Clannad Another Story:Another Story10
The Secret of the Charms
Unfavorable thoughts...
We went to the reference room during our lunch break.
"We'll be doing charms again today, right?"
This is Yukine Miyazawa. As usual, we had our coffee and she her book of charms.
"No."
Sunohara put up his hand to stop her.
"We're always the ones who have to do the charms."
"Well, you seemed like you were having fun with them."
"Let's have you try out some charms today, Yukine. I'm borrowing your book."
Leaning over, he swiftly grabbed the book from her. Perhaps it was because he always got the short end of the stick, or perhaps from curiosity.
Either way, this doesn't have anything to do with me, so I'll just sit back and relax.
"Let's have you try the one we did before. Now, where was it..."
"Oh? Which one?"
"Here, this one. The one to tell you who likes you."
My body stiffened up.
"After reciting the chant I'll tell you, talk a walk through the school hallways once. The person who talks to you is someone who's been thinking about you."
"That's too embarassing!"
Miyazawa stood there, looking troubled, embarassed, and happy all at the same time.
Ah... So cute. But I have to stop this.
"Oi, she doesn't want to. Just stop."
"Oh? What, you're embarassed too, Okazaki? You think you'll be the first person she meets out there?"
"I won't be leaving this room, no matter the consequences..."
Bull's-eye. But, I won't give in.
"Oh ho, trying to act all cool, are you?"
"And it'd just be saddening if no one talked to her."
Miyazawa smiled sadly.
"That's exactly what happened to me, you know..."
"Ahaha... I'm terribly sorry about that..."
Miyazawa's always clueless about stuff like this.
"There's no problems. If anything, Yukine always has me."
"Really? I feel relieved now."
In the end, I couldn't stop them.
"To start, please form a heart with your thumbs and index fingers, and place it against your chest."
Sunohara explained the charm while Yukine followed his directions; it was the exact opposite of what usually happened.
Ah, she looks so cute like that, making a heart with her hands.
"Unfavorable Heavy Thoughts Begone, Unfavorable Heavy Thoughts Begone, Unfavorable Heavy Thoughts Begone..."
Holding that pose, she recited the chant that Sunohara told her.
By the way, this book of charms that Yukine has has the remarkable effect of always working.
"Then, I'll be off."
By the time noticed, she was already leaving the room.
"Now then, how many people'll show up?"
"So, you just want to see how many rivals you have, eh?"
"Pretty much. If I'm the only one, I'll just confess to her on the spot. Heheh."
He got a stupid grin on his face.
"Well, let's get going."
"Hm? Where?"
"To go meet up with Yukine, of course. If we don't hurry, she'll return before we get our chance."
"You only want to do that because you already know what the charm is. That won't prove anything."
"I know I like her, and that's enough for me. If we don't get a move on, there's no way we'll meet her before she gets back."
"No, it's a charm. If it's going to happen, the charm'll make enough coincidences to make it happen."
"Like what?"
"Like I would know..."
Just then, the intercom came on with the sound of static.
"Tomoyo Okazaki and Youhei Sunohara of class 3-D, please report to the staff room immediately."
... and left us that message.
"Are you serious!?"
We looked at each other.
"That book of charms means serious business..."
"Come on, let's go. Now we have an excuse."
"Nah, I'm staying here."
"What!? Are you seriously trying to go against the power of that charm...?"
"If we go to meet Yukine now, we'll just be getting in her way."
"AH!"
Suddenly, Sunohara gave a girly shout and squeezed his thighs together.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, er... I have to take a piss."
"Are you serious...?"
Is this the work of the charm as well?
"Urgh..."
As for me, I started feeling nauseous and my stomach started hurting...
Is this also due to the charm...? What dreadful power...
"Ahh! A bug got in my eye! And the other one, too! GAAAH!"
Tears started streaming from Sunohara's eyes.
"And I still have to take a piss! DAMMIT!"
Sunohara yelled that, still trying to hold it in.
He looked so pitiful, as if he was asking me to forgive me.
As for me, I suddenly had a headache, and could barely stand.
"Ah, there you are! You're coming with me to the staff room!"
And to make matters worse, a teacher had found us.
What the hell... is with this charm?
"GAAH...."
"AAAH...."
We were being taken to the staff room with Sunohara still crying and I still feeling terrible. And we just happened to cross paths with Miyazawa.
"I never thought it would have been you two."
"Well, no, we were just calling out for help..."
"But, this is the proof of my love!"
"At least stop crying if you're going to say that."
"You have to listen to what the teachers say. If you do that, I'll help you out if you need it."
Afterwards, we were scolded by the teachers until classes started, meaning we were late to class again.
Speed like Keanu...
We were back at the reference room after school.
Miyazawa was sitting at the table and trying her best to stand two 10 yen coins on top of each other on their sides.
She looked rather cute doing that.
But... this is another one of those charms.
This was one to have yourself locked up in the gym storage room with the person you were thinking of.
Using the results of the previous charm as a sign (though he'd probably have done it anyway), Sunohara asked Miyazawa to do this charm. He was probably certain she would choose him.
Ah, what a lovable sight she was, concentrating so hard on her task.
"Ah.... I did it!"
Miyazawa clenched her fists together and gave herself a cheer.
Before here were two 10 yen coins, precariously stacked upon each other.
"Okay, now recite the spell."
"Speed like Keanu Reeves... Speed like Keanu Reeves... Speed like Keanu Reeves......"
After she finished mummuring the spell, the coins fell down with a thud.
"It's done, right?"
"Yeah. Now, let's get going, Yukine."
"Oi oi, don't just assume she chose you."
I pulled back Sunohara by the collar of his shirt.
"What, but she was thinking of me, weren't you, Yukine?"
"That's a secret."
Yukine calmly took Sunohara's question and returned a vague answer.
I wonder how many friends Yunike actually has other than us? It's extremely unlikely we're her only friends. Even so, it's kind of disappointing that it wasn't one of us.
Especially since she knows that we like her because of the charm earlier today.
And for her to choose another man, where does that leave us?
"Would it be okay if I just stood in front of the storage room?"
"That's what I did."
"Then, I'll do that."
Miyazawa left the room. Sunohara and I were the only ones there.
"So, any ideas who it is?"
Sunohara shook his head.
"Then, how about I poke your eyes?"
"Why!?"
"I just have the sudden urge to do it. Wait, isn't this the power of the charm? You'd go 'GYAAH!' and then where do you think you'd run off to?"
"The gym storage room? I see!Wait, that would never happen!!"
"Saw through it, huh."
Timed passed, and yet nothing happened.
"So it really wasn't me..."
Sunohara couldn't hide the shock from his face.
"Looks like it. Wasn't me, either."
"Now we just look like idiots with what happened this afternoon. Does this mean we've been rejected?"
"Don't say that out loud. I know well enough already."
"Dammit.... I don't care if I lost, let's at least see who it is! What kind of guy could have won over Yukine's heart? Don't you want to know!?"
"You really are such a sore loser..."
We left and headed towards the field.
The door was shut. No matter hard Sunohara tried pushing or pulling, it was futile.
"Yukine's somewhere in here, doing unladylike things with a good-looking guy!? DAMMIT!"
"We haven't even seen him yet; don't call him good-looking."
"Then let's have a look at him."
He started walking along the wall.
"How?"
"From the back. If we climb the fence, we can see through the window."
"Oh really?"
I never knew. I followed behind him.
And just as he said, there was a small window high up on the wall.
Taking off his socks and shoes, Sunohara climbed up the fence. We he got to the height of the window, he spread out his feet so that one was on the fence, and one was on the wall of the storage room.
Taking what appeared to be a Swiss Army knife out of his back pocket, he stuck a blade into the crevice of the window.
The window creaked. Seems liked he was able to open it.
Putting the knife back, he reached out for the window.
"Heheh..."
One could only think of him as a Peeping Tom like this.
Sunohara inched his face closer to the window that he had cracked open.
"Oh, there's Yukine. I can hear her talking..."
"To who?"
"Hmm.....? Where is he?"
And a good Peeping Tom, at that. He was peering every which way into the room.
"There's no one there... She's by herself."
"No way. This is one of her charms. He probably just hasn't showed up yet."
"But, she's talking to someone."
"Who?"
"Dunno."
There's no one there, and yet she's talking? Is she just speaking to herself?
"Maybe..."
Sunohara was talking in a low voice, as if sharing a secret.
"Maybe she's practicing her confession for when I show up?"
"You sure are optimistic."
I envied his ability to see the positive side of things, despite having no ground to base it on.
"Even though I'm right here... Such a silly girl, that Yukine. Alright, I'm going."
"Where?"
"Inside."
"How?"
"Through this window."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"No, not at all. Now then, just wait for my gallant appearance, Yukine!"
He'd probably look more like a demon or evil spirit crawling through that window.
"What do you two think you're doing!?"
"Uwaah."
Sunohara was surprised by the angry yells of a girl.
I don't know if she was on clean-up duty or something, but Kyou had a trash can with her, and she was giving us a mean glare.
"You're peeping on someone!?"
I pulled back; I had nothing to do with this.
"Uh, wait a sec. You're going to throw that dictionary at me, right? I'm kind of in a bad spot right now. Could we pass on this, please?"
"I see. Fine, I'll give you some cushioning."
Kyou placed the trash can right under Sunohara. It must have been from the kitchen, as I could smell the stench of raw fish even from here.
She took a position opposite of me from Sunohara and turned towards us.
"Now then, how many will it take?"
In her hand was a dictionary, probably the one she always had with her. She began her wind-up.
"Eh, wait just a second! I mean, if you hit me, I'll fall right into that trash can!"
"All I can say is do your best to not fall, then. Ready and..."
Fwoosh..... CRASH!
I turned away from the scene of that inhumane game and went back to the front of the storage room.
She was alone, and yet she was talking to someone. I wanted to find out what was going on.
Even though I knew it was useless, I still grabbed the doorknob.
It opened.
Well, that was anti-climatic.
The light of the sun slanted into the room.
And before me, Miyazawa was crouched on the floor by herself.
There was no one here for her to have been talking to.
"Did I interrupt you?"
"No, I'm already finished."
She stood up and slowly turned around.
The faint traces of tears were left on her cheecks.
And with that, I knew what had happened.
I knew who... she had wished for a rendezvous with.
Could such a mysterious thing have happened, though?
Then again, there have been many mysterious things that have happened to me up till now...
It was only then that I noticed.
"He" must have always been like that.
Even after becoming a delinquent and losing the place he called home, he still visited her like this.
I gently hugged her.
From afar, I could hear painful screams.
"What was that?"
"Nothing you need worry about."
Stroking her hair, I was able to calm her down.
That scream was probably Sunohara's. He must have been shot down already.
If perhaps I'm here due to "his" power as well...
Then maybe he's given me his permission?
From the most important person to her...
From someone, who has already passed on.
That day weakened my view on the power of charms.
For her, that was probably her second farewell.
But, she never looked sad, even for a moment.
Whether or not the power of the charm made itself known, we were still there, smiling.
And so the seasons changed into summer, and then fall.
I was standing at a street corner; the meeting place for our date.
I was, of course, waiting for Miyazawa (I still feel too embarassed to use her first name).
The street was lined with many different charm items. We would spend our time window-shopping around these stores.
They were all fakes, though.
As was the books of charms from the reference room.
I could hear the voices of a group of girls off to the side.
They looked to be from a different school. Their seasonal uniforms were a sight to the eye. I couldn't help but look.
THUNK!
A can hit me upside the head.
Rubbing the back of my head, I turned around. Miyazawa was just coming up to the corner.
"I'm sorry for being late... Did you wait long?"
She asked me that with a pure smile on her face. She couldn't have thrown the can at me...
I looked around.
"Is something the matter?"
"No...."
.... He couldn't still be around, right?
The End
