish our drinks we'll go to the park!" She explained.
Ryou glared at her sister worriedly.
"Oh one more thing." Kyou grinned.
She suddenly grabbed James's sideburns and pulled at them hard.
"Argh!" James moaned as he grabbed Kyou's hands moving them away from him as he felt a few hairs rip off.
Ryou gasped. "Sis!"
Kyou grinned as James rubbed his sideburns.
"W-why the heck did you do that?!" James shouted. "That hurt!"
Kyou suddenly laughed out loud making people stair at the trio's table.
"Sorry I just wanted to see if those were fake!" She laughed again as she felt a pain in her side from laughing too much.
Kyou then glanced at James's sketchpad.
"So what drawings have you got to show us?" Kyou grinned.
"Um..." James was feeling rather nervous about showing Kyou his work "There isn't much to show."
He passed the sketchbook over to the twins as they browsed through it.
The twins were speechless.
"I wish I was as good as him!" Ryou whispered to Kyou.
"I wish I could draw!" Kyou remarked.
James was beginning to feel rather nervous "So...do you...like my drawings?" His facial color tone slowly shaded pink.
"Well I think you're pretty good!" Kyou passed the sketchbook back to James "I don't have much of if any interest in art but these drawings are pretty good!"
Ryou was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable about showing James her drawings.
"Here's a painting I'm working on too!" James muttered as he brought his unfinished painting out of his bag and presented it to the twins.
"You sure are good with detail!" Kyou remarked.
"Y-yeah!" Ryou nodded
"Say James have you ever thought about doing portraits of people?" Kyou grinned at Ryou.
James scratched his head. "Um...I have thought about it but...I don't know..."
"I'd love to see you do a portrait of Ryou!" Kyou laughed under her breath.
"Sis!" Ryou's colour tone was now very dark red.
"Maybe one day!" James shrugged with a grin. "So then Ryou let's see your work!"
Ryou whimpered like an injured puppy. "D-do I...h-have to?" The rate of her breathing suddenly increased.
Kyou gave James a serious look and pointed her finger at him "James I want you to be honest about Ryou's work!"
She suddenly put her ear up to James "But if you're too harsh I'm gonna strangle you with that scarf!" she whispered.
James gulped. "Ok…!" He muttered.
Ryou brought out a tiny notebook and opened it up to one of the pages.
The drawing was of a hairy looking pig like animal.
"So what's that?" James asked with interest.
"I-it's a sketch of our pet Botan..." Ryou blushed "Well she's more Kyou's pet than mine but she lives under the same roof as us so..."
"Yeah, yeah I see your point" James nodded, interrupting her.
Ryou then flicked through another couple pages of sketches she'd done such as a flower on a window ceil and the twins bedroom.
James looked carefully at the three Sketches that Ryou had produced.
"Hmm..." James was trying to be careful how to voice his opinion while Ryou looked at James worriedly and Kyou was getting herself ready to stomp on James's foot.
"Well I will admit your drawing skills need work..." He gave a quick nervous glance at Kyou. "You need help with angles shading and perspective but I do think you have potential!"
Kyou glanced at her sister whose color tone was now very dark red.
"T-thanks for the advice!" She said in almost a whisper.
"Do you think you could help her out?" Kyou asked James.
"Well I still need to learn a lot myself so I don't think I could really be a teacher...but maybe I could help her out with some aspects!" James grinned at Ryou.
"Sure!" Ryou replied blushing.
Kyou laughed under her breath and then stood up from the table.
"Right lets head off to the park!" She instructed.
...
After another ten minutes or more they finally arrived at the park the trees blew steadily in the wind and dogs with their owners ran throughout the park and a few students from the school could be seen walking in small groups of twos and fours.
James sighed as he looked around. "So what's this perfect plan of yours?"
Kyou pushed Ryou next to James and pushed them closer together.
"S-sis!" Ryou exclaimed "W-what are you?..."
Kyou quickly cut her off "You're more confident around James than most guys so I felt like this would make a great practice!" She grinned.
"P-practice for what?!" James exclaimed feeling uncomfortable.
"James I want you and Ryou to walk around the park for a bit!" Kyou slowly began to walk off "Ryou I want you to pretend that James is Okazaki and try and ask him out!"
Both James and Ryou's eyes widened exceptionally large, while their face's began to instantaneously brighten up in red.
"W-what?!" Ryou gasped in shock.
"Have fun!" Kyou laughed as she quickly ran off. "See you at the arcade!"
James and Ryou just stood there silent for a few moments.
"So..." James gulped nervously. "Shall we start walking?"
Ryou blushed nervously. "Ok!"
They slowly began to walk.
James sighed. "So I mph!"
Ryou cut him off as she put her hand over his mouth.
"Don't say anything!" Her voice was starting to sound just as nervous as it had the last time James had seen Ryou interact with Okazaki.
"I'm sorry but I...I just can't go along with that!" She suddenly began crying and covered her eyes with her hands.
James carefully walked Ryou over to an empty bench.
"I'll admit I didn't think it was a good idea in the first place!" James sighed. "Your sister just put us on the spot without even considering us!"
Ryou wiped her eyes with a tissue "D-don't get me wrong I'm...I'm grateful for her help but I just feel like it's something I should be able to do on my own!"
James put his arm around Ryou. "It's Ok...I understand."
Ryou chuckled under her breath. "It's funny!"
"What is?" James asked confused.
"Well we've only know each other for a few days but...you...you kind of feel like a brother to me!" Ryou's face suddenly went very deep in red and so did James. "I don't know why but that's what it feels like to me!" She began to wipe her eyes again.
"Why is your sister so protective of you?" James asked out of the blue.
"It's...kind of personal sorry..." Ryou mumbled
"I see..." James quickly tried changing the subject. "I know it's something that you want to achieve on your own but I think you just need to brush up enough confidence to ask Okazaki out! I mean you act so nervous around him!"
Ryou sighed. "Yeah...but it's difficult...my body start's shaking I can't breathe properly and I stutter so much!" She suddenly sounded like she was becoming flustered and was breathing heavily.
"I know exactly what that feels like!" James remarked as he patted her on the head.
Ryou glared at him "Oh yeah...you told me that you got involved with a girl at your last school right?"
"Correct!" James quickly replied in a rather annoyed mumble.
"Well..." She paused for a moment "Can you please tell me what happened?"
James looked up at the sky and sighed "Well...you see there was this girl and I...I had a crush on her"
He gulped as painful memories came flooding back.
"I tried to talk to her and after a few months I wrote her a letter telling her how I felt about her..."
"A letter?" Ryou questioned.
James chuckled. "Yeah don't do that with Okazaki!" He quickly added in and chuckled again for a few more seconds "She told me that she might be moving schools after Christmas so I wrote her a letter telling her how I felt...I honestly wished she had moved schools..."
Ryou could tell that James felt unconfutable. "If you want to stop you can..."
"When I came back after the Christmas break she was back and at first..." It appeared to Ryou that James hadn't heard what she had just told him and noticed his eye's beginning to look a little watery "I didn't think she had read the letter because she never mentioned it but she kept hanging around me and my friends all the time!"
"She had read it right?" Ryou began rubbing James's arm in comfort.
"Yeah...she told me that I should have told her before she got herself a boyfriend..." James suddenly put his hand over his face clearly trying not to break down crying. "To cut a long story short she broke up with him for me than a week later she broke up with me for another guy..."
"Then what happened?" Ryou muttered.
James couldn't take it anymore...all the bad memories flooding back and he quickly stood up from the bench.
"I'm sorry I can't!" He shouted.
Before James could run away Ryou suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him over to her and hugged him tightly.
"James...don't worry!" She looked at him seriously "She's gone now and you don't have to worry!" It looked to James as if Ryou was now starting to tear up "If anyone...if she were to come here just to hurt you...I'd protect you!" Ryou's face once again became deep in red.
James was completely shocked "T-thanks!" He stuttered as his face became a dark shade of red.
"Like I said!" She exclaimed "You're like a brother to me and brothers and sisters look out for each other!" She grabbed James' hand and they ran off together to find Kyou.
...
Kyou had been waiting patiently outside "Game Land" for James and Ryou to meet up with her.
It was a fairly big arcade the logo stood across the building in big golden letters and crane machines stood across both sides of the entrance and inside thousands of people could be heard laughing and having fun.
"Hopefully my little plan will get Ryou more confident!" Kyou thought to herself.
Ryou and James arrived hand in and hand and stopped to catch their breath.
"So how did it go?" Kyou chuckled
"D-don't-" Ryou gasped clutching her chest. "E-ever d-do t-that a-again!"
Kyou looked at them both in annoyance. "I'm guessing you didn't act it out?!"
"No!" James glared at Kyou. "You should have talked it over first anyway!"
"Sis do you realize how awkward that was!" Ryou shouted "Especially with all the rumors recently!"
James raised an eyebrow. "Rumors?"
"Agh!" Ryou gasped not realizing that she'd said that out loud. "It's nothing...!"
James immediately noticed her face going a dark shade of red and he crossed his arms. "Come on Ryou just tell me!"
"W-well..." The rate of her breathing rapidly increased. "T-there...have been rumors that...you and me are dating!"
James immediately face palmed "Argh!" He groaned "That's just typical idiotic teenagers for you! They see a guy and a girl hanging around a lot and immediately think they are dating! We've only known each other for a few days for Christ sake!"
"Exactly..." Ryou mumbled feeling extremely embarrassed.
Kyou sighed "Ryou I've told you before I'll smack anyone I see talking about those rumors!"
Ryou then turned to her sister with a serious face "Sis can you just stop?!" She shouted accidently surprising both James and Kyou.
"S-stop what?" She asked still shocked.
"I want to ask out Okazaki but I want to do it my way!" She was now forcing herself not to cry "D-don't get me wrong I'm...I'm grateful for your help but I feel like this is something that I have to do alone!"
She cleared her throat and grabbed Kyou's arm "And please just stop threatening to beat people up all the time! You know things like that bring back bad memories for me!"
Kyou just stared at her sister in shock speechless.
James clearly seeing the tension cleared his throat. "S-shall we go inside?"
The three of them entered the arcade which was crammed with teenagers playing various arcade games.
James cleared his throat. "S-so Ryou what do you want to do here?"
Ryou pointed to a game at the end of the room "We'll try that one!" She exclaimed.
"Hmm?" All James could see was a boxed shape black curtain and the words "Holoscope" written across the curtain. In fact it reminded James of one of the ID photo booths that he'd had to use back in England when arranging his passport.
"So what exactly is this thing?" He asked as they began to walk over to it.
"It's a fortune telling game!" Ryou smiled
As they walked towards it James noticed a fair amount of crane machines filled with stuffed toys some of which were ridiculously huge to be able to even grab out of the machine!
He also noticed several different stuffed toys that looked to James to merely be circles and lines but they were all in different colors red green blue and so many others that it made the inside of the cranes look very vibrant.
"I wonder what those things are…?" James thought to himself as they reached the Holoscope game.
As Ryou opened up the curtain James noticed that there was just one seat with enough space for two people only.
"So I guess I'll just watch while you two play this game?" James questioned as his eye's started to hurt from the bright light of the game.
"Actually James you can do this!" Kyou replied unenthusiastically "I'm really not good at games like this."
"Don't worry James I'll show you what to do!" Ryou smiled as she sat on one side of the seat trying to make sure there was enough room for James to sit.
"Alright" James mumbled in reply as he sat next to Ryou.
"Well" James exclaimed as he rubbed his hands "Let's get this thing started!"
Ryou inserted a few coins into the games coin slot and the screen turned bright white and James quickly covered his eyes.
"Jesus Christ..." He mumbled as he rubbed his now sore eyes as he began to see colors flickering around everywhere.
The games logo suddenly appeared and within seconds had gone being replaced with a glowing ball with angel wings around it while text scrolled the bottom of the screen.
"Ok so what exactly do we do?" James asked as he glanced at the complicated set of controls which was just one tracker ball and a dozen or so buttons.
"Just move the tracker ball around then press an icon and enter your name." Ryou explained.
James put his hand on the ball which felt loose and the icons on the screen quickly changed. "Damn these controls are a bit slippery!"
He pressed down on the tracker ball and the standard Japanese alphabetic symbols appeared on the screen.
"Do you want me to spell your name for you?" Ryou glanced.
James chucked. "Yeah thanks! I'm still not used to writing my name in Japanese symbols!"
Within two or three minutes Ryou had entered James's name onto the screen.
"Right now it's my turn!" She mumbled as she gave the screen a serious look and repeated what James had done.
The screen flashed and the ball icon changed color.
"What's are relationship?" Ryou mumbled
"Well we're just friends" James blushed.
James suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder "James put your hand on the tracker ball with Ryou!"
Sis!" Ryou exclaimed "He doesn't have to..."
"It says you're supposed to put your hands together at this part!" Kyou chuckled slightly.
"Alright then..." James replied as he put his hand over Ryou's on the tracker ball.
"Sorry about this..." Ryou blushed. "Ok so now we just move the ball around again..."
They moved the ball around a few more times and the icon changed again becoming green in color.
The text underneath read "Friends" and a piece of paper suddenly printed from the side of the machine.
"Well what does the fortune say Ryou?" Kyou asked as they stepped out from the curtain.
"What did I just play?" James thought to himself.
Whatever the game was, it still made little sense to him...
Ryou looked at the page and began to read:
"A kind female and a male with a strong sense of responsibility.
"You will be very compatible friends however weather it develops beyond this is up to each individual!"
"Sounds rather generic to me." Kyou remarked.
"Well I think it's rather sweet" James replied.
"Yeah." Ryou blushed slightly
"So where do we go now?" James suddenly realized that he'd been hanging out with the twins for almost two hours now but felt like he was having a great time.
"Well we can get your new phone!" Kyou replied as she began to walk out of the arcade.
"I suppose we could do your homework after that?" Ryou glanced at James.
James suddenly gasped and put his hand over his mouth forcing himself not to swear out loud.
"What is it?" Ryou looked at James worriedly.
James removed his hand "I completely forgot to bring my homework with me!" James face palmed himself hard.
"D-don't worry!" Ryou exclaimed "We could go back to your house and do the homework there!"
"What about dinner?" Kyou questioned.
"Well you've both been so nice to me so I could cook you both something!"
The twins were both rather surprised.
"You can cook?" Kyou remarked
"Yeah but I'm not that good...I guess mum could help me out"
"You don't have to cook for us James!" Ryou smiled blushing slightly.
"No I think it's the least I can do!" James grinned.
As James was leaving the arcade he noticed a guitar game.
He could see someone playing on a shark shaped guitar and it was clear to James that this person was doing the moves all wrong.
James couldn't see the face as he was seeing the guy from the back but he had blond hair a pink shirt and light blue jeans.
An image suddenly clicked in James' mind. "Hey Ryou isn't that one of the guys from our class?"
Ryou looked over to where James was pointing.
"Like wasn't his name Sunogra or something?"
Ryou chuckled "That's Youhei Sunohara! And yes he's in our class!"
James gave another look at Sunohara. "Do you think we should talk to him?"
"If you want…" Ryou muttered.
Suddenly both James and Ryou felt a tug on the back of their clothes and were suddenly behing dragged away.
They both turned their heads and it was Kyou.
"No I'd rather not socialize with idiots!"
They couldn't see it but Kyou was grinning to herself at that last comment.
...
James was in deep thought. His mind kept thinking up various possibilities of what would happen when James's mum met the twins.
"I'm sure she'll be fine with them!" he thought "I mean it's not like we're dating!"
Whack!
"Ow!" James groaned as he rubbed his sore forehead.
He'd been thinking so hard that he hadn't realized that he had been walking straight into a lamp post!
Ryou quickly rushed over to James's side "Are you alright?" She shrieked.
James rubbed his forehead. "Yeah!"
"Let me see." Ryou mumbled as she removed James hand and she immediately noticed a small red mark.
"Looks like you've got a slight bruise!" She murmured worriedly.
Kyou chuckled. "Even I didn't see that coming!"
"Oh shut up Kyou!" James moaned as he noticed people passing by were laughing too.
Ryou looked at James worriedly "Shall we just buy the phone and go?"
"Good idea!" James and Kyou exclaimed at the exact same time and suddenly began laughing at each other.
Ryou smiled and started chuckling too "I'm so glad they're getting along!"
After that the trio soon found the phone shop.
The logo read "" in Japanese text the building was square shaped with blackened windows and they found it rather cramped inside as they entered the store which only had a few people looking around.
"Welcome!" Shouted the shop keeper with a toothless grin.
"So you just want a phone for texting and making calls right?" Kyou said to James as she browsed through the various phones on display.
"Yeah I'm really not too bothered about using the internet and playing mobile games."
Kyou laughed. "Oh my god you sound like some middle aged guy!"
"Don't remind me!" James laughed. He'd often been told by people back home that acted like an older guy...
Ryou was browsing when she spotted a small ocean blue colored phone with tiny buttons and fairly large screen.
"How about this one?" She smiled as she passed it over to James.
"Hmm..." James examined the phone "Well it's a simple make..."
"And according to the information on the wall it doesn't use the internet" Kyou interrupted.
"Well I guess this is the one I'll go for!"
"Ok let's just pay and go!" Ryou mumbled worriedly as it looked as though the shop keeper was eying her up...
The trio paid for the phone and left the store minutes later.
"Well it's off to my place then!" James exclaimed as he looked at his new phone.
"We'll help you sort everything out with it too!" Ryou smiled.
"So James are your parents going to be in?" Kyou asked as she glanced at him.
"Well mum doesn't have a job so she most likely will."
"Does your father have a job?" Kyou raised an eyebrow.
James immediately stopped in his tracks "He doesn't live with us and...and I'd rather not talk about it..."
Noticing James's behavior Ryou was immediately concerned. He'd been like this when they had spoken about his crush from his last school.
Now that he mentioned it Ryou realised that James had never mentioned his father before he had only ever mentioned his mother.
"W-well...if you're not comfortable taking about it we won't ask!" Ryou assured him.
As they began to walk again Kyou gasped in shock surprising both James and Ryou.
"A-are you alright?" he stuttered.
Kyou laughed. "There's a photo booth here!" She then looked at James and Ryou and grinned grabbing them by their collars and dragging them into the booth.
"K-kyou what are you doing?!" James shouted.
"Well I thought it would be great to take a photo of the three of us!"
Ryou overcoming the shock of the moment smiled "Yes that sounds like a nice idea!"
Kyou inserted some coins into the machine and searched through the options on the touchscreen.
"Ok I've set it too print out two photos so there's one for you James and one for us!" Kyou chuckled.
James smiled. "That sounds really nice Kyou! I think this is a great way to remember moments like this after all they do say pictures are forever!"
He put his arms around the twins and the twins put their arms around James.
"Ok!" Ryou muttered pressing the controls "3…2...1..."
There was a flash and the pictures began to print out.
James and Ryou stepped outside the photo both and Kyou followed quickly after handing James the other photograph.
James chuckled "You know...I've really had a great time today!" James grinned as he looked at the photo.
"I have too!" Ryou blushed as she rubbed her arm.
Kyou sighed. "I'm glad James because..."
James raised an eyebrow. "Because what?"
"Well I don't know if Ryou ever told you but I completely misjudged you!" Her face became bright red from embarrassment.
"I...I thought you were some kind of pervert because of how when we met you didn't look at us in the face and kept your eyes on the ground..."
"You thought I was staring at your breasts right?" James sighed and Ryou glanced at James worriedly at how he was reacting.
"Yes." She continued "And that was wrong of me! I...I said things that I shouldn't have! Both to you and Ryou and I'm really sorry! I wanted to get to know you better so I thought this day out would be the best opportunity so..."
Kyou's eyes were suddenly filled with tears and she hugged James tightly.
"Sis!" Ryou gasped
"If..." Kyou chocked on her tears "If you can forgive me I hope...that we can be good friends!"
James couldn't believe what was happening. It seemed so out of character of Kyou who was normally the tough one of the twins to suddenly break down crying like this.
He put his arms around Kyou hugging her gently.
"Kyou...as far as I am concerned we're already good friends!" James smiled.
...
They had finally reached the flat. The twins stared at the enormously tall building in awe.
"Are we walking to your area or is there an elevator?" Kyou asked thinking of how tiring it would be if they had to climb a large amount of stairs.
"Yeah we have to walk sorry but don't worry it's not too far!" James assured them.
"Ugh!" Kyou put her hands over her face in annoyance.
"I'm looking forward to meeting your mother!" Ryou smiled "I'm sure you've told her about us after all..."
James removed his flat cap and scratched his head laughing slightly "Um...actually I've never really told mum about anyone from the school!"
"Oh." Ryou mumbled.
"Like I've told her that I hang out with a few people but I haven't really gone into details!"
James chuckled nervously as they entered the flat and began to climb the stairs.
"Oh Jesus imagine how mum's gonna react when she sees that I've brought two girls over!" James exclaimed worriedly.
"Don't worry!" Kyou grinned. "I'll just say that we're your two girlfriends!"
"Sis don't do that!" Ryou gasped "W-what if she gets the wrong idea?"
James covered his face in embarrassment. "Please Kyou don't say anything suggestive!"
Kyou gave them both an annoyed look. "Gee relax I was just kidding!"
"I'm sure your mother will be fine with us James don't worry about it!" She assured him as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
They both glanced at each other and smiled.
"I think your right!" James laughed. "Heck I probably am worrying too much!"
"So James what are you planning to cook for us?" Kyou asked exhausted as they reached another flight of stairs.
"Well..." James rubbed his chin thinking...
He actually had no idea what he was going to cook for the twins!
"Have either of you...ever tried fajitas?"
"That's a Mexican food right?" Ryou asked.
"Yeah we have a BBQ flavored one in the cupboard that I could cook up for you both!" James gave the twins a thumbs up.
"Sure!" they replied with a thumbs up.
After a few minutes they reached the door.
James gave a brief of relief as they finally finished walking through the long flight of stairs.
He put his hand onto the door handle and then stopped. "No I'd better knock! It'd be awkward if while I'm in the kitchen mum walks in on Kyou and Ryou thinking that they've broken in or something!" James's mind immediately began to fill up with various scenarios on what could occur.
He took another sigh of relief as he cleared his mind. "I wonder what it would be like if I brought Kotomi over?" James suddenly snapped back into reality. "God why do I still keep thinking about her?!" James groaned as he tugged on the hair on his forehead.
"Um?" The twins stared at James blankly at what had just happened.
He slowly turned his head over to them with his face bright pink with embarrassment "Um…haha..." He gave an awkward smile "D-did I say that last part out loud?" He asked as his voice suddenly felt shaky.
"Um hmm" The twins both nodded in response.
James's face suddenly became an even darker shade of red. "F-forget what just happened please..."
He turned his attention back towards the door as he knocked four times and then pulled the doorknob opening the inside of the flat.
"Mum I'm home!" He shouted as he entered the flat. "I've brought a couple friends over too!"
He then gestured his hand towards the twins. "Come inside!"
Kyou sighed with a slight smirk as she entered the flat.
Ryou felt extremely worried about James. "He...he wasn't thinking about that girl was he?" She thought to herself as she entered the flat and removed her shoes as James and Kyou had done.
James quickly stepped into the kitchen picked up a kettle filled it with water and began to boil it "I'll just make some tea first!" James shouted through the room as the twins sat down on the sofa.
They both turned their heads looking around the room "He sure lives in a nice place!" Kyou remarked.
"Yeah it's so nice in here!" Ryou replied in amazement.
Kyou picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.
The screen lit up and some game show was playing on a random channel.
Kyou put her hands behind her head as she got comfortable on the sofa "I guess we'll just watch this while we wait for our dinner..."
Kyou glanced at her sister and immediately noticed her glaring at the floor worridly.
Kyou placed her hand on Ryou's shoulder. "Shh don't worry!" Kyou whispered to her sister in comfort. "James's mum will be fine with us!"
"I-it's not that at all!" Ryou whimpered as her voice became shaky and flustered.
Kyou raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"
Ryou turned her head facing Kyou. "It's something else!" She exclaimed "I'll...I'll tell you and James later!" Ryou looked back at the floor as she rubbed her arm gently.
Kyou removed her hand from Ryou's shoulder and turned her attention back to the TV. "Hope you're okay Ryou!" She thought to herself worriedly, letting out a sigh.
James entered the room holding two hot cups of tea.
He carefully placed them onto the table and blew lightly on the cups as steam was coming from the hot drinks.
"Well I hope you girls like the way I make tea!" He laughed nervously. "Two sugars and rather milky!"
He then removed his scarf and placed it on the back of one of the other chairs.
"Thanks!" The twins smiled and nodded.
"Uh...James?" Ryou cleared her throat.
"Yeah?" James glaced as he was about to walk back into the kitchen.
"W-when dinners over shall we start on your homework?" She asked nervously as she played with her hair.
"Of course." James shrugged.
They all suddenly heard a door creek open and James's mum stepped into view looking rather tired and unwell.
"Oh hello mum!" James greeted her nervously "I-I came back a bit earlier to treat my friends here to some dinner!" he gave a nervous grin.
The twins noticing James's nervousness quickly stood up and bowed "Hello !" Kyou spoke up "I'm Kyou Fujibayashi and this is my sister Ryou!"
Ryou blushed giving a nervous wave. "H-hello!"
James nervously waited for his mother to say something. This had been the first time that he had brought any girls to where he had lived in his lifetime as with previous friendship's he'd only ever hung around guy's and been extremely nervous around women.
Victoria turned her head to James and grinned "You didn't mention that you were having a day out with two girls James!" She laughed as she could see James becoming red in the face.
"N-no mum!" He laughed nervously "I-it's not like that!" He laughed nervously again.
Victoria then turned her attention to the twins. "So which one of you is his girlfriend?"
"W-what?" Both the twins gasped in response as they turned a very dark shade of red.
Victoria laughed. "I'm just joking around!" She then sat down on an empty chair near the sofa "It's just nice to know that my son has already made a few friends!"
"W-we're very glad to have met him!" Kyou stuttered still blushing.
"Anyway." James quickly tried changing the subject. "I'm making dinner for them since they've done a lot for me today!"
"Oh?" Victoria glanced at James.
"Kyou treated us for lunch then we went to the arcade and then helped me buy a new phone!" James brought out his brand new phone from his pocket and passed it to his mum.
Victoria examined the phone and placed it onto the table. "Well that was very kind of you Kyou!" Victoria exclaimed placing her hand on Ryou's shoulder.
Ryou laughed nervously. "No I'm Ryou!"
"I'm Kyou!" Kyou tried her best not to laugh out loud.
"Oh I'm sorry!" Victoria apologized.
"No, no it's fine!" Kyou assured her
"Something like that hasn't happened in years!" Kyou thought to herself.
"Anyway I'll get the cooking started!" James quickly ran into the kitchen.
"What are you cooking?" Victoria shouted through the room.
"BBQ Fajitas!" James replied shouting as he got out a piece of raw chicken from the fridge and began to cut it up with a knife on a chopping board he'd placed on the surface.
"Do you want to join us ?" Ryou asked.
"No its fine." She chuckled slightly "You kid's don't want me ruining your fun!"
Ryou examined James's mum " are you unwell?"
Kyou glanced at Ryou.
"Just a bit luv!" She chuckled "I've been a bit under the weather lately if I'm honest!"
"I see..." Ryou mumbled thinking that what Victoria had said wasn't quite true...
"So how did you two meet my son?" Victoria asked quickly changing the subject "Are you in his class?"
"Well I'm the class representative!" Ryou explained "One of our teachers had me look after James on his first day since he's in my class. We just kind of became friends instantly I guess."
"And I briefly met James on his first day too!" Kyou explained "We're in different classes but we talked briefly..."
Flashbacks of some of the things that she had done or said to James came into her head sending chills of regret down her spine.
"But today was really my first opportunity to really get to know James!"
"And so the first thing you do is treat him to lunch and buy him a phone?" Victoria glanced at Kyou with a slight frown.
Kyou gave a nervous laugh under her breath "It's complicated..." She mumbled to herself.
"Ah shit shit!" They all heard James shout from the kitchen.
Everyone quickly ran into the kitchen.
"What happened?!" Victoria shouted
"Are you ok James?" Ryou asked worridly.
James was struggling to remove a piece of chicken that had gotten stuck on the burning oil on the frying pan. "Yeah sorry!" He groaned "Bit of oil spat out and got my arm it's nothing really!"
Victoria sighed "You silly boy..." She mumbled as she put her hand over her face.
"Be careful James..." Ryou mumbled to herself as all three of them went back into the front room.
Kyou and Ryou sat down on the couch and Victoria made her way towards the bedroom. "Girls I'm going back to bed so please make sure James doesn't have an accident..." She looked at them worriedly.
"Yes !" They nodded as Victoria entered her bedroom and shut the door.
"She sure seems cautious with you." Ryou remarked.
"Well from what I've seen of James he's a lot like you! Kyou sighed "Very shy and a lack of confidence!"
Ryou looked at the floor saddened.
Kyou glanced at her sister and put her arm around her "I wasn't trying to sound rude Ryou" She whispered gently in her sister's ear.
"It's fine..." Ryou replied in an upset tone.
Kyou sighed. "Do you think there's something wrong with James' mum?" She asked worriedly.
"Well..."Ryou sighed "She looks rather ill and I have a feeling that there could be more to it than she is letting on..." Ryou took a deep breath "I'm wondering if I should ask James about it but it's none of my business and I don't want to worry him!"
Kyou hugged her sister tightly. "If you think somethings wrong just ask him!" Kyou looked at her seriously. "James doesn't seem to be the type of guy to just flat out yell at people for asking questions."
Ryou glanced at the kitchen door. "Yeah..."
...
The twins wait patiently for their dinner to arrive as they watched a few programs on the television while occasionally asking James if he needed any help.
After almost an hour James came into the front room carrying a plate with 8 wraps placed onto it.
"Ow hot hot!" James groaned as he hurriedly placed the hot plate onto the table and blew onto his hands "Give me a minute!" He shouted as he ran back into the kitchen.
A minute later James returned carrying a plastic tray holding three bowls and three stainless steel spoons.
The smell of BBQ sauce filled the room quickly as the bowls steamed from the heat of the frying pan.
"Thanks James!" Ryou stood up and bowed before returning to her seat.
"We'll just give the food a few minutes to cool down!" James sighed as he sat down on the empty chair where he'd placed his scarf. "So mum seems fine with you both!"
He chuckled under his breath "Sorry about her embarrassing behavior though!"
Ryou gave a nervous whimper as she still had James's mum on her mind.
Kyou smiled. "It's fine!" Kyou laughed. "Our mother is kind of like that too!"
Ryou chuckled slightly as she carefully grabbed one of the piping hot wraps placing it onto a plate.
"M-mind if I start?" She asked nervously.
"Sure" James shrugged.
Ryou grabbed her spoon and carefully placed it into her bowl. The steam whooshed as the food was moved around as she brought out a couple pieces of chicken and placed them onto the wraps. She wrapped up the wrap she took a few bites and swallowed.
James waited in anticipation. "W-well?"
Ryou's entire face suddenly turned deep red but this time she wasnt blushing.
She suddenly put both her hands around her throat and began coughing.
James and Kyou quickly stood up to help her "Ryou are you ok?!" James shouted as Kyou slapped Ryou's back several times "What's the matter are you choking?!" Kyou asked as she was now starting to panic.
"W-" Ryou coughed loudly "Water!"
James immediately ran into the kitchen "Stay calm girls!" He shouted through the kitchen as he quickly turned the tap, filling a glass cup with water.
He ran back into the front room and passed it to Ryou. "Here!"
She quickly grabbed the water and had gulped down the entire glass within seconds.
She slammed the glass down with a loud clank as it hit the table and she held onto her throat gasping for breath.
"Ryou are you ok?!" Kyou asked as she grabbed her sister's shoulders.
"I..." she took a deep breath "I'm fine!" she giggled slightly "It's just there was a lot of pepper in that!"
"Hmm?" Kyou glanced at her own untouched bowl and paced her finger into the sauce placing her finger into her mouth tasting it.
Kyou coughed slightly and put her hand on her throat. "Jesus how much pepper did you put in that?!"
"Oh my god I'm really sorry!" He felt a horrible tingling feeling in his stomach and he moved around uncomfortably "I just...tend to put a lot of ground pepper into the fajitas..."
"Ugh!" Kyou sighed "Ok next time don't add in pepper Ok?"
"Sure" James mumbled sadly.
"W-well..." James cleared his throat "If you don't like it I can see if I can cook up something else"
"No it's fine!" Ryou waved her arms in panic. She didn't want to hurt James's feelings after all "It...was just a bit of a surprise with how spicy it was!"
Kyou glanced at her sister in annoyance "I swear you'll be the death of me little sister!" She thought in her head as Ryou noticed her older sisters glance and gave her a nervous look.
Kyou sat down and took a deep breath. She grabbed a wrap and took a small chunk of chicken with her spoon while trying to avoid having a large amount of sauce onto the spoon she then placed it onto the wrap wrapped it up and took a bite.
James slowly began walk into the kitchen. "I'll get you a glass of water too!"
Kyou coughed for a few seconds and took a deep breath "Well...although you added waaaaaaaaaaaay too much pepper this actually tastes fine!" She then took another bite as James came into the room with another glass of water. "Thanks!" he smiled.
...
The trio sat exhausted full up and tired after all the eating.
"Ugh!" James groaned holding his stomach as he stood up "I think I cut up too much chicken!"
"Yeah." The twins groaned.
"I'll do the washing up" Mumbled as he carfully picked up all the plates and cutlery.
"When that's done shall we do your homework?" Ryou groaned clutching her stomach.
"Sure!" James shouted through the kitchen.
...
After all the cleaning was done James brought out his homework. Surprisingly for James the work actually wasn't too difficult as Ryou explain what he had to do and in no time flat the work was at last complete!
James put his head back on the sofa and took a deep breath "Honestly I don't know how to thank you enough Ryou! Seriously you are a life saver!"
Ryou chuckled as she blushed. "It's fine!"
Kyou smirked to herself as she checked her watch. "Well it looks like we'd better get going!" She exclaimed as she stood up from the sofa "Thanks for today though James it's really been a lot of fun!"
"W-well..." James chuckled "It was your idea to have a day in town with the two of your so I really should be thanking you!"
He put out his hand towards Kyou for her to shake his hand.
Kyou laughed as she shook his hand.
Suddenly an idea came into her mind "Oh!" She gasped. "Do you have any paper?"
"Yeah...how come?" James questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Well you're going to want our number's on your new phone um..." She paused for a moment turning her head to Ryou. "He has your number right?"
"Yes!" Ryou blushed.
James passed James a sheet of paper "here!"
Kyou took the paper writing down her number quickly "Here you go!" she exclaimed as she passed the sheet back to James.
"Thanks!" James replied as he read the number on the paper "01978146128"
"Well I'll text you both later letting you know it's me!" he grinned.
"Before we go." Ryou mumbled "Do you want me to read your fortune? For tomorrow I mean?"
"Alright" James shrugged.
Ryou brought out her pack of cards and showed them to James.
"Ok pick three cards!" She instructed.
James took three cards from the deck. Ryou placed the deck back into her pocket and brought her hand towards James. "Now show them to me!"
James passed the cards as Ryou examined them.
She remained silent for a few moments.
Kyou glanced worridly at her sister "Ryou?"
Ryou looked at Kyou with a worried look on her face "Um..."
James could tell that something was troubling Ryou. "Are you alright?"
"T-t-the c-cards..." Her arms began shaking slightly.
Ryou cleared her throat. "The cards say...that...tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you!"
Ryou looked at James with a horrified look James gasped in shock and covered his mouth "mum!" He mumbled in a muffled voice.
"Are you sure that's right?!" Kyou asked worriedly.
"W-well..." Ryou gulped. "Fortune telling can sometimes be inaccurate...even if you get a negative reading depending on how much you and the people around you try it's possible to change the future!"
"Hmm…" Kyou mumbled. "That still doesn't answer the question..."
"Look I'm sorry!" Ryou shouted trying not to cry. "I'm just telling you what the cards say!"
James sat back down on the chair and put his hand over his face. "Its fine!" He groaned as he took a deep breath "Well...I guess I'll see you both tomorrow…"
The twins looked at James worriedly. "Um...do you mind if we ask something about your mother?" Kyou asked softly.
James removed his hand and glanced at the twins "What?"
"Well…" Ryou spoke up. "Is your mum ill?" She took a deep breath "I...I don't want to sound nosey but I noticed that she looks really unwell..."
James put his hand towards the twins "Don't worry its fine!" he took a deep breath "Well...a few others have asked too and...Well mum's been unwell a lot for the past year or more but I think there's something more to it..." His voice started to sound shaky as he was becoming upset.
Kyou put her hand on James's shoulder "Don't worry James" She whispered softly to him in comfort "I'm sure your mum will be fine!"
Ryou suddenly began to cry and put her hands over her eyes. "I'm so sorry James!" She cried "If I hadn't-"
"Stop blaming yourself!" Kyou shouted
Ryou stepped back away from her sister. "S-sorry!"
"Please...don't start arguing..." He ran his hand through his face and took a deep breath. "So any plans for school tomorrow?"
Kyou sighed sensing James wanted to change the subject. "Not really no..." She mumbled not entirely sure what to talk about.
"Well..." Ryou gulped "I've decided tomorrow that..." She took a few deep breaths and rubbed her arm.
"James and Kyou both looked at Ryou with anticipation for she had to say...
"I'm going to ask out Okazaki!" She shouted slightly louder than she meant to.
Kyou gasped in shock "You're really going to..."
"Yes!" Ryou exclaimed blushing.
"Well I wish you good luck!" James smiled.
"Well..." Kyou was speechless "I...I guess we'll be going now..." Her voice became almost a whisper by the end of the sentence.
"Yeah." Ryou nodded "See you tomorrow James!" She gave a small wave while still blushing.
"Same to you!" He stood up and walked to the door. "I hope asking out Okazaki goes well!"
As the twins walked through the front door and James slowly shut it he walked back to the sofa and lied down like he would a bed and put his hand over his face.
He took a deep breath "I hope you'll be ok mum!" He groaned with Ryou's fortune still on his mind.
"Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you"
To be continued...
Authors note:
First off I want to appologize with how long it has taken for this chapter to be uplaoded!
It's been like a month or two since the last chapter was uplaoded but due to a large amount of college work as well as just life itself I've just been too busy to write.
Chapter 10 is halfway done as I write this and will not be as long as this chapter also be prepared for the feels when reading chapter 10!
Thanks to BuffaloSoldia115 for helping me edit this chapter as well as chapter 8 which I totally forgot to credit him for.
Please check out his Clannad fanfiction "A shadows Journal"