After Story: Compassion

Chapter Twenty-One: When it Rains...

"...so, you see, the meal may have been prepared by the cooks, but the materials used to prepare those meals come from other places." He gestured at his burger. "The meat in here came from a cow, which leads to the question: where did the cow come from? Not just the particular one that's in my burger, but the idea of the cow?"

"Wow," Kyou breathed. "I never thought about that."

"There were a lot of things I had to stop taking for granted when I found Jesus," Pastor Ashton said, then grimaced. "Or more like 'he caught me'. Anyway, I think I've delayed our meal long enough."

"So, what were you saying when you were praying to him just now?" Kyou asked; she seemed to be really getting into this, which worried me more than a little.

He smiled awkwardly. "Nothing lengthy; just a thank-you."

"Could you say it out loud?"

He looked around the table before returning his attention to my friend. "Miss Kyou, I am the only believer at this table, so I don't think it would be polite to-"

"Oh, stop," she interrupted. "If they don't want to hear it, then they can just chew louder."

"I...wouldn't mind hearing it," Ryou said meekly.

I simply shrugged when he looked to me. "Okay, then; I guess I have you all on record," he said with a chuckle before looking to the sky again. "Father, thank you for providing for us, whom you love." He then picked up his burger and took a bite.

"That was...hm," Kyou mused as she picked up her chopsticks. "I don't know what to think."

"That sure was a lot in one statement," Ryou remarked as she retrieved hers as well. "It was...pretty."

For his part, Pastor Ashton munched on his burger with a redder face than usual.

***

I glanced over at the older twin several times as the three of us headed to her place, having separated from Pastor Ashton after lunch. For her part, she seemed...determined, like she had come to some kind of decision and was focused on what she would need to do. Ryou walked on her other side, occasionally glancing over at her or at me.

As we arrived at her house, Kyou turned to me, running her fingers through her hair. "Hey, Tomoya; friends take care of each other, right?"

"Sure," I replied. "Why?"

"So if something bad happened to Ryou or me, you'd help out, right?"

"As best as I could," I acknowledged. "Why do you ask?"

She bit her lip as she looked to the ground, and I exchanged a concerned look with Ryou.

"Just...wondering," she finally said, then looked back up to me. "Thanks, Tomoya. See you." And with that she headed into her house, with a worried younger sister behind her.

***

I didn't have anything to do, so I headed over to Ashton's church to see if he was still free.

I arrived to find him locking up the front door. "Hey Tomoya," he greeted absently while messing with the key. "I'm afraid I can't talk right now; I'm headed to an emergency home visit."

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure just yet," he admitted. "I just got off the phone with one of the church members; the...daughter of a friend of the family is missing, and they'd like me to visit."

"Can I come?"

"Tomoya, this is church business; I don't mind if you come along, but keep in mind that-"