Chapter 5

The bell for the end of school rang. By the time Ryou and I had come back into the class, it had been close to finishing. We had gotten a few stares from the teacher and a few of the students, but aside from that, everything was normal. I looked over at Ryou who was still at her desk, trying to put away her things as she was surrounded by a horde of girls.
"Fujibayashi-san, tell me my fortune!" "Me too!" "Jeez, I got here first! No fair!"
"Um… I'm sorry. I have to head home today." I could hear her quiet voice over the ruckus of the girls, although it didn't have the boldness behind it like it did when she was around me.
While Ryou was busy trying to escape her… Fans? I decided to have my own fun. Sunohara was asleep on his desk, unaware that school had ended. I kicked his seat with my heel, moving his seat quite a bit. He hadn't woken up from that, so I tried again. This time he did.
"Woah! What was that?" His gaze eventually turned to me. "Oh, it was you Okazaki."
"Sunohara, I am not Okazaki." A pathetic line, even for me. There's no way he'd believe this.
"Huh? No, you're Okazaki." He said that, although he was carefully studying me as if he didn't fully believe his own statement.
"No, I'm a hologram of Okazaki."
"A hologram?"
"Yes. You fell asleep for 100 years."
"What's happened to humanity?" His face flooded with anguish. Even for an idiot, he couldn't be this stupid.
"In ruins."
"Mom, dad. I'm sorry for being so useless." He sat there with his hands pressed together as if he was praying. At this point, it was certain he wasn't playing along with my joke.
"Tomoya-kun!"
"Tomoya-kun?" Hastily coming back from his praying position, his face showed that he had realized what was going on. "SO YOU ARE OKAZAKI!"
"She's a hologram too."
"Then humanity…"
"In ruins." This time it wasn't me who said it, but Ryou. Had she heard what I was saying before and wanted to join in? "Tomoya-kun, let's go." She whispered to me. Understanding what she was meaning, and why she joined in, I hastily followed and left Sunohara behind to wallow in his own imaginary world.

As we left the school, there was no conversation between us. Ryou sullenly looked down as she walked, as well as twiddling her thumbs. I thought back to the moments after I left the principal's office with Ryou. She had hugged me after I had collapsed, which was something I wasn't expecting. As well as the hug she had started to say something but never finished it.
"Tomoya-kun, I um… I… Ah…... Nevermind!"
I couldn't see her face as she was hugging me, but she had said that she quickly let go and we headed back to class. I wanted to find out what she was going to say, but best not to pry.
"Tomoya-kun. Tomoya-kun!"
Once again, I found myself being shaken by Ryou.
"Jeez, you were lost in thought again." Her eyes were filled with concern. I had been spacing out quite a bit though.
"Sorry, just, thinking." She looked down after my response, but she seemed less worried.

We continued to walk in silence as she guided me to her house. The atmosphere between us was tense. I didn't think I had done anything in the time between school and here, but she gave off the feeling that something was amiss.
"Hey Ryou?"
"Y-yes?" She jumped as she responded, probably not expecting me to speak so suddenly.
"You feeling alright yourself? Also, I've been wondering about what you were going to say earlier." A panicked look came across her face.
"Ah… I-I'm fine." Even though she had responded, she continued to look down. "And um… About the thing I was going to say… Um… You'll find out when we get home!" Ryou looked up at me after finishing what she was saying. Her face was flustered from her response, as well as her walking pace quickening. I increased my own to keep up with her, but kept slightly behind so I wouldn't walk ahead while walking to her house.

Eventually, we ended up at the Fujibayashi house. Ryou nervously approached the front door. I could see her hand shaking as she reached out to open the door. With the door now opened, she turned towards me.
"C-come in." She was smiling. I could see that on the edge of her lips the smile was faltering, but she was trying her best to keep herself composed. I got the feeling that if I stayed out here for even a little too long she'd start to break from the suspense.
"Th-thanks for having me." I walked past Ryou and into her house. A foyer greeted me with a black cabinet with a painting set above it. I could tell from the foyer alone that the Fujibayashi family was well off, or at least to a decent degree. The more I looked, the more I found little details that stood out and made the Fujibayashi family stand out as well off. Was it really okay to date one of their daughters? No no no! What am I thinking? Damn Kyou…
Apparently, I had spaced out once again because after I had done a pan of the foyer, Ryou was beside me.
"Tomoya-kun, would you, um… Would you like to sit down?"
Oh, yeah. Thanks, that'd be good." Her eyes sparkled at my response.

Ryou guided me into the living room. It was huge. The room held two couch sets that were a royal blue color with what seemed like a high-quality material. Lamps atop side dressers paired with the couches. Amongst the setup, a coffee table sat in the middle of the room. It wasn't big, but it fit the room nicely.
"Wow…" I found myself panning my eyes across the room in awe. Ryou must have been amused by my amazement because I heard a giggle from behind.
"Do you like it Tomoya?" Ryou walked up from behind me and past me into the living room. "You've never seen something like this, have you?"
"It's… It's amazing." The more I looked around the room, the more I the room shone its beauty to me. "How did you afford all this?"
"Our parents have good paying jobs. Not enough to be spoiled of course, but enough to save and get what they want."
"It must be nice..." I thought of the state of my house. A small, rundown rental that smelled of alcohol and had little space. It was enough to live in, but with my dad there I couldn't call it home. "You have these pleasures."
"Tomoya…" Crap. My thoughts must have come through in the tone of my voice. "If it's alright with you, would you tell me about your home?"
"It's… Nothing special." I paused. Did I really want to tell Ryou about my life at home? I looked up at her and saw a face filled with concern. There was no way I could let it stay that way. "I hate my home. The reason for that being my dad. I was accepted into this school on a recommendation for basketball, but…" I took a breath. The subject was still heavy on me, no matter how many times I'd think over it. "But in my final year before coming here we got into a fight when he came home drunk one time. The fight resulted in me injuring my shoulder. I was stubborn and didn't go to the doctors. Because of that, I can no longer raise my right arm." I tried to raise my arm to show her that I couldn't. Her face was full of shock, and it looked like she was close to tears.
"Tomoya…" I could hear all of the emotions from Ryou's voice. Even though it wasn't her that it happened to, she could still be upset over it. For a moment I felt like there was another pair of eyes on me, but I turned my head and saw no one.
"Hey Ryou? Is anyone else here?" I looked around again and still couldn't see anyone. Was it my imagination.
"No, aside from Onee-chan who will be in her room. We've got the house to ourselves." I wasn't sure if she meant it in a certain way or not. I'd rather not find out.
"What time do your parents come back?"
"They're out tonight. Onee-chan was meant to cook dinner tonight. But…" Kyou was? Well I can't imagine her cooking in her state.
"So I don't even get to meet them." I was disappointed, slightly. If I could meet them and pass my apologies to Kyou it'd be nice.
"Ehhh? Y-you wanted to m-meet our parents?"
"Well since I'm here, I thought I might as well." It wasn't entirely false, but I didn't want Ryou to know the whole truth.
"Ah… That's what you meant." Her eyes lowered slightly before quickly meeting my own, filled with determination. "Did you want to stay for dinner? If you're not busy that is."
"Dinner?" I thought about it. Would it be dinner with just Ryou and I? Or would Kyou join us as well? "Well, I don't have anywhere to be. But what about Kyou?"
"Onee-chan wouldn't mind… I think."
"You think? Ah whatever. I'll stay." Her eyes gleamed to my response. I could feel my face slightly heating up because of how cute she looked. To try to hide my embarrassment I looked away from Ryou while putting my hand behind me head to hopefully cover my face. "Well, since I'm staying, what are we having Miss Ryou?"
"Um… I don't think Onee-chan will be cooking tonight, so uh… Anything you want? Ehe…" She ended her question with an awkward laugh.
I thought about it for a moment. "Well, there's nothing in particular…" I tried to think about what I'd want, but I usually just bought myself bread, cup ramen and tea.
"How about we go out to get miso or ramen?"
"Miso or ramen huh?" I looked at the clock that was across the room. 4:06. "Still too early to go out though isn't it?"
"Yeah, a little." Ryou looked down slightly, trying to meet her eyes with mine. "Did you um… want to leave a little early?"
"Do you mean now? Well we did only just get here."
"Ah right… I-I'll get changed out of my uniform!" Ryou ran off flustered up the stairs, presumably to her room.
I took a seat on one of the couches while I waited, examining the room. More of the finer details of the room were noticeable as I looked around, taking it all in. I couldn't help but think of how lucky they were to live somewhere like this. All I had was a small bedroom to myself with a bed and a desk while my father slept in the living area, usually reeking of alcohol, after a day of work.
I sensed someone come into the room, a dismissed it as Ryou being finished.
"You finish-" I was unable to finish my sentence. She sat beside me, and looking over, I saw that it wasn't Ryou that had entered, but Kyou. "Kyou…"
Kyou looked like an utter mess. Her hair was curled upwards at parts and it covered her face to hide her expression. She wasn't angry, nor sad. There were no words to describe how she felt, but just by being next to her I could feel exactly what I couldn't describe.
Neither of us talked for a while, and Ryou still hadn't finished. I knew it took girls a while to get ready, but wasn't this taking a bit too long? I almost got out of my seat before Kyou grabbed by shirt arm.
"Tomoya…" Kyou was looking down. Her voice was filled with a desperation of some kind. I relaxed and let myself sink back into the couch beside Kyou. She seemed to be happy with that because she loosened her grip. I thought I heard her say 'Thank you,' but she showed no sign of ever talking.
There was silence for a while as we both sat there, unmoving, and unspeaking.
"You've… You've gotten close with Ryou." Her voice was quiet, but loud enough for me to hear her.
"Yeah, I guess I have."
Once again, there was silence. I waited a few moments before starting to speak again, but I never got the chance. Instead, interrupting me, Kyou leaned over and I felt a warmth on my cheek.