Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Koushirou's Search! ❯ Surprising News ( Chapter 2 )

Hi again everyone. I hope that the last chapter wasn't too boring. I suppose that this particular story falls under the “drama” genre. If you are wondering, there probably won't be any pairings, unless I change my mind as I go. I usually just write whatever comes naturally to me, and that, sometimes, include certain couplings.

 

Also, as a reminder, the ages and school grades of the children are their Japanese ones. The dub was a bit inconsistent with them. For instance, in the dub of Adventure 02, I'm pretty sure that “Joe” was in his last year of high school for it and other times, I heard that he was in medical school. Like I said, the ages and grades were much too inconsistent to even consider using.

 

Something else I must add onto here…the names in the first chapter. Three in particular I didn't make up. Ueda Yuuji and Tomokazu Seki, which was mainly used since I sorta had Pokemon on the brain. The names are borrowed, so to speak. Tomokazu Seki is the seiyuu for Kenji (Tracey) from the Pokemon series, and is also known for his voice work on series like Fushigi Yuugi (Kouji and Chichiri), Fruits Basket (Kyo), and Chobits (Shinbo). Ueda Yuuji voices Takeshi (Brock) from Pokemon, and is also known for his voice work on series like Love Hina (Keitaro), Hiroyasu (Chobits), and Rurouni Kenshin (Sagara). Both have done many voiceovers over the years.

 

The third person is Ishidzuka. Ishizuka Unshou voices Ookido Yukinari/Ookido-hakase (Professor Oak; not sure of his dub given name) of Pokemon. He is known for voicing characters in such series like Cowboy Bebop (Jet) and Hellsing (Peter).

 

I know these weren't very creative, but at the time, my mind was really blank on names. Now, the names of all of the other characters shall be original, but if they just happen to resemble a real person, then it is a total coincidence.

 

Oh yes, just so you know, this story takes place March 12, 2004 - March 19, 2004 and then July 2004, which is why the ages are the way that they are. When the story starts, they're in whatever year is listed, but in July, they would be in their next year because of how the Japanese school year works.

 

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

 

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

 

Chapter 02: The Surprising News for Koushirou…

 

Koushirou made his way home, taking his time, tuning out the world and the cars zooming by. He headed to the same place he'd lived since the Hikarigaoka (Heighton View Terrace) incident nearly ten years earlier along with his “father” and “mother”. The more he thought of his parents, the sicker he felt as far as the assignment was concerned. He was usually always up to a challenge, but this time was different for him. He knew that if he worked to his full potential that everyone would discover his secret. A secret he never purposely intended to keep. The only reason he kept this secret, was because his own parents had kept it secret from him…a secret that had been haunting and plaguing his mind since he'd unintentionally discovered it as a young child. Here he was, nearly 15 years old, about to enter his final year at Odaiba Junior High, and his own parents kept an important fact about Koushirou secret…about his not being their real son…

 

He'd finally made it to his apartment complex, and climbed up the stairs to the floor of which his family was on. He wasn't in the mood to take the elevator. Once reaching his door, he took in a deep breath, and entered. “Mother, I'm home…” he called out routinely as he stepped out of his shoes and into his slippers, which were left by his female caregiver. He was anxious to get to his room to just be alone with his thoughts, although he didn't get too far.

 

“Koushirou, wait a minute.”

 

The boy stopped and turned to face the woman who claimed to be his mother. Even though the shorter woman wasn't, he loved her as well as her husband very much. They were the only parental figures he'd ever had in his life, but at times, he felt as if he didn't belong to this family, especially when it came to strange food combinations. Even the way he preferred his toast was out of the ordinary of the average Japanese individual. Some used condiments such as strawberry jam or something tangy like marmalade or just ate it plain with butter. Koushirou, on the other hand, *liked his toast topped with avocado slices, apple slices, and topped with imported honey.

 

“Yes mother?”

 

The woman fidgeted with her apron, while looking everyplace except the boy. “Well, I…erm…”

 

“Is something wrong?” Koushirou asked in alarm. “You said something about getting a check up today. Is everything okay?”

 

The woman shook her head. “I can wait to share this,” she told him uneasily.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Yes, I'm fine,” she insisted with her signature smile. One thing she was known for was her bright, bubbly personality, which was usually accompanied with a warm, gentle smile. Growing up with Mrs. Izumi made it easy for him to hang around with Mimi, who was similar in some ways. “Just make sure you unglue yourself from that computer of yours for dinner later.”

 

He nodded. “Do you need help with anything?”

 

“No, not at all, but I did make you a snack.” The woman rushed back to the kitchen, and returned with a tray which held a glass of a dark substance and a plate of about three round shaped balls. “I made you some *onigiri and some oolong tea, two of your favorite things.”

 

“Wow, thanks!” He took the tray. “What filling did you use for the onigiri?”

 

“Now now, it's a surprise,” she winked to him, “but I will give you a couple of hints. It's a sweet filling, since I know how much you love sweets, and there's no avocado in it.”

 

Koushirou looked a bit put out. He loved avocado, but he soon smiled again. It was something sweet, after all. With that, the boy headed to his room, where he set down his tray, and tossed down his book bag.

 

`I think I'll talk to Masami-san about Koushirou's behavior and that phone call later,' the woman decided while making her way back to the kitchen. `Right now, I have more pressing things to worry about, like how I'm going to break the news to Koushirou about my doctor's visit…'

****

Meanwhile, over at the luxurious Nishimura home in the somewhat larger than average Japanese kitchen…

 

“Mimi-chan,” an older woman with dark, short hair called, “could you slice up two more carrots and chop up one more small onion please?”

 

“Sure thing, Sué-obachan.”

 

The once sheltered city girl was now quite the cook, and to her surprise, she really enjoyed baking and cooking very much. There was one thing she still didn't like doing too much, and that was the chopping of onion. She didn't know anyone who actually did.

 

“Thank you so much. With making such a big stew like this, help is always appreciated.” She kept watch over the rice for she and Mimi's *Hayashi rice dish, which the family simply loved. “Let's see, everything is cooking nicely, and this beef I bought on the way home should bring out a really good flavor, I feel.” The woman was always grateful that even though she worked, she was able to come home earlier than most people, as she worked part-time at the Kindergarten.

 

Isako, during this time, was sitting down at the small table of the large kitchen, coloring in one of her Pokemon coloring books. Curious, she looked up from her work, and asked, “Doesn't cutting up onion hurt your eyes, neechan?”

 

“Not if you cut the onion just right.”

 

Isako jumped out of her chair, and followed Mimi, who had walked over to the stove with a knife. She turned on the burner, and held the blade of the knife over it. “What are you doing that for?” she asked.

 

“The fumes from the onion won't be as strong if you cut the onion with the heated blade of a knife. Another way is to wear a mask, so that you don't inhale the fumes from the onion. I would just hold my breath, or try not to breathe through my nose whenever I have to chop up onion.” She started to chop up the onion. “See, no tears, unless it's a really strong onion, then there's nothing you can do about that,” she added on with a laugh.

 

“Wow, I never knew that. Where did you learn that, Mimi-chan?”

 

The girl placed a finger on her chin, while trying to recall where she'd come across those tips. “I'm not even sure. I probably saw it on television someplace. While in America, I watched a lot of television. I watched way more than I ever did when here since I didn't have much to do when first getting to America.”

 

Sué turned off the rice cooker. “I don't know how my brother or your mother does it. I don't think I'd last one day there, let alone years. I'd have to learn so much just to ask how to get to the bathroom. Was it really difficult for you to learn English to the point where you could speak decently?”

 

“Yeah, it was at first, but my friend Michael helped me with it. He gave me lessons after we all first moved there. He's one of the people I miss most about New York, and of course some other friends,” she put the chopped onion into a frying pan to sauté them, and started slicing up the carrots to add to it as well, “but I do try to keep in touch through mail, e-mail, and phone, especially since Michael has a very good international calling plan for his mobile phone, so he calls me fairly often.”

 

The older woman nodded. “It's really nice to make good friends. Those types of bonds usually last a lifetime, regardless of how far apart you are.” She took off her apron, and laid it down on the counter top. “Mimi-chan, I have to go check up on Ton. He should be waking up pretty soon from his nap. Could you keep an eye on things here?”

 

“Sure.”

 

She thanked the teen, and took off, leaving Mimi and Isako, who had gone back to coloring. Mimi went over to the pot, and added in the sautéed onions and carrots she'd cooked up earlier. After stirring them in, she tasted it. “Hm, this is okay, but it could use a little bit more salt and pepper.” She added a couple of pinches of salt and a dash of fresh black pepper. She tasted it again. She smiled in satisfaction. “Perfecto!” she said in English while flashing the victory sign.

 

“Neechan,” began Isako, who had once again, took her attention from her coloring book, “how come Kou-niichan looked sad today?”

 

Mimi returned the lid to the pot. “Sad?”

 

The four year old nodded. “When I came out to see you, he looked a little sad, even though he was smiling.”

 

“It's nothing you should worry over. He just doesn't want to do his homework.”

 

“Why?”

 

She walked over to the table, and sat down, and sighed. “I don't know.”

 

“Is it hard big kids work?”

 

“No, it's easy work. We have to talk about our mothers and fathers and our brothers and sisters.”

 

“Ooo,” Isako clapped in excitement, “that sounds like a lot of fun! I could do that!”

 

“I know,” she smiled to the girl. `It's still strange that he's acting so stupid over it. Why is it bothering him so much anyway? I wonder if I should even bother him about it when I see him later on tonight…'

 

“Tadaima!” both girls heard someone call. Isako's eyes lit up as she rushed from the kitchen. Mimi followed behind. At the front door, a somewhat tall man, with dark hair, a slim build, in a dark blue suit, was taking off his shoes.

 

“Papii!” Isako rushed up to give the man a big bug.

 

“Hi there, ojisan,” Mimi politely greeted. For some reason, she felt she had to be extra nice around her uncle.

 

“Hello girls,” he greeted. “It's great to come home early.”

 

“Guess what, papii!! I learned how to read a new book today, and I can read it all by myself! It's a really long book too!”

 

While Isako talked her head off to her father, Mimi couldn't help but smile at the warm scene. She felt it was so cute how excited Isako was about reading her first book in full, even if the book was pretty short, but, for a child her age, it probably did come across as being “a really long book”. Mimi headed back to the kitchen with her uncle and cousin. Pretty soon, Sué walked back into the kitchen with Ton, surprised to see her husband home so soon. It was nice having him home for a change.

 

“Isako-chan, do you want to help set the table?” asked Mimi.

 

“I'd love to neechan!”

 

The two set up all the places at the table, while Mimi and Sué set the foods on it. Once all was said and done, everyone sat down to their meal… “Itadakimasu!”

****

Meanwhile, over in the Izumi kitchen, after the Nishimuras had started their meals…

 

“So, is it true?!” the man with the glasses anxiously asked his wife.

 

The petite woman shyly nodded with a small smile. “It's affirmative, like Koushirou would say.”

 

“That's great!” Mr. Izumi hugged her. “They really did get through those tests quickly.”

 

“Yes, they did. The doctor called me earlier this afternoon with the results.”

 

“I guess you could say that modern technology is amazing.”

 

“I guess,” she began, her smile slightly faltering.

 

“What's wrong?”

 

“Well…it's Koushirou. How do you think he'll take the news?”

 

“I hadn't really thought of that.”

 

“The timing isn't really good. First I got that call from the doctor, and then I received a call from his history teacher.”

 

“Really? A teacher of his called?”

 

“He was a strange one. I never knew he was, though. We've met him. Seems that his class is doing an assignment for history, and mentioned how Koushirou didn't seem very enthusiastic about doing it. I think he just wanted me to try and help persuade Koushirou into doing the project.”

 

“I guess we'll have to talk to him about it at dinner. What's the project?”

 

“You know, he never did say. He sounded as if he were in a hurry, so I guess he forgot to say.”

 

“Either way, we'll have to talk to him about it.”

 

Mrs. Izumi nodded slowly, as she started filling bowls and plates with the contents of dinner. Her husband noticed the lack of fervor she had while doing so. After the last place was set, she sighed.

 

“Don't let this bother you. I'm sure what whatever is going on with Koushirou and his school assignment can be resolved.”

 

“It's not that,” the woman admitted somberly, looking down the hall towards Koushirou's room, “it's the other thing.”

 

“He'll take the news fine, I'm sure of it.”

 

“But how long can we actually keep it a secret from him? He's going to start noticing some changes sooner or later. Maybe we should have told him a week ago when we first suspected it.”

 

The man grabbed his wife by the shoulders and gave her an assuring smile. “You're worrying over nothing.”

 

“I just don't know. I-I still feel strange about all of this. I have this odd feeling that it may actually upset Koushirou. I just don't understand why I am expecting the worst of things to happen if sharing this news with him.”

 

“You're probably feeling this way because you're his mother, and---”

 

“That's just it! I'm not his real mother! Maybe that's what's bothering me! I'm starting to feel guilty more and more each day since we haven't told him yet.”

 

He turned his head away, and darkly murmured, “There isn't any reason for him to know.”

 

“There has to be some reason! I-I suppose I'm starting to feel awkward now that we know for sure since the doctor called.”

 

“We'll work everything out, don't worry.”

 

Not fully content with her husband's answer, she muttered, “I'll go get Koushirou for dinner.”

 

She walked slowly down the hall to the redhead's room, still unable to shake that worrisome feeling she had concerning her son. She took a deep breath, put on a smile, and knocked on the door. “Koushirou, dinner.”

 

Hearing the knock, Koushirou jumped up from his computer and opened the door. He was definitely ready to eat. The snack from earlier was already gone. After opening the door, he got a weird vibe from her. Sure she was smiling, but it wasn't as cheerful or as bright as it usually was. “Mother, are you okay? Are you certain that you're not sick?”

 

“Now now, don't you worry about me,” she told him as nonchalantly as she could. “I'm fine.” Suddenly, she hugged the taller boy tightly. He was confused by her actions, but let her do so anyway. “Koushirou, remember that I'll always love you no matter what, and that you'll always be my son, and how nothing can ever change that.”

 

He could only shrug and nodded out a questionable, “Okay?” After the hug, he walked to the table and took his seat along with his parents.

 

“Wow, all of this looks good! There is white miso soup, *negitorodon, *goma-ae…I can't wait! You did a good job with this meal!” the boy exclaimed.

 

He could hardly wait to dig into the meal. Mrs. Izumi gave him a half-smile, but Koushirou was much too distracted to fully notice. After blessing the meal, he started to eat, going for the soup first. It was best eaten hot. When done, he headed to the goma-ae and the negitorodon.

 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Izumi hadn't really touched their meals, as they watched their teenage garbage disposal shovel the food down like it was nothing.

 

Koushirou gulped down the juice in his glass. Noticing the glass was empty, Mrs. Izumi poured him some more. “Thank you.” At that moment, he noticed that his parents' dishes were still close to full. “What's wrong? How come you haven't eaten much?”

 

“We're fine,” his father insisted, as he took a drink of his beer.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Positive,” he looked over at his wife, “but there is something we wanted to discuss with you.” Mrs. Izumi shook her head. She wasn't ready yet.

 

“What did you want to talk about?”

 

“Um, school. How was school today?”

 

“It was okay,” he answered dryly.

 

“I suppose you should be getting some final projects assigned to you by now, right?”

 

“Yeah, it's the same old stuff.”

 

“What about Japanese History?”

 

“Um, I just have to do a research project on any famous historical figure of my choice,” Koushirou answered quickly. He was surprised he was able to come up with something so quickly.

 

“We won't lie to you,” his mother began gently. “Your teacher called me this afternoon.”

 

Koushirou nearly choked on the spinach salad, but recovered quickly. Since when do teachers call home? “What?”

 

“He said that you didn't seem to want to do the assignment. Is that true?”

 

“Well, I'm just not into history too much…that's all. No point in living in the past, right,” he laughed slightly.

 

“Well, we don't want you slacking off on your assignments. If you want to get into a good high school and university, you must work hard in all of your subjects.”

 

“Y-yes sir. I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't taking it too seriously since I already have a high mark in the class.” Koushirou still couldn't believe that his teacher had called home. That just wasn't the norm, just like the assignment in question. What partially surprised him though, aside from the fact he'd called in the first place, was the fact that his mother never once pointed out that what he said was the assignment was different from what was actually assigned. `Did he even tell her what it was?'

 

“I guess that's understandable, but your father and I want you to do every assignment that's given to you.”

 

He nodded, and started to eat slower, ignoring the fact that it was still pretty quiet at the table, but he was drowned in his own thoughts to even notice. `I really don't want to do this strange assignment, but I now know that I can't get out of not doing it because he'd probably call here again. How can I actually do this type of an assignment if I don't know much about my supposedly true family?

 

`I don't want to seem ungrateful towards my parents, as they've always taken good care of me, but doing an assignment about those two would mean that the information would technically be false. She didn't biologically give birth to me.

 

`What does it truly matter anyway? They, apparently, don't want me to know that I'm adopted, and in a way, I'm not too surprised. If they did, I'm sure they would've mentioned it to me by now if it wasn't slightly bothersome.' He inwardly sighed. `What do I do?'

 

He looked over at his mother, who was now eating her meal. He still couldn't help but feel that there was something off about her. `I wonder what's going on with her. Today was the most noticeable, but she's been acting strangely for a while now. Sometimes she may seem cheery, which is normal for her, but then she may act a bit emotional, like how she was before dinner. I've also noticed how fatigued she's been, even though she seems to try to hide it.

 

`I really feel she's keeping something from me, and I doubt it's about my adoption.' After taking another sip of juice, he decided once and for all to get down to the root of the problem. He had promised himself to not meddle, but it was getting to be a bit too much for him now. “Mother…”

 

“Yes?” The woman sipped some of her hot green tea.

 

“What happened when you went to see the doctor? You did go today, but you never told me of your diagnosis. Is everything okay? Are you healthy?”

 

“You did a really great job with the soup.”

 

“Koushirou, would you like some more?” his mother asked abruptly.

 

“What?”

 

“You know, I think I just heard your mobile phone ring, Masami-san.”

 

“Yes, I should probably go and answer that.”

 

“I didn't hear anything. What's going on you two?”

 

The two gave each other a look and nodded, realizing that they had to be up front with the boy with their news.

 

“Well, Koushirou, yes, as you were asking earlier about a diagnosis, I did receive one. They called me this afternoon.”

 

“Oh no!” the boy panicked. “You're not dying, are you? Is that why you've been so depleted of energy lately?!”

 

“Calm down, Koushirou; your mother is not dying.” his father told him in surprise. `Only he would go with the worst-case scenario.'

 

“Then what's wrong with her? Why are you two acting so anxious over a routine doctor's visit?”

 

“Um, Koushirou,” the woman began slowly, “how would you feel if another person moved in here with us?”

 

“I guess that would be fine, but what does that have to do with your doctor's visit?”

 

“Well, that's exactly what's going to happen. A child is going to be moving in with us.”

 

Koushirou's eyes went wide as he scratched his head. “Your doctor is a child?!”

 

Mrs. Izumi laughed in spite of herself over Koushirou's naiveté. It was like the most obvious hadn't even crossed his mind. “Oh Koushirou, you are just too adorable.”

 

“I'm sorry…I don't understand.”

 

“Yoshie is having a baby. That's the `child' who will `be moving in with us'.”

 

“What?!?”

 

“You're going to be a big brother,” his father told him proudly.

 

At that moment, Mrs. Izumi grew teary-eyed as she looked at her husband. “It's like a blessing, my having a child of my very own.”

 

“E-excuse me?” Koushirou questioned, his right eyebrow arched.

 

Realizing what she'd said, she added on quickly, “This is going to be a wonderful experience, Koushirou,” she replied nervously. “You're going to have yourself a younger brother or sister to bully,” she joked in attempt to ease the tension. In a way, it was pretty much a natural reflex to say something like that, as she hadn't had much of an opportunity to experience being the mother of her very own newborn. She and her husband did have a son before Koushirou, but he died shortly after he was born. Yoshie thought of that a lot, realizing that if the baby had survived, that he'd have been a little older than Koushirou. The last thing she wanted to do, though, was offend Koushirou.

 

“A sibling?”

 

Mr. Izumi noticed the look of complete and utter shock on the boy's face. “Are you okay, son?”

 

“How did this happen?” he asked distantly.

 

“Weren't you paying attention during our talk a few years ago when I gave you that book?”

 

Mr. Izumi was pretty open on the subject, unlike most parents he knew of. In his case, though, the answer to that was literally “no” since he knew about it before his father even approached him. During the talk he just nodded and pretended to read the book. It made him feel awkward.

 

“I'm sorry, rhetorical question,” he muttered. He then set down his chopsticks on the holder, and rose from his seat. “May I please be excused?”

 

“But you haven't had seconds yet.”

 

“Don't worry about that, mother. I'm not all that hungry anymore. I think I should start on my project. The sooner I start it, the sooner I finish.”

 

With that, the boy made his way to his room, closing the door behind him, still in partial shock that his mother was going to have a baby of her own…

 

Author's Notes

 

Note 1: Yes, I made this up. Originally, I had that “he preferred avocado flavored applesauce” since that was the only strange thing I could think of from off the top of my head. I just wanted to think of a strange combination and that was the only thing I could think of. Besides, I doubt there's such a thing as avocado flavored applesauce. I also like the idea of Koushirou having a strong fondness of avocado for some odd reason.

 

I also decided to go with a strange food combination for him because of the episode of Digimon Adventure where all the children were talking about what they liked with their eggs or how they liked them prepared. For the dub episode, Izzy said he liked his eggs topped with jellybeans and mustard and the other characters thought he was weird…well, they seemed to come across that way to me.

 

For the original, he said he liked his eggs topped with ponzu, and the reactions seemed similar. Ponzu is a citrus-like sauce made with rice-wine vinegar. His combination was strange (I think Takeru went on to say it was “gross” or “nasty”), but Mimi's was stranger…somewhat. In the dub, she mentioned how she liked her eggs topped with maple syrup, not too strange, eh? For the original, she went on about how she likes her eggs prepared with sugar and then topped with natto, hence the reactions. Natto is an acquired taste, and since it's implied she loves the stuff, it wouldn't surprise me if she were the type who'd even eat the stuff on toast. The main thing I found interesting about the episode is how out of all of them, Koushirou and Mimi were the only ones out of the group perceived as strange for their tastes.

 

If you're wondering what natto is, it's a strong, poignant smelling, sticky, snotty looking, fermented soybean type mixture. It's supposed to be healthy and good with rice and a traditional breakfast side. Personally, I had a hard time tolerating it. I had it with rice and soy sauce. Now in udon, I could take it. I only tried it since I'm one of those, “Don't knock it until you try it” types. lol

***

Note 2: Onigiri is pretty much a rice ball wrapped in nori (sort of a seaweed wrap), although there are some types of onigiri that don't use the wrap and the shape can vary. It can be round and it can be triangular. Just depends on who's making it. The filling can consist of almost anything, though. For instance, the ones I made, I used a tuna, avocado, mayo mixture for my filling and it was quite tasty.

***

Note 3: Hayashi rice is similar to curry, only Japanese style. It consists of beef, a various amount of vegetables, and a red wine and tomato type sauce, and it's served with rice. I guess depending on the person, the rice can either be boiled or steamed.

***

Note 4: I was going for donburi dishes for this. Donburi pretty much means a rice-bowl dish. There are many types, and the one I chose was negitorodon…mainly because it's one I wouldn't mind trying. lol Anyway, negitorodon is pretty much chopped or diced toro (which is fatty tuna, which you may be familiar with if you've had sushi) and negi (known as spring onion) on rice.

 

Goma-ae is pretty much a Japanese spinach salad with sesame dressing and a bit of soy sauce. Pretty good.