After Story: Compassion

Chapter Seventeen: Final Preparations

"Yup!" he beamed. "Barring any emergencies, you and Sakagami-san have me for the rest of the day."

"Hey, what about me?" Kyou protested with her fists on her hips.

"You can have me too, Miss Kyou," he said with a dramatic bow.

I blinked when her hand went to her chest. "G-Good."

"Okazaki-san?"

I turned to find Furukawa behind me, with a pleading look in her eyes; with her appeared to be the entire Theater Club. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"We-We're here to practice, and I was hoping you'd...you'd..." she trailed off, casting her gaze to the ground.

"Got it," I said. "Just give me a few minutes and I'll be right there."

She said nothing, but nodded before herding her group in the direction of the performance area.

I turned back to the pastor as I wiped my face with a towel. "Sorry to dump this on you at the last minute, but could you help Kyou work on this until I get back? She knows what to do, and I made a promise to Furukawa to practice with her club today."

"No problem," he said, waving me off. "Do your best, Okazaki-san; see you when you get back."

I switched my gaze to Kyou. "You okay with this? I should've asked you first, so if you're not okay with this, then I'll just come back to it later."

"NO!" she blurted, causing me to jump. "I mean, i-it's fine."

Something about the way her gaze darted between the pastor and myself had me a little worried, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it until later. "Oooooookay..."

***

As I made my way over to the performance area, I shook my arms to work out any stress that I might've had as I went over my lines in my head.

"Okazaki-san!" Furukawa chirped when she saw me. "I'm glad that you could make it!"

I spread my arms wide. "I said I'd be here, and here I am."

"Y-Yeah..." She looked from one of my arms to the other. "G-Good..."

I let my arms drop as I walked up to the group. "So, let's get started, then."

Our rehearsal went well overall, but I noticed that my delivery was...lacking.

"Okazaki-senpai, you suck again," Ichika remarked.

"I know, I know," I groaned. "Sorry, I haven't been quite right for a while."

"Maybe do what you did the last time?" Narita suggested.

That pain lanced through my chest again, nearly dropping me to my knees.

"Okazaki-san!" I heard Furukawa call through the cries of the girls. "Are you all right? Should we call an ambulance?!"

Like earlier, I held up a hand. "No, I'm fine." I took a deep breath. "I don't think I'll be able to do that this time, but..." I had to think of something; they were counting on me.

"Do you need to lay down?" Raika said as she knelt on the ground and patted her lap. "Y-You can use my lap for a p-pillow if you need to."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Ichika complained. "I want to give him a lap pillow!"

"Girls, please calm down!" the Theater Club president said while clapping her hands. "I asked him to help, so if he needs a lap pillow, then...then it's only right that I provide it!" she finished, her face nearly scarlet.