After Story: Potential

Chapter Nine: Anxiety

During lunch in the library Kotomi suddenly grabbed onto me, pressing the side of her face against my chest. "Mine."

Her sudden declaration surprised me. "Yeah, that's right; yours. What brought this on?"

She looked up at me. "Well, Kyou-chan and Ryou-chan both confessed their love to you. What if there are other girls?"

I smiled as I laid a hand on top of her head. "There aren't any other girls, Kotomi-chan."

Her gaze didn't waver. "Did you think that before Kyou-chan and Ryou-chan confessed?"

"Well of course! I had no idea that-" I stopped as I realized what I was saying. "Oh." Damn her logic.

Kotomi nodded solemnly. "And Nagisa-chan has been close to you, as well."

"That's true..."

"What if she likes you, too?"

My eyes widened. I had never considered that before. What if she did? How would I handle that? Her 'weak body' might make rejection catastrophic in her case.

Not only that, but if girls like Kyou and Fujibayashi could like me, what about other girls? I didn't mean to be prideful; I just hadn't considered the possibility. Up until I started hanging out with Kotomi I hadn't had any interest in dating or anything of the sort. I just wanted to sleep my way through school and then accept whatever life threw at me after that. I was glad to have been reunited with my dear friend, but...

"Tomoya-kun?"

I looked down into my fiancée's worried face and gave her the best answer I could give: I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a squeeze. "Yours."

***

After school we met up with Nagisa and the twins in the Drama Club room. We talked about nothing in particular until it started getting noticeably dark.

We made our way along our usual path at our usual pace until we came to the place where we would normally part ways.

Of course, Kotomi had to go through her routine: "Kyou-chan, see you tomorrow."

"I miss you already," Kyou replied with a smile. It was good to see that they were getting along better. "See you tomorrow."

"Ryou-chan, see you tomorrow."

"Kotomi-chan, see you tomorrow," Fujibayashi replied while giving her a quick hug. Those two already got along well, and I guessed that their recent experience had somehow brought them even closer. I'd never understand women.

"Nagisa-chan, see you tomorrow."

"Kotomi-chan, see you tomorrow," Furukawa replied, also giving her a big smile and a hug.

Wanting to move things along I simply said, "See you tomorrow, everyone."

The twins looked at each other, smiled, and in a break from tradition, each of them grabbed one of my arms and squeezed it. I heard "See ya, Tomoya!" and "See you tomorrow, Okazaki-kun!" at nearly the same time. Then they left, Kyou back toward the school for her bike and Ryou for the bus station, leaving me, Furukawa, and a very flustered Kotomi behind.

I noticed Kotomi's distressed state and smiled at her "Sorry about that, Kotomi-chan; I didn't know they were going to do that." I was then surprised to feel one of my arms being taken and gently squeezed, and I turned wide eyes to find Furukawa holding my arm.

She looked up at me with equally wide eyes. "I-Is this okay? Kyou-chan and Ryou-chan did it, s-so I thought-"

"N-Nagisa-chan; P-Please release m-m-my f-f-f-my boyfriend's arm!" Kotomi protested, having resumed her prior flustered state.

Furukawa looked at my arm as though she wondered how it had gotten there. "Oh! O-Of course!" she stammered as she quickly released it. "I'm sorry!"

I wasn't sure who to comfort first, but since Kotomi and I would be walking together... "Say 'Hi' to your parents for me, Furukawa."

"S-Sure!"

As Furukawa headed for home at a faster pace than usual, I shook my head with a smile as I turned back to Kotomi. "I'm really sorry about that, Kotomi-chan; I didn't expect Furukawa to-" My blood ran cold as the possibility hit me: "What if she likes you, too?"

I rubbed my face vigorously with one hand as I wrapped the other arm around Kotomi's narrow shoulders and pulled her to me. "Everything's going to be okay. It'll all be okay."

I didn't know whether I was trying to convince her or myself.

***

For dinner Kotomi really wanted us to stop at his one family-style restaurant. Apparently she had planned this for a while: "I wanted to make this like a date, Tomoya-kun."

With her shy glances and awkward posture...man, she was cute! I gave in immediately.

As we entered the restaurant she started looking around as though she was looking for somebody. It turned out my theory was correct, as she moved toward a table where a man sat with most of his body hidden behind a newspaper.

My blood ran cold for the second time that day when he lowered the paper. "Ah, Kotomi-chan. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"D-Dad?" What the hell was he doing here? "What the hell are you doing-"

"Ah, Tomoya. It's been a while." Wait...'Tomoya'?

I looked at Kotomi in disbelief. "K-Kotomi-chan? How could you..."

"Tomoya-kun," she looked at me with an intensity I'd never seen before. "I am an orphan. I have no father anymore."

I wasn't sure what she was getting at. Did she want my dad to adopt her? That would make our wedding problematic, if not impossible.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized: She wants me to get along with my dad again. The last words she spoke to her parent were hateful ones. They may have known that she didn't mean them, but still...

And she didn't want my relationship with my dad to end on a sad note like hers.

I looked over at my dad. My dad.

My dad?

Suddenly, something flipped in my perception, like when the eye doctor switches between lenses when testing your vision; all of a sudden, Dad looked...different.

I reached out my hand and took his. "Yeah...it's been too long...Dad."

He smiled, a real smile. "Would you be willing to eat with me? It's been a long time."

I looked from Kotomi's teary eyes to my dad's gentle, kind eyes. "Sure. I'd like that."