Clannad After Story: Tomoyo

Part 3

I entered quietly, knowing that the drunken man was most likely asleep, and would wake if I caused too much ruckus. As day after day passed I had taken a liking to avoiding him as much as possible. It was only in the late hours that I saw him these days, and he was always passed out from drinking too much. He stopped bringing home TV dinners and started just leaving cash for me.

Pitiful.

I tried to remember the last time he had showed any bit of affection, but it was all just a blur. The only thing that mattered now was the days that were passing me by, and I had taken to ignoring those as well. My grades were no longer anything to brag about, and I simply wasted time in class with Sunohara.

He and I got along well.

We were both delinquents.

It was like every bit of happiness I had was slipping through my fingers, little by little...

--------

"Tomoya."

I sighed, loathe to be pulled away from my sleep this morning, she had promised to give me more rest this weekend, as next week I wouldn't have a day off. "Did you forget?" I muttered.

I felt her hand go through my hair softly. It felt good when she did that, "I know," she said softly, "I'm sorry, but you have a phone call, and the caller says it's urgent and can't wait."

I reached up, rubbing my eyes as I sat up and took the phone from her, "Moshi moshi."

"Hello, is this Tomoya Okazaki?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"I'm Your grandmother's lawyer, Higurashi Takeya. I'm calling because I have some bad news."

"Yeah?"

"Your father passed away yesterday night. He was hit by a car on the way home... it was a hit and run."

Everything around me stopped. Apparantly I had a distraught expression, because my fiance began to look worried, "What do you mean?"

"I'm calling about his will."

"What about it?"

Part of me refused to care that the drunken man had died.

Part of me wanted to scream out in anger.

"Okazaki-san, I think it's best if you drop by my office, this is a matter that should be personally discussed with you. What time would be best."

"I don't know," I muttered, rubbing my eyes, "Any time today would be fine."

"How about one o' clock in the afternoon? After lunch?"

"Yeah, that'll work."

---------

The office was dimly lit by a single lamp on the small desk. The man behind it was a clean cut type, short hair, glasses, a sharp looking suit. I sat down in the chair in front of the desk, and Tomoyo followed suit with the other chair. Her grip on my hand tightened slightly. I appriciated her support, but it was really nothing to be worried about. I really didn't feel much at that moment. The man, Higurashi-san, removed his glasses and took a deep breath, "I'm not here because your father couldn't afford a lawyer, I'm here because he didn't want one, and the role is automatically passed to me to carry out his will."

"I don't know much about law," I said, "But why was it passed to you."

"It was requested in the will that a lawyer of immidiate family be responsible for distributing his belongings accordingly, but apparantly my job won't be that hard."

"And why's that?" I was playing along, I knew he didn't have much to his name. It was an easy job, casting away the leftovers of a lazy existence.

Higurashi pinched the bridge of his nose, "Your father left you everything. Your grandfather passed along a small amount of wealth to your father, this was used to pay off the debts he owed, and the rest of it, along with his personal belongings, goes to you. What's left of the fortune is quite hefty. One million seventy two thousand yen, give or take a bit."

I felt the blood drain from my face, he had that money all along and didn't even think to use it to better himself?

"Here," said Higurashi, reaching under his desk and pulling up a small box. He set it in front of me, "Personal effects that were left to you."

I hesitated at first, especially when Tomoyo let go of my hand. She had remained silent this entire time, and I wondered what she was making of this strange situation. She knew about the bad blood between my father and I, she was most likely keeping silent out of respect. I took the box slowly and opened it. Inside were several things. His notebook, which I never saw him writing in, a stopwatch that was given to him by my grandfather, and...

I froze.

I could feel my stomach clench.

Tomoyo laid a hand on my shoulder, "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

I reached into the box slowly and grasped the object. I held it gently, carefully, handling it like it was glass.

It was a small toy, a robot with red eyes and a dome for a head.

I laughed bitterly, "I'm... such an idiot..."

-----------

The podium was the only thing I saw. I knew there was a crowd in front of me, some of them I recognized, some of them I didn't. I was speaking for the man who was to be buried that day. "I'm going to be honest... I didn't know my father."

Some people in the crowd looked a bit startled, but I continued, "I was a delinquent in school, my grades were horrible. I wouldn't come home until late at night, and I would always step over him, passed out on the floor from drinking. I hated him, I avoided him at all costs. He talked to me less and less, we grew apart... until we were strangers." I swallowed a lump in my throat, "But... but I remembered something recently. When I was a boy, we went on a trip together. We stopped at a store... and he bought me some candy, and a toy robot, and he said to me, 'Tomoya, I got this just for you.'

"I thought for a long time about this memory, and when I read his will I realized... he sacraficed everything for me..." I choked, finally giving into my tears. "He couldn't hold a job because he kept taking days off for me. He fell into depression and started getting drunk. In one of his fits he injured my shoulder, and... and the reason he stopped talking to me is because... because he thought I would hate him. He paid for me to go to school, and learn, and make friends. I didn't realize that I wasn't the only one suffering, I was selfish and concieted. And now that I think about it, if I had taken the time to sit down with him, hold a conversation, listen to what he was saying, maybe it would've been different."

I reached up, wiping the tears from my eyes, "I stand here to speak about the man who died but a few days ago, but I don't even know him well enough to do that, I wouldn't be able to do him justice.

"But I will say one thing. That man sacraficed everything so that I could live happily, and... and I hope he can rest easy, because I am. He was the father of an ungrateful son, but no longer. He will be in our thoughts, and I will remember what he did for me. Thank you..."

Tomoya,

I leave this letter with my will in the hope that you may one day read it. Do you remember the trip that we took to your grandmother's? The sunflower field was your favorite place to play. I would give almost anything to return to that day, so I could see you smile again.

When you moved out, I saw you leave with Sakagami-san. I knew she was the council president at your school, this coupled with the fact that you had graduated, I swelled with pride. I was able to accomplish my mission.

I saw you smile as you left with her, and I knew that she made you happy.

Tomoya, I did many things to hurt you, and for that, I apologize with all my heart.

But I am also happy.

I am so proud of you my son.

-Naoyuki Okazaki

---------

"Are you going to be alright Tomoya?"

I sighed and took a mouthful of rice. Swallowing it before smiling lightly, our apartment was eerily quiet that night, almost as if to respect the deceased. Tomoyo put a hand on my shoulder and returned my smile before I replied, "Yeah, I'm going to be fine. It just... everything hit me so fast, I almost didn't have time to absorb it all. All those years of pent up anger and frustration, it all just vanished, almost instantly. Whoa..."

I was suddenly pushed to the ground, and my spoon went flying clear across the room and out the window, I looked up at the girl perched on top of me and blinked. She leaned down and kissed my fiercly, when she pulled away I blinked again, "Since when have you been this aggressive?" I asked with a smirk.

"I wanted to make you feel better."

"Well... it worked, but we lost a spoon in the process."

She looked over at the window and frowned, "Crap."

"See where reckless abandon gets you? Now we have an incomplete set of silverware, not to mention the chopsticks from last week."

She went red instantly, "I thought we agreed not to talk about that."

I grinned, "I thought it was nice, chopsticks not withstanding."

My stomach rumbled and she sighed, "Sorry," she said, pushing herself off of me. I took my previous postion and she retrieved a spoon for me. I took it and she sighed, sitting down next to me once again, "Furukawa-san's club is doing well. She's a bit shy, but she makes friends quickly. If I didn't have to worry about being president I would have joined the theatre club as well."

The door bell rang.

I sighed and set my spoon down, not getting a chance to reply to the good news. When I opened the door I frowned, "Who the hell are you?"

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

"Oh," said Tomoyo, completely nonchalant, "Look who it is."

In front of me stood the lower life form Sunohara Youhei. I looked him up and down for a moment before my eyes rested on his black hair. My lips twitched, "Pfff... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Stop laughing at me! Sakagami-san, how nice it is to see you!"

He stepped around me, holding out his arms as if to hug the girl in front of him.

A split second later he was face down on the floor moaning in pain.

"I'm sorry, my leg just reacted to your presence."

"What kind of... reaction... is that?" He groaned.

I leaned into Tomoyo and whispered, "Don't go around kicking him, you're pregnant remember?"

Her face reddened, "Y... yeah..."

Sunohara jumped up instantly, "What's that I hear, pregnant?!"

WHAM!

"Tomoyo!" I shouted.

"I'm sorry! Old habits!"

"What kind of... old habit... is that?"

I frowned, nudging the complaining Sunohara with my foot, "You did ask for it, that wasn't meant for your ears you know."

"So what are you doing here?" asked Tomoyo as he stood shakily.

"Well," he said, "I heard that Okazaki's dad died, so I bought a last minute plane ticket to fly up here, but all my flights ended up being canceled. I waited in the air port for hours! Then they gave me a bus ticket! Can you believe that! A bus ticket, when I should have been flying!"

"Idiots aren't meant to have wings," I muttered.

"Don't try to act wise!"

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, "Well, come on in, we've got some extra food for you if you're hungry."

We sat, and Sunohara gladly took to eating the extra food that Tomoyo had made. When he was done he rubbed his belly, "Man, I didn't know you could cook like that Okazaki."

I smirked, "Tomoyo made it."

He immediately started clawing at his throat, "Help! Somebody call 119, I've been poisoned!"

"It's too late for you," I said, relishing the moment as Tomoyo simply shook her head. "The poison has already started to spread slowly through your veins. First, you'll feel it creeping inside you, like a caterpiller. Then you'll start to feel uncomfortable. Then you'll develope cramps and pains all over your body. The pain will slowly consume you until you die."

"How long do I have!?"

"A minute, followed by a week of suffering."

"That's not funny!"

Tomoyo sighed, "I forgot how stupid things were when you two got together."

----------

"Hey... Okazaki?"

"Eh?"

We were watching some horror flick, while Tomoyo had gone out shopping in my stead. Sunohara smirked and put a hand on my shoulder, "It's good to see you two again. Just like old times."

I smiled warmly, "Exactly like old times," I said with a laugh.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your dad's funeral."

I sighed, "It's alright, the fact that you came down for it is enough. How is Mei doing?"

"She's about to graduate this year, she grew a whole inch, it's hard to believe she's headed off to high school."

"Man, a whole inch huh?"

"She insisted on coming with me. I would have let her, but last minute plane tickets are expensive enough for one person, and I'm not exactly rich."

"It would have been nice, maybe next time."

"Hey, do you ever get this feeling... like, things could have gone completely different for us? Like, what if you hadn't started dating Tomoyo?"

I pondered this for a moment, "Well, I've thought about it a little, why?"

"Um, well, I met this girl..."

I held my hand up, "Stop right there, you and girl in the same sentence just... doesn't work."

He frowned, "Hear your old buddy out for once."

"Alright alright," I said with a laugh.

"She's a smart one, quite a bit spacey and weird, but that's not bad, it's more of an endearing thing."

"Okay I get it you're in love, get to the point."

"Th... that has nothing to do with this!"

I shook my head and chuckled.

"Anyways," he continued, "She's going to be studying abroad in America for a couple of years before she comes back and starts her career, and she talked to me about some interesting things."

"How long have you known this girl?"

"A few months, she was actually one of the top students in our school you know. Her parents were big shot scientists, and she's continuing where they left off in their research."

"And this is relevent because?"

"Well, their research involved a lot of alternate universe mumbo jumbo, about how there are so many different paths, but we can only take one. And I guess, from what I've gathered of all her techno bable, that maybe we are doing more than one thing, we're just not aware of it. The way she explained it... was weird, but I'll try my best."

I took note of what he was saying. Something told me that the Sunohara sitting in front of me was smarter, better off than he was before.

"She said... that our conscience is collective, kind of like a colony of ants, they can communicate with each other, but they don't really know what there doing. There's always that saying where we only use ten or eleven percent of our brain power, but what if we could use all of it?"

"So you're saying my conscience is an ant colony?"

"No... dammit. That was just comparing it to something, I don't understand it much either. Again, this is just what I've gathered. And she said... that we are all our own person, but it's like we're split into different parts."

"This sounds like a pretty zanny theory."

"It is, but this isn't even the tip of the ice berg. She said that even though we're unaware of so many things happening around us, that we still manage to pull off this whole alternate choices thing. I was just wondering... what if you and Tomoyo hadn't hooked up, you know?"

I thought for a moment, "Maybe..."

"What?" he asked.

"I have strange dreams, almost like... I'm not myself, I'm someone different. No, never mind, it's nothing..."

"Okazaki, if you want to talk about it then talk."

"It's just... When I was talking to Furukawa-san the other day..."

"Furukawa? The bread girl?"

"Yeah, her. I felt like I could have done so much more to help her out, and when I asked to be her friend I saw something. It felt like a door shut in my face... and... she looked sad."

There was dead silence. Sunohara didn't say anything, and the crickets outside seemed to have all but dissappeared. The only thing I could hear was the rustling of the trees outside, and even then it was barely audible. I could see the picture on the TV, but there was no sound coming from it. I suddenly stood, "I feel like... I have to do something, but I don't know what."

"Let me come with you."

I nodded.

----------

Let me take you to a place... where wishes are granted.

The walk was long, but we arrived in front of the hospital with time to spare, the sun was just setting. There were two people standing outside of the entrance to the hospital. They were familier to me. "Fujibayashi!" I shouted.

They both turned towards the sound of my voice and I ran to them, Sunohara following close behind, "Tomoya," muttered Kyou, "What are you doing here?"

I scratched the back of my head, "Erm, this might sound weird but, I kind just... came here."

I looked up at the hospital, it had recently been built, where once there was a flat plain of grass, there was now the towering building in front of us. "Hey, that's weird," said Kyou with a laugh, "I was taking Ryou somewhere... and we sort of forgot where we were going and ended up here," she laughed awkwardly, trying to pass it off as pure coincidence.

Ryou brought a finger to her chin, "How strange, my cards told me this would be a completely normal day."

My eyebrow twitched, "Anyways, I wonder why we're here," I said, uselessly trying to make sense of something that was beyond my reach. I stepped forward hesitantly, and the doors to the hospital kicked open.

"Well look who's here Fuu-chan."

I turned, and saw that numerous other people had decided to join us.

Ibuki-sensei was the one who spoke, and holding her hand was Fuuko. By them stood Mei. Sunohara's eyes widened, "Mei, what are you..."

She pouted, "I wanted to see Tomoya too!"

That wasn't all.

"Kotomi-chan!" shouted Sunohara.

A beautiful girl in a black dress walked past Ibuki sensei and smiled at Sunohara. Fuuko's jaw dropped and she pointed at her, "Strange book store girl!"

"Excuse me, excuse me, I'm sorry." A short girl made her way through the small throng of people. I recognized her as Yukine, the strange girl from the reference room.

A panting Misae-san followed her, scooping down to fetch her cat, who had obviously been running away again.

A man walked out from behind Ibuki-sensei, he tipped his hat in my direction, a silent and overly dramatic gesture. That must have been her husband, Yoshino Yusuke.

And last, but most definately not least...

"Tomoyo." I whispered her name. She held shopping bags, but she made her way to me and held my hand with the hand that was free, "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know," she said honestly.

I looked at the small crowd and frowned, "Let's go into the hospital..."

We all walked forward, and I caught sight of Akio and Sanea Furukawa. Akio was vehemently arguing with a doctor, who looked like he just crawled out of a hole filled with worms. "What do you mean you can't do anything?! That's my daughter!"

He was crying, Akio, the tough looking bastard who threatened me, he was crying. His wife Sanae looked like she had seen infinately better days. The doctor looked like he was about to apologize, but his eyes widened at the sheer number of people that had just swarmed into the hospital. Akio turned and saw me, "Oka... zaki?"

"Excuse me," said the doctor, "Are you all friends of Furukawa Nagisa."

I don't know why, but I nodded firmly, even though I was the only one in the crowd who was technically her friend, "Yes, we're here to see her." The words escaped my mouth before I could think about them. Tomoyo's grip tightened on my hand, and the crowd behind me looked worried.

"Very well," said the doctor hesitantly, "Follow me."

-----------

Sanae smiled, "Nagisa-chan, your friends are all here to see you," she said softly, leading us into the room one by one.

Luckily it was a large hospital room, lest it wouldn't be able to house all of us.

Furukawa lifted her head slowly and smiled, "Everyone," she said weakly, "Okazaki-kun too."

Tomoyo and I walked forward, still holding hands, "Furukawa... no, Nagisa," I said softly, "What happened?"

"I just had... a little dizzy spell."

Akio choked.

I knew that she was lying, the girl that was in that bed had opened death's door.

"We did a play, Okazaki-kun... it was so much fun."

"What was it about?" I asked softly.

"It was about a girl. She was the only girl in the whole world. Her only friend... was a doll made out of scrap metal that she spent days collecting."

"Who was the girl?"

"I... I don't know her name," she said softly, "But she was lonely."

I swallowed, "How did it end?"

"...She had to go away, her friend did too."

Akio and Sanae were clinging to each other.

This crowd of friends, they all looked like something important to them was about to be lost.

Nagisa smiled warmly, "Everyone is here, it's like the Dango Daikozaku. Okazaki-kun, you know who they are right?"

I nodded softly, "Y... yeah, the big dango family."

She began singing. Out of all the things she could do she was singing. It was her favorite song, about the big Dango family, and the mischief and love that was a part of it.

Eventually... she fell silent, and Sanae began to all but wail.

Tomoyo clung to me tightly, and I to her.

For all our different reactions, we all had one thing in common.

We shed tears for that girl.

And I started to sing on my own, it was my favorite song, about the big Dango family, and the mischief and love that was a part of it.

I sang until my chest hurt too much to allow me to do so...

-------------