After Story: Compassion

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Girl's Heart

Kyou opened the door almost before I had finished the first knock. "Hey, welcome back!"

"Thanks," I murmured as Ryou followed me through the door.

"How was it?" she asked as I fell into one of the chairs just inside the entrance.

"Exhausting," I said tilting my head back and pinching the bridge of my nose. "But energizing. How's the pastor doing?"

"Sleeping right now," she replied with definite fondness. "It was such a pain in the butt getting him to agree to sleep."

"Admit it; you enjoyed it," I challenged.

"Every minute of it," she admitted shamelessly. "I just like...taking care of him."

"From what I've seen just today, he takes care of enough people," I noted. "He should be taken care of every once in a while, at least."

"And I want to take care of him as long as I can..." Kyou sighed.

I straightened myself to fix Kyou with my gaze. "Okay Kyou, spill it: why do you like him so much, anyway?"

"Well..." she put a finger to her lips. "Let's get the obvious out of the way: He's tall, he's handsome, he has a great smile..."

"His skin color doesn't bother you?" I asked. It didn't bother me, but I wasn't the one romantically interested in him.

"Nope!" she chirped. "Seriously, though...he's in a country full of people who are a different color than him and it doesn't seem to bother him. Why should it bother me?"

"Good point," I admitted. "Anyway, what else?"

"He's a strong man," she said, blushing. "Not like in muscle...well...that too, but what I mean is..."

"He's confident?" Ryou suggested.

"Something like that. It's like he knows who he is. Um...he knows what he's good at and what he's not good at, and...if he's not sure, he's not afraid to find out."

"Sounds like more of us could learn from his example," Ryou said with a gentle smile.

"I really admire that about him," Kyou admitted, her blush spreading. "I guess he's just good for me."

"But are you good for him?" I countered.

She sighed heavily. "I want to be. Right now I'm just a high-schooler, so I don't have a lot to offer other than cooking and...well, that," she said, her blush deepening even more, "but I know that's not enough."

"Feeling kinda out of your league?" I asked.

She nodded with a sobered look. "Yeah."

"Listen, Kyou..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I might be out-of-line here, but from what I've seen of him, he's more interested – actually, 'concerned' might be better – in a person's character than anything. I think if you're willing to learn and grow...I think you'd have a chance."

"Thanks, Tomoya," she said with a warm smile. "I figured that, but I guess I needed to hear it from someone else."

"Onee-chan," Ryou said softly. "You're so...different. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, Ryou. I feel different; Lighter, if that makes any sense."

"I think I understand,' Ryou replied. "I feel a lot lighter after the other day. More...free."

Kyou looked from me to her sister and back. "Yeah, the rest of the school year's going to be interesting, isn't it?"

I knew what she was talking about; the three of us had changed a lot during the summer, mainly due to Jeff's influence, both as an adult and as a religious leader. So I returned her smile. "Sunohara's not going to know what to do with us...any of us."