Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad fanfiction.
Chapter 10: Preparation
James sat in his bedroom lying on the bed staring at the ceiling an hour or more had passed since the Fujibayashi sisters had left and Ryou's fortune was still burned into his mind.
"Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you."
Ryou's word's kept repeating themselves in his head over and over again! It was like a recording on constant repeat that just wouldn't stop!
"Argh!" James groaned in frustration as he banged his head onto the soft surface of the pillow before removing it from his head and burying his face on top of it.
"It's...it's got to be mum hasn't it?" He thought to himself. "I mean...is there really anyone here yet that's important to me..."
James then turned his head staring at the photograph that the three of them had taken just hours before which he'd now placed on the wall.
Another quote from Ryou came into his mind...
"You're...you're like a brother to me!"
"T-that's...the first time anyone...let alone a girl...Has said that to me..." He mumbled to himself.
As James thought more and more about Ryou's quote he couldnt help but feel like in a way Ryou was like a sister he never had! After all they had a lot in common: both two very shy individuals with hardly any confidence but from day one Ryou had been there for James and they had quickly become best friends...
"She really means a lot to me..." He mumbled again.
He threw the pillow to the wall. As it bounced off and hit the floor James slowly got up to retrieve his laptop case.
He opened up the case and switched on the computer.
The screen shined brightly but thankfully James already had the bedroom light on so the laptops brightness wouldn't affect him...the fortune telling game had already done that enough.
James waited patiently for everything to load up before he checked his emails.
After five minutes or more of waiting a notification came up on the corner of the screen.
You have received one email!
"Hmm?" James wondered who could have emailed him thinking that it could be one of those junk emails that he'd get on occasion.
The screen turned white and all his emails came into view.
He skimmed through the long list of emails and saw that the new email was a reply to the message he'd sent his old friend Mark just the day before.
James facepalmed himself lightly and chuckled. "I completely forgot that he'd emailed me!"
James moved the curser clicked on the unread email.
James slowly began to read.
"Hey James!"
"Glad to know that things are (sort of) going well over in Japan!"
"Hopefully if I can (although it is unlikely) I can visit you during the next holiday off although don't quote me on that!"
"So these friends you've made what are they like? I'm guessing from the names that they are all girls' right? :P "
"Talk again soon!"
"From Mark!"
James laughed out loud "I bet he thinks I'm some kind of player over here! If only ha!"
He glared at the keyboard wondering what to actually write.
James slowly began to write as the words formed in his mind:
"Lol! Okay first off just because all my friends happen to be girl's doesn't mean I am starting to become some kind of player! :P "
"To answer your question though...well.. Ryou is pretty much my best friend. She's really shy but once you get to know her really comes out of her shell...kind of like me in a way!
"In fact that's why me and her get along so well I think because we are two very similar people!"
"It's weird 'cause today she said that I was like a brother to her!"
James blushed as he typed that last sentence...
"She asked about some of the stuff with "The one who shall not be named" since I had briefly spoken to her about it."
"She said that if "you know who" where to come over here she would protect me because brothers and sisters look out for each other!"
"I know it kind of sounds weird but it seems right to me in a way too...to be honest "if you know who" came here I would be deeply worried about Ryou because I care about her a lot and wouldn't want to see her get hurt..."
"As for Kyou...well she is the COMPLETE opposite of her sister! Seriously she is violent aggressive and God knows what else!"
Until today Kyou and I actually didn't get along very well but all three of us went into town and we both agreed that we're now great friends!"
"I'll see if I can attach a photo to this email! We took a photo together in one of those photo booth things so if I can use my webcam to take a picture of the photo I should be able to send the webcam image as an attachment so that you can see what they look like!"
James carefully removed the photograph from his wall. He then went into his desktop settings and proceeded to turn on his webcam.
The screen changed and James was now looking at a mirrored image of himself. Due to the rather bad lighting of the bedroom the picture quality appeared rather fuzzy and grainy but you could still see things roughly at least.
James moved to the side out of shot as he put his hand near the camera with the photo. He pressed the icon on the left side of the screen and the laptop made a clicking sound.
After a few seconds James returned to his computer and went into his files.
The photograph was caught in a flash but you could just about see the faces of all three of them.
James sighed. "This will have to do…" He mumbled as he played with his sideburns...
After attaching the photograph to the email James continued to type.
"I actually had a really fun day in town!"
"We went to the arcade had lunch and I bought a new phone!"
"Only a cheap one though since you know I'm not too fussed about internet on these kinds of things. I'd give you my number but it's probably easier just to keep emailing since I swear I heard you are charged a lot for calling abroad or something..."
"I also cooked dinner for them at the flat which was...honestly a little embarrassing!"
James chuckled under his breath as he wrote that last sentence.
"Now as for Kotomi..."
James glared at the keyboard again.
What was he going to say? After all he really didn't know that much about her...he took a deep breath and began to type everything he could think about her.
"Well I don't really know that much about her...she's really shy and I mean REALLY shy!"
"Sometimes it's hard to start a conversation with her cause she'll be so wrapped up in her own little world to notice anything or anyone around her in fact I've had to refer to her as "Kotomi-Chan" when starting a conversation so that she knows I'm talking to her!."
"She can be rather weird too like in town today I happened to bump into her at a book store. She tried to cut out a page in the store with scissors that she'd brought with her! And when I asked what she'd been doing she told me that she'd be going to all the different bookstores around the town since one in the morning!"
"But honestly as weird as that girl is I'm kind of interested in her...I don't know why hell in fact there is a funny/embarrassing story about how we met but I'll tell you some other time!"
"But she's really cute and has a nice personality but...I keep thinking about her a lot and I don't know why also...she asked if I wanted to eat lunch with her tomorrow!"
"I don't have much to do during breaks so I'll probably join her..."
James suddenly realized that he hadn't mentioned Ryou's drawings or Kotomi's apparent mild interest in art.
He put his hand onto his forehead slowly bringing it down away from his face "I'll tell him about that stuff in another email I guess!"
He then wrote his final words: "Anyway I'd better be going since I've got work to do!"
Then he selected send. The screen turned pure bright white before returning to his backlog of emails with a notification at the top of the screen saying "Email Sent Successfully!"
He took another deep breath as he signed out of his email account and shut down the laptop.
Despite the fact it was only seven in the afternoon he'd had a busy day and was now feeling so tired to the point that he just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep no matter what the time was!
...
James woke up early next morning. He had gone to sleep so quickly that it felt as if he had just shut his eyes before opening them to reveal the day time.
He undressed out of his Pajama's and took a shower.
As he ran the shower gel through his hair Ryou's plan to ask out Okazaki suddenly came to mind. "I hope that goes well!" He thought as his eye's starting to sting as the shower gel ran down his face. "It's going take her a lot of confidence to do that and she's so fragile!"
James quickly dressed into his uniform before having a bowl of Weetabix for breakfast he then brushed his teeth and drank a glass of water.
As he prepared to head out of the door he sent a text to Ryou and Kyou telling them that he was on his way when he suddenly heard the sound of his mother's door opening.
He turned around and walked to his mother's door as she slowly stepped out.
"H-hi mum!" He said worriedly.
Victoria's hair was all over the place and her eye's appeared blood shot. "Morning James…" She replied in a tired tone of voice.
"I'm just heading off to school so I'll see you soon!"
As James turned out to walk about to the door he felt Victoria's hand grab his shoulder.
"James..." She cleared her throat as her voice sounded raspy as if she had a sore throat. "I need to ask you something about those two girls from yesterday..."
James turned his head and looked at his mother worriedly. "Yes?"
"Well..." She was now giving James a very serious look "I don't know about the one with the shorter hair but that other girl with the longer hair..."
"Kyou." James interrupted.
"Kyou." Victoria reminded herself. "I think you should watch yourself around that one...don't you think it's odd that she treated you to lunch and bought you a new phone?"
James could tell what his mother was thinking. She had misinterpreted the situation completely.
"M-mum!" James smirked embarrassingly. "S-she's just being nice!"
"Yes but that is being too nice!" Victoria raised her voice before covering her mouth and coughing.
"Do you want some water?" James looked at his mother worriedly as Ryou's fortune came into his head once again.
"Tomorrow for the time being you will lose someone important to you."
Victoria coughed for a few more moments before removing her hand from her mouth. "N-no." She took a few deep breaths. "James you need to get off to school now but..." She looked at her son worriedly…"Just be careful...I don't want people taking advantage of you!"
James nodded. "Don't worry I'll be careful!"
With that James took his leave and left the flat.
James suddenly felt the vibration of his phone in his front pocket.
He took out the phone which read. "You have 1 message from Ryou"
James clicked onto the screen and saw the text which read. "See you at school!"
James gave a light chuckle as he placed the phone back inside his pocket as he began the long journey down to the bottom of the flat.
"I'm sure she'll be fine..." James thought as he walked down the first set of stairs "I mean...what's the worst that could happen..."
James as worried as he was couldn't help but admire Ryou for her courage at attempting to ask out the guy that she liked.
James had liked quite a few girls over the years but he'd never had to courage to ask any of them out...except one.
He suddenly felt a shiver down his spine as the girl that used him came into his mind. "I'm sure Okazaki wouldn't use her...would he?"
He didn't know Okazaki that well since the guy barely showed up to class but he (at least from what James had seen) always had a sort of smug attitude around people like he was the sort of guy that you didn't want to cross.
He then remembered on his first day when Sunohara had attempted to take on Tomoyo Sakagami and how all the people watching were terrified of them...particularly Okazaki.
James gulped as he was now starting to worry for Ryou's sake "Maybe...maybe I should have a talk with her..." He thought.
...
He was now halfway to the school. He'd decided not to visit the Furukawa Bakery since he'd already had breakfast and since he was having lunch with Kotomi later didn't need to buy anything for to eat in the afternoon.
"I wonder what the schools meals are like?" James shuddered as the taste of his last schools mashed potatoes came into his mouth which always tasted lumpy and made you want to vomit.
As he looked at the scenery he began to take in his surroundings: The wide open roads the tree's that bookended the left and right side and the bright blue sky...James took a sigh of relief as it was moments like this that made him glad to be alive.
He then thought about where he was going in life how the things that were happening to him at this point in his life would affect him in the future...
Vrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
James suddenly heard that sound as he came back to reality for a moment and he knew exactly what that sound was and it was getting close!
Instinctively James jumped to the right as the noise became louder as a familiar purple haired girl zoomed past as James landed flat on the ground hitting his shoulder hard onto the pavement. "Argh crap not again!" He groaned as he clutched his shoulder slowly getting up and regaining balance.
As James brushed himself off he heard a thwack sound up ahead and he suddenly saw someone fly into mid-air before hitting the ground again!
James looked up ahead in horror as he ran to the scene. "Y-you serious?!" James gasped. "She actually hit someone!"
"Sorry take my apologies instead!" He heard Kyou shout to the person lying on the ground as the sound of the exhaust hummed and she quickly sped away in the blink of an eye.
"S-she...seriously left him like that..." James mumbled trying not to act speechless at what he has just witnessed.
James gulped as he approached the unconscious guy on the ground.
"Hey...are you Ok?" James asked as he crouched down and put his hand on the guys shoulder.
The guy appeared to be breathing much to James's relief.
The guy didn't answer so James carefully shook him to try and get the guy to regain consciousness.
"I swear Kyou is gonna get into a hell of a lot of trouble if she keeps this up!" He swore under his breath.
"Are you alright?" He shouted. "Say something!"
James carefully shook the guy's shoulders again when he suddenly felt a twitch.
"Hmm?"
James shook the guy's shoulders again.
The guy suddenly opened his eyes and like a lightning bolt stood up accidently knocking James head first into the pavement with a loud smack.
"Argh!" James groaned as he felt dizzy and slowly tried to regain his balence as he stood up again.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The guy screamed
"Ugh!" James shrieked as he stepped back trying not to fall over again.
"What the...?" The guy gulped "What was that just now?!"
"James grinned trying not to laugh at the situation "Well at least you're alive!" he mumbled.
"All of a sudden I felt something like a thump followed by a roll roll and then immediately a slide or something..." The guy shouted clearly sounding shaken up by the whole situation although James couldn't exactly blame him for being so freaked out.
"Um..." James cleared his throat. "You were...you were hit by a bike..." he explained looking at the guy nervously.
The guy gave James an odd look. "A bike?"
Now that James got a better look he honestly wasn't sure if this was actually a guy or a girl.
He or perhaps she had short blond hair a feminine looking face brown eyes and wore a green jacket which judging by the chest area seemed like it could be a touchy topic to discuss.
The guy or girl sighed chuckling slightly. "Ah again!"
James looked at the person in disbelief. "A-again?!" He choked.
"Something like this happens every once in a while!" The person replied smiling.
"He must have hit his head way too many times to be able to find something like that amusing." James thought.
"If it were a car it's be a problem but since it's a bike again that's better." He chuckled
James removed his flat cap and scratched this head. "Better huh?" James chuckled trying to decide whether or not this person was an idiot or something. "You flew into the sky though? You sure you didn't break anything?"
The person gave James a confused look. "Eh? I don't think I'm hurt anywhere in particular..."
"I see..." James mumbled under his breath "I guess that's fine..."
"Umm by the way what's the time?" The person asked.
James brought out his phone from his pocket and checked the screen "It's almost 9:00am"
"Ughhhhh!" The person shrieked as James stepped back in fright.
"Not good I'm going be late for my job interview!" The guy screamed as he suddenly ran off into the distance.
James tried to grasp the situation of what had just occurred. "There sure are a ton of weird people in this town..."
James shrugged it off as he began to continue his journey to school.
As he took the first step he heard a soft crunch sound on the floor "Hmm?" he looked to the ground and saw that he was standing on a white envelope.
"Did he...or she drop this?" James thought as he picked up the envelope and examined it.
In red letters in the corner of the envelope were the words "resume"
"This must have been for the job interviewed they mentioned!" James looked at the envelope worriedly as not having this would mean that he or she wouldn't be able to have their interview at all.
James placed the envelope into his bag as it was too late to try and give this person their letter back.
"Actually..." James thought as he placed his hand bag inside the back to retrieve the envelope "If I can find an address I could just post it back to him or her!"
"I just hope I don't end up being late for school!" He thought as he took another look at the envelope and carefully opened it up.
As he brought out the letter inside he saw the handwriting which was rather untidy "Now let's see..."
As he looked on the letter which read:
Name: Blank.
Age: Blank.
The address was blank too.
Telephone number: Blank.
Academics work experience all blank there was no writing at all.
"What?" He mumbled as he turned the letter over to see if there was anything written on the back.
"Ah ha now we're getting somewhere!" he exclaimed as he noticed some untidy writing on the other side.
Strongest subject: Lunch.
Weakest subject: Homeroom.
Objective: I want money.
Hobbies: Telling people stuff they don't know.
Current Health: I'll sue for sexual harassment.
"I guess this is a guy's writing?" He thought judging by the untidiness of it. "I have no idea what the hell he means by these let alone the writings really bad..."
The letters were different sizes crackled up and hard to read in places "Well it looks like I can't take this to any address can I?" James thought as he folded up the letter placing it back into the envelope and placing it into his bag.
...
In no time at all James arrived at the school walking through the path where the cherry blossoms bloomed.
James took a deep breath as the tree's petals blew around him "Wonderful!" He remarked.
A handful of students walks alongside him chatting away about the usual teenage gossip such as relationships hating school and homework.
"Isn't that the foreign guy?" One student whispered pointing at James which immediately caught his attention.
"Just ignore them." James thought trying not to freeze up.
James tried discreetly to walk faster in order to not be the subject of gossip.
A small group of students out of James's hearing were gossiping about him as he walked up the hill.
"Isn't he the guy dating Fujibayashi?"
"Which one?"
"Ryou Fujibayashi!"
"I saw them hugging in the park yesterday!"
"Those two are totally an item!"
"But she says they aren't dating?"
"They probably want to keep it secret or something!"
...
Ryou waited patiently at the top of the hill for James to arrive as she rubbed her right arm taking deep breaths.
"Just be brave Ryou!" She whispered to herself. "Just be brave!"
"Ryou!" James waved as he reached the top of the hill.
She smiled as James reached her. "Hi James!"
She remembered the fortune from yesterday and seemed to jump from surprise from the thought. "Um...is your mum Ok?" She mumbled
"She's worse than she was yesterday…" James shivered as he felt a chill down his spine.
Ryou looked at James clearly trying not to cry.
"So..." James cleared his throat "You're really going to do it today huh?"
Ryou gave James a serious look as she nodded in response and clutched her fists. "Yes!"
He looked at the seriousness in her eyes. "She's really determined" He remarked.
James sighed. "Do you mind if I ask you something a little personal?"
"Hmm?" Ryou raised an eyebrow
"Why do you like Okazaki?"
Ryou's face suddenly little up becoming a bright shade of red "Well...I...um...He's..."
James could tell that she was clearly having trouble coming up with an answer.
"How did you meet him?" he then asked thinking that perhaps there was some incident that would explain her attraction to him.
"Well..." Ryou cleared her throat "We met last year back when we were in junior year Kyou was the class representative for their class as we were all in separate classes. On the first day Okazaki and Sunohara had gotten into trouble and had to do some work for the school during after school hours..."
"I see…" James mumbled not understanding what this had to do with anything.
"As my sister was the class representative she had to watch over them as they did the work...It was building one of the huts for the PE equipment anyway I met up with Kyou as she was disciplining them. One of the pieces of wood being used to build the huts almost fell upon me and sis but Okazaki quickly grabbed us both and saved us!" Ryou chuckled nervously as she reminisced.
"So you're attracted to him because he saved you both that one time?"
Ryou nodded.
"Seems more like lust rather than love…" He thought.
"Don't tell her I said this but..." Ryou looked at James with a look of regret. "I know my sister also has her eye on him...that's another reason why I want to ask him out on my own because throughout my life...I've always been seen as second rate to my sister and just once I want to be able to do something that she can't!"
James looked at Ryou shocked. "I...I'm not sure if this is bravery or just selfishness..." He mumbled
"Hmm?" Ryou glared at him.
"It's nothing!" James quickly replied. "Anyway I'll see you in class!"
Ryou smiled. "See you!" She waved as James walked into the crowded building with a frown on his face.
...
James sat in the reference room lightly blowing off some steam from a piping hot cup of tea that Yukine has made for him. He carefully took a sip before placing the cup back onto the saucer on the table.
"So..." James cleared his throat. "Do you think there is anything I should do?"
Yukine gave him a serious look as she sat in front of him and grasped his hands gently. "I'm afraid it's not my place to say but...with things like this people like Ryou are open to getting hurt." Her expression turned from serious to sad as she looked at James eye to eye. "I'm sorry but that's the way it is."
James sighed with disappointment. "Yeah…you're right Yukine your right..." He removed his left hand from Yukine's grasp as he carefully took hold of the tea cup. "I just...I just don't want her to get hurt...She's a sweet girl after all and..."
James' facial color suddenly turned bright pink as he covered his mouth with a light cough.
Yukine gave a light chuckle. "From what you've told me it seems you both get along very well." She suddenly paused for a moment. "Is it true that...-?"
"No!" James raised his hand cutting Yukine off. "Whatever rumors are floating around that myself and her are dating are complete nonsense and shouldn't be taken seriously"
"I see..." Yukine replied looking rather surprised at the response.
Before she could say anything else the window suddenly slid open with tremendous force as a heavily built man who looked a few years older than both James and Yukine looking beaten up and tired jumped into the room.
"B-big sis!" the guy groaned as he collapsed onto the ground.
"Sudo!" Yukine gasped as she immediately stood up and ran over to assist the man.
"Um..." James struggled to grasp what was going on.
"T-things…a-..." The man suddenly coughed blood onto the floor. "Are getting worse big sis!"
"James pass me the first aid kit quickly!" She instructed as she turned her head in his direction "It's in the drawer near where I was sitting!"
"Oh...Ok!" James nodded as he quickly stood up and retrieved the first aid kit and crouched down next to Yukine handing her the kit.
"So who exactly is this guy?" James questioned as Yukine quickly searched through the kit. "Your brother or something?"
Yukine shook her head "No" she replied in an "I'm trying to concentrate" sort of way.
James waited patiently as Yukine bandaged up the man and finished after several minuets although the man was still unconscious.
"So..." James began to ask as he slowly stood up again. "You going tell me who this guy is?" He let out his hand in order to help Yukine up.
"Well...there's..." She suddenly began to look very nervous "there's…a…a...Group of people that I...look after I guess..."
"What sort of people?" James asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Well…They're..." She suddenly took hold of James' shoulders. "Look can you just...please not mention this incident to anyone? Please?" It looked to James as if she was about to cry.
"O-of course!" James nodded.
"Ugh..." the man groaned as he slowly got up and grabbed one of the book shelves as he stumbled a little."T-thanks big sis!"
"I'm just glad you're ok!" she nodded smiling.
James could tell by the look of this guy that he certainly wasn't the sort of guy he'd want to cross or meet in a dark ally.
James gulp in slight fear as the man looked at James.
"He a friend of yours big sis?" The man looked at James with menacing eyes.
"Yes he is." Yukine replied calmly as she turned her head to James and raised her hand in his direction "This is my friend James Walker and James this is my friend Sudo."
"Well..." James cleared his throat as he brought out his hand in the gesture of a handshake "Pleased to meet you!" He mumbled nervously.
Sudo shook James' hand in response. "Same to you man!"
Suddenly the window opened up again as another man with red hair and a purple jacket jumped into the room.
James quickly hid behind Yukine as Sudo and the other man stared at each other for a few moments.
"So you followed me huh?" Sudo questioned in an emotionless voice.
"You must be pretty damn stupid if you thought I was going let you get away!" The man shouted as he spat on the floor. "Let's do this!"
"Wait you two!" Yukine shouted as the two men glanced at her.
"Sorry Yukine." The red haired man spoke up while keeping his eye of Sudo in case of a surprise attack. "You're the last person I want to see suffer from all this! I can't even count the amount of time's you've helped me and my bros..."
"I'm sorry too big sis but I can't back down!" Sudo interrupted "This fight is for the sake of my bros and for the sake of our honor!"
"What...is...this?" James thought puzzled at the whole situation.
Sudo suddenly slammed his bandaged hand onto the wall causing a loud vibration. "We'll take this outside I don't want to put big sis through any more trouble!"
"I'm with you on that one!" The man agreed as he turned his head to Yukine. "Bye Yukine sorry again!" He grunted as he ran out the window followed closely by Sudo who quickly turned his attention back to Yukine.
"Big sis...there's one last thing...If another idiot like me comes wandering in take good care of him for me!"
"So long." He mumbed as he jumped outside of the building.
"Sudo wait!" Yukine shouted as she ran to the window but they had both already disappeared.
James coughed under his breath. "You ok?" He asked worriedly
DING DONG DANG DONG
The warning bell suddenly rang.
"James." Yukine spoke up as she grabbed his hand. "Please whatever you do please don't tell anyone about what you've seen!"
"Of course!" James nodded. "I'd better get to class so I'll talk later!"
"Alright…" Yukine bowed as James left the room and began to walk as students began to clutter the corridor.
"What the hell was that all about...?"
...
James sat inside the classroom deep in thought as he waited for the lesson to begin.
In the corner of his eye he saw Okazaki enter the classroom and take his place behind James.
"Alright?" James mumbled to Okazaki with a slight wave.
"Yeah." He replied in a bored tone of voice.
As James was about to go back into deep thought he spelt a poke on his head knocking off his flat-cap.
"D-don't do that!" James whined in a slightly high pitched voice as he brushed off his hair and put his flat-cap back on.
Okazaki gave a light chuckle. "Sorry but I couldn't resist!"
James gave a few mumbled groans in response.
"Oh James right?" Okazaki questioned
"Yeah that's my name" He nodded in response raising an eyebrow.
"Are you busy at lunch?"
"Well..."
"Cause if you're not I need you to come to the drama club room to discuss something! Shouldn't take too long..."
"Well all right if it's not going to take too long but where exactly is the drama club room?"
"Do you know where the old library is?"
"Yeah"
"It's right next to it!"
"Alright sure"
"God not another thing to worry about!" James groaned in his head.
Ryou suddenly entered the classroom shaking nervously with her face deep in red.
She glanced at James and smiled as he gave her a thumbs up and mouthed "good luck" to her.
She approached Okazaki James could hear her breathing heavily and sounding rather flustered "O-o-okazaki?" She mumbled stuttering as she made a slight choking sound.
Okazaki glanced at Ryou not giving her his full attention. "Yeah."
"I…I...I…" her face became even deeper in red as she gulped and clutched her chest.
"Hey are you Okay?" Okazaki looked at her with concern.
James was worried too as it seemed as if Ryou was extremely close to having a panic attack.
Ryou gulped taking a deep breath "I need a...a word with you in private during break!"
"Sure." Okazaki replied with a raised eyebrow "Where do you want to talk?"
"Umm..." Ryou thought for a moment as she glanced at the window outside "H-how about out there in the grounds?" She suggested pointing outside the window.
"Alright then…" Okazaki replied.
Ryou nodded as her face became a very dark shade of red and she slowly returned to her seat.
James carefully took his phone from his bag and sent Ryou a text which read. "You did well!"
Seconds later his heard his phone vibrate as he got a reply which read "Thanks!"
But James was still worried about Ryou in the event of her getting rejected.
"Please be okay..." he mumbled under his breath.
...
After what seemed like an endless amount of time waiting for the lesson to end the bell finally rang as all students immediately arose from their seats to exit the classroom.
As James stood up to brush himself off he witnessed Ryou walk up to Okazaki (who had fallen asleep throughout the lesson) and tap him on the shoulder.
"W-what?!" Okazaki shouted as he accidently fell off his chair and straight onto the floor with a loud "thump!"
"S-sorry!" Ryou mumbled as her face became its usual dark shade of red from embarrassment.
"Oh Fujibayashi." Okazaki mumbled as he slowly stood up and brushed himself off.
"C-c-can you p-please" She suddenly look a few deep breaths "hurry up..."
"Sure." Okazaki replied looking half asleep.
James mouthed "good luck" to Ryou giving her a thumbs up and Ryou smiled giving a light nod in response and with that James watched the two slowly walk out of the classroom.
James quickly made sure that he had all his stuff together and headed out of the classroom soon after.
"I just hope everything turns out okay…" James thought worriedly.
Suddenly he felt someone remove his flat-cap.
"W-what?" He stuttered quickly turning his head to see who it was and to his surprise it was Kyou.
"Hi James!" She chuckled as she wore James' flat-cap.
"Oh ha-ha Kyou just give me that back!" He grunted sarcastically as he moved his hand towards her.
She gave him an annoyed frown in response "Gee you can't take a joke can you?" She mumbled as she removed the hat giving it back to him.
"Not when people are stealing my stuff." He mumbled as he placed the hat back onto his head "By the way I can't believe you this morning!"
"Hmm?" Kyou looked at James confused.
"You ran someone over!" He replied raising his voice ever so slightly.
"Oh!" She chuckled. "The kid's ok right?" She asked with a smug face.
"Yes." He mumbled putting his hand over his face. "But what would you do if something did happen?"
Kyou chuckled again. "It's fine, it's fine! The reaction when my bike hit was different after all!"
James raised an eyebrow. ""Reaction?""
"Yeah." Kyou glanced "What should I call it...the feeling when the flesh gets crushed with the bone? None of that was there was it?"
James immediately covered his mouth trying not to vomit "I'm definitely sure she is a psychopath!" He thought.
I'm sure that my skill reduced the impact." Kyou continued. "I'm sure that was that of a master."
"This girl is not normal..." James thought
Well nothing happened right?" Kyou smiled. "Everything's Okay!"
"I guess." James mumbled.
"Anyway." Kyou cleared her throat. "Is Ryou still inside the classroom?" She looked at him seriously.
"Nope!" James smirked. "She and Okazaki are going for their little chat" James gestured with his two fingers.
Kyou gasped. "W-where have they gone?!" She questioned while grabbing James by the collar.
"O-outside the ground's near our classroom!" He gulped nervously trying to release Kyou's grip.
"Come on let's go!" She shouted as she ran through the corridor at lightning speed dragging James along with her...
To be continued...
Ok so I actually cut this chapter short as I felt that it was getting too long so be prepared next time for the feels!
Wishing you all a merry christmas and thank you to BuffaloSoldia115 for helping me edit this chapter!
Again please check out his Clannad fanfiction "A Shadow's Journal"
