Chapter Twenty-Five: Doing the Splits

I sat with my chin resting on my hands as I stared at my milkshake.

"What is the matter, Tomoya?" Kotomi asked. "Do you not like chocolate?"

"No, it's not that," I said. "I guess I'm just worried about Tomoyo."

She smiled affectionately. "I understand. It is a shame that she could not make it this time."

"Yeah," I mumbled, but I wondered; she had called me the morning of our 'group date' to let me know she wasn't feeling well. "I haven't been getting enough sleep, lately. You two have a good time, though." I'd had no choice but to accept what she said, but something didn't feel right about it.

I felt Kotomi's gaze against the side of my face. "Shall…Shall we go visit her after we are done here?" she asked with a bit of a strain to her voice.

"Yeah, I'd like that," I replied. "Just to make sure she's okay."

She took my arm immediately after I finished paying for our snack, and we headed down the road toward Tomoyo's house. We both knew where she lived because of our prior 'dates', so it wasn't long before we entered a neighborhood similar to where Kotomi lived: rows of nice, gated houses lining the road, each surrounded by bushes.

I opened the gate to let Kotomi enter ahead of me, then carefully closed the gate before heading to the front door to ring the doorbell. We both knew that it was a Saturday but were still surprised when Takafumi answered the door. "Oh hey, Okazaki-san, Ichinose-san! Good afternoon!"

"Hey, Takafumi," I greeted. "We're here to visit your sister, if she's up to having company."

He gave us a puzzled look. "Nee-san? She's out running errands."

It was my turn to have a puzzled look. "Errands? I thought she wasn't feeling well."

A gentle pressure on my arm drew my attention to Kotomi. "Takafumi-san, did your sister say anything about feeling unwell this morning?"

He shrugged. "No, she seemed pretty normal; just had her breakfast and went to school. She was only home for a few minutes after school before heading out to do her errands."

Now that was weird; why would she tell us that she wasn't feeling well and then go run errands? "Do you know where she went?"

"To the market, as far as I know," he said. "Why?"

"The three of us had planned to spend time together today," Kotomi answered, surprising me with her initiative. "We missed her and wanted to check up on her."

"We didn't mean to bother you," I added.

"It's not a problem," the high-schooler said. "Hey, how's your computer doing?"

"Fine," I said with an awkward grin. "To be honest, though, I haven't signed up for the internet yet; I've been mostly playing around with the programs."

"We all learn at our own pace," he said with a disarming smile. "No rush. Like I said; if you need help you can call me."

"Thanks."

"I...I have been helping him," Kotomi interjected.

He nodded approvingly at my friend. "It's good to have friends you can count on, right?"

"R-Right," I managed, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

I tried to ignore the approving looks of other people as we got close to the busy market. Kotomi and I did look like we were a couple; both of us dressed nice, her arms wrapped around one of mine and, I noticed after a glance, a bright, happy smile on her face.

It didn't take long for us to find Tomoyo, browsing the vegetables at one of the smaller storefronts. "Sakagami-san!" Kotomi called before I could even open my mouth.

Tomoyo looked towards us with a surprised look that quickly turned subdued when she saw us. "Oh…hey," she said as we approached her.

"What're you doing out shopping if you're not feeling well?" I asked.

"I…I had to pick up a few things; is that okay?" she asked in an irritated tone.

"Sakagami-san, why are you talking like that?" Kotomi asked. "Tomoya and I were worried about you, so we went to your house to check up on you. Your brother told us you were out here, so we came looking for you."

"You what?" Tomoyo's expression changed quickly at that. "Oh. I'm, uh…I'm sorry."

"How are you feeling?" Kotomi asked. I decided to let her take over the conversation since, as a girl, she might communicate better with Tomoyo. I contented myself with studying my friends as they talked.

"I'm…better, thank you," Tomoyo replied, pushing her hair over her ear. "I took a nap after I got home from school before heading out."

Kotomi shared a puzzled look with me. "But Takafumi-san told us that you were only home for a few minutes before heading out again."

I blinked as Tomoyo flinched at the news. "He…He did? W-Well…" Without warning, her expression turned angry. "Why do you keep prying, anyway? What do you care; you get him all to yourself today! You should be happy!"

"I-I am happy to be with Tomoya," Kotomi admitted while taking a step back, "but we were both worried about you. Sakagami-san, is there something you're not telling us?"

"Yes, there is," she admitted, "but I'm not going to talk about it. Please leave me alone." Tomoyo then left us slack-jawed as she ran out of the marketplace, leaving us behind.

"Who the hell was that?" I asked, pointing in the direction our silver-haired friend had left. "She looked like Tomoyo, but…"

"I believe I understand," Kotomi said. "That was very unlike her."

I scratched my cheek with my free hand as I thought. "Well, let's just…enjoy our date, I guess. I'll try to call her this evening or something."

"All right, Tomoya," she said as she gave my arm an extra squeeze. "What would you like to do?"

"Hello, Sakagami residence." From the voice, it sounded like Tomoyo's mother.

"Hi, this is Okazaki Tomoya," I said, not sure how to proceed. "May I speak with Tomoyo?"

"Ah, Okazaki! Hello! Yes, she's here; just a minute, please." I heard the *tap* of the receiver being put down, then what sounded like her footsteps. I then heard what sounded like a tense conversation before someone picked up the phone again. "She'll be with you in a minute," Mom said.

"Thank you."

As I waited, I mentally prepared myself for the conversation. I really didn't understand why Tomoyo had acted so hostile toward us earlier, so I wanted to find out about that. I also wanted to invite her on a date with just the two of us since my last one had been with just Kotomi.

In the middle of my thoughts I heard the phone being picked up again. "Hey, Tomoya. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Don't worry about it," I said. "Do you have time to talk to me?"

"Yeah," she said, sounding…guarded? "I'm…assuming you want to talk about what happened earlier."

"Yeah," I said. "You kinda surprised us with that. Are you okay? Did we piss you off or something?"

A long pause. "Listen…are you free tomorrow?"

"Sure," I said. "Actually, another reason I called was to see if you were up to going on a date, just the two of us."

"Just us?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah; it was just Kotomi and I today, so I thought it should be just you and I on the next one."

"That…That makes sense. O-Okay, we'll meet tomorrow, then."

"What do you want to do?"

Another long pause. "I'll tell you when we meet, okay?"

"A surprise, huh? That's cool," I told her. "So where do you want to meet?"

And another long pause. "I'd…like to meet at the park near your place. Is that okay?"

I knew where she was talking about. "Sure. What time?"

"How about two o' clock?"

"Sounds good," I said with a smile. "The park at two o' clock."

"Right."

"Cool. See you tomorrow."

After we signed off I hung up the phone with a smile as an idea came to mind…