Sketching Tomorrow: A Clannad Fanfiction.
Chapter 20: A night's aftermath.
James woke up his eyes feeling heavy as they tried forcefully to drift back off to sleep. Placing his hand's onto the edge of the bed he forced himself up as the spring's of the mattress squeaked faintly.
"Ugh" James yawned as he ran his right hand down the right side of his face "What time is it?" he mumbled as he activated his phone and saw that the time was 7:05
"I'm up earlier than usual" he remarked as he came off of the bed stood up and stretched himself with a loud yawn.
"Might as well get dressed since I'm up. Nothing else to do..."
Picking up a fresh pair of underpants a flannel and towel from his draw he went inside the bathroom undressed himself and activated the shower. James shivered as ice cold water fell upon him for a few seconds before slowly becoming nice and warm. "That's the stuff!" James sighed feeling relaxed.
He rubbed his cheek where Kotomi had kissed him as his "lower area" began to get a little excited "So does she actually like me?" his heart pounded as his chest tightened and he struggled to breath as he rubbed his throat.
"If she does...what the hell am I gonna do?" he ran shower gel through his hair as it ran down his face stinging his eye's.
"I've only know her for a couple weeks..I-I can't just start going out with her can I?"
He rinsed his hair with water as he ran his finger's through.
"I don't think I could have a girlfriend after what happened last time..."
...
After drying himself off he quickly changed into his school uniform placed his flat-cap onto his head and packed his bag.
"Oh yeah-" James suddenly remembered as he walked over to his windowsill and picked up the customised star carving.
The star shined in the light with it's glossy paintwork and vibrant colors. He was very pleased with the finished piece.
"I'm sure Ryou or Kotomi will like the look of this!" he giggled placing the customised star into his bag making sure also that his wallet was also inside. He then put the bag around himself straightened his uniform and grabbed his sketch-pad.
Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen he left his bedroom and walked near to the door and quickly wrote down a note for his mum to see.
Gone to school will be back later (Love from James xxx)
Leaving the note on the side table where the phone was he unlocked the door walked through it locked the door and put the key's through the letterbox proceeding to make his way to the stair's leaving the flat and heading school.
...
Kyou gave a loud sigh brushing off her skirt as she prepared to walk out of the house. She turned to the wall and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eye's were red raw she hadnt slept at all during the night after her mother accompanied her sister to the hospital. A message had been left on the answering machine explaining Chiyo would return at some point within the afternoon but would stay with Ryou for the time being.
As she turned her head back towards the door she slowly grabbed onto the door-knob opened the door and stepped outside.
"Stay here till mummy comes home Botan!"
A faint "Puhi Puhi!"could be heard from inside the house as Kyou locked the door. She took a deep breath taking a few steps forward and looked up at the bright blue sky gazing at the white fluffy clouds as they drifted silently through the air while she clutched her hand's trying to decide her ultimate fate for the foreseeable future.
...
James walked closer to the school becoming closer and closer to the pathway where the cherry tree's bloomed. The air felt faintly warm as the wind blew in a silent howl students from Sophomore Junior and Senior classes walked up the hill chatting about various things while James walked alone.
It was thing's like this that made him think about how small he was in the grand scheme of things.
He gave a loud sigh placing his hand on his chest "I guess since I'm early I'll head off to the library"
As he took another step further he began to feel butterflies in his stomach as he felt the kiss from the night before.
"I need to keep myself calm!" He said to himself in his head forcing himself to continue on despite his anxiety issues "It may not have even meant to have been a romantic kiss. I mean the french kiss each other on the cheek after all..."
...
He stood in front of the door's of the old library. Brushing off his uniform removing his flat-cap and straightening his hair he placed his hand onto the wooden door pushed it forward entering the room.
As always a dead silence filled the room as he looked around. He'd never seen anyone else use the library other than himself and Kotomi. It would seem just from his own experience the second library run by Yukine Miyazawa was more often used.
He quickly made a mental note upon thinking about Yukine as he wanted to talk to her about her "friends" that he'd had an unfortunate encounter with the other day.
He took a step forward and walked to Kotomi's usual spot and there she was as expected engrossed in a text book. He cleared his throat as he began to feel hot under the collar loosening a couple buttons on his uniform and pulling out the top of the blue jumper trying to cool himself down.
He kneeled down onto the floor sitting next to kotomi as he opened his mouth to speak his heart began to race as he looked upon her face remembering how she had appeared to him with her hairstyle dropping down looking almost like a completely different person.
"I wouldn't mind if she had her hair down like that more often" he cleared his throat trying to remain calm. Collecting all the courage within him he slapped his hand onto Kotomi's shoulder.
"Kotomi-Chan!"
There was a faint gasp as she slowly removed the book away from her gaze placing it upon the floor and turned her head to James before blushing violently and turning herself away from him.
"H-hi James!" she mumbled as she moved herself a few inches away from him as she looked at her fingers proceeding to wrap her arm's around her chest.
"Hey Kotomi" James cleared his throat as he felt butterflies in his stomach and a slight feeling of worry as he watched her move away from him.
"S-so-" he covered his mouth with a fake cough trying to hide his blushing face "How are you?"
"Good"
He didn't know how to reply. He felt as if he were being strangled as his throat and chest tightened his rapid breathing increasing with every passing moment.
"I-" James rubbed his throat trying to remove the sensation of being strangled "I-um-I-"
He couldn't think of what to say to her next as Kotomi still kept her eyes away from him.
"I gotta clear this up!" he thought as he thumped his chest "Man up James!"
Without giving much thought he grabbed Kotomi's arm attempting to pull her towards him.
"Kotomi do you like me?!"he exclaimed louder than he meant to with his words echoing through the room. Kotomi forced her arm away from him placing it back around her chest as she tilted her head forward covering her blushing face into her arm's.
"Kotomi?" Concerned James moved his hand up towards her back as he faintly rubbed it attempting to comfort her.
"If-" Kotomi removed her head from her arm's and looked at James with a glare of anxiety "If it's about me kissing you yesterday it was only meant as a thank you"
"Oh" James's hand fell from Kotomi's back as it crept back towards him as he mumbled in response feeling a sence of relife but also heart broken at the same time.
"Fine" James cleared his throat as he moved himself back up straightening his uniform. Kotomi moved closer towards his legs and tugged her hand on his trousers.
"Please!" Kotomi sniffled "I'm sorry I gave you the wrong idea I-"
"No no no it's fine it was my own stupid fault!" he interrupted in a faintly sarcastic tone as he turned himself around heading towards the door clutching his fist in frustration and anger.
"I was an idiot to think she was interested in me! What am I thinking no girl is ever gonna like me-heck if a girl at this school did like me I'd know!"
The door slammed shut it's sound echoing as Kotomi tilted her head into her chest.
"I'm sorry James!" she whimpered as a tear ran down her cheek "But I just don't want to lose another loved one"
...
James entered the classroom grumbling to himself. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was five minutes until lesson's were to start.
Throwing his bag over to his chair he walked towards his desk and covered his face with his arm's.
He heard faint footsteps enter the room becoming louder and louder until James felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Wake up man" A familiar voice called to him.
"I'm not sleeping" James grunted as he moved his head and saw Okazaki standing beside him. "What do you want anyway?"
"Lesson's are starting in a few minutes what did you expect?"
"Well you're a delinquent right?" James yawned rubbing his eye's "So you never show up to lesson's or whatever"
"I show up on occasion but don't really pay attention" he explained "beside's Sunohara is much worse"
"I see" James shrugged not exactly caring "How'd things go with that ghost girl yesterday?"
Okazaki slammed his hand onto the desk with a loud thump accidently startling James as he pointed his finger at him "Come with me to the drama-club room at break! We'll discuss the situation there"
"Sure sure" James gave a slight nod as more students began to fill the room. "By the way-" James whispered to Okazaki as he looked at the door seeing which students were entering the room "Have you seen Ryou this morning?"
"Fujibayashi?" Okazaki questioned "No I've not seen her yet"
"Alright" James mumbled as he continued to watch the student's. "Not like her to be late though"
"Not exactly late"
"Even so-" James put his finger into his mouth thinking that it seemed usual still. "Never mind" he waved his hand over to Okazaki dismissing him.
James placed his hand inside his pocket searching for his phone. He quickly found it and hurriedly sent Ryou a text.
Where are you? Class is starting in a few minutes.
To be continued.
Author's note:
Bit of a shorter chapter this time but in my opinion it's one of the better written ones with it's description.
I've written down what I've got planned for the next few chapters making the writing process a lot easier and maybe (not promising anything) I may be uplaoding one chapter a week.
Also I just wanna say in case it was offensive I appologize about that comment regarding the french.