Chapter 3- moving on

As Kotomi and I were walking home after an unexpectedly raucous visit to the ice-cream shop, when a certain gentleman in a rain coat stepped into view. Kotomi immediately tensed up and moved slightly behind my arm.

"Kotomi-chan, you understand that he's not actually a bad man, don't you?"

"Y-yes I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."

"It's quite alright Kotomi-chan, I understand." He smiled warmly at Kotomi as he spoke, then he turned his attention to me. "So, it looks like you got your wish then." Kotomi gave me a confused look as my face heated up.

"Ah, umm, yes." I had no idea what to say the man, it suddenly hit me, 'Oh crap! He's her legal guardian, I should have asked his permission to marry Kotomi months ago!' a look of horror formed on my face.

"Tomoya-kun? Is something wrong?"

"No, err sort of, maybe, I err need to speak to," 'I don't even know his name!' "That is, I need to talk to your Godfather a moment."

"It's okay Okazaki-san, I believe I already know what it's about, and I have no objections."

"Huh?" Kotomi was getting more and more confused. But then again so was I.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself properly. My name is Hideyo, Koumura Hideyo. I believe you know my older brother."

'He can't be serious!' I was utter stunned. He chuckled to himself at my astonishment, it did remind me of the old man's chuckle.

"Really!?"

"Indeed, I approached Toshio quite a while ago to see if he knew much about you, His initial reports on you were… troubling, but he was insistent that you showed true potential and you were having a remarkably positive effect on Kotomi-chan." He paused to let this new batch of information sink in. "And I hear that he has been vindicated in spectacular style. I doubt he'll ever let me forget that."

"I have no clue what to say…" He laughed loudly, taking a while to regain his composure.

"I am not surprised, I am sorry for dumping quite so much on you all at once, I got a little carried away."

"No, no, I really should have sought you out sooner."

"I quite understand, I'm not the most active guardian there ever was but I do like to keep an eye on Kotomi-chan in my own way. We will have to sit down and discuss your future plans at some point soon, but for now all I wanted to do was congratulate the two of you on all of your good news."

"Yeah, thank you…" My mind was still reeling so I was barely able to respond.

"Good night Kotomi-chan, Okazaki-san," He bowed gently and walked off toward town."

"Kotomi-chan?"

"Yes Tomoya-kun?"

"What just happened?"

"I am unsure."

"Yeah, me too." The events of the short conversation did eventually sink in, but only just.

"He's Koumura-sensei's brother?!" We sat in the club room, on Saturday morning sharing the tale of our walk home, well most of it anyway. Kyou grilled us for information while the other two sat in stunned silence

"Yeah, I was surprised too."

"I guess it does explain the moustache likeness anyway. And he said it's okay for you to get married?"

"Not in so many words, but yeah. Now that you mention it, they are quite similar aren't they."

"Wow, you do lead an interesting life don't you."

"Yeah, no kidding."

As second period came to an end Sunohara flopped himself down in his chair.

"Oh hey, I haven't seen much of you lately, how have you been?"

"Yeah well you'd rather hang around her wouldn't you, not with us normal folk."

"Her? You mean Kotomi?"

"Who else would I be talking about?" I was really surprised at how angry he sounded.

"Isn't it natural to hang out with Kotomi, we are getting married, right? It's not like either of us has ever tried to exclude you."

"How could I forget? The whole schools talking about it. Whatever, just leave me alone, I need to get some sleep."

"Yeah, sure."

Once lunch time came around, I mentioned Sunohara's attitude to the rest of the gang at the Theatre club.

"He's jealous." Kyou just announced her conclusion like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Jealous? Of me?"

"Nope, of her." Kyou pointed at Kotomi with a triumphant smile. Everyone else just stared at either Kotomi or me.

"Of Kotomi? You're lost me now Kyou."

"You really are clueless, aren't you? I thought you'd at least work it out when it was another guy. You had some sort of excuse with us, you know us being girls and all, but you really don't see it, do you?"

"You don't mean…"

"Yup."

"Is… you know…"

"Yup."

"With me?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Of course, he is! Bakka."

"Crap." Furukawa was bright red and looked about ready to pass out, and Fujibayashi wasn't far behind. Kotomi just looked confused.

"Umm, Kyou-chan, I don't understand."

"Sunohara is in love with your fiancé." A brief flash of understanding crossed Kotomi's face, and then she passed out.

"Kotomi!"

"Kotomi-chan, are you back with us?"

"Tomoya-kun, why am I on the floor?"

"You fainted Angel."

"Oh, I-I am sorry, I did not mean to worry you."

"You don't need to apologise sweetheart, it's not like you did it on purpose. Okay now get up slowly, I don't want you blacking out again." I glared at Kyou as I gently helped Kotomi up off the floor.

"What are you glaring at me for? How was I supposed to know she'd pass out?"

"Just a little more delicacy is all I ask, Kotomi isn't as 'robust' as you are."

"Are you calling me fat! Did he just say I'm fat!"

"Kyou, put the dictionary down. I just meant emotionally." Kyou lowered the brandished weapon.

"Oh… right… I knew that." Sure, you did.

"That aside, what the heck do I do about Sunohara?"

"I assume you're not interested."

"Heck no!"

"That's a relief." Kotomi was nodding emphatically looking a little alarmed.

"Kyou."

"What?" I pointed at Kotomi. "Oh, right, sorry Kotomi-chan. So, as I see it you have three options."

"Okay."

"One, ignore it all together, two ignore him or three, do what you did for me and tell him you're already taken. Personally, I'd recommend option two."

'Okay Tomoya, you can do this… man this is weird.'

"Hey, Sunohara! You got a minute?"

"Where's your little harem today?"

"I don't have a harem. Anyway, I need to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, whatever." We sat against the stone wall in the back courtyard. "Well?"

"So um, I haven't seen you much lately"

"Yeah, you said that yesterday." His voice was deadpan, as if the whole thing was boring.

"Look I'll just come out and say it. Are you jealous?"

"Huh? Of who?"

"Kotomi." Wow that was really embarrassing to say out loud.

"WHAT!?" Sunohara jumped about 6 feet sideways.

"So that's a no?"

"Of Course, It's a NO!"

"Oh, thank God for that."

"Seriously? You thought I was… you know… with you?"

"Well what would you think? You leave as soon as Kotomi arrives, get angry anytime I mention that we're getting married and you've been avoiding the rest of the Theatre club."

"Oh, I guess I can see that, but I wasn't avoiding the theatre club, I was avoiding Kyou."

"Ahhh, Okay, that makes more sense. But why do you keep leaving when Kotomi turns up and get angry about us getting married?"

"Firstly, it's kinda gross when you two get all lovey-dovey and when you talk about getting married it just feels like you're leaving me behind."

"So, you were avoiding us because you didn't like being left behind? How does that make sense?"

"I guess it doesn't really." He blinked at his own realization.

"Oh, and we've had it pointed out to us about the lovey-dovey stuff by the girls too, so we try to keep it too a minimum when we're around the others. So, buddies?"

"Yeah sure. You don't want to hug, or something now do you?" He eyed me suspiciously.

"Heck no."

"Oh good, that's relief."

"Yeah, imagine my relief." That was the first time I heard him laugh in months.

The following Monday Sunohara came to the club room at lunch time.

"Hey guys, room for one more?"

"Oh! Sunohara-kun please come in." To everyone's surprise it was Furukawa that leaped up to greet him. Almost immediately going bright red when she realized we were all looking at her. Sunohara started coming to the club room most days for lunch (When he had arrived at school by lunch, some things will never change.) He and Kyou clashed a bit at the beginning, in the end we had to force a cease fire while in the club room, it worked for the most part. A couple of weeks after the end of hostilities Sunohara and I sat watching the girls fuss over Kotomi as they discussed our upcoming wedding.

"They get really excited over this stuff don't they." Sunohara mused as we watched.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it, you should see all of the books and magazines Kotomi-chan has at home."

"Still making you use the chan huh."

"Yeah, just pouts at me if I don't, I must admit that pout is kind of cute but there isn't much I can do about it."

"Don't you think it's a little weird how much she likes it?"

"It's a little unusual yes, but she's had a rough life, so I think she's entitled to a few eccentricities."

"Eccen-what's?"

"Never mind."

"You just can't say no to her, can you?"

"Yes, I can." I was getting a little defensive now

"Oh yeah? Like when?"

"Erm…" Sunohara just laughed.

"You're doomed dude." One day will work out how to say no to Kotomi… probably. He did make a good point about the honorifics though.

"Kotomi-chan?"

"Yes, Tomoya-kun?"

"Why are you so insistent on using honorifics?" She just looked at me like I had asked why she breathes.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I mean, we've been dating for a few months now, we're getting married before long, so I figure is okay to drop them, don't you?"

"I-I don't… I am… umm…" She was getting flustered now.

"It's okay Kotomi-chan, it's okay, I'm here." Kotomi took a surprisingly long time to calm down. It was becoming clear that it was about more than just thing for honorifics. I would have to get some advice on this one.

"So, what did you need to talk about Tomoya-san?" I decided that it was probably best to speak to her guardian first.

"Do you know if Kotomi ever saw a grief councillor at any point?"

"Not that I'm aware of, and I highly doubt she would seek out that sort of thing on her own. Why? Did something happen?"

"Not as such, now that you mention it, she did have a bit of a melt down a few months back when we thought one of our friends was involved in a bus crash. It took days to get her to even see me again."

"Hmm, yes that is quite worrying. Was there something more recent that inspired you to call me?"

"Yes, there was, nothing on that scale, thankfully. But she got really quite flustered and took nearly half an hour to calm down again."

"What caused her to get so upset."

"I asked her why she was so insistent on continuing to use honorifics despite our relationship."

"Hmm, yes that does seem… excessive."

"Do you think it has something to do with her parents?"

"It could be, but phycology isn't really my area. I'll see if I can find her someone to help her."

"Let me talk to her about the idea first, I don't want her to feel like she's being cornered or forced into something." He stared at me for a while before speaking again.

"Every time we speak, I am more and more glad that Toshio stuck up for you. Very well, we'll do it your way. Let me know how it goes."

"Thank you, I'll keep you up to date." He bowed and headed off toward the car park without further comment.

"Kotomi-chan, I would like you to talk to someone about your parents."

"I do not understand." I held her hand.

"I think it would do you a lot of good if you spoke to a professional about how it made you feel, and what it was like in your house after." Kotomi began to tremble. "It's okay Kotomi-chan, I'm here for you, I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Kotomi took a deep shuddering breath. Thankfully, she seemed to calm down a little. "You see, you should be able to talk about your parents and remember the good times, not just the pain."

"Y-you really believe it would help?"

"I do, I want nothing but happiness for you, but I think you're still carrying a lot of sadness and pain around with you."

"Okay, I trust you Tomoya-kun."

"Thank you, Angel, that means a lot to me."

"W-will you go with me?"

"Of course I will, I'll always be right here when you need me, okay?"

"Thank you, Tomoya-kun, I love you so much." She threw her arms around my neck and clung to me for nearly an hour. This was going to be a long road.

Koumura-sama found an appropriate professional for Kotomi to talk to. When the day came, she spent the entire time in the waiting room hiding behind me, so much so that when the doctor came out to greet her, he looked at me a little surprised.

"I sorry, I was led to believe I would be speaking to a young lady?"

"You are, this is Ichinose Kotomi." I pulled Kotomi forward from behind me.

"Ah, don't worry, I don't bite." Kotomi attempted to get back around behind me as soon as he spoke to her. "A few trust issues I see."

"She's just really shy around new people."

"That she is, and you are?"

"I am Okazaki Tomoya, Kotomi's fiancé."

"I see, Miss Ichinose, would you come this way then we can have a nice chat and get to know each other a bit better." Kotomi resumed her attempts to hide.

"Kotomi-chan, you agreed to this didn't you?"

"Yes." Kotomi's reply was barely above a whisper.

"And you know that I think it will help you, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you trust me, don't you?"

"Oh, yes Tomoya-kun I do trust you." She got a little flustered at this point, I think she had thought I was suggesting she was saying that she didn't.

"I know you do Angel. Now do you think you could go and have a talk with the nice doctor?"

"C-c-can you c-come with me?"

"We'll have to ask the doctor won't we." I really felt like I was babying her by now, but if that's what it takes to get her some help, I'll do it.

"W-would it be okay i-if Tomoya-kun came in with me?" Her voice was barely audible, but she managed to ask without further prompting. The doctor looked at me for a moment before answering.

"I think that would be an excellent idea." He waved us into his office with a smile.

Kotomi was happy enough to go in on her own for the next visit but only if I stayed in the waiting room.

A couple of months passed and Kotomi had made excellent progress, she was becoming more and more engaged with the others in the theatre club, except for Sunohara, for some reason she just didn't seem to take to him. Maybe she was just a good judge of character, that or she didn't like the way he would look at her chest when she spoke to him. Time marched onward and the twin deadlines of graduation and the wedding loomed ever closer