Chapter 14 – The New Student

"I'm off!" I called as I stood at the entrance to Furukawa Bakery.

As I turned to leave the bakery, I heard Furukawa-san call "Wait!" I turned back to see her running up to me with a box in her hands. "I made a lunch for you," she said. "The school's cafeteria is closed, right?" Before I could reply, she continued. "And the convenience store is too far away. So you'll go hungry if you don't take something! So please, take this lunch."

I wasn't sure what to say: I was grateful for the meal, but the way she suddenly gave it to me left me feeling overwhelmed. "Uh…thanks, Furukawa-san."

"You're welcome!"

I noticed that she was looking at me rather intently. "Did you need something else before I go? I'm afraid that I'll end up late as it is."

Furukawa quickly looked down at the bakery floor. "Um…well…" she started twisting her foot, rubbing the toes of her slippers against the floor. "We've known each other for while, so…"

"So…" I prompted.

"…Would you be willing to call me Nagisa-san?" She suddenly blushed and waved her hands in front of herself. "It's not like I'm trying to make you call me that just because I made you a lunch or anything like that! Um…"

I nodded in understanding. "I'll think about it. But right now I need to get going." I waved as I turned to leave. "Have a good day!"

She smiled, blush still in place. "You too!"

"So the middle term is negative but the last term is positive, which means-"

"I get it; it's '(x-1)', right?"

Kotomi nodded vigorously enough that her hair ornaments bobbed. "That's right. Very good, Tomoya-kun."

I smiled awkwardly. "I can't believe how easy this stuff is. And I wasted all that time…" I looked at my work and shook my head in disgust. "I feel so stupid."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over at Kotomi, who smiled at me. "Tomoya-kun, you are smart. You were hurt and didn't have anyone you could talk to." She lowered her eyes.

Of course she would understand that; she had lost her parents and then had some strange man visiting her home almost every day. Of course she'd understand feeling isolated and hurt.

She returned her soft gaze to my face. "I do understand that Sunohara-san is your friend and an interesting person, but he is not the type to encourage you to greater things."

Ain't that the truth? Of course, when the chips were down, he would prove his loyalty…but I think I understood what she was trying to tell me. "Yeah, I suppose."

Kotomi tilted her head and gave me a light smile. "I believe in you, Tomoya-kun. For someone who does not like books, you have already covered much in such a short amount of time."

"Thanks." I returned her smile. "Hey, if I keep going at this rate, will I be caught up by the end of summer break?"

"There are a lot of variables, but…" She laid a finger at her cheek and looked upward; the sign of great calculations. "I'm sorry, I would have to say 'no'; it would take us until about three weeks into Fall Term, and that's if you went straight from school to your extra studies."

I nodded. "I can live with that." I nudged her with my elbow. "Could you put up with me that long?"

Those eye-sparkles again. "Absolutely, Tomoya-kun."

I was hungry after the morning lesson, so after saying goodbye to Kotomi-chan I made my way to the reference room. It was a quiet atmosphere, and there were books that I could read while eating my lunch. I remembered saying some mean things about the books there the first time I visited, but now I was curious to see if I could learn anything from them.

I was surprised to open the door to the room and find…"Miyazawa-san?"

Yukine looked up from the book she was reading and smiled kindly. "Okazaki-san! It's good to see you again."

I smiled as I ran a hand through my hair self-consciously. "Good to see you, too. What are you doing here? It's summer break, you know."

She giggled. "Of course I know that. There's just not much for me to do at home, and the guys need me here just in case."

"Still having problems with the gangs?" I plopped down into the chair across from her. "Sorry, I haven't forgotten about my promise. It's just…been busy."

Yukine giggled again. "I understand, Okazaki-senpai; you've been busy helping your friend."

"Yeah, but now I've kinda been redirected toward my own studies," I said as I unpacked the lunch Nagisa had made for me. "I'm trying to make up for the time I spent messing around in school."

"That sounds difficult."

"Maybe. I just had my first study session with Kotomi-chan."

"The genius girl?"

I nodded. "That's the one. Anyway, I'm hoping that doing this'll improve my chances of getting a better job. If I'm going to have a family someday, I need to be a good provider."

Yukine smiled softly. "I believe you can do it, Tomoya-san. You have a good heart and you have drive, even if you don't see it yourself."

I probably blushed, if her giggle was any indicator. "Thanks, Miyazawa-san."

"My pleasure." Apparently noticing my lunch, she said, "I see you have your meal for this afternoon. If you find yourself without a lunch, please feel free to stop by here; I will be happy to make something for you. By the way, would you like some coffee?"

I checked my lunchbox and noticed that Nagisa hadn't included anything to drink. "Yes, please."

"Any sugar or cream?"

"No, thanks."

She set a steaming mug in front of me and I picked it up and inhaled the vapor. Nice smell. I imagined the caffeine going directly to my brain.

I heard Yukine giggle yet again. "Are you going to drink it or just smell it, senpai?"

I gave her a mildly irritated glance. "Just…let me enjoy the coffee, okay? I don't get to have coffee this good very often, anyway."

She leaned forward in her chair. "Really? It…it's really that good?"

"Yeah. Do you use a special bean or something?"

"N-No, it's regular instant."

Impressive. "Well, then it must be something in the way that you make it."

She blushed and, for some reason, started looking around the room. "Th-Thank you, Okazaki-senpai. I-I don't do anything special."

Her behavior left me feeling concerned. "Are you okay? I'm sorry, did I embarrass you?"

She waved her hands in front of herself. "No, no not at all. I just…It's just coffee, and…I guess I'm not used to having nice things said about me. You surprised me, that's all." She giggled yet again.

I was still a little concerned, but I decided to let it go for now.

After some light conversation and a small rice omelet, I excused myself to go to my first combat lesson with Tomoyo.

Tomoyo was waiting for me at a field near the school, a place large enough for us to run around in but small enough for a high likelihood of privacy. She was wearing the school's summer t-shirt along with the winter's sweat pants. The combination would normally be forbidden on school grounds, but school was out, and…well, Tomoyo never seemed to care about formalities anyway.

"Thanks again for this, Tomoyo," I greeted.

Tomoyo smiled. "I'm glad to help. At least I'll feel better knowing that my mercenary days won't have been wasted."

I returned her smile. "I'm grateful for those mercenary days now."

Tomoyo's cheeks reddened a bit as she coughed. "So, let's start with your fighting stance. I'm not going to have you punch or kick yet; I just want to get an idea of your center of balance, where you see your strengths, that kind of thing."

I nodded and set myself up. "Like this?"

We then spent the rest of our time figuring out my strengths and weaknesses. "So we know what to work on," Tomoyo had said. The limits of my right shoulder would have to be considered, of course, but in the end, she figured that with the right training I could still be a human wrecking ball if the situation demanded it.