Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Koushirou's Search! ❯ Koushirou’s Nighttime Discovery! ( Chapter 5 )

Hi again everyone. Once again, I apologize for the last chapter. I could've just cut the entire thing out, but, I felt it wouldn't have worked given how this chapter is. The last chapter was sort of needed because of Koushirou's leaving so abruptly. Anyway, originally, I had Koushirou more distant and quiet for the karaoke stuff. He was just there sitting and staring off into space. I'm sure most would've forgotten he was in the chapter (for the original) if I hadn't have had Miyako and the others urging him to sing and then his refusing and leaving. I say the rewrite is a bit of an improvement since he showed to have more signs of life, but not by much. At least he's not coming across like a recluse anymore, though. Oh yeah, I did toss in more hints for it compared to how it was originally written.

 

Anyway, for this chapter, as the title implies, Koushirou makes a discovery, and since it's nighttime, I tossed that in the title too. lol The discovery is going to answer one of Koushirou's many questions.

 

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 05: Koushirou's Nighttime Discovery!

 

The train ride back didn't take him long, but Koushirou managed to get himself back home. Luckily, the trains ran a little past midnight, although, it was nearing 23:00 (11:00) by the time he'd arrived home. He saw his parents' shoes by the door, but given the time, figured they were in deep slumbers. Lately, both had been heading in to bed rather early.

 

Leaving the others behind at the karaoke box was unfortunate, but he just wasn't in the mood to fully socialize, no matter how much he tried to get his mind on it. This mood of his wasn't just a previous occurrence, but had been becoming common even before the project was assigned.

 

Even though the boy had had pretty much two dinners and dessert he was still in the mood for a light snack. He rummaged through the refrigerator and saw the onigiri his mother had prepared earlier. There were still four of them left. He took out the small container and a can of juice, and headed to the table to eat them.

 

`What should I do?' the boy asked himself once again. `They're having a child of their very own. They're going to have a real child worthy enough to be called Izumi.' He fidgeted around with the onigiri. `If they have a child of their very own, where does that leave…me?' He took another bite of the sweet onigiri. His eyes lit up. `Ooo, this is so good! I wish she'd make it like this more often!'

 

He gobbled down the rest of the snack, guzzled down the remains of his juice, and put the container away and tossed out the can, making his way to his room. He fell down onto his bed and lied on his side, trying his best to think up a solution to the problem that he would eventually have to face. He wasn't able to do so for long, though, as he heard a light knock on the front door.

 

Koushirou irritably got out of the bed, grumbling over his thoughts being disturbed. With his mother's fatigue lately, she could sleep through an earthquake if one hit, and his father was always a pretty heavy sleeper. Due to Koushirou being in one of his somewhat, melancholy moods, he didn't bother checking to see who it was nor did he even look through the peep hole. He just opened the door, in hopes of getting whoever it was to leave.

 

“Mi-Mimi-san…”

 

“Hi, Koushirou!” the girl greeted brightly.

 

Surprised to see the girl at his door, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

 

“Silly, can't I come by and visit you if I want to?”

 

“Well, yeah…I suppose so,” he responded slowly. Realizing how discourteous he was coming across, he hastily invited the girl in. Mimi stepped out of her shoes, and headed straight to his room without question. Koushirou followed behind her hesitantly. Once there, she shut the door and took a seat on his nicely made bed, while Koushirou remained standing, his back against the wall.

 

“So,” the boy began, eyeing her suspiciously, especially since she'd closed the door, “what brings you here?”

 

“I'm not going to lie to you; I was just a bit concerned about you and since this is on my way home, I just stopped by.”

 

“Oh, well, there's nothing for you to worry about,” he told her with a smile so forced, that even an unobservant one like Daisuke would've noticed it wasn't genuine.

 

“Oh no you're not!” the girl argued. “What's wrong, Koushirou? Why do you seem so distant now? You're even quieter than what you usually are. Tonight, you seemed down the entire time. Sure you would laugh or chuckle or attempt to join in every once in a while, but to me, it didn't feel as if you were having fun or that being with us was a chore to you.”

 

“No, no! It's nothing like that. I don't feel that spending time with you all is a chore! I enjoy your company.”

 

“Then what is it?”

 

Koushirou felt like a heel. “Well, I---”

 

“Did you have a disagreement with your parents? Oh yes, and speaking of `parents', when are we going to start our assignment and when are you going to start being truthful about the contents of it to your parents?”

 

“Mimi-san, I assure you that all is fine.”

 

Mimi got up from the bed, and stepped up to the taller boy, getting into his face. “Even when we first became genuine friends during our Digital World adventure, I could tell when things seemed to bother you, but I never made much of an attempt to get you to open up!” She turned her back to Koushirou, who seemed to breathe out in relief, as having her that close to him made him feel edgy. “Maybe I never tried because we weren't as good friends at that time, and never had much of an opportunity to try until coming back here, but I feel we're great friends now.” She turned back around to face him. The look in her eyes had sort of a pleading gaze to them. She also now wore a small grimace on her clear face. The redhead averted his eyes so as not to get caught in the gaze of her big, innocent brown eyes. He was feeling uncomfortable again and bad that he was, in a way, causing it. “It's not good to hold things in. It just makes you irritable and cranky.”

 

“I am not irritable and cranky!”

 

“Case and point! You sounded irritable and cranky when saying that you weren't irritable and cranky.” Koushirou gave off a bashful laugh. “So what's the matter,” she asked, retaking her spot on the bed.

 

He sat at his computer's desk. “Well, it's not really much, but I was just focused on the history project.”

 

She gave him a skeptic look. “Really?”

 

“Yes,” the boy answered wearily, adding on to his half-truth. “I just want to make sure that I work up to the expectations Ishidzuka-sensei has.”

 

“You're not lying are you?”

 

“No, no, of course not!” he insisted while waving his hands.

 

“Alright then,” she smiled gratefully, “what would you like to do now?”

 

“Do now? Do what?” he asked suspiciously as he mentally slapped himself for what had inadvertently popped into mind.

 

“We could work on our project and get some of the work done tonight.”

 

“You know, I feel that we should wait on that. I still have some planning to do. So, would you like anything to eat or drink?”

 

“I'm fine. I'm still stuffed. Hey, where are your parents?”

 

`I guess she didn't notice their shoes at the door,' Koushirou concluded. “They're asleep, but both sleep heavy,” he forcibly joked. “I could blast the music incredibly loud, and they'd still remain asleep, but I couldn't say the same for the neighbors.”

 

“So you mean we're alone?”

 

“Figuratively speaking, yes, we are alone.”

 

She just “hmm'd”. Koushirou was about to ask what she had in mind, when she patted the spot beside her on his bed. “Have a seat here where it's more comfortable. All I want to do is talk for a while.”

 

“Um…I'll be fine right here,” he told her flustered. Regaining his composure, slightly, he asked the girl, “So, what's on your mind?”

 

“I was curious about your mother and father.”

 

Koushirou's expression slightly hardened, which Mimi noticed, unsure if it was intentional or not, but decided to dismiss it for now. “What about them?”

 

“Is everything okay with them?”

 

“Yes, they're okay. Why do you ask?”

 

“Well, I can't put my finger on it, but you seemed a bit put off by them. Almost hostile. I noticed it when we left this evening.”

 

“Well, um, I was just overwhelmed by that history paper on Sakamoto Ryouma that I'm writing,” he responded with a nervous laugh and grin.

 

“Koushirou! That's not funny!”

 

His grin faded. `Since she is my partner for this assignment, I'm going to have to tell her sooner or later that I'm actually adopted…'

 

“I really wish you would just let me know what's going on. It's better to talk about things that are bothering you than to keep them all bottled up inside. Does your mood have anything to do with why both your mother and father seemed so extra happy this evening?”

 

Koushirou was a terrible liar, and Mimi, as well as Miyako, knew it. Taichi could also usually tell when the redhead was fibbing. Koushirou knew that he wouldn't be able to come up with anything believable so he decided to stick with the truth. He knew that he couldn't keep his mother's news secret for long, as she would definitely start showing sooner or later, unless she were to lose it early in the pregnancy, but he didn't even want to think of something so gruesome. A thought like that made the young computer whiz feel selfish and was surprised that it had even made its way to his mind in the first place.

 

“Yes…it does…”

 

“I knew it! What's wrong with them? Why is their being happy upsetting you so much?” The boy took his time before answering. “Koushirou?”

 

“Well, my mother had a doctor's visit today. For the past week or so, she'd been coming across as weak and tired, had been having strange emotional episodes, like how she'd be very happy one minute, but maybe sad the next moment, and she had even been eating differently. She received her diagnosis today.”

 

“Oh my gosh!!”

 

“What? What?”

 

“Is your mother going to have a baby?! Ooo, this must be so exciting for you! You're going to have yourself a baby brother or a baby sister! Oh, what if she has both!”

 

The idea of his mother giving birth to twins literally frightened him. “Yeah, exciting,” he muttered.

 

Mimi noticed how unenthusiastic he was being, and couldn't help but be puzzled over it. “Why are you upset over them having a baby?”

 

Koushirou stood abruptly. “Mimi-san, it's getting a bit late. You should probably get home.”

 

“But I---”

 

“It's nearly midnight and we do, unfortunately, have school tomorrow.”

 

“But why is having a baby such a big deal to you? I figured that you of all people would enjoy having a brother or a sister since you've been an only child for so long.”

 

“Mimi-san…I'll tell you about it later, I promise,” he told her sympathetically. `I don't have much of a choice…'

 

The girl could only nod. She didn't understand what the big secret could have been or why he was having such a difficult time accepting the fact that he was to be an older sibling soon, but she did feel that he was being honest with his promise. One thing Koushirou was known for, as well as both Iori and Jou, was their tendency to be honest and keeping their promises. It was one trait she found very becoming in a person.

 

The two exited his room and headed back to the front door. “Would you like for me to walk you home? It's the least I could do for you since you came over to see how I was. You didn't really have to.”

 

She smiled sweetly at him. “I wanted to. That's what friends are for.”

 

“R-right. I'll go get my jacket and walk you home.”

 

Koushirou went back to his room to get his jacket, but soon remembered that his mother had sent it out to the cleaners for its weekly cleaning. Earlier that evening, he hadn't bothered wearing one. He'd worn a thin, long-sleeved shirt, but it was much cooler compared to earlier. He then considered wearing his uniform jacket, but decided against that. His shirt was thin, but his uniform jacket was much too thick for such a night. He hated the fact that it wasn't time to switch uniforms from winter to spring yet, as wearing it to school during this time of the year caused him to always feel overly warm.

 

The boy finally decided that he'd wear his old “play coat”. He normally only wore this thin coat whenever he couldn't wear any of his others for some reason or another, but it rarely came up for him to have to wear it. His mother usually kept this dingy grey coat in the hall closet, a place he rarely ever went to. The closet was mostly used for storing cleaning materials and boxes of documents and other things, but his jacket was probably there due to its being rarely used. He opened the door and searched through the closet for the article of clothing. It had been about a year since he'd seen it last.

 

`I hope it's still here and I hope mother didn't get rid of it. I would hate to wake her up for something so trivial.' Another thought then came to mind. `Wow, I hope it actually still fits. I haven't worn it since last year's rainy season.'

 

Koushirou looked up on the top shelf, and saw a box, with what looked to be a sleeve hanging out of it. He recognized it instantly. He reached up effortlessly for the partially-opened box. Luckily for the once-short boy, he didn't need to use a step ladder or a step stool as he'd grown quite a bit within the past year or so. He was taller than Mimi and Miyako, and those two were always the tallest of the girls out of their Chosen Children (Digidestined) group.

 

He saw that on top of the box with the jacket, was another box, but it was filled with different papers. He grabbed the box with his jacket, trying to take out both at the same time. He maneuvered it well enough, and opened up the box with his jacket. He slipped it on, glad that it still fit, for the most part, but was a bit shorter from when he last wore it, since he was taller now.

 

He put both boxes back on the top shelf. “I found my jacket, Mimi-san. I'm ready to go.”

 

“Okay,” the girl called back.

 

Koushirou started to close the door of the organized closet, when he heard something drop. It was the box of papers he'd put back onto the top shelf of the closet. He, apparently, hadn't put the box back on the shelf all the way and it fell, its top flying right off. He kneeled down and started to pick the papers up, and stuffing them back into the box, until one paper caught his eye. He read over the letterhead of the paper. His eyes went wide. `*Nerima Adoption Agency!?'

 

Curious as to what had happened, Mimi walked up. “Koushirou, is something wrong?”

 

The boy took all of the papers and stuffed them back into the box quickly after he was called. “Cl-clumsy me,” he slightly panicked. “Well, let's get going.” He shut the closet door.

 

“Huh? What?”

 

He grabbed Mimi's shoulders, and led her back to the front door. “We really should get going.”

 

After his shoes were on, both left. Koushirou was definitely in a hurry, and was anxious to return home. Those papers could have the answers to the questions that had been in the back of his mind for the past 8 years of his life…

 

Author's Note and Fic Chapter Changes

 

Note 1: Originally, I had this as the Hikarigaoka Adoption Agency. Hikarigaoka, as mentioned earlier, is in the Nerima ward. At the time I originally wrote this, I didn't know that. The full set up would be, Hikargaoka, Nerima-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

 

There were other things changed from the original for this chapter. One change is the location of where Mimi and Koushirou's conversation took place. I had that they were in the living room for the discussion as opposed to his room. I changed that because I wanted more uncomfortable tension from Koushirou's side.

 

Another change is the time. Originally, I had written that it was after 10:00 (22:00) not 11:00 (23:00). I also had Mimi, in the original, mention how Miyako wanted to come over, but she couldn't because she had to get home, and how her brother picked her up. Given the area, it wouldn't have worked too well.

 

Originally, I had Koushirou eating a sandwich, not onigiri.

 

When offered something to eat/drink, Mimi asked for some of Mrs. Izumi's “famous lemonade”. I also didn't have them eating snacks/meals when doing all of the karaoke stuff last chapter, which is why I had Mimi take Koushirou up on his offer for this chapter originally, but since I added that they ate last chapter, there was no need to have her eat again.

 

The Izumis weren't home for the original version of this chapter and Koushirou's train of thought also wasn't as suggestive.

 

Another change…I still having Koushirou enjoying sweets and treats and that he does have a healthy appetite, but not to the point of his coming across as having a stomach with a bottomless pit.