Disclaimer: I do not own Clannad… but I do own a huge bill for college textbooks! :cries:

Learning

Lesson 4: You like… Sunohara?!

Mondays.

Tomoya really hated Mondays. What he really hated was that his summer holiday Mondays were being violated by supplementary classes. Heck, his whole summer was being violated by summer supplementary courses. Either way, it was another day of boring classes and lectures.

The day went by as slowly as usual, but today's lessons were significantly less difficult for Tomoya. The single tutoring session he had had with Kotomi seemed to have done him a great deal of good. On normal days, whenever a teacher asked him to explain a certain passage or solve a problem, Tomoya would just stare back with a blank look and shrug.

Tomoya didn't do this because he wanted to be a jerk or anything, he just didn't genuinely know the answer to whatever the teacher was asking, and he sure wasn't going to make something up. He learned to stop making up answers for questions after he got severely punished for coming up with an extremely unique answer in sex education his freshman year (but that's another story).

Yet, today, Tomoya was able to adequately respond to any of his teachers inquiries, much to the surprise of everyone in class, including the teacher. Tomoya had to admit that it did feel good to actually pay attention in class and understand everything, and he really had to owe it all to Kotomi.

After answering an especially hard math question that his math teacher threw at him (he remembered solving the same exact problem with Kotomi the previous day) he looked over at Kotomi and worded a silent thank you towards her direction.

She responded with a bright smile.

Kotomi really is cute, Tomoya thought as he sat back down.

Feeling a nudge coming from his right side he looked over to see Sunohara, a stunned expression plastered all over his face.

"Geez man, when did you get so smart? You haven't been studying behind my back have you?!"

"No, of course not." Tomoya leaned back in his chair. "It's just that Kotomi came to my house yesterday to tutor me, and I really didn't have much of a choice in the matter." Placing the feet of his chair back on the floor, he looked back at Sunohara. "She really is a great tutor though."

Sunohara eyed Tomoya suspiciously before finally relaxing his gaze. "Huh… maybe I should ask Kotomi for some help too… Mr. Smarty Pants." Sunohara began to laugh hysterically at his own joke.

"SUNOHARA!"

Youhei jumped in his seat. "Yes!"

"Pray tell, what is so darn funny?"

"It's nothing, Sensei!"

The math teacher grunted loudly at Youhei's remark. "Well, you know what I would find funny? You coming up to the board and trying to solve this problem."

Sunohara reluctantly got up from his seat and dragged his feet up to the blackboard.

It would be pretty funny seeing Sunohara trying to solve a Calculus equation, Tomoya thought to himself.

Releasing a deep sigh, Tomoya looked up at the clock and realized it was finally break time. Sunohara hadn't said a word since his unfortunate encounter with the Calculus equation, and Tomoya was starting to get a bit worried.

He nudged Youhei in his ribs. "Hey, why are you do down? You've never cared this much about school before."

No response.

Tomoya nudged him again, this time with a bit more force. "Sunohara, why is your sister at our classroom door anyway? Did Mei say she'd come visit?"

'WHAT?!" Sunohara jumped up and glared expectantly at the door.

"Kidding."

Slumping back in his seat once again, Sunohara redirected his glare at Tomoya. "That wasn't funny."

Tomoya chuckled. "At least you're talking again. Anyway, mind telling me why you're so down? It was just a Calculus problem; it's not like you haven't flunked out in that area before."

Groaning, Sunohara responded. "That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

"We're supposed to be delinquents together, and now that you've gone all Mr. Smarty Pants on me," Sunohara chuckled a bit at his joke again (Tomoya just rolled his eyes), "it's no more fun. You know, the more the merrier type of deal."

Tomoya shrugged. "Hey, if you're that bummed out about it just ask Kotomi for some tutoring. It's free period now, why don't you go ask her to help you with English so you can be prepared for next period."

"Ah… I guess I'll have to if I don't want to be the only delinquent at this school… Mr. Smarty Pants." Sunohara walked off still laughing at his same joke.

Tomoya just rolled his eyes again.

A few minutes later Sunohara got up from his seat and slowly walked up to where Kotomi sat near the front of the room. He really wasn't the type of guy who asked help for things like school, so Youhei couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive.

Once he was beside her desk, Sunohara tapped Kotomi on the shoulder. "Um, Kotomi-chan?"

Kotomi turned her head and looked up at Sunohara. "Hello, Youhei-kun. Did you need something?"

"Heh, well, I need some help with English and stuff… and Tomoya said you were a really great tutor, so do you think you could answer some of my questions before break is over?" Sunohara flashed Kotomi his best smile.

"T-Tomoya said I was a great tutor?"

Youhei shrugged. "Well, yeah. Why what's wrong-" He looked at the expression on Kotomi's face.

She was blushing.

A grin spread across Sunohara's face. "You like Tomoya don't you?"

Kotomi jumped in her seat. "W-what?!"

"It's okay, it's okay. It is pretty obvious if you think about it, but don't worry, I won't say a word." Sunohara gave her a thumbs up. "Hey, if you help me out a bit, I'll give you some advice on winning his heart! I am his best friend after all."

"Really…?"

"Yeah!"

Kotomi couldn't control herself. She stood up and gave Sunohara a tight hug. "Thanks Youhei-kun!"

Patting her lightly on the pack, Sunohara spoke up after a few awkward seconds locked in Kotomi's arms. "Y-yeah, no problem… so… do you think you could help me with English now?"

Leaning back in his chair, Tomoya let his thoughts drift off to the events that occurred the day before. He was still really curious about who Kotomi's crush could be.

It's probably someone really smart, Tomoya thought to himself, still leaning back in his chair. That means it probably couldn't ever be me…

Tomoya shook his head back and forth. Geez, what am I thinking! That doesn't really matter in the first place.

Placing his chair back on the ground Tomoya looked over towards Kotomi's desk to see if she had accepted to help Sunohara. What he saw almost caused him to fall off his chair.

Kotomi was hugging Sunohara in a tight embrace.

Tomoya's thoughts began to whirl. She couldn't like Sunohara… could she?! He shook his head more vigorously this time. No, that's stupid. She couldn't like him… yeah, that's right. Kotomi's probably just happy that Sunohara is trying hard in school now. They are friends, and she's been happier about lesser things… yeah, that must be it.

Satisfied with his logic, Tomoya tipped back his chair once again and waited for the next period it begin. Still, in the back of his mind he couldn't help but wonder if Kotomi really did like Youhei or not.

He also wouldn't admit that the image of Kotomi hugging Sunohara was really, really bugging him.

After their last class had ended, Tomoya hurriedly grabbed Sunohara by his collar and led him out of the classroom. He dragged him all the way into the bathroom before finally letting him go.

Sunohara rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey, I appreciate you bringing me here, but I don't really have to use the bathroom right now."

"Do you know who Kotomi likes?"

"W-what?"

"Do you know who Kotomi likes?!"

Sunohara looked at Tomoya questioningly. "Well, yeah, it's pretty obvious isn't it? Even if I didn't tell you who it was you'd probably figure it out anyway."

Tomoya eyes widened. "You mean she actually likes yo-"

Youhei waved Tomoya off. "Yeah, yeah, that's it. Well, I actually do have to use the bathroom now, so if you don't have to go yourself, wait for me outside."

"Yeah… okay…" Slumping his shoulders, Tomoya opened the doorway to the bathroom and led himself outside. Pressing his face against the glass window outside, Tomoya couldn't believe what he had just discovered.

…

…

…

Kotomi likes Sunohara.

Author's Notes: Ahh! Sorry this update took so long! I did say it would come in two to three days but it took me a while to get the creative juices flowing. Just the day before, a lighting bolt of inspiration came to me, and I decided that a little misunderstanding via Sunohara Youhei was just what the author ordered!

Lo and behold, I come to view a new review for my story basically telling me the exact same thing!

Aquatic-Idealist, I hope you don't mind me picking at Sunohara too much, but I really do like him!

As always, please enjoy, and remember to read and review!

Thanks bunches

kama