Usage of the てくる in 近づいてくる。


瞳に涙をためながら、おずおずと、彼が香織さんに近づいてくる。

I'm curious, what is the usage of てくる in this sentence? Why not いく? Given the
character in question is clearly "heading" for the 香織さん and it's not 香織さん
coming toward him.

Edit: it's narration, and the narrator is observer




It's the subsidiary verb (-て)くる, and it's used to describe 彼 is physically
coming closer to 香織さん.

  * [Difference between -ていく and -てくる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/676/5010)

This may seem redundant at first because 近づく ("to get closer") also has a
similar meaning, but they play different roles. 近づく and 遠ざかる are about the
distance from the _target_ (marked with に/から), while (-て)くる and (-て)いく are
about the distance from the _observer_ (which may or may not be the same as
the _target_ ). For example, you can say AさんはBさんに近づいていった, which means A got
closer to B and away from the (implicit) observer.

In your case, there is a narrator that describes this scene as a third person,
but 香織さん is working as a temporarily observer here. Or you may think there is
an invisible narrator (or camera) near 香織さん. See also: [What does ～てくる mean
here?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/95228/5010)

(-て)いる has a totally different meaning. It's possible to use (-て)くる and (-て)いる
together, like this:

> 彼は香織さんに近づいてきている。  
>  He is (gradually) getting closer to Kaori.

