After Story: Potential

Chapter Twenty: Future Considerations

After lunch, Sanae brought a blushing Kotomi to her husband. "Akio-san, this young lady has a request for you."

"Sanae, would you stop with the honorifics, please?" Akio complained.

A request? I didn't know anything about this. I looked to Kotomi, who was giggling, apparently at the exchange. "What's going on?" I asked her.

"Now now, you don't need to know about this," Sanae admonished me gently as she took me by the arm and scooted me away. "Why don't you tell me about what you want to do for your career?"

"W-Well," I stammered as I gave several glances behind me. "I have the job at the recycling shop but...I'm not really sure at this point."

Once we were a good distance away she released me. It was then that I realized that the twins had come with us. Was this going to be a public humiliation or something?

"Surely you must have something you want to do," I heard her saying. "Everybody has a skill of some kind that they can use or a dream that they aspire to."

I really didn't want to talk about it, but if she needed the distraction from her pain... "I...I don't know. Right now I'm just enjoying my time with Kotomi and planning our wedding. I have thought about a career, but I don't know what I'm good at....well, other than fixing stuff."

"I understand," she replied, and I noticed that the twins were looking back and forth between us like they were watching a tennis match. "But I'm not talking about what you're good at; I'm asking what you want to do."

I glanced over at Kyou's expectant look. "I guess..." I hadn't really thought about this.

"C'mon Tomoya, we won't make fun of you," Kyou said, then winked. "Well, Ryou won't at least."

The truth was, I wanted to find out why Nagisa died, and where she went after she died. "I guess the closest I could say is that I'd like to learn about life and share that knowledge with others."

Sanae angled her head. "When you say 'learn about life', what do you mean?"

"Like," I looked up at the sky as though it had the answer. "...why we're here, what our lives are for, where we go after-" I caught myself before I could finish; I didn't know how Nagisa's mom would react.

She didn't seem upset, though. "Where we go after we die?"

I just nodded, not trusting words at that point.

Her eyes misted as she gave me a sad smile. "When you do find out, will you come back and tell me?"

My mind blanked for a moment; I really hadn't expected that kind of response. "Uh, sure. No problem."

I watched as she shifted her gaze off to the distance. "I've been wanting to know why she was given to us and where she is now." She looked back to me. "I know that we have her ashes in our urn at home, but that is not her."

I swallowed hard, not knowing what to say, other than: "I'll do my best. For you and your husband. And for Nagisa."

She stepped up to me and laid a hand on my face; it felt like when Kotomi would do it, but different. "I believe you, and I believe you can do it." She gave me that sad smile again. "That's a mother's intuition, so you can trust it."

I heard a sniffle to the side, and I looked to see the twins holding each other with tears in their eyes.

"What's up with you two?" I half-asked, half-barked.

"I believe in you, Okazaki-kun," Ryou whimpered.

"Tomoya..." Kyou, too?

This was starting to feel a little corny, so I turned back to Sanae. "So that's-"

"Tomoya-kun!" Kotomi's happy voice interrupted as she bounded over. "You want to be a philosopher?!" I could have sworn that there were stars in her eyes.

I thought about it for a moment. "Yeah...I guess so. Huh, I never thought of it that way."

Kotomi was positively glowing. "I have tried to read books on philosophy and the like, but they are much harder than Mommy and Daddy's papers."

I stifled a snort. There were books out there too hard to Kotomi to understand? I pinched myself...nope, I was awake.

"If they're too hard for her, then there's no way you'll ever understand them, brat," Akio commented offhandedly, cigarette in mouth, as he joined the group. "Do your best, then."

I blinked; was that a vote of confidence just now? Rather than sabotage myself by asking about it, I simply said: "I will."

Akio made a point of stretching side-to-side. "Enough talking; who wants to play baseball?"

"I'm in!" cheered Kyou.

"I-I guess..." Fujibayashi decided.

"I'll cheer," Sanae offered.

We looked to Kotomi. "I-I will cheer as well," she said.

"We still don't have enough people to play, though," I pointed out.

Akio gave me a knowing smile before he put his finger and thumb in his mouth and whistled. Seconds later a swarm of people seemed to come out of nowhere. How did he do that? "Now we should have enough," he decided.

***

"I'm getting some big hits today!" Akio shouted as he came to a stop on first base. He turned toward us as we sat at the table and yelled, "Did you see that, Sanae?"

"Yes! I saw it clearly!" his wife replied.

Akio was apparently not content with the praise: "You've fallen in love with me again, haven't you?"

I hid my smirk behind a hand as Sanae gushed, "Yes! You're wonderful, Akio-san!"

"Aren't I?" he boasted, finishing with a laugh.

While Kyou stepped into the batter's box I took the opportunity to look over what was left of lunch; there was still a lot left. Did they really need to make so much?

"Did you like the sandwiches I made?" Kotomi had apparently caught me eyeing the leftovers.

"Huh? Oh...yeah, they were great!" I had eaten from all the dishes we brought especially because she'd made them, but I made a point of finding a chicken sandwich and stuffing it in my mouth. "Never tasted better cooking,"

I guess she found my stuffed face funny since she giggled in response.

We were interrupted by Akio shouting at me: "Brat! You're up to bat! Hurry up and get in the batter's box!"

I quickly swallowed the rest of my sandwich. "All right!" I shouted back. I got to my feet and sent Kotomi a smile. "Well, I'm off."

"Good luck, Tomoya-kun," she replied with a smile.

Once I got to the batter's box, though, I started to worry. Would I be able to swing the bat with my shoulder the way it was? I glanced at Kotomi, who waved.

I mentally prepared myself as the pitcher wound up...

*CRACK*

I watched, amazed, as the ball soared over everyone's heads.

"All right! Good one, brat!" I heard Akio yell as he ran to third base and I ran to first.

Flush with excitement, I turned to Kotomi. "Did you see that, Kotomi-chan?"

"Yes!" Kotomi called excitedly, with her hands clasped before her. "I saw it quite clearly." How cute; it sounded like she was imitating Sanae.

My eyes nearly bugged out when I heard Akio's next words: "You've fallen in love with him again, haven't you?"

"Oh, absolut-!" Kotomi cut herself off, but not soon enough to prevent the two of us from blushing furiously.

In spite of the blush I felt the blood drain from my face as I turned to Akio, who briefly stood dumbfounded before laughing hysterically.