After Story: Potential

Chapter Fourteen: Uncomfortable Fitting

"I'm telling you that it's too tight!"

"It looks okay to me."

"Onee-chan..."

I walked in to see Kyou, Fujibayashi and Furukawa fussing over Kotomi as she stood on a raised platform. Kotomi was wearing the dress that she had picked – well, the main part of it – and the other three were helping her with the fitting.

"Good, there you are," Kyou said as she saw me. "What do you think? I think the waist's too tight, Nagisa thinks it's fine, and Ryou just repeats my name." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Kotomi. "I can't get an answer out of her. Can you help me out?"

I sighed and made my way up to the platform, and I noticed that Kotomi was watching me with teary eyes. "What's going on, Kotomi-chan? Feeling overwhelmed?"

She clasped her hands in front of her chest and nodded.

I thought it funny how she could work in a lab filled with people, but... "Okay," I said before deliberately softening my voice. "Just breathe, Kotomi-chan. Close your eyes and just feel yourself breathe." She did as she was told, and I gently rested my hand against her cheek. As usual, she pressed her face against my hand and sighed. "Picture all of your stress as a dark cloud. Now gather all of it into a ball. Have you gathered it?"

Kotomi held my hand against her face with both of hers as she nodded slowly.

"Good. Now you're going to throw it. You're going to throw it as hard as you can as far as you can. Can you do that?"

She nodded again, still holding my hand to her face. It was cute the way her eyebrows drew together, and I could almost see her throwing away the stress with all her might.

"After you've thrown it, take one more deep breath and then open your eyes."

She nodded again, took a deep breath and let it out. Then she slowly opened her eyes, and I lifted my other hand to her face to wipe away a tear that had escaped.

She gazed into my eyes. "I love you so much, Tomoya-kun."

I felt my chest swell. "I love you too, Kotomi-chan."

Suddenly remembering that we weren't alone and that I was there for a reason, I blinked and turned to the other three girls, Kotomi releasing my hand. "Sorry Kyou, so what's the prob-"

Kyou, Fujibayashi, and Furukawa all stood there almost identical, with feet together, hands clasped before their chests, and tears flowing from their eyes as they each trembled.

"What's going on with you three? Are you okay?"

"Okazaki-kun..."

"Okazaki-san..."

"T-Tomoya..."

I looked over my shoulder at Kotomi, who looked almost as alarmed as I felt. I returned my gaze to the trembling trio. "What? What is it?"

Almost as one, they fell toward me, crying. Individually, none of them were that heavy, but combined...

I heard Kotomi call out my name as I crashed to the floor under the weight of three sobbing girls.

***

"You okay?" Kyou asked as Kotomi fussed over me with my head in her lap. The three had finally settled down and Kotomi had started checking me for injuries, though I think she was mainly feeling jealous from having three other girls glomp me. Not that I blamed her.

"I'm fine," I replied. I grinned as I looked up at Kotomi's concerned face. "I have a great nurse." That brought a smile to my fiancée's face, finally. "Anyway, what was that all about?"

The three exchanged ashamed glances with each other. I couldn't help but notice that Furukawa seemed a little...off.

Fujibayashi was brave enough to speak first. "I was really, really...touched...by what you did for Kotomi-chan. When you touched her face..." She covered her own beet-red face before she could finish.

"That...was really intense, Tomoya..." was about all Kyou could get out.

"Nagisa-chan; are you okay?" I glanced up to Kotomi's face. She still had the look of concern, but this time it was directed toward... I looked to Furukawa.

Like the other two, she was sitting on her heels, but she was leaning forward with her hands on the floor. She was pale, and breathing heavily.

I quickly excused myself from Kotomi's lap and crawled to Furukawa. "Hey, Furukawa? You okay?"

She looked up at me, but her eyes were unfocused. She was pale, but her face was flushed. "O-Okazak-" She pitched forward into my lap.

My decision was instant. "I'm taking her home. Kyou, Fujibayashi...stay here and help Kotomi-chan." To Kotomi I said: "Stay here and keep working on your dress. I'll call you if I need help, okay?"

"Wait a minute..." Kyou protested as she helped load Furukawa onto my back. "Call?"

"Kotomi and I got cell phones a little while ago, just so we could call each other if we needed to," I quickly explained. Making sure that my charge was secure I turned to my fiancée. "But don't call me unless you absolutely have to. I need to focus on getting her home safely, okay?"

Kotomi nodded tearfully.

A thought caught me as I got to the door. "Oh, Kotomi-chan?"

"Yes?"

I allowed a smile to spread across my face. "You're beautiful."

As I left the room my smile spread as I heard Kotomi's happy gasp.

***

"Okazaki-san..."

"Yeah?"

"Where...are we?"

I thought about how to best answer. "You seemed sick and out-of-it so I'm taking you home."

"But-"

I shook my head. "No 'buts' this time."

It wasn't much of a victory, but I was relieved when she relaxed onto my back.

"Okazaki-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it true that Kotomi-chan's parents studied alternate realities?"

"I don't know anything about that. I do know that they were doing something with String Theory or something like that."

"Do you believe in alternate realities?" Thankfully she sounded more alert, if a little sleepy.

"I haven't thought about it, really. I have enough to deal with in this one."

I felt more than heard her giggle. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

It was quiet for a while save for the sound of my footfalls.

"Okazaki-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder if...maybe in another reality...you're with a different girl?"

What a strange question. "I hadn't given it much thought, no."

"I'd like to have a daughter." Nagisa said, and I could sense her smile. "I'd name her Ushio."

My pace faltered as I felt something like nostalgia. Why did that name sound so familiar?

"Okazaki-san...Are you okay?" Furukawa's sleepy voice sounded over my shoulder.

"Yeah, I just lost my footing for a moment. Sorry."

Her arms slightly tightened over my shoulders. "It's okay. At least you didn't fall and hurt yourself."

"Or you," I pointed out.

I had been feeling uncomfortable ever since her 'different girl' question, but my discomfort increased when I felt her snuggle into my back even more.

I really needed to get her home.