A Spell of Good Fortune

"...With the coins still standing, chant "Speedy Keanu Reeves" three times," Miyazawa's voice sounded as I stared intently at the stacked coins.

I carefully leaned back from the coins so I wouldn't blow them over. "Speedy Keanu Reeves... Speedy Keanu Reeves... Speedy Keanu Reeves..." I felt stupid saying the name of an American actor, but that's what the book said, so... "Now, what?" I asked, glancing at her.

She nodded approvingly. "Yes, that should be enough. Now, please think of the person you want to be locked up with. After that, if the coins fall down, the spell is completed."

I nodded. "Okay...The person I want to be locked up with...who am I supposed to choose?"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Miyazawa smile softly. "Please don't worry. If something happens, there's a way to neutralize it."

My eyebrows lifted. This was sounding more and more like a curse.

"Must be so nice for you, Okazaki. Falling in a dramatic love with someone," I barely heard Sunohara say.

The person who pops up right away in my mind is...

The girl from the library. 'Kotomi', wasn't it?

Clatter...The ten-yen coins fell, and I jumped at the sudden sound.

"Oh, it's done?" Sunohara asked, more a statement than a question. "I'm jealous. Just which cute girl did you think of?"

I shrugged. "It's someone I should be safe with, so nothing should happen. If nothing else, the conversation should be interesting." I sent him a lopsided smile. "I'll tell you what happened when I come back."

Sunohara looked at me with mild disdain. "What? You're boring."

Kotomi...no, 'Kotomi-chan' was what she preferred to be called. For some reason I felt something like nostalgia when I thought of her. I still felt bad for leaving her the way I did. I could still see her teary face from when I left the library.

I allowed the guilt to gnaw on me for a bit as I headed to the storage room.

***

I stood outside the shed, feeling more than a little self-conscious. After all, the chances that she would ever...no, that would never happen. She was a fixture in the library; she'd never come out.

"Tomoya-kun?"

I turned at the familiar voice but unfamiliar use of my name and my eyes widened. "Kotomi...chan...?" Wow, this spell really did have potential, didn't it? "How did you know my-Wait, what are you doing all the way out here?"

She pointed toward the school's upper floors. "I saw you from the library window, and...and..." Her cheeks pinked as she rubbed her hands together, clearly nervous. "I was hoping that you would join me for lunch today."

I was touched. Even after the way I had treated her... "Thank you Kotomi-chan, but I-"

*CRACK*

The sound of a bat hitting a ball caused me to look just in time to see a ball flying toward Kotomi's head. "LOOK OUT!" I yelled, grabbing her and throwing us both out of the ball's path.

*CRASH* *THUMP* *SLAM*

***

I cracked an eye open to find myself in the gym storage shed. I opened the other eye to find the place pitch-black; the door must have shut behind us.

THE DOOR MUST HAVE SHUT BEHIND US?!

It was then that I realized that I was still holding tightly on to Kotomi as she lay on top of me. "Are you okay?!" I asked, somewhat panicked.