After Story: Desire

Chapter Ten: Then and Now

The chill of the restaurant's air conditioner was a welcome change, actually feeling warmer than the unusually cold Fall temperature outside and allowing me to unbutton a couple of coat buttons.

"Table for one, sir?" a blue-haired waitress asked, her white-and-gold uniform showing more of her cleavage than I was comfortable with.

"Hello, miss." I tugged on my tie to loosen it ever so slightly to relieve my throat of some unnecessary pressure. "Actually, I'm meet-"

"Tomoya! Over here!" a familiar violet-haired voice called, and I found Kyou waving at me from a corner booth, her sister sitting quietly beside her.

I looked back to the waitress as she also looked back from the pair. "I'm meeting them," I told her with a gesture and a smile, though it was likely unnecessary at that point. "If I may...?"

"By all means," she said with a bow – showing even more cleavage – and as she moved to help another customer, I shook my head with a sigh as I moved into the sea of tables.

"Hey, you two," I greeted as I approached the twins. "It's been a-"

"Yo, Okazaki!" a familiar high-pitched and nasally voice greeted, causing me to jump, and I turned wide eyes on Sunohara – dark hair and all – as he gave me a two-fingered salute from his seat across from the girls. "It's been a while!"

"Y-Yes, it has," I briefly stammered; having my intended greeting inadvertently stolen from me left me momentarily without words.

"Surprised?" I looked over at Kyou, who was studying me with a catlike grin. "Youhei said he'd be in town for a few days, so I thought I'd call and see if you were free."

"That's...good." Truth be told, I wasn't sure how to react; apparently I'd been working with professionals for just long enough that I'd effectively forgotten how to relate to my old schoolmates. "I apologize; when I heard your message, I wasn't sure what to expect, so..." I cleared my throat as I grabbed onto my more professional demeanor. "In any case, thank you for thinking of me."

"Where the hell'd you learn to talk like that?" Sunohara snorted as he scooted over on the bench seat. "Eh, whatever. C'mon, sit down, man; I wanna hear what you've been up to that's got you all suited up like this."

I studied him as I claimed the proffered seat; other than his hair color, he hadn't seemed to have changed much since school. He wore a light-blue dress shirt along with what appeared to be dark-blue slacks; it was hard to perceive the latter under the tabletop, of course. His hair had been cut shorter as well; not military short, but noticeably shorter than what I remembered.

"Yeah, Tomoya, let's hear it," Kyou chimed in, drawing my attention as I settled in. "Last we knew, you and the Chorus Club were doing musicals with us, but after graduation you just...vanished."

"Well..." I started as I loosened my tie further, partly to relieve myself of my anxiety and partly to give myself time to construct a reply. "After we graduated, I assisted Yukio and his group as they participated in the 'Rising Stars' competition. May I assume that you've heard of that event?"

The twins exchanged a glance. "We...have, but we don't generally have the time to watch it," Kyou replied.

"I'm not interested in that crap, anyway," Sunohara blurted out, then ducked his head at a glare from Kyou. "But I would've watched it if I'd known that your harem was on it."

I sighed. "They're called the 'Angels of Japan' and I'm only dating Rie. Anyway, her group competed in the following cycle, and after they won they signed on with 'Go! Go! Idols!'."

"Never heard of that company," Kyou remarked. "But I've heard about the Angels of Japan. That's your girlfriend's group?"

"It is, and Yukio's group is called the 'Lords of Doo-Wop'.