Friday morning, August 20th 1993 – The Furukawa Bakery
"This is Kishiyami at the bakery. We found Kotomi Prime."
Kotomi had just heard the shorter of the two women say the line that confirmed her suspicion. But, something was wrong. She hadn't heard an alert from her laptop. Under the counter, and out of the view of any customers, she had modified her soccer-ball sensor and connected it to her trusty Toughbook to give her an alert when the rescue party arrived. On top of the fact that they had arrived without triggering her detector, she didn't recognize either of them. "Who… who are you and why are you looking for me?"
"Ah, my apologies." Kishiyami said after popping her visor down and enabling her microphone so that all the other members of the team could hear her conversation. "My name is Kishiyami and my excited friend here is Akuma. You wouldn't recognize us since Tomoyo-sama and Yukine-sama recruited us for the team after you were lost."
"Did something happen to the boys?" Kotomi asked worriedly.
"No… well yes." Kishiyami considered how to answer this question, "Hmm… nothing had happened to them at the time that we joined, but we lost Takeo, Takeshi, and two of the new girls a week ago. And… your friend Melissa-hakase passed away about the same time."
"No!" Kotomi stumbled back against the chair in the shock that had been dealt her.
"Baka!" Akuma was beside the faltering Kotomi in an instant and holding onto her as she chastised her friend, "You can't just tell her something like that. Especially not in her condition!"
"Did Melissa-chan die trying to find me too?" Kotomi asked the two women as her eyes misted up.
"Kotomi-chan." Akuma said sternly, using the verbal handshake that all of them had been trained to use… for encounters with any Kotomi.
"A...Akuma-chan?" Kotomi replied. Falling back on that comfortable pattern seemed to lessen her distress.
"Try to remain calm. Do you need to sit down?" Akuma asked compassionately.
"Yes… I think that would be best." Kotomi accepted Akuma's help in getting back up on the chair just as more shouting started to unnerve her.
"What the hell is going on in here? Who's picking on Kotomi-san?" Akio demanded while wielding his trusty baseball bat. But encountering only two women dressed in light sundresses confused him. He was more confused when the bat was yanked out of his hands, he was spun around, and his arm was pushed painfully up behind his back.
"Kotomi-chan, does he know?" Kishiyami asked while gripping Akio's wrist in a submission hold with one hand and holding the bat with the other.
"D… does he know what?" Kotomi was shocked to discover that her earlier suspicion about these two women being bullies was correct.
"Does he know who you really are?" Akuma asked quietly.
"Oh, yes! Yes he does." Kotomi answered and was glad to see that the shorter woman was releasing Akio… although she wasn't yet returning his bat.
"Akio-san, we are from the world where Kotomi-chan came from. We have come to take her home." Kishiyami explained to the man while he flexed his arm to get the feeling back in his fingers.
"So you two are from that future place, huh? Tell me something to make me believe that." Akio thought it unlikely that someone would come up with a scam like this, but Kotomi had never mentioned anything about women coming to rescue her.
"We don't need to…" Akuma was a little ticked off at his bravado, after having been disarmed so quickly.
"It's okay." Kishiyami said to her friend then told Akio, "In our universe, your wife Sanae is a wonderful person. However, her baking is awful. She once created an abomination that almost killed several people."
"Tch." Akio scowled. He had asked for some kind of proof, so he couldn't complain that the woman had picked something so troubling.
"But it didn't stay like that." Kishiyami smiled at the man's hopeful glance, "When your daughter Nagisa was in High School, she met a younger girl named Sakagami Tomoyo. This girl was talented at a number of things, and one of them was baking. When Tomoyo-sama worked with Sanae-san, they made pastries that were amazing… in a good way."
Akio had heard the stories of this girl from Kotomi, but hearing from another person that his wife would someday be able to make pastries that were not only non-lethal, but even delicious…
Ding ding!
The conversation was interrupted by a few customers coming into the bakery, but the smile on Akio's face wasn't just his customer service facade. Sure, he would have to wait a decade for this Tomoyo girl to come along, but there was hope for Sanae!
"Let's head into the house, shall we?" Akuma took Kotomi's arm to steady her and guided her into the residence part of the building, where they could speak more privately.
After leaving Akio's bat behind the counter in the bakery, Kishiyami followed the other two into the house. Before she could make it through the doorway, her stomach growled it's dissatisfaction at not being able to satisfy itself with any of the delicious smelling breads or pastries. Embarrassed, Kishiyami plunged through the curtains without looking back. Once inside the residence, she went into the kitchen to make some tea while Akuma got Kotomi comfortably seated at the table. All the while, Kotomi seemed on the verge of tears.
"Kotomi-chan," Akuma said compassionately as she took Kotomi's trembling hands, "I know we haven't met before, but Kishiyami and I are part of a large group of people who have been looking for you. If you can trust me, I can listen to whatever is troubling you. And… I promise to answer your questions to the best of my ability."
"People died… they died while trying to find me? I'm so sorry. I never meant…" Kotomi held onto Akuma's hands despite her being someone she had just met. Her usual fears were suppressed from her need to know what had happened to the people that were dear to her.
"No, Kotomi-chan. You misunderstand." Akuma said while leaning close and firmly holding the distraught woman's hands. "The four who were lost a few weeks ago, they are still alive… as far as we know."
"What happened?" Kotomi asked while wiping the tears with her sleeve. Still upset that they were lost at all, she was a bit hopeful now that they were not dead as she had assumed.
"They arrived in a universe that happened to be one of the perfect worlds that the Ushio was searching for. The tunnel collapsed before they could come home. Kobayashi-hakase is trying to figure out a way to retrieve them, but he is going to need your help."
"Yes… yes, of course I'll help. And Melissa-chan?" Kotomi asked with less hopefulness than when she asked about the explorers. After all, the shorter woman had clearly said that her friend had passed.
"She succumbed to cancer." Akuma said quietly.
"Cancer?" Kotomi was surprised. She had never heard her friend say anything about a serious health condition.
"It was the kind that takes you pretty quickly." Akuma told her.
"I guess so. It wasn't that many months ago that I last saw her." Kotomi said sadly.
"Yeah, about that…" Akuma started to tell her about the time dilation between their worlds.
"Don't… tell her… the date!" Isamu's voice came into the girl's earpieces and he sounded breathless like he was running a long sprint.
"What?" Kotomi asked the suddenly quiet Akuma.
"I don't think the boss want's Kotomi-chan to know how long she's been away… in our universe." Kenta said from the park where he waited with Kimera.
"Right!" Isamu replied while continuing to run toward the bakery.
"You're right, Kotomi-chan. It was the quick kind." Kishiyami said haltingly in an attempt to cover up what Akuma was about to reveal.
"Ask her if there is anything she needs to collect before we take her home." Kenta transmitted.
"Kotomi-chan, did I hear you tell Akio-san that you just had your six month pregnancy checkup?" Kishiyami asked, knowing that the others would hear the exchange.
"Oh, yes. Kotomi rubbed her swollen belly and told them, "It's a boy, and he is doing fine. I can't wait to tell Tomoya-kun!"
"Yes, I'm sure he'll be very happy." Akuma said with an awkward smile.
"Do you need to collect anything before we head back?" Kishiyami asked.
While Kishiyami and Akuma talked with Kotomi about what she needed to collect, the others reacted to what they had just heard.
"Kimera… send…" Isamu gasped the words through the labored panting.
"I got this boss, you just concentrate on running and breathing." Kenta said over the radio, then he turned to Kimera and asked her, "Have you already told them that we found Kotomi Prime?"
"Not yet, should I send it now?" Kimera asked.
"Add this to the message. Let Ryou-sama know that Kotomi just had her six month pregnancy exam and she is doing well." Kenta told her.
"Sending." Kimera said as she hit the key to transmit the message.
.
Tuesday just after noon, August 21st 2012 – The Park across from the Furukawa Bakery
Over nine hours had passed since the exploration team had departed from their own world. Although it had only seemed like an hour and a half to the explorers, the different in time passage between the two worlds meant that the people manning the particle accelerators and monitoring the project on the 'home' side of the portal, were working in shifts. Rather, most of them were. Ryota and a few others pushed on well past their required shift time.
For many of them, it was hard to stay focused. The night became day and the hours marched on to lunch time without any sign of change or update from the exploration team. Fuko brought Ryota a bento box with a lunch that she had made for him. She knew that during one of the missions, he wouldn't want to step away from his laptop unless he absolutely had to, so she sat down next to him with her own box. They had just started to eat when something on the laptop called out for Ryota's attention.
Ding!
"Incoming mess…" Ryota dropped the star shaped omelet roll he had been eating and his eyes opened wide as he read the first line of the message.
"What is it? Is the tunnel destabilizing?" Tomoyo reacted to Ryota's pause.
"The tunnel is fine." one of the scientists said after verifying the readings on his laptop.
"Did they find Kotomi?" Kyou asked. She and Tomoya had just returned after picking up lunch for everyone in the pergola. The question had little hope attached to it. Kyou knew that there were still a lot of worlds on the list, even if this one did have a matching time code. She hadn't really been expecting him to say…
"Yes." Ryota replied and looked around the room. Everyone was looking back at him in shock. They had known there was a chance, but this was only the first of the final list of worlds that their search had narrowed down and no-one had expected them to get lucky on the very first attempt. A search that had been ongoing for almost two years, and now…
"What is the message?" Tomoya was able to ask when he broke out of his shocked stupor.
"Sorry!" Ryota realized his gaffe and read the message to the room. "Akuma and Kishiyami found Kotomi Prime at the Furukawa Bakery. Advise Ryou-sama that Kotomi just had her six month pregnancy exam and she is doing well."
All eyes turned to Ryou. They hadn't taken a pregnant person through the wormhole before… at least, not in the home-bound direction that had the freezing effects.
"Limited hypothermia has not been observed to be an issue for the fetus. In fact, therapeutic hypothermia has shown to be an effective procedure for neonatal encephalopathy." Ryou replied to all the curious stares.
Unfortunately, her answer just changed the stares from curious to confused.
"The fetus should be fine." Ryou restated in a simpler way. Regardless of her answer, she put her radio in transmit and told her team, "Kotomi Prime has been found. She is six months pregnant and in good condition. Consult Doctor Sasashi on any additional measures that may be required to insure the safety of the child. I am on my way."
"Thank you, Ryou!" Kyou hugged her little sister for giving them the good news and for the care that she continued to give them.
"Don't thank me yet. His first wife is coming back with his unborn child. Have you and Tomoya figured out how you're going to put this broken puzzle back together?" Ryou whispered to her onee-chan, then gathered up her unfinished bento and left the tent to insure the readiness of her recovery crew.
"Poor Ryou. She still doesn't understand." Yukine said dolefully. Obviously, Ryou's whispered words hadn't been quiet enough.
"Do you understand?" Kyou asked Yukine. It wasn't something she and Tomoya had been talking about, mostly because she had been afraid of the subject. Tomoya seemed to be taking a cross that bridge when we come to it attitude, but she had been worrying about it nonetheless.
"Of course! I've known the answer ever since your family came back from America.
"What?" Kyou was shocked. Kotomi hadn't been missing that long, but there was no denying the confidence on Yukine's face.
"Please… explain it to me because I am still struggling to understand myself." Kyou's pride would normally have prevented her from making such a request… and such an admission. But in the twenty-one months since the death certificate had been issued and she had married Tomoya, Kyou had yet to come up with a satisfactory answer. And now, she was out of time.
"Kyou-chan, let all your worries fly away. There is nothing at all for you to worry about." Yukine replied in the way a mother tells the pain to fly away from a child.
"But, when Kotomi…" Kyou started to argue the point, but Yukine shook her head and shushed her as if her concerns were too silly and foolish to even say out loud.
"Your sister is under the misunderstanding that the Okazaki relationship is a broken puzzle, but it's not." Yukine's serene voice calmed Kyou and had an effect on Tomoya as well. "When I saw you three arrive with your delightful children, I saw a complete puzzle. It made a beautiful picture. You may have thought of yourself as an extra piece, looking for a place to fit – but you weren't. You were as integral a piece then as you are now, and as you will be tomorrow."
"But… the marriage?" Kyou tried to bring Yukine down to the realities that they would soon have to deal with, but Yukine's reasoning wasn't shaken so easily.
"If you are referring to the concept of marriage, it is as intact as it always was. But if you are talking about the piece of paper, it is irrelevant for you and Kotomi and Tomoya… and it always has been." Yukine replied.
"What?" Kyou protested. It's a legal document, how can it be irrelevant?
"That piece of paper says that a marriage exists between only the two people listed on the document, but honestly… do you think Kotomi ever intended that kind of marriage? Kyou-chan, she had included you as an integral part of her marriage from the very beginning. Surely you must know that by now?" Yukine prodded.
"Yes." Kyou had fought it all along, but she knew that this was exactly what Kotomi wanted. More than just wanted, it was something she believed in. Kotomi was an incredible genius, but she had never been able to grasp simple cultural norms if they didn't make sense. And to Kotomi, the concept of monogamy simply didn't make sense. More precisely, any societal norm that tried to tell people who they could and could not love, was meaningless to her. Reminded of this, Kyou put her hand over her face to hide the tears starting to form in her eyes.
Tomoya quietly moved up behind Kyou and put his arm around her. He didn't ask Yukine to stop though. Indeed, he nodded for her to go on.
"Technically, what you have is called a polygamous relationship, but that isn't quite right. Governments say that it isn't legal for a man to have two wives, but they aren't getting it right either. These terms and concepts were made up a long time ago, but in this day and age women aren't chattel. So, a man does not have two wives at all. For polygamy, or any social organization, it will only work when everyone wants it to work. I think you already know that Tomoya and Kotomi love each other, and that you and Tomoya love each other. But there is one connection left, isn't there?"
Kyou nodded her head in understanding but said nothing.
"Your real worry is about that last link. So, this isn't about Tomoya, rather it is about the trust and love between you and Kotomi. You may both love Tomoya, but I know that Kotomi cares for you too. She trusted you with her own children. And as introverted and confrontation-averse as she is, she fought with your father for you." Yukine let that sink in a moment before she added, "Kyou-chan… that is love."
"I know!" Kyou's tears turned to sobs. She was grateful for Tomoya holding her steady while her body trembled. The things that Yukine was saying were ripping her apart emotionally, but she knew it was the truth. Truth that she had been ignoring or fighting, but still the truth.
"You love Kotomi-chan too, don't you?" Yukine knew Kyou was near a self-realization, and this was the last card she had to play. If this didn't work, there would be nothing more she could do to help Kyou to realize that…
"YES!" Kyou shouted through her sobs. The emotional pain was like sharp knives shearing away the atrophied fibers of her emotional armor until she was laid bare. "It scares me how much I love her! I've wanted her back since she left, but I'm afraid… afraid of… of… I'm just so afraid."
"Kyou-chan," Yukine moved close and took Kyou's hands down from her face so she could look into those purple eyes. There was a bit more red to them just now, but she smiled and pressed on, "This is Kotomi that we're talking about, right? She is the Kotomi that loves you and wants you by her side. So tell me, what in the world do you have to be afraid of?"
Kyou's facial expressions changed rapidly as Yukine's question brought her to one realization after another.
Disbelief. Kyou looked at Yukine and wondered how can you not see the obvious problem…
Confusion. Wait… what was that obvious problem again? Something about being in a three way relationship?
Doubt. Was I really worried about something that I've already been doing since… since high school?
Shock. I've been such an idiot!
Shame. I've made Tomoya worry about me unnecessarily!
"I've been a fool." Kyou turned around, into Tomoya's arms and cried, "I'm so sorry for being such an idiot. Tomoya, how can you ever forgive me for being so stupid?"
"Hey hey," Tomoya pulled Kyou in close and told her softly, "I was being pretty stupid too, until a very wise person explained it all in a way that I could finally understand it."
"Who… when did someone explain it to you?" Kyou looked up into his eyes and wondered how long she had been the only one in distress about this.
"Just now, when Yukine explained it." Tomoya said with a smirk.
"Baka!" Kyou hit him in the chest… but not too hard. "I thought I was the only one… I thought you had this all figured out!"
"Hey, don't blame me. Kotomi is the brains of this outfit." Tomoya said while he pulled her in close so she couldn't hit him again. While Kyou sobbed into his chest, he looked over at Yukine and mouthed a silent thank you.
At the other end of the room, Ryota sent the message that Ryou was busy preparing for them to come home, and that everyone was looking forward to their safe return. Then he turned to Kobayashi and asked, "Should I send out the broadcast?"
"Hmm." The old scientist didn't like the idea of sending a message like that until the party was safely back home, but he also understood the political ramifications. "Announce only that we found her. A subsequent message will be sent when she is safely home."
"Yes, hakase." Ryota typed the message and hit the key to send it.
Moments later, cell phones chirped all across Hikarizaka, a few in Tokyo, a few more in Hokkaido, and a few in America. One particular cell phone in America hadn't been plugged in for a week. It was on it's last battery percentage when it dutifully received the message, chirped once, and died.
.
Friday late morning, August 20th 1993 – The Furukawa Residence
Akio looked up when the bell rang to announce some new customers in the bakery. He had never seen these men before, but he had a feeling he knew what they were really here for. "I guess you're not here for my bread. You fellas looking for Kotomi-san?"
"Akio-san! It's really true? She's here?" the shorter of the three men asked with a voice dripping in hopefulness.
"Yeah. Those girls have her in the house right now. Go on in." Akio waved them toward the doorway to the residence. He watched as two of the men bounded through the doorway.
"Um… Ah wants ta see her too, but…" the tough looking man eyed the table full of breakfast breads and pastries.
"Go ahead. Take whatever you like. Take some for your friends inside too." Akio said resignedly. At this time of the morning, the sales rush was pretty much over so it wouldn't be too much of a loss.
"Thanks Akio-san! I promise we'll make this up to ya!" Iwao grabbed several platters of the stuff he knew all of them liked and disappeared into the home after his friends.
.
"Isamu-kun!" Kotomi started to get up in her excitement, but Akuma stopped her.
"Think of your condition, Kotomi-chan. Let him come to you, okay?" Akuma advised.
Kotomi agreed and opened her arms for her friend to come and give her a hug. She knew that he had once been a bully, but he had long become someone that she trusted and counted amongst her friends. And, being the first person from her world that she knew, he was rewarded with Kotomi's joyous hug.
"Hey, what about us?" Mikio pouted as he and Iwao entered the room after Isamu.
"Mikio-kun! Iwao-kun! I… I'm so happy!" Kotomi gushed as she found herself surrounded by more people from her home.
"Huh… there sure is a difference between the way she reacts to you guys and us." Akuma said dryly. She looked over to Kishiyami for agreement but the big breasted girl already had one of Iwao's pastries in her mouth and was reaching for another.
"Don't worry, Akuma-chan. After she gets to know you…" Mikio started to explain.
"Yeah, yeah. I was just teasing." Akuma waved him off.
"Isamu-kun! I was worried that it was a search party from another parallel universe like our own when my sensor didn't detect you and I didn't recognize the exploration team members." Kotomi told him.
"Sensor?" Isamu scratched his head.
"I converted my sensor ball into a detector to let me know when someone opened the wormhole and sent another sensor ball through." Kotomi explained.
"We'd have to get Kobayashi and Ryota to talk about that, but I know they made a lot of modifications to those things since you disappeared. Maybe your old sensor ball can't detect the new ones?" Isamu guessed.
"That might be it." Kotomi looked like she was deep in thought to ponder that possibility as a valid explanation.
"I'm glad you guys are having your nice reunion, but it's starting to get kinda hot out here." Kenta called in from where he and Kimera waited with the big picnic basket.
Isamu started to get up but Kotomi was still holding onto his arm. He looked over and caught Iwao's eyes.
"I'll take care of it." Iwao grinned and turned back toward the doorway to the bakery.
.
Akio took a look around at what remained of the product displays in the little storefront. Huh… there's not much left. Do I bake another run, stay open for a little while and see if I can sell what's left, or close early? With these guys showing up, it's likely to get interesting around here. Kotomi-san is probably going to be leaving soon. I guess closing early would make the most sense. Just then, the big guy that took several displays of his pastries came back out into the bakery in a hurry to get his shoes on. "What's the rush, er…" Akio asked and realized that he didn't know the big man's name.
"Oh, sorry… mah name is Iwao. The boss… I mean, Isamu… he wants me to take some food and drinks to the two out watchin tha portal thing."
"Portal thing?" Akio asked.
"We gets here through a wormhole… tunnel… thing. Anyhow, ifn the tunnel collapses, we could be stuck here forever. So the sciency guys made us a detector gizmo." Iwao explained while struggling to get one of his boots on.
"Don't worry about it. I'll see to your friends in the park." Akio said as he reached into the small refrigerator for some plastic bottles of green tea.
"Ya sure?" Iwao stopped in the middle of his boot struggle.
"Yeah, we don't get a lot of traffic during the summer… especially after the morning rush. And, I wanted to stretch my legs anyway." Akio said. Realizing he didn't know who he would be looking for, he asked Iwao, "What do they look like?"
"Ya can't miss 'em. They'll be a couple with a big picnic basket somewhere near the outfield." Iwao told him before bounding back into the residence.
.
Kenta and Kimera were still out in the park, pretending to be enjoying a summer holiday as they maintained the monitoring of the early warning device that filled the over-sized picnic basket. If it had been up to them, they would prefer to head back to their world as soon as possible, but there were sure to be many farewells and a lot of things Kotomi would want to collect and pack up before she headed back. Kenta didn't mind the wait, but the day was getting hotter and he was worried about Kimera. He was about to ask if she was okay when she spoke up.
"Isn't that Akio-san?" Kimera nodded toward the baseball field.
"Huh?" Kenta followed her gaze and saw that it was the familiar bakery owner after all. Seriously? He looks exactly the same as he does almost twenty years in the future. Does that guy never age? "Hey Akio-san!"
Akio turned to see the young couple sitting under the shade of some trees nearby. Despite having been told that all the exploration team members were former gang members or bikers, he had a hard time seeing these two that way. They looked every bit the average young couple that they were supposed to appear to be. "I thought you guys might be getting thirsty, but it looks like you have enough there for a party."
"Nah, looks are deceiving." Kenta threw back the lid of the picnic basket for Akio to see the strange device that took up almost all of the basket's interior.
"So… that's the thing that warns you if the tunnel is going to collapse?" Akio asked while pulling out two of the cold bottles of green tea that he had in his bag.
"Yep. And it's as heavy as it is big." Kenta laughed as he reached for the offered tea. "Thanks for this. The breeze died down about thirty minutes ago and it's starting to get pretty hot out here."
"You two want to come inside? All your friends are there now." Akio offered.
"I appreciate the offer, but we can't. This thing doesn't have much range." Kimera replied while Kenta was taking a long drink from his bottle of tea.
"How much range does it have?" Akio asked while opening another bottle and drinking tea with them.
"Dunno!" Kenta laughed, "They only invented it a few days ago and it's never been tested."
"Huh?" Akio couldn't believe they were relying on something so sketchy.
"Well… the only way to test it is for it to be near a collapsing tunnel. So, I'm hoping it never goes off." Kenta said while Kimera was fishing something out of her purse.
"Here." Kimera had a jewel case with a shiny disc inside, that she was handing over to Akio.
"What is this?" Akio thought it might be a CD with some music from the future.
"That is a DVD with two of Nagisa-chan's performances on there. I thought you might like to see what she can become some day." Kimera said.
"What is a DVD?" Akio asked as he looked at the shiny surface reflecting prisms of sunlight.
"You know, a DVD. It plays movies. You just…" Kenta stopped his explanation when a thought occurred to him. Putting a hand over his face, he asked, "Kimera-chan, can you send a message and ask them when DVD players were invented?"
"Sending." Kimera said simply.
"It looks like a CD." Akio said as he flipped it over to see that it was shiny on both sides.
"It won't work in a CD player though." Kenta said as he tried to recall when he saw his first DVD player.
"Late 1996. I'm sorry, Kenta-kun." Kimera apologized since the idea of giving this past Akio a video of his grown daughter's performances had been Kenta's idea. Kimera had thought it very thoughtful and had helped to make it happen. And now…
"Don't worry about it! I still have to wait ten years for Nagisa to grow up, right? Waiting three years for something to play this on will be nothing!" Akio laughed it off.
"There is something I can do." Kimera said as she typed a quick message and sent it.
"What did you do?" Kenta asked.
"I requested a portable DVD player to be sent to us." Kimera answered.
"Can they do that?" Akio sounded concerned, "Aren't there some kind of rules about giving high tech stuff to primitive cultures, or something?"
"Hahaha!" Kenta laughed and patted Akio on the shoulder, "You read way to much science fiction. But, who knows? The people that run this show might decide that it might break some kind of rule to do that, so the request might get denied after all."
Pin pin pin!
The two men looked at Kimera as the alarm let them know that an incoming message had arrived.
"The request wasn't denied." Kimera said after scanning the reply. Then her eyes fell on the details of what would be sent and she exclaimed, "Oh… you're going to need some help carrying this stuff."
.
An hour later, several of The Boys were gathered around second base with Akio. Fortunately, the mid-day heat meant that there were only a few other people in the park, and certainly no-one there to play baseball.
"Here, put these on." Kenta handed a pair of sunglasses with a strange prismatic coating to Akio.
Akio was about to decline the offer, but everything these guys had, seemed to be imbued with some kind of magical gadgetry, so he accepted them. Moments after he put them on, his suspicion was justified when he heard a voice near his ears say…
"One minute to transfer."
Akio looked to his left, then to his right at the others that were standing there with him. All four of the young men that had come from the other world were here. The buxom Kishiyami was camped out in the shade with Kimera and the warning device. The tall Akuma had gone back to the Ichinose house with Kotomi, to pick up her things there. But the four guys around him were all looking off toward center field.
"What are we looking at?" Akio asked after seeing nothing but an empty center field whether he was wearing the glasses or not.
"It may be hard to see in the day time, but in about twenty seconds or so, you should see little balls of light on the ground around the middle of center field." Isamu told him.
"Thirty seconds." the voice called out.
Akio squinted his eyes, not wanting to miss this thing that everyone else was able to see. At first, there was just nothing but sun blasted grass, but he finally saw a little ball of light just as the voice called out again.
"Ten seconds."
He heard the voice count down each second and watched as the little balls of light increased, then danced, then spun madly around the center, then rushed up into the sky. "Wow!" was all he could say as he looked up into the infinite blue sky where the little balls of light faded away.
"It's here." Isamu said and stepped forward.
"Huh?" Akio looked down and found that center field was not as empty as it had been. There were several big rectangular cardboard product boxes and a pile of smaller ones, where before there had been nothing but grass. He understood now why Isamu had asked him to bring a wagon. Looking at the big cardboard boxes, he commented, "These DVD players are a lot bigger than I thought."
"Those are big screen TVs." Kenta said with a chuckle.
"What? There's no way a TV could fit in that skinny box!" Akio objected.
"The TVs of the future are flat like a picture frame. In fact, you can even mount them on the wall like a painting." Kenta told the amazed Akio.
"Let's hurry and get these in Akio-san's house before someone gets curious.
.
Friday afternoon, August 20th 1993 – The Ichinose Residence
In the cool of the familiar home, Kotomi wondered at how quickly she had become acclimated to being around Akuma. Sure, she had recently conversed, and even confronted other people in this universe. But they had all been duplicates of people she had already known in her own universe. Akuma represented an actual stranger to her… someone she had never met before and whose first impression wasn't good. "… a bully."
"Huh?" Akuma asked while continuing to pack the few souvenirs that Kotomi wanted to take back with her.
"I was just wondering why I am able to talk to you so easily. I'm not normally this good with strangers, and I'm quite scared of bully's." Kotomi responded. Not hearing any reply, Kotomi glanced over at Akuma to see that she had stopped moving and looked quite disappointed.
Kotomi cocked her head and studied Akuma for a moment as she tried to figure out the nature of Akuma-chan's sadness. Comparing her normal face to the expression she has now, there is an eighty percent chance that she is upset or saddened by something. Using Kyou's principle, it doesn't look like there was any stimulus for this change other than me, so I must have been the cause of her sadness. What did I do or say? I must inquire. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Why… even though I'm wearing this pretty dress… why do you think I'm a bully?" Akuma was one of the girls that preferred her motorcycle leathers and hadn't thought much of this weak looking appearance in a sun dress. But, she had at least thought that she didn't look bad in it.
"Akuma-chan, what have you been told of my social skills?" Kotomi asked before starting on either an apology or an explanation.
"We have all been told that your social skills are almost non-existent, but that you are trying very hard to improve and you are much better than you used to be." Akuma answered the question honestly – not because she was trying to be brutal but because that was what she had been told to do. She still remembered the advice, If you're not honest with her, she will just get confused. Don't do that. It takes a lot of time and effort to un-confuse Kotomi.
Kotomi could tell from the way Akuma had recited her answer, that she had been told exactly that. It was harsh but not incorrect. "I heard that you were trained by Tomoyo-chan. She is a very strict trainer and can be blunt too, I suppose."
"That is true, but the assessment of your social skills came from Tomoya-sama and Kyou-sama." Akuma had also been told to correct any misunderstandings.
"Oh…" this time it was Kotomi's turn to look hurt. But it didn't last long. She knew that Kyou had struggled for years to help her to understand the people around her and societal norms. Standing up, Kotomi turned to Akuma to give her answer, "In the bakery, I could see the well developed muscles in your arms and legs. Both of you actually. I suspected that you were either athletes or bullies. Then, the two of you looked at me and your eyes had a predatory aspect to them. I was frightened and assumed that you were a pair of bullies."
"So, even in a pretty dress like this, I can't be pretty." Akuma said her thoughts aloud.
"I did not say that you were not pretty. A Peregrine Falcon is a beautiful bird. The Puma and Panther are often described as sleek, graceful, and elegant. There is no mistake that they are also dangerous and deadly though. They are fearsome carnivores that prey on weaker animals. So you see, one has nothing to do with the other." Kotomi corrected the downcast girl and watched her head pop up and eyes blink.
"Kotomi-chan?" Akuma said as she faced Kotomi for the verbal greeting handshake that she had been taught to use.
"Akuma-chan?" Kotomi felt a pleasurable shiver as they played through the familiar routine.
"I used to be a biker and… a bully. But I am working on these exploration teams and trying to be a good person now. So, I'm trying real hard not to be a bully any more." Akuma looked down and bit her lip to summon the courage to say what she was feeling in her heart, "What you said to me just now… it was probably the nicest thing anyone every said to me. It made me feel real good. Do you think that… someone like me could be your friend?"
"Kyou-chan and Tomoyo-chan are both my friends and both of them are somewhat like you." Kotomi answered the basis of the question without understanding the request element.
"Nooo," Akuma shook her head. Under normal circumstances she would have thought a reply like that would have meant that she already had enough friends like her. But she had been thoroughly briefed on Kotomi's social awkwardness and realized that she hadn't been specific enough in her wording, "What I mean to ask is… can I be your friend?"
"Eh?" Kotomi was stunned. There had been many times that she had tried very hard to make new friends. Armed with all of Tomoya-kun's and Kyou-chan's advice, there were many more failures than successes. And now, someone was asking to be her friend when she hadn't even been trying! "I am weak, you know. I tell people that I am strong when I am frightened, but it is a lie. Do you really want to be friends with someone like me?"
"Kotomi-chan, strength and friendship are both nice. But, to use the advice you just gave me, one has nothing to do with the other." Akuma answered with a hopeful grin.
"Then yes, I would like to be your friend!" Kotomi clenched her fists in excitement. "I can't wait to tell Tomoya-kun and Kyou-chan that I made a friend without their assistance!"
Akuma smiled and decided not to spoil the purple haired geniuses moment by telling her how much effort those two had put into teaching the exploration team members every aspect of Kotomi's personality.
.
Friday afternoon, August 20th 1993 – The Furukawa Residence
A few hours after the center field delivery and subsequent equipment setup, the guys were resting from their efforts. The spare units had been stored in Akio's guest room while one unit was installed on the wall and ready to play. Mikio spent a few minutes showing Akio how to insert the disk and play video.
Akio scratched his head in bewilderment. Sure, he had heard Kotomi talk of this dimensional universe thing, and he had seen her incredible laptop… But seeing a device that he was familiar with all his life, and how radically it would be changed in just a decade or so, was just so… overwhelming. He had seen 'big screen TVs' before and they were huge. They either weighed a hundred kilo's, or they were some kind of projection screen that took up a third of a living room. Looking at the black rectangular frame, only several centimeters thick, and mounted on his wall like a picture… he had serious doubts that this thing would be able to compete with the ungainly monsters of technology that he was familiar with. Until Mikio turned it on…
"Nice huh?" Mikio smiled at the stunned man.
"Unbelievable." Akio uttered as he watched Mikio run through the many setup screens.
"For now, I'm just setting this thing up as a monitor." Mikio explained, "Your world doesn't have HD TV, cable, or internet yet…"
"They have the internet." Akuma corrected him.
"Well… nothing they can use yet." Mikio replied with a shrug.
"Oh… yeah." Akuma conceded as the screen suddenly came to life with a still frame close up of Nagisa in stage costume. It looked like she was doing some kind of fairy tail play, but it was easy to tell who it was beneath the makeup and funny clothes.
"Nagisa!" Akio blurted out his surprise.
"Enjoy." Mikio said as he handed the remote over to Akio.
"Wait!" Akio finally realized what was happening around him. "Won't you stay and watch the performance too?"
"We would like to, Akio-san," Akuma smiled, "but there are a lot of people back in our world who have been missing Kotomi-sama for a very long time."
A very long time? Akio didn't think three months should be described that way, but he didn't question it after thinking about how he would feel. I guess if I was separated from Sanae and Nagisa for three months, it might seem that way.
.
Later that afternoon, most of the party was still in the Furukawa Bakery. Kishiyami and Iwao took a turn to watch over the Tunnel Collapse Warning device, so that Kenta and Kimera could relax in the bakery for a while. It should have been a festive atmosphere since Kotomi's rescuers had finally arrived and she would be able to go home soon, but…
"I can't believe we can't reach them. Naoyuki has a cell phone, doesn't he?" Kenta asked as he sat across the table from a rather distraught looking Kotomi.
"This is 1993 here." Kotomi reminded the newcomers, "There weren't as many cell phones or cell phone towers back then."
"And without the towers, a lot less coverage." Isamu added.
Everyone looked at the table where Kotomi had written several farewell letters as a just-in-case measure if she wasn't able to contact them to say goodbye. And, it looked like she wasn't going to have that opportunity.
"You have beautiful handwriting, Kotomi-chan." Akuma said as she read through one of the letters. She wasn't prying. Kotomi had asked Kimera and Akuma to read through her messages and let her know if she had committed any social gaffes.
"Thank you, Akuma-chan. How is the content?" Kotomi asked.
"I don't think you should change a thing." Kimera said while wiping a few errant tears from her eyes.
"I agree," Akuma said as she put the last page down, "these are perfect. Your family will know they are from you… and they will know how much you love them. I'm sure of it."
"Truly? I'm not always able to get that message across." Kotomi admitted.
"You communicated your feelings perfectly." Akuma assured the girl genius. Then she gestured over to Kimera and added, "Just look at this blubbering fool for your proof. Your words made a big tough gangster girl cry."
"Baka!" Kimera glared at the former biker at being called out.
"I am sorry, Kimera-chan! I did not mean to cause you distress." Kotomi immediately apologized.
"No no no," Kimera replied, "You've done nothing wrong. The writing was beautiful and the feelings… I felt like I was the one having to leave my family behind. It just got to me… more than I thought it would."
"I'm sorry Kotomi-chan, but we really need to be heading back." Isamu said gently.
"What's the hurry? You can all stay for dinner and Kotomi could keep trying to call her parents." Akio suggested.
"Time dilation." Akuma replied. "For every hour that we are here, more than six hours pass back on our world."
"Akuma!" Isamu smacked the table as he shouted her name.
"Wha…" Akuma could see that Isamu was upset but everyone else was looking at Kotomi. She looked over at the purple haired genius and saw a look of shock she hadn't seen before. Then it hit her. The reason why no-one was supposed to tell Kotomi what the current date was… how much time had passed. And I just told her the ratio she needed to figure that out… "I'm sorry!"
"Two years? Have I been away for two years?" Kotomi gasped.
"Almost." Isamu confessed, "Closer to twenty-three months, but yeah."
"Do… do they still remember me?" Kotomi worried.
"Kotomi-chan, there are a lot of people waiting for you to come home. No-one has forgotten you." Isamu assured her.
"Akio-san!" Kotomi said as she suddenly stood and bowed, "Thank you for all the hospitality you have shown me and I do appreciate your offer to stay a little bit longer. But… I have made everyone wait for me for far too long and… I want to go home."
.
Thursday almost midnight, August 23rd 2012 – The Park across from the Furukawa Bakery
It had been almost three days since the exploration party had left for the target world. During that time, the entire park had been closed off to any activities that didn't involve the project. The streets around it were open only to official vehicles and pedestrian traffic. Aside from the police, there were a lot of tough looking young men and women that gathered around the street barricades to discourage anyone from testing the closure order. Kobayashi and Tomoya had worried that there might be some complaint from the neighbors or the town, but they hadn't heard anything so far.
They didn't have anything to worry about from the perspective of government pressure though. Anyone that would hand them an official complaint was already there for the welcome home event. Closer to the arrival spot than the bleachers, the VIPs had their places at the prestigious second base line.
Tomoyo was present with the Mayor. The Secretary New Komeito with his constant companion, the MEXT, had their reserved places. Youhei stood between the Chief of Detectives for the prefecture and the Chief of Police for the city. Not all the VIPs were political figures though. Kobayashi Jun and several of the senior scientists were also there with some of their gear.
Tomoya and his new assistant Mei were there as well. Even after all The Secretary's tutelage, he still wasn't comfortable at hobnobbing with the political elite. Fortunately, Mei had a sharp mind and a good memory. Sticking close to Tomoya, she was able to help him greet the new arrivals, deflect the trap conversations he wasn't prepared for, and keep the mood festive.
Kyou wanted to be at the second base safety line with Tomoya too, but she had arranged for all of the students and parents from her school to come and watch the event that the whole community had been looking forward to. So, being the responsible program director that she was, she had to be with Yuki and the other teachers at the bleachers… at least for now. Arrangements had been made for her to go to the recovery area as soon as the transit was complete.
"Ojisama, how do I look?" Kyou heard the peal of one of her new middle school aged girls call out above the din. She had joined Kyou's program in the spring and had been a very good student, even though she had a habit of being a little too boisterous. Kyou glanced over to see who the young student was talking to and spied the MEXT greeting her.
"Oh?" Kyou's eyebrow arched as she approached the gaunt old man, "You inserted your niece into my program, o-ji-sa-ma? I thought you were taking a hands-off approach to this whole endeavor?"
"That was my idea actually." The Secretary New Komeito replied cheerfully while his tall friend scowled at Kyou's impertinence. The Secretary cheerfully told Kyou, "My dear friend may be the poster-model for gloominess, but his darling niece has always been such a ray of sunshine. When I heard that she was having grievous issues with her mathematics, I couldn't help but pull some strings."
"Hmmm? I don't recall you having that much trouble with your math work?" Kyou questioned the young teen.
"That's because I'm really a spy." the girl giggled.
"Very well spy, give us your report. What have you observed about this woman's program?" The MEXT asked dryly.
"I don't get nearly as much face time with Kyou-sensei as you said I would, but the other teachers are very nice too. They really do have a way of helping the students to learn the things that they are having trouble with. And, their education for the other courses is good too."
"Oh? Give me a concrete example." the MEXT sounded unfazed at his niece's glowing review if it lacked empirical evidence.
"Okay," the girl unfolded something from her pocket and handed it to the tall old man, "I got an 89 on that English test."
"Do you honestly expect me to be impressed with an 89, young lady?" the MEXT sounded like he was about to scold the girl, but Kyou stepped in.
"That is a second year high school test." Kyou indicated the printing at the bottom of the page, "Your middle school niece is performing three grades ahead of her age group."
"Hmm?" the MEXT, not trusting the fine print, read through some of the test questions to see if it was truly as difficult as what the young teacher was claiming.
"My my! That sounds like an astounding achievement both for the student and for the school." The Secretary New Komeito beamed.
"Indeed." the MEXT, satisfied with the content of the test, folded it up and handed it back to the girl, "So, now that your cover as a spy is blown, you can leave this experiment and return to your prestigious academy."
"No way! I want to stay here with Kyou-sensei, Yuki-sensei, and all the others." the teen replied defiantly, "I want to stay in this program all the way through high school."
"Her program does not go through high school… at least, not yet." the MEXT said as he turned back to Kyou, "I was wondering how you would grow your program. Whether you would expand horizontally with more grade schools, or vertically into a middle school program. I see that you chose to move vertically… can you tell me why?"
"I didn't want to abandon the kids that were in the last year of grade school." Kyou replied with the answer that she had discussed with Tomoya a year ago.
"Then what will you do now? You don't have any middle school students in their final year, so you have some time to choose, but eventually you will have to decide whether to grow your elementary base or expand into a high school program." the MEXT warned.
"Actually… I plan to do both." Kyou explained to the men's shocked reactions, "This next year I want to open two more grade schools and I want to expand into a high school program in the following year."
"Are you sure you can handle all of that?" the MEXT started counting on his fingers as he laid out his points. "You have four month old twins at home, there is the program you are already responsible for, you are still working on your doctorate degree, and there is the conundrum of what you will do when Kotomi-chan returns. You seem to have a lot on your plate."
"I'm also two month's pregnant with our next child." Kyou added as she waved at his hand to add one more finger.
The MEXT's eyebrow went up at this news but others were a bit more vocal in their reactions.
"What? Seriously!" the niece cheered.
"Congratulations, my dear!" The Secretary New Komeito said warmly.
"Thank you very much. And… I'm sure I can manage this." Kyou said confidently. Raising her hand now, she brought up fingers as she made her points, "I have two very talented people who I have been grooming to head their own grade school programs, my degree program should be finished next March, and I have very good people to help me with the children."
"And… what of Kotomi-chan's return?" The Secretary New Komeito asked carefully.
"I look forward to seeing her again… maybe as much as Tomoya does. First, I will scold her for running off like she did. Then I will show her my babies and tell her about all the wonderful things our family did while she was away."
"Ha ha!" The Secretary New Komeito laughed heartily, "For anyone else I think that plan would drive them into a jealous rage. But, from what I've heard of your dear Kotomi-chan, I believe she will be very proud of you."
"Tha…" Kyou was interrupted by the announcement over the loudspeakers.
"One minute until the first return group arrives. One minute."
They said their farewells quickly so that the two politicians could get back to the safety line near second base, and Kyou could instruct parents and students in the bleachers on what to expect next.
.
Several meters away, sitting together in the bleachers with other parents and students were the Fujibayashi parents along with Kyou-kun and Fuko. Before the announcement had been made, they had been watching the meeting of Kyou-chan and the two men from where they sat.
"We should call her over." the Fujibayashi father grumbled.
"Don't bother her now. I'm sure she's doing something very important." the mother said calmly.
More important than her own father? the old man was about to say.
"Those two men are from the National Diet." Fuko pointed as she spoke, "The tall man is The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The short man is the leader of the New Komeito party."
"Fuko-chan," Kyou-kun admonished as he pulled the girl's arm down, "it's not nice to point."
"Sorry, Kyou-kun." Fuko didn't shake off the boy's hand that was still on her arm. She felt a little redness on her face and tried to cover it up by telling them more, "Right now they are talking about how Kyou-chan is going to grow her school program."
"How can you hear that over all this noise?" the father asked.
"Fuko can't hear it from here. Fuko is down there with Kyou-chan now." Fuko explained as a seated person next to the teen girl suddenly turned around and waved at them.
The parents both felt a strange cold shiver as they instinctively waved back at the duplicate ikiryo.
"Fuko can hear what they're saying just as easily as Fuko heard your mother tell your father not to be a horses ass in the living room earlier." Fuko added.
"Pfffft!" Kyou-kun couldn't hold back the laughter at Fuko's innocent slam.
"You… you shouldn't eavesdrop young lady!" the embarrassed father scolded.
"Fuko wasn't eavesdropping. Fuko was just looking for Kyou-kun's cell phone for him." Fuko said defensively.
"Don't worry Fuko-chan," Kyou-kun patted the short girl's head, "Father won't scold you any more. After all, he promised not to be a horses ass this evening and you can count on that. He may be many unpleasant things, but he is a man of his word."
"Hmmpf!" the old man grunted. His wife was about to console his bruised ego when the announcement came out over the loudspeakers.
"One minute until the first return group arrives. One minute."
.
Kyou bade the Minister and Secretary farewell, then turned to the crowd in the bleachers and hollered, "Okay everyone! It's time to put the special glasses on. Don't be surprised when you start seeing little balls of light out on the baseball field. They are completely safe and none of them should come anywhere near us. You won't see them until they count down to ten seconds. If they frighten you, just take off the glasses and you won't see them any more."
"What are they?" one of her students asked the question that many in the audience were wondering.
"We really don't know, but there are a few theories." Kyou dropped into teacher mode for a moment and told them, "The leading theory now is that they are some kind of wormhole artifacts that are created when we open the tunnel."
"Ten seconds" the loudspeakers announced.
"I see them! I see them!" several of the children were jumping up and down in their excitement. Many of the adults were taking the disposable glasses off and back on in confusion.
The cacophony of excited voices made it impossible for Kyou to tell the audience any more. She turned and watched as the seconds counted down.
"Go." Yuki said as she gave her senpai a push toward Ryou's recovery area.
"But…" Kyou desperately wanted to be there when Kotomi came back, but she was also responsible for all of her students.
"I've got this." Yuki smiled and told the wavering lavender haired woman, "You've waited so long. You deserve to be there too. Leave all of this to me and just go."
"Thank you, Yuki!" Kyou hugged her co-worker, dear friend, and in-law relative before taking off for Ryou's encampment at a run.
"Zero. Please stand by." the voice called out as several people rushed to the middle of center field with stretchers and medical kits.
From the safety line, the dignitaries and head scientists waited quietly while the medical team swarmed the first group of returnees, got them onto the stretchers, and checked their vital signs.
One of the medical members raised his fist in the air as a prearranged signal.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the speakers echoed around the park, "at twenty-three forty-six on the twenty-third day of August, 2012, Okazaki Kotomi has returned to our world."
A great cheer went up from all the observers, but the recovery wasn't complete yet. The stretcher with Kotomi's frozen body was already half way to the hot tubs. A special one had been set up for her. It was special in that it was not as warm as the others. The doctors had decided that a more gradual warming would be safer for the fetus. Of course, there would be a price to be paid for that caution.
"Ah!" Kotomi cried out in anguish as the intense cold slowly left her body. She had seen several of the return missions and knew that the period of anguishing pain was over when the body returned to it's normal temperature. But, it seemed to be taking much longer for her body to get the warmth back. Her limbs were wracked with waves of pain as they slowly thawed in the warm water. "It hurts!"
"I know." a familiar voice said into her ear as strong arms wrapped around her to keep her from thrashing too violently, "I'm sorry, but this is safer for the baby."
"Tomoya-kun?" Kotomi felt a flood of emotion despite the pain that threatened to twist her body apart.
"Kotomi-chan?" Tomoya responded.
"Tomoya-kun!" Kotomi cried out and with a supreme effort, turned around and embraced the man who was holding onto her. She was still in far too much pain to try and kiss him, but she could hold onto his body and cry, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me. I'm so sorry!"
Tomoya felt his heart breaking at Kotomi's impassioned sobbing, but wasn't able to make any response before there was a splash in the hot tub next to him.
"What the… why isn't this water hot?" Kyou asked as she sank into the warm water and hugged Kotomi from behind.
"It's safer for the fetus." Ryou told her from the side of the tub where she was watching over the three of them.
"Kyou-chan?" Kotomi choked out. She was sure of it from the sound of the voice and the softness she felt pressed into her back.
"I'm here, Kotomi-chan." Kyou faltered with all the things she wanted to say at this moment and settled on, "Welcome home."
To the overwhelmed Kotomi, it all became a blur after that. She barely remembered getting out of the hot tub, being dried off and dressed, or getting a medical examination. The last thing she remembered was sipping a warm drink that Ryou-chan had given her.
.
Friday morning, August 24th 2012 – The Ichinose Residence
Kotomi was awake but was afraid to open her eyes. She was trying to determine if the images and events floating around in her mind were things that had really happened, or some cruel dream of empty promise. In support of reality, she felt like her body was cuddled up next to Tomoya-kun. Her leg was thrown over one of his. His right arm was wrapped around her body with his hand on her hip. Lying on her side, her own right arm was laid across his body with her hand… on someone else's hand.
Kyou-chan?
If this really was Tomoya-kun's body, and that was Kyou-chan's hand, then this was the sleeping position that she had been familiar with since her sleep experiments back in high school.
Please don't let this be a dream! Please don't let this be a dream! Please don't let this be a dream!
Kotomi summoned her courage to open her eyes and found herself staring into another pair of purple eyes. The tears came instantly as she called out, "Kyou-chan!"
"Honestly, if you keep bursting into tears every time you say my name, you're going to give me a complex." Kyou teased as she held onto Kotomi's hand.
"I… you… um…" Kotomi sputtered as she tried to calm her chaotic thoughts and emotions.
"Did you save them?" Kyou asked in a calm voice.
"Huh?" Kotomi asked.
"Your parents. Did you get there in time to save them?" Kyou clarified her question.
"Yes." Kotomi wanted to tell Kyou of all the things she had done while she was there, but a much more important topic demanded her immediate attention. Still gazing into those purple eyes, she asked, "Do you hate me?"
"No." Kyou shook her head as best she could with her face lying on the other side of Tomoya's chest. "Tomoya doesn't hate you and the kids don't hate you either."
"Really?" Kotomi's eyes opened a little wider with hope.
"Truly. We figured out that you were trying to save your parents. But Kotomi-chan, you acted very selfishly and you must promise never to do it again." Kyou remanded her friend as gently as she could.
"I do! I promise never to do that again." Kotomi was so happy, she couldn't stop herself from crying.
"I think we should tell her now." Tomoya said as he tenderly caressed both girls.
"Yeah." Kyou agreed with a bittersweet smile.
"Tell me what?" Kotomi asked.
"Do you know how long you've been gone?" Tomoya asked.
"Yes. I found out about the chronal asynchronicity before I came back. Although it only seemed like three months to me, it has been twenty-three months on this side of the wormhole." Kotomi replied.
"Right." Tomoya cleared his throat and continued in a lawyerish way, "In that time, and in accordance with your wishes, you were declared dead, and I married Kyou. So now she is my legal wife, and she is the legal mother of your children."
"She was always your wife and the mother of our children." Kotomi sounded confused.
"Concentrate, Kotomi-chan." Tomoya urged her, "This is about those societal norms and what is legal under the law."
"Oh," Kotomi sounded embarrassed as she replied, "I was never able to understand such things. Can you tell me what it all means, Tomoya-kun?"
"Kotomi-chan," Kyou interrupted before Tomoya could get started on a long civics lecture, "If he took several hours to carefully explain it, but it had no bearing on how we live as a family, would it matter to you?"
"No." Kotomi answered honestly.
"And if it was illogical and didn't matter to you, would you bother to remember it?" Kyou pressed.
"Maybe…" Kotomi bit her lip while she reflected on that particular weakness of hers.
"Kotomi…" Kyou said with a tone that insisted on the truth.
"No… I wouldn't remember very long." then glancing up at the other person in the bed, she apologized, "I'm sorry Tomoya-kun. I know these things are important to you but they confuse me and I just…"
"It's okay." Kyou said with an assuring smile while she squeezed Kotomi's hand, "As long as you trust Tomoya-kun to take care of it, I don't think it's anything you need to worry about."
Kotomi looked up to Tomoya and he nodded to her. "Thank you for taking care of me, Tomoya-kun."
"Would you like to go see your new daughters?" Kyou asked with a playful smile.
"My what?" Kotomi's eyes opened wide.
"Twin girls! Emi and Eri were born last April. They're almost five months old now." Kyou's smile spread as she watched Kotomi's growing excitement.
"Yes! Yes, please!"
Tomoya watched the two energetic girls rush to don some house gowns and hurry off to the nursery. Watching them go, he could see that Kotomi was already moving with the pregnant waddle. She was in her seventh month of pregnancy and Kyou was nine weeks into her second pregnancy. His home would soon be aswarm with infants again.
They had known about Kotomi's pregnant state for over two years (as odd as that sounds), but Kyou's second pregnancy had come as quite a surprise. As difficult as it had been for her to get pregnant the first time, the second pregnancy had been remarkably easy… and quick. Emi and Eri were only two and a half months old when it happened. He started doing the math…
Emi and Eri were born in April. Kotomi's third son will be born in November… probably. Then Kyou's son should be born in March. Although their birthdays span two calendar years, they will be in the same academic year. All four of them will be in the same grade. Oh my…
Tomoya chuckled at the thought of Kyou being that teacher and wondered whether it would be more unfortunate for her or for the children. Then he recalled part of that thought process and revisited something he had once told Kyou.
I wanted her to give me a son and I wanted to name him Kyou. But we now have a Fujibayashi Kyou-kun. I guess that name is out. I wonder what she would think of… His musings were cut short by a series of shrieks from the hallway.
"Okāsaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" little Michiko's voice pealed through the air.
Tomoya smiled as he imagined the little girl giving her no-longer-missing mother a huge loving hug and burying her face in her mother's chest. Yeah, that is so like her.
"Ah, so you're home." he heard one of the boys say with only a mild bit of surprise.
"So, when is breakfast?" the other followed up.
And yeah… that is so like the twins.
.
List of Secondary and Original Characters
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Okazaki Shino: grandmother of Tomoya, mother of Naoyuki. Resides in the Okazaki Estate in Hokkaido. Canon character with blue eyes and long gray hair.
Birthday: 11/19/1945
Okazaki Naoyuki: father of Tomoya, son of Shino. Resides in the Okazaki Estate in Hokkaido. Canon character with blue-gray eyes and gray hair.
Birthday: 5/1/1967
Okazaki (Naoyuki's sister): Daughter of Shino. Resides somewhere in Hokkaido. Original character.
Disowned Naoyuki back when he was exiled from the family.
Okazaki Yuki: Naoyuki's niece, Tomoya's cousin. Resides in the Ichinose Residence. Original character with blue-gray eyes and long dark brown hair.
Birthday: 12/12/1987
Okazaki Children: Original characters
Shuichi – (fraternal twin) male, purple eyes, steel blue hair, 5/10/2004
Shuji – (fraternal twin) male, blue eyes, dark brown hair, 5/10/2004
Michiko – female, blue eyes, deep purple hair, 1/4/2006
Emi – (identical twin)female, purple eyes, steel blue hair, 4/4/2012
Eri – (identical twin)female, purple eyes, steel blue hair, 4/4/2012
Katsuro – male, blue gray eyes, dark brown hair, 11/19/2012
Shiro – male, purple eyes, steel blue hair, 3/26/2013
Kobayashi Jun: godfather of Kotomi. Resides in Tokyo. Canon character, although unnamed in the anime series. Gray eyes and gray hair.
Birthday: 7/13/1955
Sunohara Children: Original characters
Yoichi – male, blue eyes, brown hair, 12/17/2005
Yoshie – female, blue eyes, black hair, 11/16/2011
Sunohara Mei: Youhei's sister. At the end of the story, she resides as a guest in the Ichinose Residence and is working as Tomoya's assistant in his function as a National Diet representative. Canon character who grew up to be 180cm tall with light brown eyes and steel blue hair.
Birthday: 6/11/1989
Furukawa Ushio: Biological daughter of Tomoya and Nagisa in another universe, she is being raised by Ryou and Nagisa. Canon character with a family name change to represent the legal adoption.
Birthday: 2/12/2006 (based on the anime version)
Fujibayashi Kyou-kun: A male variant of Kyou-chan from another parallel universe. He is currently being raised by the Fujibayashi parents as the younger brother of Kyou-chan and Ryou-chan. Living at the Fujibayashi home, he is attending the Hikarizaka Private High School with ikiryo Fuko. Having the same hair and eye color as Kyou, he is physically smaller than either of his sisters due to the poor availability of adequate nutrition in his original world.
Yoshino Children: Original characters
Maiko – female, blue eyes, red-brown hair, 10/22/2004
Yasuo – male, light brown eyes, red-brown hair, 5/3/2006
Sugisaka: Works as a maid at the Ichinose Residence where she also lives. Canon character with light brown eyes and reddish brown hair.
Birthday: 6/28/1986
Koumura Toshio: Formerly a counselor at the Hikarizaka Private High School, he now works as a butler at the Ichinose Residence where he also lives. Canon character with gray eyes and gray hair.
Birthday: 8/27/1943
Melissa Rothchilde: Friend of Kotomi from university. Original character with green eyes and long curly red hair.
Birthday: 11/22/1980
Deceased: 8/15/2012
The Boys: Canon characters, although unnamed in the anime series (former gang members from the Yukine arc).
Hiroki – described as scary looking and gorilla like. Living with Nagisa in the Tomoyo-1 universe.
Isamu – first team leader. Married to Tomoyo, taking her name.
Iwao – the stone man. In love with Kishiyami.
Kenta – the con-man, trickster. In love with Kimera.
Mikio – the superstitious type. In love with Akuma.
Ryota – future engineer or scientist. In love with the real Fuko.
Takeo – principally a fighter. Had been in a relationship with Melissa. Currently lost in the Nagisa-Prime universe.
Takeshi – originally just a fighter, he is trying to better himself. In a relationship with Kohaku. Currently lost in the Nagisa-Prime universe.
The Girls: Original characters.
Kohaku - former Biker, described as clumsy & strong. In a relationship with Takeshi . Currently lost in the Nagisa-Prime universe.
Kimera - former Gangster, described as the quiet type. In a relationship with Kenta
Mayonaka - former Gangster, described as tall and sensitive about her flat chest. Likes Takeo. Currently lost in the Nagisa-Prime universe.
Akuma - former Biker, described as tallish with modest build. In a relationship with Mikio
Kishiyami - former Gangster, described as having large breasts, and likes to tease Mayonaka. In a relationship with Iwao
The MEXT (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology): an actual position in the Japanese Government. This fictional person who holds the Minister position is a tall gaunt man who seems dour and critical, but is quite loyal to those that he believes in.
The National Diet: a government body similar to a congress or parliament.
The Secretary New Komeito: There are several political factions in the National Diet. The New Komeito party has a moderate power-base but is allied with a stronger faction that shares many similar interests. The Secretary is the leader of this political faction. This fictional person who holds this position is a short, balding, and jolly sort of man. He is a good friend of The MEXT.