After Story: Determination

Chapter Seventeen: More Options

Tomoyo arrived at her usual time to make breakfast, only this time she had someone with her.

"Good morning, Nii-san!" Takafumi greeted from behind his sister. In his hands he carried a medium-sized box, which he handed to me before removing his shoes. It wasn't too heavy, but I could tell that there was something in it.

"Good morning," I replied, then caught Tomoyo's gaze as she headed toward the kitchen. "Good morning, Tomoyo."

"G-Good morning," she said with her usual intensity as she resumed her journey to my kitchen.

"Thanks for holding that," Takafumi said as he took the box back from me. "This isn't all of it; I'll come by with the rest of it later."

"Sure," I said, completely clueless as to what was going on. I watched as he took it to an empty corner of the living room and set it on the floor. He then opened the top and took out...a computer.

"I'll bring the monitor by later," he said. "I couldn't carry it all at once, and Nee-san doesn't feel safe carrying fragile stuff like this."

"I'm afraid I'd crush it," I heard her admit from the kitchen.

"So, is it okay if I set it up here?" he asked, indicating the corner.

"I...guess," I replied. "Why are you bringing a computer here?"

"Nee-san told me that you're trying to catch up on what you missed in school. You'll have to pay for internet access, but you'll be able to find all kinds of information once I've got you set up here."

"And you won't need to take up Ichinose-san's time anymore," Tomoyo added, still in the kitchen. "You can learn from the safety of your own home and not have to worry about getting beat up on the way to the library."

I also noticed that it meant that I wouldn't be alone with Kotomi. "Thanks, Takafumi," I said, trying to keep the knowing smile off of my face. "I don't understand all of this, but thanks for thinking of me."

"No problem!" he said as he put what I assumed was the last piece in place. "I'm sorry, but I gotta ask you to not touch this for now; I need to know where everything is, or setting this thing up could take a lot longer than it needs to."

"Got it," I said with a nod. "I'll be heading over to the library after breakfast, and to work after that, so I won't have a chance to mess it up."

"Great!" he said with a thumbs-up. "Well, I'd better get out; I don't want to mess with your time with Nee-san, after all."

"It's fine," I said. "We just eat breakfast and then she heads to school. You could stay a little longer if you want. I don't feel right about you just stopping here to drop off your...your 'gift'."

Part of me wasn't too surprised to see him glance awkwardly between me and the kitchen, where a nice smell had started to come from due to Tomoyo's cooking. "I-It's fine, really. Thanks." He quickly headed to the door and slid his shoes on. "I've already eaten, anyway. See you later!"

He left so quickly that I ended up waving at the back of his head. What a weird kid. Neat, but weird. "Hey, Tomoyo," I said, heading to the kitchen area, "need any help? Or should I wait for you at the table?"

"Go ahead and wait," she replied. "I'm almost done, anyway. Thanks for offering."

I plopped down next to the kotatsu and thought about how best to get Tomoyo to tell me about our past together.

A couple of minutes later, she came out with two steaming bowls sitting in cloths on her hands. "Don't try to take it from me," she warned. "You'll burn yourself."