I watched as Ryou told fortunes for the mass of girls hovering around her desk. I smiled at the look on her face as she told what must have been a particularly favorable one to a blue-haired second-year. I chuckled softly to myself as the girl clapped her hands over her mouth, then bowed repeatedly as she backed out the classroom door.
Finally the crowd disappeared and Ryou sighed heavily. "That was exhausting," she sighed.
"It looked like more than usual," I remarked as I opened and handed her a can of tea.
She took a couple sips of the beverage before speaking. "Most of them were from the Theater Club, I think. I remember their faces from the other day."
I moved behind her and gently massaged her shoulders. "When you're ready, we'll head for home, 'k?"
"Okay," She relaxed in her chair and let me work on her shoulders.
After a few minutes, she started to fidget, so I removed my hands. "All ready, then?"
She stared at her desk for several seconds before pulling out her tarot cards again and began shuffling them.
"Ryou?"
"I have to do this," she said. "I have to know." She finished shuffling and laid them out in one of her circular patterns. I straddled the chair of the desk ahead of her and watched.
I enjoyed the look on concentration on her face. I didn't mind that she didn't seem to notice me; it gave me the chance to study her.
Suddenly, her expression turned to one of dismay. "No..." she breathed. "No no no..." Tears began to fill her eyes. "I knew it..."
I immediately went to Red Alert. "Ryou? Cutie? What's wrong?"
"The cards..." She pointed at them with trembling hands. "Y-You're surrounded by beautiful girls, and all of them desire you-"
"B-Bullshit!" I panicked, causing her to jump. "That...That can't be right!"
"Look!" she said, pointing to one card in particular. "That's Sakagami-san! See the sword? It's silver, like her hair! And this one, with all the stars?"
"Fuuko..." I said, remembering her as the first girl I met with because of Yukine's stupid spell. "It's her, isn't it?"
She nodded sadly. "And look at these two; look at the backgrounds..."
"They're rooms full of books," I said. "So what...?" Then it hit me. "Oh, hell no!"
"D-Didn't you meet a girl in the library? And Miyazawa-san stays in the Reference Room d-during breaks, right?" She pointed to another card with twins on it. "O-Onee-chan and me-"
"STOP IT!" I cried, sweeping my hands across the desk, knocking the cards to the floor. "I'm sorry about your cards, but this can't be right! You must be reading them wrong or something!"
Ryou reached down and picked up one of the cards. "This..." She showed me the card, but I was paying more attention to the tears in her eyes. "This is Furukawa-san."
I reluctantly looked at the card. It showed a sickly-looking tree with colorful, vibrant leaves; I felt as sick as the tree looked. "Ryou, why are you doing this?"
She bit her lip. "I-I can't compare to these other girls, Okazaki-kun."
My heart sank; 'Okazaki-kun'?
"Even on the card that shows Onee-chan and I..." she picked up the remaining cards from the floor and pulled the twins card to show me. "Where's the girl with the short hair relative to the long-haired one?"
"In the background," I groaned.
She nodded sadly. "That's me, Okazaki-kun."
"Stop calling me 'Okazaki-kun'!" I yelled in desperation. "I'm your Tomoya-kun!"
"I'm s-sorry," she said, starting to cry. "B-But I just can't compare!"
"It doesn't matter to me!" I said. "You're my cutie!"
"Not anymore!" she yelled, her eyes squeezed shut.
I sat, stunned; she'd never yelled at me before. "What...?"
"I'm sorry...I-I'm not good enough for you..."
I grabbed for a lifeline to keep her from doing what it looked like she was trying to do. "I don't care about that, cutie. I care about you."
"But I do!" she declared. She took a deep breath, tears spilling from her eyes. "I...I-I release you, Okazaki-kun. Find someone who's better for you than me."
***
"..."
Huh?
"...?"
Was someone talking to me?
"Hey, Okazaki!"
I snapped out of my reverie to see Sakagami squatting in front of the bench where I was sitting. "Oh. Sorry. I'm a little out of it."
She snorted. "No kidding; I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes, but all you'd do is stare into space." She pushed her hair over her ear, reminding me of the Silver Sword. "You okay?"
I shook my head; at least, I think I did. "No. No, I'm not okay."
"What happened?"
My eyes stung, and my dry throat suddenly constricted. "Ryou...cutie...she dumped me."
"Damn," she muttered. "I'm really sorry. Did she say why?"
"Yeah," I answered honestly, but didn't dare say more.
She seemed to pick up on my cue. "Well, I'm sure it's your business. But if you need to talk to someone, you come to me, okay?" She reached out and laid a hand on my shoulder. "Friends take care of each other, right?"
I think I nodded in response.
She smiled sadly. "Damn Okazaki, you're a mess. Come on; let's get you home." She somehow got my arm across her shoulders and helped me to my feet. "Let's go."
We had just passed the school gate when I heard a familiar voice. "Okazaki-san! There you are!" I felt Sakagami stop, so I must have stopped, too.
A moment later, Furukawa came into my field of vision. "I heard about what happened! I'm so sorry!"
"Take it easy on him," I heard Sakagami say. "He's in a pretty bad way right now; I think he's in shock."
"Then we should take him to the hospital if he's in shock!" Furukawa exclaimed.
"Not that kind of shock. He's just...really upset right now, so I'm helping him get home."
I faintly saw Furukawa nod. "Okay. I'll help, too." She disappeared, and I felt my other arm being lifted up. I was glad that most of the school had already gone home, otherwise it would have been really embarrassing.
As we made our way to my house I felt my strength start to return so I started walking on my own. "I think I'm good now," I said.
"You still look like a mess," Sakagami remarked. "At least let us see you home, just in case."
"Do what you want," I grunted. "Oh, and thanks for the help...really."
I fumbled with my door key before Furukawa took it from me and unlocked the front door. "Here you go, Okazaki-san," she said, and I thought I heard warmth in her voice. "It's open."
I could see that it was open, but didn't want to be rude by pointing that out. "I'm not really up to company right now," I grunted, "but I'd like to thank you for helping me out, so...want to come in for tea?"
They looked at each other briefly before smiling. "Sure," Sakagami said.
"We'll try not to stay too long," Furukawa added.
I stepped aside to let them in, shut the door, then turned to find both of the girls in the kitchen already. "Hey," I said, shuffling toward the kitchen, "I said I'd make the-"
"Now, Okazaki-san..." Furukawa said comfortingly, "...your heart's probably hurting really badly right now, so let us take care of you for now, okay?"
I sighed heavily. She was right, of course; I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest, so I nodded in defeat. "Okay. Thank you." I headed back to the common area and half-sat, half fell onto one of the cushions surrounding the kotatsu. My limbs felt heavy and my heart ached. Why had she dumped me? Weren't we doing well? Was I not good enough for her? Those stupid cards! Maybe if she hadn't...I thumped the tabletop with my fist.
"H-Here's your tea," Furukawa said as she set a steaming mug before me. She then sat next to me at the square table as Sakagami sat across from me. "Next time I'll bring some bread from home," she said with a giggle.
"I'll look forward to it," I said, trying to cheer myself up. In the back of my mind, I knew that two of Ryou's cards sat at my table, but for now I just wanted the sting to go away. "Hey, this is good," I remarked after taking a sip.
Sakagami gave me an incredulous look. "It's your tea, Okazaki. Why are you surprised?"
"I don't usually drink tea at home," I said. "I hate my old man, so I try to be in bed and asleep before he gets home so he doesn't try to talk to me. Doesn't give me a lot of time to eat anything here."
"I see," the Silver Sword – Dammit! – replied.
"If you want, you can have dinner with us whenever you want," Furukawa said. "And that room is always open for you."
I remembered what she was talking about; she had offered me a place to stay because I had been kind to her or something like that. "Thanks, Furukawa; I'll keep that in mind."
"And don't worry about helping with the festival," Sakagami added. "You're going through a lot right now."
"Thanks," I sighed. "Give me a couple of days to recover, but I think I'll eventually need the distraction."
After we finished our tea, the girls headed for the door. "We don't want to overstay our welcome," Furukawa said.
"You'll want to get as much sleep as you can," Sakagami added.
"Thanks," I said; then, I rubbed the back of my neck. "Listen...I, uh, really appreciate you two helping me out. I needed friends around, and you were there for me, so...thanks."
"You're welcome," Furukawa said as she took one of my hands. "I am so sorry for what you're having to go through. I think she made a big mistake in letting you go like that."
"I agree," Sakagami chimed in as she laid a hand on my shoulder. "For what it's worth, I think she'll look back and regret it someday."
"Thanks, girls."
I watched them head down the road together before slowly closing the door, slowly turning around, slowly leaning back against the door, and slowly sinking to the floor to let out my grief.