The Right Thing

A Tokimeki Memorial 2 Fanfic

by Peter L. Ward



She sat alone in the quiet solace of the Tea Ceremony Club room.  Unlike
most of her classmates, she didn't feel particularly happy on that day,
graduation day.  Sure, she was happy to finish her three years at
Hibikino Private High School, but her conflicting feelings kept her from
being truly joyful.

She knew two people who would truly be happy that day, though.  One was
her best friend, Hikari.  She looked after Hikari for several years,
making sure that she didn't get hurt by anyone or anything.  In return,
Hikari balanced out her more serious personality with an upbeat,
cheerful outlook on life.

He was the other one.  Hikari's childhood friend who had become, in the
past few years, her boyfriend as well.  In the years leading up to high
school, Hikari would speak of him often since she missed him.  After
all, the two were separated soon after third grade and it took Hikari a
long time to recover.  When Hikari told her that she had literally run
into him on the first day of high school, she was really interested in
meeting him too.

Imagine her surprise when it turned out that a boy that she wrote off as
a weirdo turned out to be that childhood friend of Hikari's.  Naturally,
both she and he got off on the wrong foot, and she treated him rather
coldly for a long time.  Even when he treated her nicely, she wasn't
exactly friendly in return.  She figured that he was only friendly to
her for Hikari's sake.

However, he didn't stop being friendly to her, and she slowly began to
thaw.  There were times when he seemed to get a little too friendly, and
she had to harshly remind him that it was Hikari who he was supposed to
be with, not her.

What kept things from escalating in unpleasantness was Hikari herself. 
Hikari would somehow get wind of a fight and urge both her and the boy
to stop fighting.  Somehow, she could never say no to Hikari, and
neither could he.

Unfortunately, as the three years of high school passed by, her own
feelings for him grew and she couldn't hide them with a mask of ice
anymore.  She couldn't act on them, though, because that would've meant
taking one of the most important people to Hikari away from her.  There
was no way she could devastate Hikari like that, not after all those
years of looking out after her.

So she decided to stow her own feelings for her friend's sake.  She knew
that they'll be happier with each other than he would be with her, so
she would stay out of it and keep her feelings to herself.  After all,
it was the right thing to do.

To her surprise, the peal of the school's bells ringing sounded.  She
had understood that the bells were broken and hadn't been rung in years. 
However, she also understood the legend of the bell: if a girl confessed
her love to a boy on graduation day and the bells rang at that moment,
the couple would be blessed.  

She smiled wanly as she took another sip of her tea.  If Hikari had 
indeed confessed her love for the boy when the bell rang, then they 
would truly be happy together, and that was what was important to the 
girl.  Sure, she would've been happier if he had picked her instead, but 
it wouldn't have been the right thing.

Realizing the time, Minazuki Kotoko got up, quickly cleaned up the tea
cup and pot, and hurried over to the school's auditorium for the
graduation ceremony.  She wore a smile on the way, though in reality it
was a mask.  It was different from the one she wore the past few years,
but it was still a mask.

After all, sometimes doing the right thing can be painful.



Tokimeki Memorial 2 and the characters, places, and situations
associated with it are copyright Konami and are used without permission. 
This story is copyright Peter L. Ward, 2000.