Forever 2

Arata got himself ready to take the ride over to Erina's hometown. It was merely just one town over from where they lived, so he wasn't expecting it to take long. However, there was a feeling of concern within him from encountering the unknown. This time caused by the fact he had never met her dad before. Only being aware of the kind of person he was from the small snippets of information given by her.

So there was worry within him thing might not go well. However, he wasn't going to let this deter him from trying as he had promised Yogi. He met up with the pair at the station and they got on their trip right on schedule.

"It's always fun to take the train." Yogi commented as he soaked in the view of the passing buildings and road besides them. "I wish I could take it everyday."

"Maybe you can find a job with a long commute then." Arata responded. He was someone who wasn't as big of a fan of these trips as the boy sitting next to him. Somewhere he could just stay within walking distance was more than good enough for him.

"Then, let's snap a picture for the memories." Of course she would agree with Yogi, he thought. She was crazy for him, though it didn't seem to pop out anymore. Perhaps that was a sign of her maturing in her love, he thought. The three of them grouped together as she turned her reliable camera towards them pointing at the window. They smiled and she took a nice photo of them taking a train ride together.

"We really should be cherishing these moments more." Yogi said as they all looked at the picture she took through the preview. "It's not like we'll always have them."

"You act like we're going to graduate this year." Arata reminded him they still had to go through the third year together. Sure, it wasn't going to be as adventurous given the exams they had to take for college. However, a year was still a long time and no one intended on wasting it.

Though even with that year, the time for Arata to finally give a proper answer to the girls was running out. He wasn't afforded the luxury of waiting forever, and it seemed that the end of this school year was his deadline. A bit arbitrary, but at some point he was going to have to come to a decision. So it seemed to make sense. At least Yogi was a lot more fortunate. All that boy had to attend to was his unrequited love to Misao while fending off the advances of Erina and Ayami. The latter of whom, he still supported.

After a short ride, the trio made it to their station. "Finally made it…" Arata breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped off. He was reminded of that Christmas day when he and Erina got stranded due to the frozen tracks. That was only a mere few months ago at this point, but the memory was still vivid in his mind.

"Now it's time I'll lead you two to my old house." She went ahead of them as they followed. The walk from the station wasn't far, and the two boys were a little surprised to see the house she used to call a home. It was a little bigger than they were expecting, and rather nice on the outside. "I can't believe I held onto the keys after all this time." She muttered as the girl unlocked the door.

While the exterior was rather nice and charming. Much so that anyone walking by would think whoever lived here cared a lot about themselves. The interior left a lot to be desired. There was a mess of laundry and food strewn about the floor, and the smell was rather poor. The TV was left on and there was a man laying on the couch. It seemed he certainly had seen much better days. "Yo, wake up!" She pushed on him.

"Hmm, who is it?" He smelled of alcohol as the man rubbed his eyes. That was when he was shown his daughter for the first time in ages. "Erina, is that really you?"

"Yes, and I can see this is really you dad." She had on a face of disgust upon looking at the man. When Arata finally got to see the man, he was surprised they were even related. Perhaps it was due to his lack of care, but they didn't appear to share in many similarities. "Now get up, you need to take a shower."

"Okay." He listened to her orders and stood up. The couch he was laying in was also a mess that made it difficult for them to believe anyone could possible be sleeping on it were it not for them seeing it. As he walked with a limp to the bathroom, he paused for a moment to inform them of something. "I got some frozen food in the freezer if any of you are hungry."

"It's fine, I'll just grab some stuff from the store." She replied, getting her bag prepped. "Can you two clean up while I'm gone?"

"You can count on us." Yogi gave her a salute as she left. "Now, let's get to work." Of course, they had a lot of cleaning to do. Though what this boy meant was that it was time for them to understand this man to help him with his relationship to Erina.

"She wasn't exaggerating when she said he was a mess after his wife left him." Commented Arata. "I hope that never happens to me." Personally, he was of the opinion that he wouldn't let himself go should one of the girls around him cheated on him. However, even something like that he would never hope to have happy to him. This was a boy who avoided those dreaded NTR manga like the plague.

"Bad things do happen to good people." Yogi responded. "So it's up to other good people like us to support them while we can."

"Are you saying Erina's a bad person for not supporting her father?" After all, she did leave him just as her mother did.

"No, of course not." Though it might seem implied due to what he just said. It was understandable that she may not want to have the responsibility of fixing a grown man while only being a teenage girl. Plus, were it not for the decisions she made in the past, then they wouldn't have even become friends.

After some time cleaning, which thanks to having the both of them, went by quicker than they were expecting. Erina's dad was finally finished with his shower.

"Whoa, this place looks completely different now." It seemed getting a wash help heighten the man's energy. He was clean now, so his face didn't appear as much of a joke anymore either. "Thank you two so much. Uhh..."

"It's Yogi." Yogi said first. "And his name's Arata."

"Ah, I've heard of you before." He directed this statement towards Yogi. "But you must be new."

"I don't know when was the last time you talked with her, but we became friends last year." Arata replied. He left out the important details of how that came out to be since it wasn't why they were here.

"Anyway, we wanted to talk to you about your…"

"I know my relationship with my daughter is rather… Estranged at the moment." The man was open about the problems he was having. Which was helpful for the boys as it was a subject they were both uncomfortable with. "Ever since her mother left, it's been hard on the both of us. Perhaps selfishly me more so, and I regret not being strong enough for her.

"I get that it hurts." Yogi told him that he was understanding that it wasn't easy to just move on, even if he couldn't understand the feeling itself. According to the man, that was for the best in his view. There was no point in asking to have nice kids like them get hurt like him. "But I don't think living your life like this is the way to go."

"You're right, I ended up relapsing after my injury. It's normally not like this."

"What do you mean?" Arata asked. As it would turn out, the mess was only caused because he hurt his leg and found himself unable to work hard enough to keep the place clean. As a result of being stuck upon his couch with no one around to help, the place fell into disarray and he returned to drinking once again after being sober for several months.

"She must be so disappointed in me." He sighed. "I worked so hard to become a more proper father for my daughter and move on with my life only for one bad leg to put me right back to it."

"Wait, so you mean you're not just a depressed man who can't even get himself out of bed?" From what Erina had mentioned of him, that's what it sounded like he did.

"I used to be." He replied. "But at the start of last year, I decided to finally get some help for my problems. I just wanted to be able to see my daughter again, it's too much not being able to see any of my family." Now it made a lot more sense to them. He was no longer the unfortunate person she mentioned him to be. Instead he was someone making the changes in their life to turn it around and start living once more.

"Arata, then we should help show her what her dad's become." said Yogi, who was filling up with excitement over this realization."

"I agree, let's." Despite having concerns about this before. All of his doubts were wiped away now that they had finally spoken to the man.