After Story: Compassion

Chapter Twenty-Six: Heart Condition

"Onee-chan...it's okay," Ryou said as she reached out to her sister, and Kyou let herself be pulled into an embrace, the dam bursting and tears flowing as she quietly cried.

As Ryou led her away to somewhere more private I sighed, slapped my cheeks to focus and headed over to join Jeff, who had plopped down onto a bench near the bathroom. "You okay?" I asked.

He sighed heavily as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I had a feeling that this was going to happen, but it didn't make it any easier," he said before looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "Did you know?"

"Yeah, I did; I didn't tell you because it wasn't my business, if that makes sense."

"I understand," he said. "You didn't think it was your place to tell me her personal information?"

"Yeah."

"Are you angry with me? For turning her down?"

"Naw, it's your choice," I said. "But I'll admit that I'd like to know why you rejected her; she's a neat girl who's a great cook and really cares about others."

"I can see that," he replied with a sad smile. "And I think that any guy who married her would be blessed...it's just that...."

"She's not a Christian?"

"Well, partly," he admitted. "I'm not supposed to be 'unequally yoked', as Scripture says, but-"

"What do you mean, 'unequally yoked'?"

"If we're not both Christian, then we won't be working toward the same goal; she might work toward family while I work toward building God's kingdom when, ideally, we should both be working toward the Kingdom. In the end, we'd just end up frustrating each other due to the philosophical differences, if nothing else."

"I think I get it well enough," I said. "But there's something else, isn't there?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking alarmed.

"I really can't put my finger on any one thing, but...well..." I started counting off on my fingers. "You're single, you're really far away from home, you seem to disagree with your pastor-"

"All right, all right," he said, waving his hands. "You got me." He leaned back on the bench as he rubbed vigorously as his face. "Since you're a friend, I'll tell you why I refused her...just give me a minute..."

I watched as he took several deep breaths; it looked like he was steeling his nerves or something.

Finally, he straightened up and turned as much as he could to face me directly. "The truth is, Tomoya...I'm a widower."

***

Once again, we boys had been relegated to the handles as the girls sat, which suited me just fine. Like last time, Pastor Ashton watched the scenery, but he seemed more subdued than during our trip out, which was unsurprising. Ryou held her sister, who simply stared with vacant eyes.

I had learned a lot about Pastor Ashton during our talk at the amusement park, and he had given me permission to tell Kyou pretty much anything she might want to know. "I want her to know that it's not because of her, that it's not her fault," he had said, and so I tried to remember everything he had told me.

In spite of the gloom, the ride was over quickly, and we found ourselves outside the station once again.

Jeff came up to me and put his arm around my shoulders. "Listen, Tomoya," he said in a voice heavy with emotion, "could you make sure she gets home okay? Normally I'd walk with her, but..."

"I got it," I said. "I'll take care of it...or her, that is."

"Thanks," he said, his voice tight. He then clapped me on the shoulder before turning and heading in the direction of the church. Ryou looked at me with concerned eyes, but I shook my head slightly, hopefully letting her know that it was fine.

We walked slowly, keeping Kyou between us as we headed for Furukawa Bakery; Ryou held her sister's hand while I kept mine rested on her shoulder. Even though her face was expressionless I could tell that she was hurting badly; she had invested a lot of time, energy and, most of all, heart into the pastor, after all.

We arrived at the bakery to find Sanae-san working on closing up shop for the day. "Ah, Okazaki-san, Kyou...chan..." she trailed off as she focused on the girl between us. "What happened?"

"Let's talk inside," I said.

As we settled around the kotatsu, Sanae and Nagisa brought out tea and a few biscuits. "I hope you had a good time today," the younger Furukawa said.

"Thank you for the tickets," I said, bowing. "And yeah, we had a great time...for the most part."

"I see that Kyou-chan's day could have gone better," Sanae observed as she examined my friend's expression. "What happened?"

Kyou remained silent, so her sister answered. "She...confessed to someone but was rejected."

"Was Pastor Ashton kind about it?" she asked, then blinked as Kyou flinched.

"From what we could tell, he was," I replied. "Sanae-san, I'm sorry to ask this, but...could you...I dunno...pamper her tonight?"

She smiled kindly as she stroked my friend's long hair. "It would be my pleasure," she said softly.

***

I groaned, rubbing the back of my neck as Ryou and I left the bakery. "Let me walk you home," I said. "I...kinda need to be around friends right now."

"You're a good man, Okazaki-kun," Ryou said as we walked. "Being a good friend to Onee-chan, helping her with Pastor Ashton, being a good friend to him..." she stopped, causing me to stop as well. "You're amazing..."

"If I was so amazing, your sister would be dating him right now," I grunted. "If I was so amazing, you and I would still be together."

"That's not true," she said softly. "I broke up with you because there's someone out there who's better for you than I am. I'm..." She cast her gaze to the ground, then quickly turned and started walking again.

"...Not good enough?" I scoffed as I fell into step with her. "If anything, I'm not good enough for you!"

She said nothing, but whimpered quietly.

"I'm sorry," I said as I tried to lay my hand on her shoulder, then winced as she jerked her shoulder away. "I'm sorry for yelling."

"It's okay, Okazaki-kun," she said, her voice strained. "I deserved it."

I didn't know what to say to her for the rest of the way to her home.