I was thinking about how I want this story to go. I decided to have it focus a lot more on Nagisa and Tomoya's relationship than the original anime. And it will defiantly go down a bit of a different path so that it will have it own original spin to it. The drama club will still be getting established but I'll try to have more going on on the side as well. Also, this chapter does not follow the exact series of event that leads to the basketball scene because if you had to read out the WHOLE second episode, that wouldn't be very entertaining now would it? I hope you enjoy it!
Sitting in the classroom on another boring day. I found myself staring out the window and up at the sky. Just like always, I found myself wondering if this was all there was to life at this point. A mundane schedule without end. This morning Ryou Fujibayashi, the class representative, had advised me to not always be so late. And then her sister Kyou scolded me and threatened to beat me up when she thought I was making fun of her sister. Such a protective one she is... The sound of the school bell chimed in my ears, so I pulled myself to my feet. No doubt Sunohara would want to have lunch with me or something. Might be amusing.
As I walked down the hallway of the school, something caught my eye. Or..more like someone. I paused and took another look. Ah! Wasn't that the girl from this morning? The one who had seemed so reluctant to come to school on her own? I could see her sitting alone and eating lunch. Did she not have any friends to sit with her? Well, that was a shame. I was tempted to just leave her be and let her sit alone but..I couldn't bring myself to leave her. I had helped her this morning, and I felt like I was obligated to help her now as well.
Reluctantly, I went outside and approached her. I saw her glance at me, but she didn't say anything. "Hey there," I said. No answer. "What are you doing out here alone? Aren't you going to eat with your friends?" Still nothing. Only then did I take notice of what she was eating. Anpan? Didn't she say 'Anpan' when I first met her atop that hill? Huh. "Hey, are you listening to me?" When I asked her this, she finally looked up at me.
"I'm sorry. I'm eating right now." She told me. Well..that was a bit rude, wasn't it?
"So I see." Well, I wasn't going to let this slide. I came over and sat right down next to her. She didn't seem too bothered by this, however. Instead, she continued eating. I decided to just go ahead and eat as well. Might as well I suppose. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the girl ate. Eventually, she finished off her lunch and set her trash gently to the side before looking to me.
"Um, what did you want me for?" She asked softly.
"I just wanted to know why you were out here alone is all."
She hesitated a moment, as though she were debating on how to answer. "Do you like this school?" She finally asked.
"Oh, not particularly," I answered.
"I like it very very much." She told me. "But..it's very new to me." I waited a moment to see if she would continue after this. "I recently transferred here, so I really don't know anyone just yet. All of my other friends are back in my old school. I feel rather out of place here.." She gasped softly then and I saw her blush. "Oh my. What am I saying to someone that I've just met?" She said, looking embarrassed.
"I don't really mind," I told her. "But anyway, if you're new here, then you'll never really be able to make any friends if you just sit here looking all sad like that. Try and smile a little, maybe you'll be able to look more friendly that way." I advised.
"Maybe.." she said, her eyes never leaving her lap. "Well...I was thinking about something actually. Something that might help me make more friends." She hesitated a bit before saying, "I've been thinking about joining the drama club here. I loved to act back at my old school. It was always a lot of fun to perform with everyone. I would defiantly like to do it again."
"Drama huh?" I said to her.
"Yup. Do you..do you think you might want to join?"
"Sorry. I've never been interested in clubs like that before."
"Oh.." She went silent for a moment. "Have you never joined a club before?" She asked.
"Well no that's not true. I was in the Basketball team back in My Freshman year. But I ended up quitting."
"Why is that? Did you lose interest?"
"No, it's not that," I answered. I wasn't sure how to explain it to her. I really did like playing back then. But my body couldn't take the physical strain after a while. I had to rest a lot after games and sometimes missed practice. I always did my best to never miss a game. But I knew it was all over once I finally ended collapsing on the court. The coach called me in and told me that perhaps this wasn't the right sport for me. And in the end, he kicked me off the team. It was kinda depressing after that, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it. "The coach just thought I wasn't cut out for it. That's all."
"Then..would you want to play with me?" She asked, taking me by surprise. "I know I'm not very athletic but I would defiantly like to play with you sometime. It isn't fair that you had to quit Basketball, even though you still liked playing. So I would like to play with you if it's okay." I was a little hesitant at her offer. But she seemed so..determined. Well..one game couldn't hurt, right? There shouldn't really be any issues with one game.
"Fine," I said to her as I stood up. "I'll play with you." Her face lit up when I agreed. Hm. Lunch was just about over. It was time to get going. "Oh, by the way," I said. "My name is Okazaki. Tomoya Okazaki."
She stood up and faced me. "And I'm Nagisa Furukawa! It's very nice to meet you!" Heh. She was so happy. Was I her very first friend here or something? It seemed like it. "I can't wait to play with you, Okazaki."
After school, I found myself sitting in Sunohara's dorm room once again, and staring out the window. Dark clouds were lining the sky, threatening rainfall. Looks like the little game Furukawa proposed was going to be canceled. Unless..no. She wouldn't actually be standing out there and waiting for me would she? That would be stupid! Then again..she did seem like the sort of person who would do that. Should I go and check? I glanced at Sunohara. Reading some sports manga it seemed. Well, he wasn't going to be any more entertaining than anything I could see out there.
I stood up, getting his attention. "Hey, I'm gonna borrow your umbrella." I said as I plucked it up out of his stand by the door.
"Wait for what? Why?" He called out, but I didn't answer as I walked right out the door. Once I got outside of the building, the rain had already begun to fall from the sky. I opened up the umbrella and set out towards the basketball court. God what a pain...
It took about fifteen minutes to get to the court from his house. And when I got there, I was dumbfounded. Furukawa stood next to the basketball hoop, cradling a ball in her arms. She didn't have on a jacket or an umbrella and was just getting pounded by the merciless rain. "Furukawa!" I called out. I dropped my umbrella and hurried over, covering her shoulders with my jacket. When she saw me there, she smiled.
"Oh, Okazaki!"
"Are you stupid? What are you doing out here?"
"I wanted to see you."
"There was no guarantee that I would come was there?"
"But you did come." I sighed. She was right. "You still like basketball. I thought it was so sad that you had to quit by no fault of your own. I don't know what I would do if I ever had to give up drama." She told me. "So I thought that maybe we could play together a little. So you can feel what it's like to play again."
"Well, what are we going to do in all this rain?" I asked her with another sigh. The court was slippery and I didn't want her to get hurt. As I waited for her answer, I could feel a little tickle in my throat. Ugh. I should get home. The rain was freezing and I didn't want me or her to get sick.
"Well..let me see you shoot a basket." She requested. "I want to see it." She then lifted the ball as though she were going to take a shot. "You make a cool stance like this and then shoot, right? A real professional doesn't shoot underhand like me right?" I didn't know what to say to her. I had been thinking about turning down her request. But upon looking her over, I could see that her clothing was soaked through and her hair was dripping wet. She had been waiting for so long and so patiently. It wasn't right to turn down such an innocent request. I sighed and help up my hands. She smiled and tossed me the ball.
I didn't say anything or move a muscle for a moment, and just stared at the ball in my hands. It had been such a long time since I had even held one before. I didn't get a chance to even attempt to play anymore. So this was defiantly rather new to me right now. I began to dribble the ball as Furukawa looked on with anticipation. After a moment, I threw it. The satisfying sound of it going straight through the net made me smile a bit. I forgot how nice it felt. And Furukawa seemed to love it too as she cheered for me.
"That was really great!" She said. "Just like a professional!"
"I wouldn't really say that was professional." I chuckled. She was really amazed by the simplest things wasn't she? I retrieved the ball and shot it one last time, just for her, before tucking it under my arm. "We can play together some other day okay?" I told her. "But for right now, let's get you home alright? I don't want you to get sick." I led her from the court, picking up my umbrella on the way and giving it to her. She protested plenty at first, but I insisted upon her taking it. Then we began walking, with Furukawa taking the lead since I didn't know where her house was. I kept the ball firmly in my arms. But I could feel my hands starting to tremble. It was stupidly cold out here...
We walked past Sunohara's dorm after a while and kept on walking. How far was her house anyway? I just wanted to get her home so I could go home too. I wasn't feeling too well. My head was starting to hurt and my throat was bothering me too. But I tried not to say anything. I didn't want her to worry about me. But I knew I was starting to get sick. I had to be quick about this. But my feet were feeling so heavy and I ended up dragging them as I began to slow down.
"Okazaki, are you okay?" Furukawa asked me. "You look a little pale."
"Yea I'm fine. How much farther is your house from here?"
"Not much farther." Thank goodness. My shirt was soaked through and sticking to my skin. After a bit longer, she stopped in front of a bakery. "It's right here. This is my house." She turned to face me. "Thank you for walking me home Okazaki. I really appreciate it. Do you want to come inside?"
"No thanks. I should be getting home anyway."
"Oh. Okay. But..don't ever hesitate to come over if you would like to." She smiled. "I really appreciated you talking to me today and even coming to play basketball, even though it was raining. I want to repay you for your kindness. So do you think..we could maybe um..be friends?" She asked, suddenly becoming a bit shy. I chuckled at her sudden childish behavior.
"Sure. I don't mind being friends. You seem like a nice person." She smiled widely, more than happy at me accepting her offer. "Now, I should really get going okay?" I said.
"Wait." She said suddenly. "May I ask you something?" I nodded in response. "Well..you showed me that you're pretty good at basketball. And you seemed to really like it too. So..why did the coach think you weren't good enough? Did something happen?" I didn't know how to answer that. She had a lot going on already with this new school and the drama club. It would be stupid to worry her more.
"It was just..circumstances beyond my control," I told her. "Now I really need to-" I stopped. M-my throat. It felt like it was closing up on me and was making it a little difficult to breathe. Everything was mixing together in one incoherent blur. Oh no. Not now. "Sorry.." I mumbled out as I turned around. I could hear her saying my name, and I could tell that she was concerned. But I could barely comprehend anything else. My knees buckled and then slapped against the wet sidewalk as my legs gave out on me. And in the next instance, everything went dark.