The First Step

Background

Nagisa admits to wanting to restart the drama club, and Tomoya helps Nagisa to create recruiting posters (with the big Dango family mascot) which they place around the school. At school that day, Tomoya meets two other girls: a strange genius named Kotomi Ichinose who he finds hard to receive attention from, and a first-year named Fuko Ibuki, whom he finds alone in a classroom making a star-shaped wood carving. Tomoya confiscates her knife when she accidentally hurts her hand with it.

Later that day, Nagisa finds out Tomoya used to play basketball and invites him to play a game the next day. However, it rains the following day, and Tomoya, along with his friend Youhei Sunohara who used to play soccer, skip school by staying at the dormitory. Worrying that Nagisa might be out in the rain due to her basketball invitation, Tomoya decides to go out. There, it is revealed that his father Naoyuki Okazaki injured Tomoya's shoulder in a fight; as a result, he is unable to play basketball anymore. As Nagisa expresses her regret, she faints in the rain.