I can't move. Everything hurts. I can't breathe right. Where am I? What happened?
When I first opened my eyes, my first comprehensive thought was, 'Where the hell am I?' I didn't recognize the room I was in, nor did I really remember what had happened. I was lying in a futon, rather than in my own bed. And when I glanced around, the bedroom didn't look familiar either. A white desk, a bookshelf, and a pink clock. A potted plant in the corner, and a television on top of a dresser on another. Whose room was this? I had to take a moment to think about what in the world had happened.
"Ah! Are you awake?" I hadn't noticed the door slid open! I turned my head to see who was speaking. A woman stood in the doorway, smiling at me. Who was this? "How are you feeling? You had quite a nasty fall earlier." A fall? Oh! That's right, I passed out in front of Furukawa's house, didn't I? So this was probably her bedroom I was lying in. So then, was this her sister? Or her mother perhaps? She came in and knelt down by the futon.
"I'm..feeling better than before," I told her.
"That's great! Nagisa was so worried about you! I imagine she'll be really happy to hear you're your okay." She said. I looked about for a moment before my eyes fell on the window. It was dark outside. Was it because of the weather? Or was it really already night time? I couldn't really tell. I looked back at the woman before me. "Where is Furukawa?" I asked.
"Nagisa? She's in the kitchen. She wanted to make you something for when you woke up. I asked her to bring me one of the bread I made for you to try too but she seemed a bit hesitant for some reason." She frowned a bit. "She wanted to bring you to your house but we don't know where you live. It's late right now though so I don't think it would be safe to try and take you home now. Would you rather be okay with this?" She asked me. I frowned a bit in response.
"He wouldn't care.." I muttered. She seemed concerned, and I didn't want her questioning me further. So I quickly changed the subject. "I'm sorry to be putting you out like this."
"It really isn't any trouble at all." She assured me. "We're just happy to help. You're Okazaki, right? That's what Nagisa told us anyhow." She put her hand on my forehead. Mmm. The coolness of her hand really felt nice against my forehead. "It feels like your fever went down a little. I'll call for a doctor to come by in the morning if it hasn't broken. Is that okay?" She asked.
"That's fine." I scanned the room a bit more, not really sure what to say. My eyes fell on something..a bit familiar. It rested on top of her bookcase. It was a round, green thing with two black lines for eyes. What could that be?
"Taken an interest I see." Her mother chuckled. "That's a Dango. Do you like them?" Before I could answer, she got up and went to the bookcase. She took down the 'Dango' and came back to me as I sat up. She placed the squishy thing into my lap. "It's Nagisa's. She bought it with her own money after working a part-time job. She works so hard~" She chuckled. I wasn't really sure what to say. I placed my hands on top of it and pushed down. It was filled with beads that made it squish. How odd. Nagisa liked these things? Weren't they a little outdated?
"Oh!" I heard. I looked up to see Nagisa standing in the doorway, a tray in her hands and an apron around her waist. It was pink and had another one of those Dango's on it. "I'm glad to see that you're awake!" Nagisa said as she came into the room. When she knelt down, the woman got up.
"I'm going to leave you two be then okay? Get plenty of rest okay? I'll be coming to check on you in a bit." She turned around, paused, and then turned to me again. "By the way, my name is Sanae. It's very nice to meet you." I nodded in return and watched as she walked from the room and shut the door behind her. I looked to Furukawa now, who seemed to be blushing a bit as she's got down onto her knees next to me and set the tray to the side.
"Something wrong?"
"Oh no! It's just that..well you look so cute with the Dango all cuddled up onto your lap like that. Hehe~" She admitted as she smiled at me.
"I-Is that so?" I said, not really sure what else I was supposed to say in a situation like this. I watched as her eyes fell to her lap, and her smile suddenly faded. "I'm sorry Okazaki." She said.
"Sorry? For what?"
"For what I did. I was the one who asked you to come and play basketball. And I'm the one who made you take the shot. I.." Oh man. I could see tears welling up in her eyes. I didn't want her to start crying like this... "I was the one who made you sick. I'm sorry Okazaki, I never meant to hurt you like this. I just wanted to play with you."
"You don't have to apologize for that," I told her. "You had good intentions and didn't mean any harm. It's my own fault for going out like that. I knew about my condition and so still chose to stay in the rain like that?"
"Condition?" Furukawa sniffed. "Your not sick are you?" Ah. I should have kept my mouth shut. What was I supposed to say to her?
"Sort of," I said. "It's something I was born with. My body doesn't work the way that others do. I get sick a lot easier and sometimes, things like this happen. It's pretty inconvenient, to be honest." I chuckled. I looked at her. "And..that's why I had to quit the basketball team. Because of this illness." I sighed. "Sometimes the illness can take months at a time to pass, depending on how sick I get. And..not only is that why I quit the basketball team. But that's also why I'm..repeating my senior year." Might as well get it all out into the open. It would be easier to tell her now rather than explain later.
Her mouth had fallen agape at what I told her. And before long, tears were overflowing and streaming down her cheeks. "That's so tragic Okazaki. I'm so sorry to hear that. She put her face in her hands as she began crying. "I'm so selfish. I was complaining about having to leave my old school, and you had to go through something like this? I'm really sorry." Oh man.
I scooted closer and took her wrists, gently pulling her hands away from her face. "You don't need to cry about this. I'm fine. You haven't done anything wrong. I don't think you're selfish at all."
"R-really?" She asked.
"Of course." We didn't say anything for a moment, our eyes locked on each other. I wasn't really thinking about just how intimate this was until she suddenly blushed. "Oh! Am I a little too close?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer when...
"HEY!" I heard, making me jump. "What the hell do you think you're doing to my daughter?!" When I looked in the doorway, I saw a man with fiery-red hair, a cigarette hanging from his lips, and a scowl on his face.
"D-Dad!" Furukawa cried as she looked at the man. This was her Dad?
"You little creep! How dare you make my little girl cry?!" He scolded. I'm pretty sure he would have pummeled me if Furukawa hadn't stood up.
"Stop Dad! He's still really sick! Besides, he didn't make me cry, I promise!" She cried.
I guess he didn't believe her, because he gave me the dirtiest look. "I let you into MY home, let you sleep in MY daughter's room, and let you borrow MY pajamas, this is the thanks I get?!"
"What?" I looked down now. I hadn't noticed before, but I was now wearing a pair of green pajamas that were about half a size too big. But...I had been unconscious. I didn't change myself. So..that meant... "Wait a minute did you undress me?!" I demanded.
"Well did you think I was going to let my precious daughter or my smoking hot wife do it? Hell no, I did it myself." I used my arms and crossed them around my chest, almost as though I were a nude girl.
"You can't do that kind of thing!" I told him. God, how humiliating.
"Calm down brat, it was only your shirt and pants. I didn't see anything else." He waved it off. But it obviously wasn't anything that could just be forgotten about. "Besides, Sanae was here too. She saw me." When I looked confused he said, "Sanae's my wife kid."
"She watched you?! So she saw me like that too?" I asked.
"Yea but don't get all excited. She wouldn't get anything from someone as scrawny as you." He laughed. Geez, what was with this guy? He looked at Furukawa and at the food she had brought for me. "What were you planning on feeding him?" He asked.
"Its some rice porridge." She answered. "Something that won't upset his stomach and isn't too hard to swallow was best."
"Well, that won't do." Oh. Sanae was, here again, standing in the doorway. "Okazaki, why don't you join us for dinner tonight? You can sit right next to Akio~" Oh so Akio was the father it would seem.
"What, no way! I'd just lose my appetite." Akio said angrily. I shook my head a bit and smiled.
"I wouldn't want to be any trouble. I've put you out enough."
"It's no trouble at all. We would love to have an extra dinner guest." She insisted. "If you're feeling up to it I mean."
"Well..yes thank you very much," I said. She smiled gleefully at me. She seemed really pleased.
"Great! Why don't you come and join us at the table then." She said. I nodded and pushed back the blanket on the futon. Furukawa took my hand and helped me stand. Thankfully I didn't trip or stumble which would have just embarrassed me even further. She helped me to her dining room and to the table. And I dined with her family. It defiantly wasn't something I was used to. I hadn't actually sat down and eaten with someone else in the longest time. What made it even more interesting, was how ready they all seemed to be to welcome me into their home. They treated me like a long-time friend or something of the sort. I would be lying if I said that I didn't like it. As I ate, I started to think about my own father. He probably didn't even know that I had gotten sick again. And he wouldn't find out because he didn't care. It was raining out and he probably didn't even wonder where I was all this time. Well, whatever. I didn't need him.
After dinner, as her parents cleared the table, Furukawa said to me, "How are you feeling Okazaki?"
"A lot better than before," I said. "It's a little late uh? I don't want to impose any longer. I should probably head back home."
"But you still have a fever!"
"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me okay?"
"Well..then at least let me walk you home. I don't want you to collapse again with no one around to help you." She told me.
"Sure thing, if it's not a problem for you."
"It's no problem at all, honest." She told me. She let her parents know where she was going, and of course, got a concerned look over from Sanae. But in the end, she let us go. I changed back into my uniform, which had been dried, and then left the house with Nagisa. Thankfully, my home wasn't too far from here. I had been past her bakery before so I knew how to get home from here. She walked with me the whole way, gripping my arm. I could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks the whole time, as she was much more than a little embarrassed by this whole thing.
Once we got back to my house, I was a little worn out, but otherwise okay. "Please, don't ever hesitate to come over again if you want to. My parents and I really did enjoy your company today."
"I'll remember that then. Maybe I'll-" I was cut off when the front door opened. And I grimaced. My father stood there, looking surprised. He had his coat on and I saw his wallet in his pocket. Going out for booze no doubt. When was the last time he had even been out of the house?
"Oh, Tomoya." He said in his tired, old voice. "There you are. Where have you been? It's going to rain you know?" It already did. Was what I wanted to say to him. But I just couldn't bring myself to say anything to him. "Why don't you come inside? You look a little pale. Are you running a fever again?" He raised his hand to put it on my forehead, but I swatted it away.
"Okazaki.." Furukawa said softly, but I didn't say anything back.
"I'm fine," I told him through my gritted teeth. "Just tired. I'm going to bed."
"You do that Tomoya," he said softly. Why was he acting like he cared? Probably just because someone else was here right? He turned to Furukawa. "Thank you for walking my son home. You're a very good girl." He went to put his hand on her shoulder and I spoke.
"Don't touch her!" I scolded starling both them, and myself. Whoops. I didn't mean to have an outburst like that. But a moment after I yelled at him, my throat tightened, resulting in a coughing fit. "Leave her alone." I managed out. "Furukawa go back home. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" I didn't wait for an answer and instead turned back to the door and went inside. I didn't bother to see what would happen now. I didn't care anymore.
I went right to my bedroom, and lie down on my bed without bothering to remove my clothing. I was feeling light-headed and just wanted to rest. I lie on the bed with my face buried in the pillow. I only barely felt someone slip the shoes off of my feet and place a blanket around my shoulders. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, my head clouded and fuzzy.