AN : i'm sorry

Chapter 16

Tomo tapped her foot impatiently, as her brothers began putting dishes up from the dinner they had just finished eating. She was losing her patience. Here it was the night of the Regular's sushi party, and Tomo was once again stuck babysitting and she really wasn't in the mood to deal with their agonizing slowness in getting their chores done.

"Speed up the pace," Tomo growled. "I don't want you in here all night. Once you're done you two can go do whatever provided you keep the noise down."

"Yes, neesan," the boys murmured.

Tomo crosses her arms and sent another glare their way before turning on her heel and heading into the living room. She knew it was unreasonable for her to be angry at her mother for having to work late that evening, but Tomo was really looking forward to seeing some of the old regulars she hadn't seen in probably close to a year.

Eiji sempai, Inui-sempai, even Fuji, who she had seen quite often, had been a lot more busy as of late. It would have been a good way to catch up. She just hoped that Sakuno, who was lucky enough to go, would remember everything about what their sempai-tachi were getting themselves into lately and tell her every detail.

Tomo sighed and reached for the remote controller and flipped on the television set. It was a rerun of a Meiji restoration tv drama that her mother really enjoyed playing on the tv. Tomo didn't like to admit it but she started to really like the show herself.

Tomo managed to allow herself to become so immersed in the show that she was startled when her phone began ringing some minutes into the program. She almost didn't realize it was her cell phone, but it was hard to ignore the vibrations against her pants pockets. Tomo dug in and her brow furrowed at the unfamiliar number.

"Hello?" she said, answering the call.

"Good evening. May I speak with Tomoka-san?" came a polite voice on the other line.

Tomo became even more confused. Who would call her asking for her in such a polite manner?

"Yes, this is Tomo," Tomo replied. "May I help you?"

"Aa, yes, this is Oishi."

"O,Oishi-sempai!" Tomo gasped, leaping up immediately from her spot on the couch.

Realizing her excited tone, and feeling belatedly embarrassed, Tomo sat back down, curling her legs beneath her.

"O,Oishi-sempai. What can I do for you this evening?" she asked, still attempting to calm her excited nerves, but only chiding herself for acting so unnatural.

"Oh, you didn't know it was me?" Oishi asked, sounding like he was in thought. "I thought Ryoma gave you my number."

"He did," Tomo confirmed. "I just never put it in my phone."

"Oh…" his voice faded.

Tomo began twirling a strand of hair between her fingers, not knowing what else to say.

"Anyway, so--" Oishi began again, but his voice quickly was replaced by another.

"Nya! Hi Tomo-chan!"

"Ki,kikumaru-sempai!" Tomo gasped. "Hey! Long time no see."

"Well you don't really see me now because you're not here! We miss you! Especially Shuuichirou! He's been bothering Ochibi about you all night!"

"Really?" Tomo gasped.

She heard some other voices and some wrestling on the other side before hearing once again Oishi's voice in her ear.

"Give me that!" he said. "Sorry Tomo-chan, don't listen to Eiji. We all were worried wondering if you were ok."

"Who's all there right now?" Tomo asked, worried they were having this conversation in front of a crowd of regulars. How embarrassing!

"Oh it's just me, Eiji, and Fuji," Oishi said.

"Oh, ok. Tell them hi."

"She says 'hi,' Ok I'll tell her. Bye guys" she heard Oishi say before he returned to their conversation. "They said 'hi back'"

"Are you still at the restaurant?" Tomo asked.

"No, we just left. I'm walking back to my apartment now," Oishi explained.

"Oh ok. You better be safe."

"Oh, I will, but thanks. It's not everyday someone worries about me."

"It's only fair since you spend so much time worrying about others," Tomo replied.

"True. I admit I was worried tonight. I was hoping you didn't refuse coming to see us today on account of what we had discussed some time ago."

Tomo tensed and leaned back against the couch, trying to decide how she should take those words. On one hand she could accuse him as being rude for prying and that it wasn't any of his business, but on the other hand she thought it was nice he was looking out for her, even if his reasoning was completely wrong.

"No, I'm fine. Takeshi-kun and I are done and what's done is done. Actually I had to baby-sit. I'm surprised Ryoma didn't tell you."

"What? Ryoma knew why you didn't come?" Oishi asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Well yea," Tomo replied. "I was supposed to ride there with him and Tezuka so it was only natural I told him what's up."

"Well gee, he knew I was wondering what happened--"

"Oh don't bother trying to figure Ryoma out," Tomo laughed.

"Yeah, knowing him he probably just forgot, right?" Oishi asked.

"Or maybe just didn't care enough to remember," came Tomo's reply.

They shared a laugh and then Tomo's brothers came into the room.

"Oneechan we're finished," one of the boys reported.

"Ok, I'll go check it then," Tomo replied.

"What?" Oishi asked.

"Nothing, just talking to my brothers."

"Ok well I'm glad you're feeling ok. I guess you don't need me to say it but I was worried."

"You don't need to be. Besides Ryoma and Sakuno have been a big help to me in all of this," Tomo admitted.

"Of course not," Oishi said, once more faltering.

"Look, thanks for calling, sempai. I gotta see that my brother's finished their chores. Thanks again thought."

"No problem."

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Once Tomo had her brothers squared away she went right up to her room and got ready for bed herself. She was dead tired though she couldn't really explain why. It wasn't like she did anything strenuous that day. She had played tennis with Mieko earlier, but that certainly wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

After brushing her hair out, Tomo went to her bed and pulled back the covers. She got into them, feeling the comfort of her soft pillow and blanket. It was then when her phone conversation with Oishi caught up with her.

Apparently he'd been asking about her all night, according to Kikumaru-sempai, and if that were true why didn't Ryoma bother to inform them about her situation. Even Ryoma wouldn't be so absent minded as to forget something like that after someone was constantly bringing it to his attention. As much as a space case Ryoma pretended to be, she knew for a fact his powers of observation and retention could be very keen when needed.

She also wondered about him calling her. It was so strange. Of course in a way it wasn't out of character for Oishi to care for his friend when they were in need and even worry for them when they particularly didn't need it, but Tomo knew she and Oishi had never been close. Sure they talked quite a few times, as was inevitable what with her being Ryoma's friend and later Momo's girlfriend. Still, did that merit uch personal attention?

Tomo fought back a blush as she imagined Oishi's concerned face and him asking her what was wrong and taking her hand as she sat on a park swing.

Tomo didn't like where her mind was going with all of its strange thoughts. She began to feel a bit bitter with herself. She felt pitiful not to mention desperate. A friend was trying to be considerate of her feelings and then here she was skewing such attentions into some sort of affection. It was just silly to think of that. Oishi was nice. That's all.

Tomo convinced herself of that final thought and then reached over to turn off her desk lamp

To be continued…

AN: thanks for reading. i plan to get back into the swing of updating again. for right now though i'm reallllly tired. also i might change my name so heads up if you see this story by someone else. it'd probably be me. but it not official yet. thanks again and please review