Chapter 5 – Happy Returns
In a surprise to absolutely nobody, Ryou didn't want to wait for another whole year, so we decided the wedding would be July 25th, just a few days into the summer holidays. Ryou was getting really excitable, she had been into town and bought a bunch of magazines and was now sitting at my dining table looking at dresses and cakes with Kyou.
"What I don't get is, why are you reading all this, at my dining table, when you won't let me see."
"You're not supposed to see the dress before the wedding day."
"Thank you, Kyou, I understand that, what I don't get, is why are you here, when I'm not allowed to see what you're doing, wouldn't it be better to do it in your own house rather than here?"
"Ah, there's one important reason to be here."
"And that is?"
"You make awesome coffee."
"But Ryou doesn't drink coffee."
"I know, quit complaining and put the coffee on." I learned long ago, that it's really not worth arguing with her on things like this.
"Fine, Ryou, would you like some tea?"
"Ooh yes please, thank you Tomoya-kun."
"You're welcome sweetheart."
"Am I not welcome then?"
"No." As bad as it sounds in principal, I was glad that Kyou and I had been able to get back to a point where we have a bit of banter like we used to.
"Oh, by the way, how did you get on with the souffles?"
"I thought Ryou would have told you by now."
"Not yet, she's too focused on the wedding now. So how did it work out?"
"Oh, they were wonderful, and the sauce in the middle was soooo, yummy too."
"In the middle?"
"I piped the cherry sauce into the middle of the souffle mix just before I baked them."
"That's actually a good idea, I'll have to try that myself."
"Tomoya-kun is actually a really good cook, you should try his pumpkin katsu."
"Really?"
"Hey! You really don't need to sound quite so surprised."
"Well, you used to live off instant noodles and anpan."
"I'll give you that much, but still."
"Have you had any thoughts about a best man?"
"I don't really have any guys I'm that close with, so I was just going to go without."
"That's a point, I've never seen you with any guys, apart from the blonde moron that is."
"Yeah, most guys my age are too focused on looking cool, and frankly I can't be bothered to deal with all that nonsense. Did you hear what he did?"
"Yeah, kind of wish I'd been there to see it. Have you heard anything from him, since…?"
"Since he left? No, not a peep, and the one letter I sent him came back with 'return to sender' on it. What are your plans after graduation?"
"I got a place at a catering school."
"Good for you, I always said you should have been a chef."
"It's not really what I wanted to do, but after, well… after what I did, no teaching schools will admit me, so plan B."
"I'm really sorry to hear that."
"What are you sorry for? It's my own fault, if I had just held my temper…"
"Look, between the two of us, we could bury ourselves in what if's and never move forwards, our past colours our future, but it doesn't need to control it."
"When did you get so philosophical?"
"It was something the therapist I saw at the hospital told me actually."
"Did it help, you know, to talk to someone about it like that?"
"To be honest Ryou was always there when I needed to talk something out, but the therapist did give me a lot to think about."
"Is that how you two got so close all of a sudden?"
"I guess so, I think that, going through something like that together showed us how much, we meant to each other and that we could always rely on each other."
"He cooks, he's handsome, philosophical and romantic too. You've got yourself a keeper here Ryou."
"Yes, I have."
"I think that's my cue to leave, there's only so much embarrassment a man can take, and I think I had quite enough last night, thank you very much. Do either of you need anything from town?"
"Are you going out? Can I come with you?"
"There's something I've been meaning to pick up, you stay here and look at dresses and things." Ryou looked a little disappointed but she sat back down. "I won't be long."
I had one very important thing to buy, and I wanted to surprise Ryou with it, I was on the hunt for an engagement ring. I didn't have a huge budget, but the Fujibayashi's were getting paid for fostering me, and they decided to pass that on to me, as they didn't need the extra, and it would allow me to be a little more independent.
The instant I entered the jewellery store, the assistant was there.
"Is there something I can help you find sir?"
"There is actually, I'm looking for an engagement ring."
"Did you have anything specific you were thinking of?"
"Yes, she really likes Tanzanite, so I was hoping to get something with that in."
"We have some very nice white gold rings that have a tanzanite setting over here." I had a choice of three rings with the Tanzanite in.
"I'll take that one, I think."
"An excellent choice sir, do you know what ring size she is?"
"No, but I borrowed a ring off her twin sister, I figured it should be pretty close."
"I assume they're identical twins?"
"Yes, they share jewellery and clothes all the time."
"Excellent, if it doesn't fit you can bring it back and get it resized. I'll be right back." The assistant disappeared out the back of the store, returning with a ring box in her hand. I handed over a large chunk of my savings, and headed home.
Ryou and Kyou were still at the table when I got back.
"That was quick, did you forget something?"
"No, I got what I wanted, but could I borrow your sister for a moment please?" Ryou didn't bother to wait for an answer, she came over and sat down on my lap.
"Wow, pretty bold Ryou."
"Well we are getting married after all."
"Could you give us a moment please Kyou?" Kyou opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it.
"Yeah, sure, I'll go and wait in the lounge. You two behave yourselves now, especially you Ryou."
"What did you want me for?"
"I went to get you something, and I wanted to give it to you in private." Ryou was grinning from ear to ear. "Well, I'd get down on one knee, but they both seem to be occupied at the moment." Ryou giggled. "I thought that if we're going to be engaged then you should have one of these." I pulled the jewellery box; from its hiding spot behind my back and held up the open box.
"You got me a ring!" Ryou squealed excitedly. "Is that Tanzanite?"
"Yes, I know you really like that pendant so I thought that it would be nice if it matched."
"It's beautiful, thank you. Is this silver."
"The woman in the store called it white gold."
"Can I put it on?"
"Of course, you can, it's an engagement ring, and we're engaged so I think you can put it on if you want." She slipped it on to her finger, gazing at it fondly. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.
"Hey, you're not married yet you know." Kyou threw a metaphorical bucket of cold water on us.
"Onee-chan, look what Tomoya-kun gave me."
"It's really pretty, is that the same stuff that's in your pendant? What was it called… Tarzanite was it?"
"Tanzanite, and yes, it's the same as the pendant I got her."
"It's funny, it feels so much more real now that I have a ring on my finger." Ryou was staring at her hand and fiddling with the ring.
"You're not going to get that grin off her face for days now, you know."
"I would hope not, I was thinking on the way back, do you think you'd be able to make the wedding cake?" Ryou's head popped up.
"That's a wonderful idea, can you?"
"Me? Make your wedding cake?"
"Yes, do you think you could do it? You're the best cook I know of." Kyou was speechless.
"You really want me to bake your wedding cake?"
"Yes."
"Yes, Onee-chan pleeease."
"Well… okay fine, but I want to do a practice cake beforehand, just in case, I wouldn't want to be responsible for spoiling your wedding."
"Damn, we'll have to eat a lot of lovely cake, how will we cope." Ryou got up from my lap and hugged her sister.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Go ahead and practice all you want; I don't mind being a taste tester."
"But I still need to fit in to a wedding dress, actually maybe I should try and lose a few pounds, I want to look my best…"
"You do not need to lose a single ounce, so no dieting. If I think you're on a diet, I'll just keep making chocolate souffles."
"But…"
"No buts, you look great just the way you are."
"Looks like the head of the household has spoken Ryou, a good wife always keeps her husband's preferences in mind, isn't that right Tomoya."
"I'm not sure I'd put it quite like that, but in all seriousness, I really don't want you to go trying to lose weight, you have a great figure just the way you are. Besides, remember when Kyou lost all that weight a while back, you didn't think it suited her did you."
"He's got you there Ryou."
"Alright, if you really feel that strongly about it, I won't go on a diet. But that doesn't mean you don't have to make those chocolate souffles."
"I'd like to try these miraculous souffles myself actually."
"Do you know how Negisa-chan is doing?"
"She's getting better, but she's still a bit weak, what made you ask?"
"I was just thinking it would be nice to tell her, about our engagement, you know cheer her up a little, but I can't get any further than the shop area in my chair, so if she isn't up and about yet Ryou would have to do it on her own."
"She was out of bed the other day so she should be able to come down to the shop, but I'm not so sure it'd cheer her up all that much."
"What? Why not?"
"I'm pretty sure she has a crush on Tomoya."
"I'd hoped I was wrong about that, but if you've noticed it too… it would probably be best to wait until she's a bit better before we tell her, just in case."
"I must admit, I'm surprised that you noticed."
"Well, any time Ryou shows any kind of affection to me when she's around, or if we talk about our relationship, she gets a kind of awkward, uncomfortable expression on her face for a moment. I had hoped she was just one of those people that doesn't like public displays of affection." Ryou sat down at the table, fidgeting with her new ring.
"I hope it doesn't upset her too much, I had hoped she would be a bride's maid."
"I'm sure she will be happy for the two of you, she will probably be a bit sad to begin with but, you know what she's like, she will be genuinely happy for you, just not quite right away. But you should probably hold off on telling her until she well enough to go back to school, she's still pretty fragile and any kind of upset could set her recovery back."
"Is she going to be okay to graduate? She's been off sick quite a lot already."
"I think her parents were going to talk to the school about it once school starts again."
"That doesn't sound too encouraging."
"No, I thought the same thing when Sanae-san told me. Anyway, that's enough gloominess, put some coffee on I'm gasping, and Ryou and I still need to find a dress."
"Seriously, kicked out of my own dining room twice in one day."
"Quit complaining, that coffee won't make itself." I figured I may as well get some Xbox time in while I had the chance, so having made coffee I left them to it. Three hours later I hadn't heard a peep out of them until, the pair of them scampered out the front door, with a magazine in hand. Half an hour later a very excitable Ryou reappeared.
"I take it you found something you like."
"Yes, we're going to go to the dress shop on Saturday after Onee-chan has finished school."
"Have you decided what I'm going to be wearing as well?"
"No, you get a say in that too, so I thought we could take a look at that together."
"As long as I don't look like a penguin I don't really mind." Ryou giggled and gave me a playful whack on the arm.
"I wouldn't do that to you, I'm sure you'll look very handsome and distinguished."
"There's only so much a suit can do, you know." She tried to scowl at me but couldn't keep a straight face for long.
"I'll get the magazines and show you what I was thinking of." Ryou sprang to her feet and practically bounced into the dining room to retrieve the magazines. We sat on the sofa and looked through the magazines and discussed what we liked and what we'd have to consider given I'd have to be able to push myself around, so it couldn't be anything too long, stuff like that.
Ryou pulled out a colour chart, apparently, we had to have a theme colour, it was news to me, frankly I assumed Ryou would be in white and beyond that, I had never considered it as a thing that needed to be decided. I tried to tell her that I didn't really mind, and she could have anything that she wanted, I even tried the "I'll be happy as long as she's there" line, but no, apparently she wanted me to be involved in everything.
The following Saturday, Ryou, Kyou and Kaori-san went off to the local wedding dress boutique, or whatever it's called. I found myself thinking, that the apartment felt kind of empty, I guess I was so used to Ryou being here every waking hour, that something felt off when she wasn't around.
Thankfully it was only about three hours before Ryou returned, she was more excited than I can ever remember seeing her and given how excitable she'd been since we got engaged, that was really saying something.
"Can I assume your shopping trip was fruitful?"
"Yes, it was. It's absolutely perfect. I can't wait for you to see it." She plopped down next to me on the sofa, wrapped her arms around me and gave a tight hug.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. Your Dad came over while you were out."
"Did he want some of your coffee too?"
"He wanted to talk about, after the wedding."
"What do you mean, 'after the wedding'?"
"Things like, are you moving in here, or did we want to find our own place."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that, I guess I just figured we'd be living here."
"So, had I to be honest, it feels so much like home, the thought of leaving never crossed my mind."
"What did you tell Daddy?"
"Basically, what I just told you."
"And what did he say?"
"He said he was glad that I felt so at home, and that we were welcome to live here for as long as we want. I actually had to talk him in to letting us pay rent. And he'd only let us do that once we've both finished uni and at least one of us had a good job."
"I think he just wants to keep his 'Little girls' close by."
"Yeah, I kind of got that impression, do you think he'd let us buy it one day? I'd like to have somewhere we can call ours one day."
"I don't know, Mom said that they had considered renting it out, but they've never mentioned selling it."
"We can cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess we will probably want somewhere bigger one day."
"Bigger?"
"Yeah… you know, we'll probably need an extra bedroom eventually," Ryou looked just as confused. "Or maybe a nursery, if you follow me." The penny dropped.
"Of course, yes, I hadn't thought about needing more rooms. Maybe we could add an extra room on to here."
"Maybe, but that would mean we'd need to buy more land off your parents. Anyway, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves."
"I know, but it's nice thinking about the future, our future." Ryou snuggled up to me an placed her head on my shoulder.
Ten days later, we got word that Negisa had been told that her attendance had gone below the minimum for graduation, she would have to repeat her third year again. She was feeling much better and would have been well enough to return to school in a week or so, making it feel a little cruel, that she was so close to making it, only to have it taken away from her.
Ryou really wanted to go and try and cheer her up, so we headed in the direction of the bakery, I wouldn't be able to go upstairs but I could see her down in the shop. As it turned out we ran into her and her Mom, on their way out for lunch, so we ended up all going to a nearby family restaurant.
"Tomoya-san, it is good to see you doing so well after your injury, and all of that terrible business with your father too."
"Thank you, Sanae-san, to be honest, I'm much happier since the 'accident' than I ever was before it."
"Negisa-chan said as much, but it is good to see it for myself."
"We were actually on our way to see Negisa-chan when we bumped into you." Negisa looked a little startled for some reason.
"Y-you were coming to see me?"
"Yes, Kyou told us about your bad news, and Ryou and I had hoped we could cheer you up a little."
"That's very kind of you Tomoya-kun." It struck me that she had missed Ryou off her thank you. If Ryou had noticed, she didn't let on.
"At least you will have some friends in school right from the beginning this time around." Negisa looked confused, I know she isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but I had already told her that both Ryou and myself would be repeating the year. "We're both repeating a year too."
"Oh, of course, you did tell me, I'm sorry it slipped my mind." Ryou reached out and placed her hand on top of Negisa's.
"Maybe we'll all be in the same class, wouldn't that be nice?" Negisa didn't answer, she was fixated on Ryou's hand. "Is something wrong Negisa-chan?"
"I-I-is t-t-that an e-e-engagement r-ring?" Of course, it had to be Ryou's left hand she had placed on Negisa's hand didn't it. Ryou looked at me with a slightly panicked look that said, "what should I do?"
"Yes, it is, we got engaged at Christmas, you were still so sick, that we didn't think any surprises would be good for you." Negisa smiled at us, but the smile never reached her eyes, they were definitely sad.
"C-congratulations."
"Yes, congratulations you two, I was very kind of you both to think of Negisa-chan's health, I'm sure you wanted to tell everyone right away, so thank you for being so thoughtful." Sanae-san looked at me pointedly as she spoke, she clearly knew exactly why we held off telling her and wanted us to know she was grateful. "Shall we order?"
"Of course, I'm getting pretty hungry." Negisa was understandably pretty quiet throughout lunch, she'd answer direct questions, and smile, but it was clear the smile was forced. Once we parted ways, Ryou's shoulders sagged.
"I'm sorry Tomoya-kun, I wasn't thinking, I should have been more careful. She looked really sad."
"It's not your fault, we were going to have to tell her eventually, and at least she had Sanae-san with her."
"I know, but I still feel a bit guilty."
"Listen, we have nothing to feel guilty about, you fell in love with me and I fell in love with you, what about that should we feel guilty about? Negisa-chan missed her chance at a relationship with me, but nothing about that is your fault, if she'd been a bit braver, then maybe things would be different, but she wasn't."
"I understand, but I still feel sad for her."
"That's because you're a kind and compassionate woman, she'll be sad for a while yes, but she'll bounce back, and she'll be genuinely happy for us in time, we just need to give her a little space for now."
"I hope you're right."
"How about we have Kotomi-chan over for dinner, now that Negisa-chan knows, we don't have to worry about her accidentally letting it slip."
"That would be really nice, I've been itching to tell her."
"I know you have, but we both know how adept she is at putting her foot in her mouth."
"Do you mind if I ask Onee-chan if she'd like to join us?"
"Not at all, the more the merrier. I could make the chocolate souffles again if you like, Kyou's been bugging me about trying them, and Kotomi-chan is a bit of a foodie too, so it should go over well." Ryou's eyes lit up.
"Yes please."
"Alright then, let's go home and dig through the cookbooks, and see what we can make for dinner."
We spent the better part of an hour trying to decide what we should do for dinner, in the end me settled on Shabu-shabu, it's warming, satisfying and it's great for sitting around a table with friends and chatting while you eat.
Kotomi arrived at exactly the time we said for her to arrive, I always wondered if she actually got here perfectly on time every time, or did she wait outside and only knock on the door when the time was right. Frankly either one could be true knowing her. Ironically Kyou managed to be ten minutes late despite only having to come from about fifty feet away.
We all sat at the table, with a nice hot pot of broth in the middle, Kyou was practically drooling at the smell.
"I bet you never thought that you'd be this excited to eat Ryou's cooking did you." Ryou gave me playful bat on the shoulder.
"Well you're not wrong, after all the time I spent trying to teach her to cook, never getting anywhere. Then you come along and in a few months she practically a gourmet chef."
"Maybe it was more to do with the teacher than the student."
"Hey, I did my best with what I had to work with."
"Perhaps Ryou-chan's romantic connection to Tomoya-kun provided a significant increase to Ryou-chan's motivation." I'll admit I didn't expect to hear something that insightful from Kotomi, especially when it comes to anything to do with romance.
"Tomoya-kun is always very encouraging, so I never felt so bad when I made a mistake."
"Maybe that's the only difference, Kyou's approach to things is usually more stick than carrot."
"Hey, I use the carrot plenty." Kotomi was starting to look a little confused.
"I'm not saying that your teaching style is wrong, far from it, but different people learn in different ways, your approach could well work better with some people than mine, it's just a matter of working out what works best."
"May I ask what the meaning of stick or carrot is in this context is?"
"It's a reference to methods of training animals like horses, the carrot is used as a reward for doing something correctly and the stick is a punishment for poor performance, it's just a metaphor, Kyou isn't actually going to use a stick on anyone."
"Oh, I see." I'm not convinced she gets it but it's best to move on from these things with Kotomi, or you end up in a conversation loop.
"Kotomi-chan there is a reason Ryou and I invited you to come for dinner, there's something we'd like to tell you."
"Look what Tomoya-kun gave me." Ryou proudly offered her left hand to Kotomi.
"It is a very wonderful ring…" Wait for it. "Oh!" There we are. "Does not the placement of a ring on that finger usually represent engagement or marriage?" So close, and yet so far.
"Yes Kotomi-chan, that is what it means."
"Just tell her outright, or we'll be here all night."
"Tomoya-kun and I are engaged to be married." Ryou glowed with pride as she informed our friend.
"Oh! Congratulations, that is wonderful news." Kotomi held her hands over her heart and smiled, clearly very happy for us, for a moment at least. Then fear showed in her eyes and her bottom lip trembled. "Y-you aren't going to take him, away are you? He is all I have left."
"It's alright Kotomi-chan, we're not going anywhere. Even if we ever do have to move, we won't abandon you, you are a very important friend to both of us." I reached over and placed my hand on her shoulder while Ryou took her hand. The tension in her shoulders melted away, and the smile returned to her face.
Ryou and I had talked about Kotomi's attachment to me not long after we started going out, Ryou had been concerned that Kotomi was romantically interested in me, it's a valid concern really, Kotomi can be quite clingy, if she gets scared she'll always grab onto my arm and hide behind me, but I don't know if I really believe Kotomi is capable of romantic love yet.
The death of her parents and all the time she has spent alone had severely held back her emotional development, I think she sees me as a link to her parents because I'm the only person she knows that knew her when her parents were alive, and by clinging to that relationship is like clinging to the last little part of her parents. She still behaves the same towards me as she did when we were kids playing in her back yard, I've never seen any evidence of any romantic feelings whatsoever. I'm her friend and she can trust me, that's as far as it goes.
Once she settled down a bit, she hugged us both.
"Congratulations Tomoya-kun, Ryou-chan, it is very wonderful news."
"Thank you Kotomi-chan, now shall we eat before Kyou drools too much."
"Hey, I am not drooling." She did still wipe her mouth, just in case.
We enjoyed a comfortable meal, the girls chattered away excitably about wedding plans.
The following week we sent Kyou on a recognisance mission, to see how Negisa was doing. The result of her expedition was that we should probably wait a little longer. Ryou didn't want to have to leave it too much longer as she wanted Negisa to be a bridesmaid, but if she was still upset from hearing about our engagement, then asking her to take part in the wedding was probably a bit insensitive.
The following Saturday Ryou, her parents and myself were going to see a few possible venues for the reception, and a couple of local churches, neither of us is especially religious, but Ryou had her heart set on a westernised wedding so a church seemed more appropriate than a Shinto temple, although she liked the Shinto vows. If I had to guess I figure that she has seen a bunch of weddings in the movies and decided that was what she wanted.
The first of the churches was a bust, there were too many steps along the way, so we'd end up needing three different ramps for me to be able to get to the front. The second was pretty much ideal, ramps already built in at the front of the building and it was level from there on. The priest was a Pastor Ashton, he was a little eccentric, but nice enough.
We went to three possible reception venues, the first wasn't accessible, the second was accessible but we didn't really like it, we decided to keep it in mind, just in case we were struggling to find anywhere else. The third was less than ideal when it came to accessibility, but we could make it work if we had to, it was pretty nice inside, but the access was an issue, but it was good enough to make the short list. On Sunday we went around a few more, but we still couldn't find anything that was both accessible and one we liked the look of. We had added two more to the short list of acceptable compromises, but compromising isn't something to do for your wedding if you don't absolutely have to. It was more of the same the following week and Ryou was starting to get a little frustrated and generally fed up.
The week after that we finally caught a break, a hotel we had looked at, but they were booked up for the date we wanted called to tell us they had a cancelation for the right date, and did we want to book it. Being a pretty modern hotel, the access wasn't an issue, it wasn't the function suite we had originally wanted, but it was still pretty nice, just a bit bigger than we needed. Given the trouble we were having finding anywhere we booked it immediately.
"Okay, so we have a church and reception venue, Kyou is doing the cake, you've got a dress and I've got a suit or whatever you call it, the rings are sorted, we've done the guest list and the gift list. What are we missing?"
"Umm catering, photographer… umm… oh! Limousine."
"Hmm… how are we going to work the limo?"
"Oh, I had been thinking about that, if you get yourself in to the back, the chauffeur can put your chair in the trunk."
"Yeah that should work."
"Daddy said you knew a good limousine service we can use."
"Okay great, so that leaves the catering and photographer, can the hotel do the catering?"
"No, they said they're booked up for catering, I found a few adverts in the back of a magazine that are local."
"Shall we give a few a call then?"
Insert marathon phone call session. I genuinely dread to think how much just the phone bill for organising a wedding adds up to, that said the rest of it isn't exactly cheap either. Ryou's parents insisted that the cost wasn't an issue, but I couldn't help feeling a bit odd spending a vast quantity, of someone else's money. The caterer surprised me when they offered to come to us, they even brought samples with them so we could choose a menu. Kyou insisted that we needed her as a consultant.
The photographer came to us as well, he even offered us a discount if he could use some of our pictures in his promotional material, I guess it works out cheaper than paying a model. So, by the end of January we had everything booked. It was definitely a relief to have all of the frantic organising behind us. Just five and a half months to go.
The end of February finally arrived and so did my exam results, for the most part it wasn't anything exceptional, a massive improvement on what I got last time but that's not exactly saying a lot. The surprise for me at least, (Ryou insisted she saw it coming.) was my math result, it was the only A I got the rest was mostly C's with the odd B thrown in for good measure.
The following months drifted by, the only important thing that happened was that Negisa turned up with an engagement gift, she did seem genuinely pleased for us, which was a big relief, especially for Ryou, Negisa was pleased and a little surprised to be asked to be a bridesmaid, she doesn't have much in the way of self-esteem so being asked to play an important role in someone's wedding made her a little emotional. Most of all it was good to have her back to her old self again.
Before we knew it was the end of May and we were getting ready to return to school for the first time in what felt like an eternity, quite a lot had happened since we'd been to school for an actual lesson. I was really nervous, I had for the most part got used to the stares while I was out and about, but school is a different beast, it's enclosed, crowded and feeds off gossip and being different is a cardinal sin. The school had been considerate enough to put Negisa in our class, so the three of us would be able to support each other. Negisa was being very self-conscious because she was having to take a third attempt at finishing her third year.
On our first day Negisa came to the apartment so we could all walk to school together. As predicted, we were drawing a great deal of attention.
"You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but the staring is really getting on my nerves."
"I know, it does Tomoya-kun, but they will get bored of it soon enough." Ryou's voice was enough to sooth my mind. She was right of course; I'd just have to stick it out for a few days.
"I still don't see what's so interesting about a guy in a wheelchair."
"Well, you don't see many people in a wheelchair in this town really do you." At a guess I'd say Negisa was trying to be supportive but didn't quite manage it.
"Well, we may as well make a move, we can't just sit at the bottom of the hill all day can we."
We made our way up the hill with our audience still fixated on us, or rather me. We were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Ah, Tomoya, it's good to see you, it's been quite a while hasn't it." I could almost feel Ryou bristle at Tomoyo not using an honorific.
"Good morning Tomoyo-san, I don't think I've seen you since my little accident, you remember Ryou and Negisa-chan don't you?" Ryou placed her hand on the back of my neck, marking her territory.
"Of course, it's Fujibayashi isn't it?"
"That's right, for now at least." Subtle Ryou, subtle.
"Excuse me?"
"When we come back after the July holiday it will be Okazaki Ryou instead." Tomoyo's eyes nearly popped out of her head, and anybody that was in earshot froze on the spot.
"Really?"
"Yes, Tomoya-kun and I are getting married on the 25th of July." We were beginning to draw a crowd, Tomoyo blinked in surprise, but recovered quickly.
"Well then, congratulations are in order."
"Thank you, Tomoyo-san, but we'd better get going, we wouldn't want to be late for our first day back." I decided it would be best to end to show before we ended up with the entire school standing around us.
On our way into the school we had to pass the site of my accident, I couldn't help but look up at where I fell from.
"Geeze, it's a pretty long way up…" I winced as an image of Ryou desperately reaching out to me flashed into my mind.
"Tomoya-kun, are you okay? What happened?"
"I'm okay, I think… I just got an image of you reaching for my arm." Ryou knelt down next to me.
"Are you sure you're okay, I'm sure the school would understand if you need to go home."
"I'll be alright, but thank you, it just threw me off for a moment… let's keep moving or we really will be late."
"As long as you're sure, just let me know if you change your mind."
"I will, thank you."
When we entered our new classroom, the chatter that had been present, instantly stopped. As much as I really wanted to shout at them, I decided it probably wasn't the best idea.
"Good morning everyone." Doing my best to hide my irritation I headed to the back of the class where my desk was, being the only one without a chair, it was obvious that it was where I was supposed to be. Ryou sat down at the desk to my right, and Negisa sat on my left.
"Good morning Okazaki-san, it is good to see you back in school. I don't know if you will remember me, but we met last year."
"Ah yes that's right, you were the one who lent Kotomi-chan the violin weren't you, Nishina wasn't it?"
"That's right, Nishina Rae."
"It's nice to meet you again Nishina-san, I can't remember if you met or not, but this is my better half Fujibayashi Ryou, and I'm sure you remember Furukawa Negisa."
"I don't think we met, but I remember hearing that you had a girlfriend before… well before, it is nice to meet you Fujibayashi-san. It is good to see you in good health again Furukawa-san."
"Thank you, Nishina-san, it is nice to meet you too." Nishina bowed slightly and returned to her seat. Shortly after the teacher arrived, as it turned out it was the same teacher, we had last year.
"Good morning class, ah Tomoya-san you managed to make it in on time for once."
"Yes sensei, Ryou here is keeping me in line." He chuckled a little at my reply.
"I'm sure she is, if you need anything let me know."
"I will, thank you sensei."
The rest of the morning went without incident, by the time lunch time arrived I was ravenous.
"Where do you fancy going to eat our lunch?" Ryou had made us both a bento box for lunch, and Negisa had brought some lunch with her as well.
"We could go out to the courtyard, like we used to."
"Is that alright with you Negisa-chan?"
"I don't really mind."
"Courtyard it is then." By the time we arrived the it was already pretty busy. Our entrance did not go unnoticed, and a great many of the onlookers were whispering, out of the corner of my eye I saw a girl point our way, then say something to her friends, both of her friends looked shocked and then looked at us too. Apparently, the news of our engagement was spreading pretty fast.
There was a group of girls that were talking and periodically glancing at us, after a few minutes of this, one of the girls broke off from the group, and headed our way, looking a bit nervous.
"Umm, Ryou-chan…" She was one of Ryou's regulars from her fortune telling sessions.
"Harumi-chan, it's good to see you again. I'm afraid I'm not going to be doing any fortune telling anymore."
"It's good to see you too, I wanted to ask, umm, about the rumours. Are they true?"
"That would depend on the rumour, Ryou and I have been a bit out of the loop lately."
"Oh, umm yes, of course, well people are saying that you are getting married soon."
"In that case, yes the rumour is true, Tomoya-kun and I are getting married at the start of the July holidays." Ryou proudly made her announcement, loud enough that the people around us could hear it too. Harumi had obviously assumed that it wasn't true, granted it is very, very rare for people our age to get married. I had to wonder what other assumptions were being made, based on the fact we're getting married so soon and so young. Harumi looked startled for a moment, but quickly smiled.
"Congratulations, Ryou-chan, Okazaki-san, that's wonderful news." Her happiness for us seemed genuine enough. She turned to her friends and waved them over. It took all of thirty seconds for us to be surrounded by a crowd of grinning girls.
"Ladies, it's very nice that you're all so happy for us, but would you mind giving me a little more breathing room, it's a little claustrophobic with so many people so close." They all apologised and took a step back. It's funny really, I never used to have a problem with crowds before, but then again, I'm pretty tall so I tended to be above everyone else, but now my head is at about stomach level.
We didn't get a lot of time to ourselves that lunch break, right after one group left, another group turned up. In the end we took it in turns to talk, so the other could get something to eat. I began to wonder if Ryou's arm was starting to get tired, with all the time she spent holding out her hand so people could see her engagement ring. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when we were asked if there was a reason we were getting married so soon.
The atmosphere around us was a little different now, we were still being watched constantly, but the majority of the on lookers were now grinning at us. I did see a few guys giving me a death glare, but I didn't care. I did feel a little sorry for Negisa though, she's shy at the best of times, and she'd suddenly found herself in the middle of a mob of giggling girls.
All in all it was a surreal experience, I had expected to get a fair bit of attention, but this was on a whole other level, we couldn't go anywhere without, being talked to, or about, it was getting a little annoying really, but hopefully it would all blow over soon. Then again, it would probably die down just in time for us to get married and kick it all off again. I did get a few of them asking how I was doing, and the would be happy to help if I needed anything, but Ryou's glares were fairly effective at changing the subject, I had never expected her to be the jealous type, although it is a little tactless to talk about how romantic our engagement is, and then basically flirt with me within earshot of my fiancée.
We drew a lot of "aww" sounds from almost every group of girls, and one group of guys surprisingly enough. Ryou had developed a habit of leaving her hand on my shoulder as we "walked" around, since we couldn't really hold hands as we used to, it was a nice compromise, and according to a large number of girls and the occasional guy, it was adorable too.
Quite a few of Ryou's old fortune telling clients returned for a reading, but Ryou turned them away saying it wasn't something she was comfortable doing anymore. I did wonder if they'd understand if she told them why she didn't want to do it anymore, but Ryou said it was too personal to share.
By the end of the first week, it felt like Ryou and I had spoken to every girl in the school, and quite a few of the guys had come and asked me if it was true, although the guys weren't generally as happy for us, it seems Ryou had quite a fan club last year, some of them had graduated but the majority were in the year below and now being in the same year, had seen it as their chance make a move, until the rumours started up anyway. It had all been quite exhausting, but the fact we had already spoken to anyone who was interested and squashed the potential for any weird rumours springing up early on, by confirming directly that we didn't need to get married quickly, we just didn't want to wait any longer, would hopefully make for a more peaceful second week.
The following week we were largely left in peace to eat our lunch, aside from occasional visitor that hadn't been in with all the groups the previous week, we were still very much the centre of attention, but we weren't mobbed as much, just watched quite a lot. It was a pity that we couldn't retreat to the old theatre club room but the old school building didn't have a lift, so I was limited to the ground level, and there was no way in hell I was going near the madness that was the cafeteria.
Mostly things returned to normal, well normal-ish anyway, after the first couple of weeks, we still got a lot of attention from the girls, but it wasn't too annoying. The last week before the July holidays the number of well-wishers increased quite a lot, predictable really but still annoying, we were tense enough with the stress and excitement of the impending wedding, so the extra attention and excitable girls really didn't help. We decided that we were best off staying in the classroom over lunch, to try and limit how many visitors we'd get, it did reduce the attention we got a little, until the last day of term that is. That day was a bit ridiculous, any time either of us showed our faces we were immediately surrounded by people all asking the same question "So, are you excited?" sort of a daft question really. I was beginning to be very glad we hadn't told anyone which church we were getting married at.
We had a couple of days left to go and it finally occurred to me that all of the parental figures were involved with Ryou's side of things, so I would end up going to the church and waiting at the front all by myself. I was a bit at a loss, but Negisa-chan suggested that her Dad would probably help out if I wanted, I was a little hesitant, Negisa-chan's parents were good people and I got on well with them but they could be a bit eccentric, with no other options and no time either we decided to ask.
As expected, he was more than happy to help, what I hadn't expected was that he was quite calm, none of his usual manic raving, he was actually somewhat normal, I hadn't thought him capable of it.
"Sure thing kid, I can do that for you, you guys have been really good friends to Negisa, so I figure I owe you a favour or two. Did you need me to give a speech or anything?"
"Oh, right, thanks, umm I don't know really, if you really want to give a speech I don't mind, as long as it's not too embarrassing."
"If you don't mind, I'll take the opportunity, relax, I don't really know anything that embarrassing about you anyway."
"Yeah, sure. I really appreciate you helping out at such short notice."
"Like I said you two have been really good to Negisa, like giving her time to get better before telling her about your engagement, I figure you know why it would have been bad if you hadn't waited."
"Yeah, we had a fair idea. I like Negisa-chan, but…"
"No need to apologise, the heart choses who you fall in love with, and from what I'm told, whoever you ended up with, someone would have been hurt."
"I've been told as much, but I can't say I saw it at the time. But the way people reacted to being told we were engaged was quite revealing."
"Mmm, I'm sure it was. Anyway, where and when do you need me?"
"If you could come here, and the wedding is at 11:30, so how does 10am sound to you."
"That should work, if you decide you need me earlier, then just let me know and I'll be right over. Do you need anything else or have Ryou-chan's folks got you covered?"
"I think we're covered for now, but I'll let you know if that changes."
"Alright then, I'll see you on the day then."
"You were very quiet."
"Sorry, but he was so… different."
"I thought the same thing myself."
"What did you mean about peoples' reaction to our engagement being revealing?"
"Oh, I figured you knew what I meant with the way you reacted to Tomoyo-san."
"I just didn't like her not using an honorific, it was inappropriate."
"I just figured you knew with the way you shot her down so hard."
"What do you mean by that?"
"There was no reason to bring up our engagement in the way you did. It seemed a lot more like staking your claim rather than sharing good news. Not that I'm complaining mind you, it was kind of adorable. And then there was those girls you chased off at lunch time."
"Chased off?"
"Are you saying you didn't realise you did it?" Ryou just nodded. "Well they were being a bit flirtatious, then you glared at them, and then they made their excuses and left."
"I didn't notice I did it…" Ryou look really perplexed. It was really quite cute.
"Well, in a couple of days I'll have a ring to tell everybody that I'm taken."
"Yeah, all mine." Ryou wrapped her arms around my arm and rested her head on my shoulder with a big smile on her face.
The morning of the wedding arrived, I was about as nervous as you'd expect me to be, it was made all the worse because of Ryou's unusual absence from the apartment. But Akio-san was very early, like two hours early. He managed to keep me occupied and distracted, mostly by playing on the Xbox, I'm often convinced that he's actually a child pretending to be an adult.
"Come on kid, I can't sit around kicking your butt all day. Get your suit on we need to go soon."
"Yeah."
"Relax, it a wedding not a firing squad, you look like you're about to throw up."
"No, I'm good, thanks.
"Do you want to try telling your face that? Deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth." The breathing thing was far more effective than I had expected it to be. At least until I got as far as the church. It seems that a large number of the students from our school had found out where the wedding was being held and invited themselves. Technically it's a public service so we didn't really have any way to get rid of them. Our quiet intimate wedding was now the social event of the season.