Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Koushirou's Search! ❯ The Other Chosen Children� ( Chapter 12 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This chapter focuses on everyone else, which will also finally bring in the rest of the younger group (Takeru, Daisuke, Ken, and Iori). This chapter also features Koushirou and Mimi, but very briefly, so enjoy this filler chapter which I feel is probably one of the weakest chapters of this story.

Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 03.27.2010 | Updated On: 08.11.2010 | Pages: 18 | Words: 16.4K | Visits: 390 | Status: Work In Progress

Hi again everyone. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. As you saw, Koushirou has mixed feelings, but his curious side is slightly taking over. Anyway, as mentioned earlier, this chapter focuses on everyone else, which will also finally bring in the rest of the younger group (Takeru, Daisuke, Ken, and Iori). This chapter also features Koushirou and Mimi, but very briefly, so enjoy this filler chapter which I feel is probably one of the weakest chapters of this story.

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 of 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 12: The Other Chosen Children…

It was a little past 14:00 (2:00), and there was still no sign of Mimi at the luxurious, futuristic, dimly-lit Ageha Dance Club, the music blasting loudly. Sitting at one of the bars, drinking soft-drinks, was Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu. All three girls had chosen to sit at that particular spot since it was closest to the club's entrance.

“Oh, I guess Mi-chan couldn't make it,” Yuuko whined, while scanning around.

“I guess not,” Chinatsu agreed while drinking some soda, “but it is still a little early.”

“It's not fair!” wailed Yuuko. “I wanted her to see those admirers of hers make fools of themselves, especially since one of them obviously blabbed and more stupid supporters of Mi-chan showed up besides the main four idiots!”

“Oh, you mean more than usual?”

“Not to worry, Yuuko-chan, I brought along my digital camera, and Chinatsu-chan has a camera phone.”

“Yeah, I've already gotten pictures of them. The digital camera is for our main four, who still haven't shown up yet.”

Yuuko was giddy. “This ought to be really good!”

“Right at that moment, a loud boy with spiky maroon hair, wearing a bright red jacket, baggy blue-jeans, a plain blue t-shirt, and white sneakers walked in through the club doors. “The party can really start now that the handsome Motomiya Daisuke is here!”

With the boy was a quiet looking girl with short brown hair wearing a faint pink blouse, a yellow skirt, and black dress shoes. “Daisuke-kun, calm down,” Hikari told him calmly, even though over the loud music, it was doubtful anyone had heard Daisuke.

“Eh…gomen gomen,” he apologized.

Beside Hikari stood a tall, blonde boy wearing a white cap, a long sleeved yellow shirt, khaki pants, and sneakers. “Yes, calm down. Don't make a scene. There are older kids here. We don't want them to think of us as a bunch of annoying grade school kids.”

“Okay, okay, I'm just so excited and all fired up!” He started to move his body to the upbeat music. “I'm ready to have fun!” With that, Daisuke moved away from Takeru and Hikari, and spotted some of his friends from his Soccer Club. He went to join them.

“There's never a dull moment with Daisuke-kun around,” Takeru laughed lightly.

“Yes, but you must admire him for that. He always seems to make people happy and bring out their good side.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he muttered. “S-so, Hikari-chan, would you like for me to get you something to drink or eat?” he asked her nervously.

Hikari smiled at the boy. “Oh, Takeru-kun, I can get my own drink, but you can come along with me, of course.”

The girl started off, while Takeru let out a small sigh, and followed behind her to the bar that Mimi's friends were sitting at.

It was still pretty early, and guests were still arriving. There were students in elementary, junior high, and high school at the party. Yamato and his band arrived early to perform some of their songs, as Sora had asked for them to. They gladly accepted the offer. While playing, though, Yamato kept his eye out for Mimi. When he got the chance, he was going to join her.

More and more guests seemed to arrive, those the three girls knew of, and then those they had never seen before.

“Ichijouji-kun, Miyako-chan, Iori-kun, hi!” Sora greeted as she saw them enter.

“Hi Sora-san,” all three greeted back.

“I'm very glad that you were able to make it. I've been trying my best to greet everyone who comes in, but I keep getting pulled away.”

“That's okay, but I'm glad that I was able to come too,” the tall, slim, dark-haired Ken responded. “I really do enjoy getting together with everyone. It's very relaxing.”

“I'm glad that Sora-san decided to have a party where everyone was invited,” Miyako said in excitement.

“Well, yes, this is pretty much a celebration for everyone, especially us third years that are still stuck in school, even though we already finished our entrance exams. It's very stressful at this time of the year.”

“I am grateful that taking entrance exams aren't needed for junior high school,” said Iori.

“Not unless you do what senpai did,” Miyako pointed out.

“I really do respect Jou-san, but I do not feel that I will attend a private school once entering junior high and just stick with public school.”

“Even during our first adventure together, Jou-senpai was always studying. Even after we returned from camp before we returned to fight the Dark Masters, Jou-senpai was attending juku and studying, but that's just like him. He always works hard on his school work since he wants to become a doctor.” Sora smiled at the thought of Jou finally achieving that dream. “Now, let's not worry about school or studying today. Please, enjoy yourselves and have fun. There's plenty to do around here.”

The three nodded and went off to find something interesting to do. Iori spotted some fellow classmates of his, who of which he had invited, and went to join them.

****

“I wish some nice, handsome guy would come over and ask me to hang with him,” Yuuko complained while stuffing her face with cake.

“You aren't the only one,” Ayame sulked while drinking. “A nice, handsome sophisticated boy would be nice.”

“Like a high school boy,” Yuuko smiled dreamily.

“Yuuko-chan, we shouldn't get our hopes up,” Ayame grumbled. “What are the chances of a high school boy coming over here?”

Crestfallen, Yuuko sighed, “A zillion to one!”

“There they are! There they are!” Chinatsu said while pulling on Yuuko's sleeve.

Yuuko started to look around frantically. “What? Did you see some cute boys?”

“Where, where!”

“No, something more amusing!!”

The other two laughed along with Chinatsu, who saw Sora greeting the four male guests in the strange attire. She had given up trying to understand the strange way some of the male guests were dressed, though, as there had been a few others dressed oddly, asking for “Mimi-chan”.

“Look at Yuuji-kun! He's actually carrying an autoharp,” Yuuko barked out, while holding her stomach.

“Oh man, his hair is an absolute mess! These four look the dumbest so far compared to the other few supporters of Mimi-chan.” Ayame started taking photos with her fully-charged digital camera.

Chinatsu started taking pictures with her camera phone. She had made sure her slots were empty so that she'd be able to since she'd already taken photos of the other Mimi supporters that had randomly popped in. She pointed to the boy beside Yuuji. “He's not as bad looking as Tomokazu-kun!” Seki's hair was extremely messy, he was wearing a pair of glasses, which looked broken at the bridge, and along with that, atop his head was a pair of square goggles.

Yuuko sniggered. “We specifically said round goggles!”

“The other two are with them,” Ayame noted.

Misao had a briefcase in hand, a wig, and thus the brown hair was unkempt, glasses, and actually had a pair of round goggles hanging around his neck. The only problem was that they were those small black ones that most anyone could find. Ukyo was carrying around a toy computer laptop, glasses with blue frames, normal hair, as he couldn't get his naturally shoulder-length straight hair wild like, and had an autoharp with him.

Noticing the four girls at the bar closest to the entrance, they made their ways towards them.

“Where is Mimi-chan?” demanded Seki.

“Mimi-chan, I dressed up for you!” Yuuji called out loudly over the music.

“Why don't you guys back off,” Misao told his friends. “We all know Mimi-chan likes me best, and that she'll like me even more once she gets a good look at me.”

“No she won't! Mimi-san will more than likely go for me, since I'm wearing glasses,” argued Ukyo.

“But I have an autoharp!”

“It's so obvious that my dear Mimi-chan likes sophisticated looking men,” Misao told the three smugly.

“No way! I'm the real man around here!” Yuuji retorted.

Misao held up his briefcase. “But I'm carrying this! That shows I'm a real business man!”

****

`No it doesn't,' all three girls thought in unison.

****

“Calm down, boys,” Ayame muttered.

The four stopped arguing with one another, and shouted to them, asking, “Where's Mimi-chan/Mimi-san!”

“We haven't seen her,” Yuuko told them, “but we have seen more people like you around.”

Ignoring what the girl had said about other admirers dressed up to impress Mimi, Misao asked, “What do you mean you haven't seen her?!”

“There's a chance that she might not even show up,” Chinatsu told them.”

“Yeah, she went on a day trip with Izu---ooph,” Yuuko started, but was interrupted by Ayame elbowing her hard in her side.

“Um, like Chinatsu-chan said, there's a chance that she might not even come.”

All four boys nearly face-faulted from the response.

“Stop worrying,” Yuuko smiled to them, “there is a small chance that she may show up later. That's what she told us.”

“For the sake of Mimi-chan, let's hope she doesn't,” Ayame whispered to the other two.

“I know what you mean. I wouldn't want Mi-chan to see how pathetic these four are being. I didn't think they would've actually gone along with it, to be completely honest.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Ayame.

“How do you think Mimi-chan would react, though?”

“She would probably giggle all cute and sweet like, like she always does, which would make the boys want to become her slaves even more. Oh how I wish I had that power!”

Chinatsu and Ayame laughed. After the four boys finally stopped harassing them for information on Mimi's whereabouts, Yuuko took notice of someone entering the dance club's doors.

“Oh my gosh!!” Hearts formed in Yuuko's eyes. “Who is that handsome boy that came in with Kido-san!”

The two couldn't help but look and agree. “He's cute!”

****

“Eh, I wonder where Sora-kun is,” Jou stated after entering the dance club.

“I guess she's very busy,” said Malissa.

Jou turned his attention to his other companion, giving him a warning look. “Do you think you can go without hitting on any girl here?”

“Let me think about that for a moment…No!” Eijiro laughed.

`Why am I not surprised…'

“You actually expect me to? How can I not when there are a lot of cute girls here, like Mimi-chan?!”

“Eh, let's go,” Jou grabbed Malissa's hand, “let's not stick around here with him. Who knows what's going to happen with all these girls around.”

“R-right.”

The two decided to get some drinks and snacks, but along the way, the two grew a bit disturbed over the strangely dressed boys walking around with goggles, glasses, and other wild attire carrying around, “I love Mimi” signs on them. `Cosplayers?' Jou just shook his head at it and stuck to the task at hand, but he did find these strangely dressed boys more disturbing than anything he'd ever encountered in the Digital World…

The party continued on, neither Mimi nor Koushirou showing up for it at all. Mimi's admirers stuck around for the entire party, of course, in hopes of Mimi showing up. Ayame managed to get plenty of photos of Mimi's main four admirers, while Chinatsu managed to get photos of others who obviously heard of the leaked news on her camera phone. When not taking photos, the girls enjoyed themselves immensely, especially when they were approached by some first year boys from Odaiba High School.

Eijiro, of course, was approached by many girls at the party, all of which were drooling over him, when not gawking at the handsome, “Ishida Yamato” onstage. Malissa spent all of her time with Jou, mainly because she didn't know anyone else, aside from whom she'd met through karaoke. Although Sora and Taichi invited a lot of people, the majority of them attended public schools; Jou, Malissa, and Eijiro all attended a private school.

The party started to wind down at around 18:30 (6:30) and all of the guests had already left. Miyako, though, had remained behind to talk with both Sora and Taichi, who were making sure everything was in order.

“This was a really nice party! The music was great, especially when the Teenage Wolves were playing and the house music by the Deejay too! This place was perfect for it, especially since it's so big and you had a lot of guests! Too bad Chizu-nee couldn't come since she had to help out at the mart today.”

“Now, Miyako-chan, was there any doubt with me being the second planner of it,” Taichi asked the girl smugly.

“Thank you so much,” replied Sora sarcastically, with a hint of playfulness in her voice, “I don't know what I would have done without your help.”

“Too bad we couldn't have had this party at night or used this club at night.”

“In some ways, you and I may be on our spring breaks, just as Yamato-san, Jou-senpai, Malissa-san, and Eijiro-san, but we had those from junior high school and elementary school here who aren't technically on their breaks yet.”

“Those are just minor details,” he smirked. “I definitely would've found a way. Hm, and speaking of kids, where's Hikari?”

“I thought I saw Hikari-chan talking with some boys, but then she left with Daisuke,” Miyako explained. “I didn't get the chance to spend any time with her with all the activities in the club.”

“Boys were hanging around Hikari?” Taichi crossed his arms stubbornly. “I don't like the sound of that at all.”

“Taichi, you have to face facts,” Sora told him gently, “your sister is growing up. She's about to enter junior high school after this term is up.”

“I still don't like it,” he muttered. He calmed down a bit, and realized he shouldn't worry over something like that or either grill Hikari later on about it. “So, Sora, want me to take you home?”

“No, that's okay. I have to turn the key back into the manager,” Sora explained.

Taichi looked a bit put out. “Yeah, okay. Well, I should get going, and just to let you know, I'm still planning on having a barbecue party for us third years once spring vacation officially starts, and it'll be at night! I was thinking that if the weather is okay, we could have it at the beach.”

“If you're worried about boys being around Hikari-chan at an afternoon party, what makes you think that it would be any better at night?” laughed Sora.

“You make a very good point, and the solution would be to have no kids her age allowed.”

Sora gave Taichi an incredulous look, and put a hand on her hip. “Like that's going to work! They could still find a way to attend it, unless your mother forbids Hikari-chan to go.”

“You like to ruin my fun, don't you?” the boy asked with his signature lopsided grin.

Smiling back teasingly, she responded, “Yes, I find it quite fun.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, while Sora laughed at how goofy he was acting. “Well, I'm out of here. I might as well get home and find something to do with my evening. You know, since Koushirou and Mimi-chan never showed up, why don't we all get them, and go find someplace to hang out that's not too expensive.”

“I don't know…” Miyako started.

“Aww, come on. It'll give us something to do.”

“It actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. It is sad that both missed my party.”

“And if Miyako-chan and the others can't make it, we can just hang out, Sora,” he added on slyly.

“I guess so.” Sora shrugged. “I'll send you an e-mail or call you later to let you know what's up.”

“Yeah yeah. See you later.”

Taichi headed off, leaving the two girls behind.

“Strange about Mimi-oneesama. Do you think that their trip to Hikarigaoka took them longer than what they originally planned for?”

“It must have. Mimi-chan usually never misses a party or a gathering.”

“I know, and this was one of the best ones. There was a really good turnout.”

“I still really wish that she and Koushirou-kun could've made it, though.”

“I noticed Yamato-san was asking about her whenever he wasn't performing. He kept asking if anyone had seen her every chance that he got.”

“I didn't really notice,” the tennis player admitted. “Hm, Miyako-chan, why don't we both go to the Nishimura home to see how she's doing?”

“Or, we could just send a text message or an e-mail.”

“Or that,” Sora laughed.

“If we go over there, we can tell her about the invite Taichi-san made and can finally find out what's wrong with Izumi-senpai!” Sora laughed again at Miyako's nosiness, who couldn't help but laugh along. “Hey, what can I say? I really want to know.”

“Okay, okay. You send her a message to let her know we're coming over, while I go turn this key in.”

With that, Miyako sent out the message while Sora returned the key to the manager. She thanked him promptly, who was grateful that she and her guests had had a good time. After she was done, she met back up with Miyako, who explained that she hadn't received a message back from Mimi yet. They then both decided to catch the train back to Odaiba and just swing by there anyway.

Once exiting the building, they were surprised to see Taichi still there, but standing along with him was Yamato, Ken, and an exasperated looking Takeru. The four looked to have been in deep discussion over something.

“Wow, hi guys. I thought Sora-san and I were the only ones still around.”

“Takeru-san was looking for Hikari-san,” explained Ken. “We're trying to figure out where she could have gone.”

“She left with Daisuke-kun and didn't even tell me!”

“Aren't you over-reacting? What's wrong with her leaving with Daisuke?” asked Miyako.

“I don't know,” Takeru answered the older girl. “I just figured that since we all came together, that we would all leave together.”

“I suppose he's a bit bothered because she didn't let him know that she was leaving in general,” Ken responded simply.

“They left hours ago,” Miyako recalled. “They left round about the time Ken-kun and I saw Iori leave.”

“That's what I told him.”

“I guess they had something else more interesting to do, like Iori-kun and his classmates,” Sora mentioned randomly. “Anyway, did you guys try checking at home for either of them or calling or sending a message using your mobile phone or D-Terminal?”

They all shook their heads.

“Oh yeah, I didn't really think of that,” Takeru said with a nervous laugh.

“I'm surprised you didn't think to do those things first!”

“Sora-san, we better hurry if we want to go over to the Nishimura's.”

“Hey, any idea why Mimi didn't show up?” asked Yamato.

“She had to go on a day trip. I guess she got back too late to come to my party.”

“Yeah, if oneesama misses a get together then she has to have a good reason for it.”

With that, the group headed towards the station and caught the train back to Odaiba...

****

Earlier that day at the party…

“Takeru-kun, where are you rushing off to?” asked Hikari.

“I was just going to go over some plays with a couple of the guys. I promised them that I would, even though it's kind of tough to talk in here with all this music,” he laughed. “You don't mind, do you?”

“I was hoping to check out one of the other areas of the dance club together.”

“Ah, we still can.”

“That's true. Go on ahead.”

With that, Takeru left to meet up with his basketball buddies whom he'd noticed.

`I shouldn't be too upset. They are his friends after all, but he also promised to spend time with me too. He's always so concerned about the team just because he's the star player and team captain.' She smiled, but was still disappointed some, but felt a bit disgusted over how selfish she was being. `Well, Takeru-kun is very kindhearted, and I shouldn't be thinking ill of that.'

A bunch of boys approached Hikari, who knew her, since Takeru had left her. People had always assumed that both she and Takeru were an item since they were always seen spending time together. The boys were all trying to get her attention. Hikari didn't particularly care for that kind of attention and felt a terrible headache coming on due to how annoyed she was becoming over the current unwanted attention. The loud music wasn't helping her headache much either.

She walked away from the boys and found a small, vacant table to sit at, which had a lit candle in the center of it. At the table, she found Iori with some friends of his there, which consisted of a skinny girl about Iori's age with messy, yet pretty hair.

“Ah, Hikari-san. I didn't see you earlier. Have a seat.”

“Hi there, Iori-kun. Thank you.” Hikari greeted brightly.

“Who is that?” the girl with the messy hair asked.

“Eiji-san, Ikue-san, Shiko-san, Murai-san, Narumi-san, this is Yagami Hikari-san. She is an upperclassman and is about to graduate to Odaiba Junior High School.”

“Cool!” the five said.

“Is there something wrong, Hikari-san?”

“No, not really. I'm just a little tired,” she told the young martial artist.

“To be honest, I am very grateful for Sora-san inviting me and allowing my classmates to come along too, but there really isn't too much to do here. There is the possibility that we'll be leaving soon, but I've yet to see Sora-san again since we've arrived here.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Iori's friend, Narumi said. “I don't mind leaving, and when we do, we can go back to my place! We can watch movies!”

Everyone else reluctantly agreed with the pushy girl, except for one. The skinny, energetic girl seated beside Iori stood up. “No way!” the tomboyish girl named Eiji protested. “We can go on a hike since the weather is so nice today!”

A dark-haired, chubby boy spoke up next in agreement with Eiji. “A hike actually sounds like more fun than watching movies,” Shiko said.

A tall slim, black-haired boy spoke up next. His name was Murai. “We could even go fishing if we pick the right place to go.”

“Wouldn't it be nice to go swimming too?” Eiji added.

A petite-sized girl with long, wavy red hair spoke up next. She was very plain and ordinary looking, just like Eiji, the only difference being their hair colors. “That does sound like fun,” Ikue mumbled. “This is the perfect day to go hiking or swimming, like Eiji-chan said.”

The other girl who had suggested they go back to her home shook her head, her long, shiny, bouncy, beautiful brown hair flowing down her back, which matched her clear, brown eyes. “No way!” Narumi objected. “Eiji-chan, you are such a tomboy! I do not want to mess up my pretty dress and what about my hair? Hiking and swimming would be terrible for it! Doing things like that is so unlady like, and anyway, it's still too cold to go swimming!”

“Aww, Narumi, lighten up!” Murai argued. “We just want to find something more interesting to do.”

“This party is nice, like Iori-kun said, but it is getting a bit boring with all of these older kids around,” Shiko said.

“Meh, ever since you spent all of last summer with your older sister, you've been acting all extra girly and boring,” Murai complained.

“What have they done to you?! You're trying to become a model like your sister?” asked Eiji.

“Hey, I just feel that it's time for us to grow up and to start acting like proper young men and proper young ladies!”

“Narumi-san, we're still ten and eleven years old!” Shiko pointed out. “We're still kids!”

“Hey, Iori hasn't said anything yet. What do you think we should do?”

“Well, um, Murai-san, I'm not exactly sure,” Iori answered bashfully.

“Come on, Iori-kun,” urged Eiji, “we know how you like hiking and swimming.”

“It does sound like it'd be fun given how warm it is today. It feels more like late April as opposed to late March, but, as Narumi-san mentioned, it is probably not wise to go out swimming this early in the season. Maybe we could head over to the park or go bike riding.”

“So, all in favor of my idea raise your hands!” Everyone raised their hands, minus Narumi. “All opposed of going and would rather sit around the house just to watch television or movies, raise your hands!” Narumi raised her hand stubbornly. “Okay, Narumi-chan, it's five to one. We win! Watching movies inside is boring and if we are going to be stuck inside, we could at least play video games or something! So, are you coming with us?”

“Okay, fine, I'll go,” she huffed, “but I'm not going to promise you that I'll have any fun!”

“Okay everyone! Let's head back home and get our bikes and go riding!” Eiji instructed.

“I wish we could go camping,” Ikue said.

“Too bad we're not on our spring holiday yet. Maybe we can plan a camping trip,” Iori suggested.

“I love camping!” Eiji cheered. “I can hardly wait for spring break now!” Narumi frowned. She hated doing “boyish” things ever since she learned how to be a proper lady from her older sister that previous summer. “I bet Narumi-chan wouldn't want to come, since she's an adult,” Eiji teased.

“I, of course, will come! I may be a sophisticated young lady, but I can handle one camping trip.” In reality, the girl actually did enjoy bike riding, hiking, swimming, and camping, but felt that she had outgrown such activities.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, let's go guys. We still have the rest of the day to play.”

Hikari dismissed herself from the group, and left them to discuss. The same boys that bothered her earlier, started to approach her again. She was tempted to go and tell Taichi about the persistent boys, but decided against it, as she saw him laughing along and having fun with his school and soccer club mates. She knew she had to stop being so reliant on her brother, but when it came to situations like this one, she knew that he would be best. In a way, she really wished that Takeru was still with her, but she noticed that he was still talking with his basketball buddies. She saw him gesturing as if making a slam dunk and then laughing.

She decided to do the one thing she felt she could do…tell them to leave her alone, no matter how rude she may end up coming across. She knew that the normality to this type of a situation was to ignore those who bothered her or was interested in her, but for once, she just couldn't take it, and her head was starting to throb.

“I'm sorry,” she apologized sweetly, “but I am not in the mood to dance or anything at the moment.”

“Aww, come on, Hikari-chan, please dance!” one of the boys begged.

“You're way too beautiful to stand around by yourself,” another one said.

“No thank you. I really don't want to.”

Before either of the boys could respond to her rejections, they heard someone coolly say, “Didn't you hear her? She doesn't want to be bothered.”

“Motomiya!” one of the boys identified.

“The one and only,” he smiled. “Now why don't you all just leave her alone?”

“Sorry,” one of the other boys apologized. “We just hate seeing Hikari-chan by herself.”

“Believe me, I don't mind.”

The group of boys walked off in annoyance. They all knew not to mess with Daisuke, as he was pals with Taichi and both together could probably really hurt them if they were caught bothering Hikari.

“Are you alright, Hikari-chan?”

“Thank you, Daisuke-kun. I'm fine thanks to you. I thought they would never leave me alone. I know they mean well, but I'm not in the mood to party right now.”

“Some people just don't get it,” Daisuke randomly stated thinking back to when he was younger and would persistently pursue Hikari.

Hikari left Daisuke, and found a place to sit down again. She felt both annoyed and stressed. She saw Daisuke walk off with some girls and boys from their class, talking with them, laughing, and just having fun. She was surprised that “Ichijouji-kun” hadn't joined him, but figured that he was in some other part of the huge facility and just missed one another. One thing Hikari noticed about Daisuke was that he could always find a way to have fun and make the people around him happy. He had a warm demeanor to him.

Hikari noticed Takeru again, this time laughing over something. For some unusual reason, even though earlier she'd told herself that she wouldn't think anything of it, the scene upset her. In a way, it had been a while since Takeru had carried on like that with her. Their conversations were usually quite serious and not all that playful. Takeru was a nice, happy-go-lucky boy and a great friend, but he seemed to have a whole different personality whenever around her. It was nice that Takeru was so serious and mature, but it wasn't good to be that way all the time. She couldn't recall a recent time where Takeru had made her laugh.

The two were a lot alike and sometimes she found herself growing bored with Takeru because of their similarities, but she was still inexplicably drawn to him and did seem to have some type of feelings for him. Unlike Daisuke, Takeru wasn't persistent with trying to get with her, but even she realized Daisuke had eased up a lot from their younger days. He didn't act like that much anymore, but he was still his same, playful, friendly, energetic self and his crush on Hikari was still pretty much apparent.

She stood. Hikari was ready to leave, especially since most of her female friends were off with other guys, her male friends were busy talking with other people, and her fellow Chosen Children friends were nowhere to be found. Aside from those she'd come with, Sora, her brother, and Iori, she hadn't seen much of anyone else, not even Miyako. She held her head. `I don't feel very well…' She started to wobbly make her way towards Takeru, but someone else caught her eye. “Daisuke-kun…” she uttered weakly.

He was standing around with a group of classmates of theirs. Daisuke definitely wasn't shy, and was actually dancing with one of the girls. The song Yamato's band was playing was a fast one. You'd definitely never catch the boy moving to a slow song. “Too boring” he would say.

A couple of other guys joined in to talk with Daisuke and the girl. Hikari recognized all of them. She feebly made her way up to them.

“Hi,” everyone greeted.

“Hi,” she replied back plainly. Daisuke looked at her curiously.

The short dark-haired girl Daisuke had been dancing with noticed the somewhat somber look Hikari wore on her face. This girl's name was Romi, and she was known for her rhythmic dancing, as she took lessons. “Hikari-san, is something wrong?”

She put on a smile and told the girl, “No, I'm fine, but thank you for asking.” Romi left it at that, but Daisuke wasn't fully convinced by it. He'd known Hikari for far too long. Her smile didn't seem genuine to him.

The other girl of the group, whose long hair was fixed up in the latest style, who was known to show off, which was no surprise to Hikari since she'd always been that way, was known as Tara. “Where's Takeru-kun?”

Another girl who had overheard Takeru's name, made her way up to the group. This girl was very well known in their class, and it was extremely obvious that she liked Takeru, just like the majority of the girls of their year. Her name was Shigeko. Overall, the girl usually came across as being blunt and rude. “Ooh! I'm going to go see if Takeru-kun wants to spend time with me!”

She rushed off to go find Takeru, while Hikari held her head again. Daisuke noticed. He was certain that something was definitely wrong. “Hikari-chan?”

“I'm sorry. I'm fine, honest I am.” She didn't want to be a burden to him.

“Hikari-chan…do you have a headache? Are you getting sick?” The boy had heard stories about how Hikari was when younger from both Taichi and Takeru, like the time she had a fever and passed out because she didn't want to bother anyone over it.

“W-well, it's just a small one,” she told him quietly.

“I think you should go home and rest,” Daisuke told her urgently.

“W-well, maybe I should…”

“I can take you home if you would like,” the soccer player offered.

“No, don't do that. I'll be fine.”

`Selfless as always.' A determined look made its way to Daisuke's face. “I don't mind. Let's go!” Hikari felt it would've been pointless to argue with him, and just nodded. “Hey, do you want to go get Takeru?”

“No, that's okay. He's busy right now. I wouldn't want to worry him.”

The two left, which was a little while after Iori's group had left.

“Daisuke-kun,” Hikari started while heading to the station to catch the train back to Odaiba, “thank you for offering to take me home.”

“It's no problem.”

“What about your friends, though? Weren't you going to go back and talk to some of those from your club?”

“Don't worry about them. They would've only talked about having a practice game anyway. You aren't feeling well. It's more important that you get back okay,” Daisuke told her. `I wouldn't want to disappoint Taichi-senpai if something happened to Hikari-chan.'

Hikari smiled weakly to him. During the walk and the eventual train ride, Daisuke seemed to keep making jokes or trying to do something to get her to smile, which he succeeded in doing. It was so effective, that her stress-filled headache had gone away.

“Daisuke-kun, thank you for cheering me up.”

“No problem,” he winked to her.

“I feel much better.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Once at their stop, the two got off and began to walk away from the station. It was a really nice day, and the slow walk seemed to bore Daisuke to Hikari. She knew that he probably would've rather been at the party than seeing her home.

“Daisuke-kun…I'm sorry,” she suddenly apologized.

“What for?” he asked in surprise.

“I'm sorry for ruining the party for you. I hate to be a burden on anyone.”

“You didn't ruin the party for me and you're definitely not a burden.” He stared up at the clear blue sky. “You're a selfless person, Hikari-chan, but if you're not feeling well, you shouldn't keep it to yourself. We all care about you, and would hate for something bad to happen to you.” He looked over at her and gave her a thumbs up with a wink and a grin. “You're one of my best friends, I'd hate for anything to happen to you.”

“Daisuke-kun…”

“I don't mind this walk, as long as you're better, it doesn't matter.”

`He has really matured since we were younger. I can't really explain it or put my finger on it, but he really has. It's like in some ways he's grown up, but he still has his same, easygoing, optimistic, simple personality. I truly understand why he was suited to have the Digimental of Friendship,' Hikari concluded. “Daisuke-kun, instead of going home, since we have a little bit of daylight left, would you like to go someplace else instead?”

“Like where?”

“I don't know, maybe a game center.”

“Only if you want to.”

She smiled and nodded. “I feel 100% better, thanks to you, and I would like to.”

“Okay! Let's go! There are some games I'm dying to play that I wanted to challenge Takeru to!”

“I guess we could head over to Decks Tokyo Beach of Venus Fort….”

“Oh, yeah!! I love that mall for the three floors of arcade games!”

Hikari wasn't much of a gamer, but knew Daisuke was. He and Takeru played video games all the time. She and Ken usually always just watched them go at it. With that, the two headed to Venus Fort…

****

Over at the Nishimura home, after Miyako and Sora had split from the rest of the group…

“I hope it was okay to come over here, especially since she still hasn't answered your message and neither did your message to Koushirou-kun while riding over here.”

“I hope she's actually home,” Miyako said while ringing the bell.

The two heard a young voice ask who it was, and Miyako answered. They heard the doorknob turn, and the owner of said voice rushed out to hug them. “Miya-neechan, Sora-neechan!”

“Hi there, Isako-chan,” Sora greeted. “Is Mimi-chan home?”

An older woman came to the door before Isako could respond. “Yes, she's home,” she replied distantly.

“Good evening, Mrs. Nishimura,” both girls greeted.

“Did you say that Mimi-chan was home?”

“Yes, come on in.” The girls entered and Mrs. Nishimura closed the door behind them.

“So, where is Mimi-chan? Is she around?”

“Depressed? Mimi-chan?”

`Oneesama is upset? Could something have happened with Izumi-senpai?'

“I'm not sure what to do with her. We came home and found her that way.” SuÃ© was a bit distraught, as she'd never encountered Mimi without her usual optimism and a friendly, warm smile. “When we first got here, she was in the bath, and it seemed that it took her a long while before she left it. I did keep checking on her and asking what was wrong after she'd left the bath and went into her room, but she kept insisting that it was nothing and that she was just tired, but I know she's lying. I could tell by her voice that she was trying not to cry.”

“This is very serious. Mimi-chan usually isn't the type to get really upset over something, unless death is involved…or when she's overly frustrated over something.”

“I think I might just give her mother a call to see if she has any suggestions on what to do when Mimi-chan is feeling down. She would know how to deal with her better than I would.” She turned to her daughter. “Isako, go tell Mimi-chan that her friends are here.”

“Alright, mama!”

The girl ran off to Mimi's room and knocked on the door.

“Neechan, Sora-chan and Miya-chan are here!”

The brown haired girl sat up in her dark room, rubbing her tear-filled eyes. She didn't feel like socializing with anyone. “Isako-chan, I'm not feeling well.”

She kept begging Mimi to come out, or even open the door, but it was no use. Isako failed, and headed back to her mother, Sora, and Miyako.

“Is she going to come down?” asked her mother.

Isako shook her head. “First Kou-niichan is sad and now Mi-neechan is sad.”

“Isako, your father is in the kitchen; ask him to prepare a snack for you. I'm going to call Satoe-san and hope she's around. It should be morning right about now over there.”

“Miyako-chan and I should get going ourselves.”

“We'll see you later.”

With that, the two girls left the big house.

“How could one trip affect her like that?”

“That's what I'd like to know, and it's strange that neither one of them has sent a message back with at least an apology for missing the party. Koushirou-kun would've at least done that given how he is. I say we go pay him a visit. He probably knows what's going on! I've never seen Mimi-chan like this before in all the years I've known her.”

When the two got to the Izumi home, they saw a police motorcycle parked in front of the apartment complex. The two didn't think anything of it, and just figured that someone called for something trivial, like maybe a lost pet. The two girls were surprised to find a young, female cop exiting the Izumi's apartment when they were about to knock on the door. The woman smiled at them and left.

“Remember, anonymous!” Koushirou called to the officer. “Keep us both anonymous! Please make sure they remember that!”

The lady nodded, and continued on. Both Sora and Miyako gave Koushirou a questioning looking. “Yes, that was a police officer,” Koushirou told the two irritably.

“No kidding,” Sora sarcastically muttered.

“Izumi-senpai, they finally caught you,” joked Miyako, who was trying her best to ease the thick tension that seemed to form the moment Koushirou had opened his mouth. “They finally caught you hacking your way into secret government files!”

Both girls laughed, but Koushirou just remained distant. Miyako knew that whenever she joked about that, Koushirou would usually laugh along. He never denied it, which always made her a tad bit suspicious of him, but she always dismissed it. She was expecting him to say something like, “Not so loud, Miyako-kun, they might hear you!”

“Oh-kay…” Miyako abruptly stopped laughing. The tension was making her feel even more uncomfortable.

Koushirou, routinely, stepped aside to let them in and closed the door behind the two. They took their shoes off at the genkan and entered the home fully and headed straight to the boy's room. “Where are Mr. and Mrs. Izumi?” asked Sora.

“Out,” he answered in slight annoyance. “Is there something you need?”

Sora was taken aback from the boy's tone. He'd never spoken to her in such a way before. “Koushirou-kun…”

“Senpai, don't get all cranky and don't get mad at Sora-san!” argued Miyako. “We're here because of Mimi-sama and we want to know why that police officer was here!”

“What's going on with the police is none of your business, and if you want to know what's bothering Mimi-san, then you should go ask her yourselves.”

“We tried sending both you and Mimi-chan messages, but didn't get a response, so Miyako-chan and I went over there, and it seems she's feeling terrible.” Sora looked away from Koushirou, her heart aching some over what she got out next. “What did you do to her?”

Koushirou grew angered, and shouted to her, “I didn't do a damn thing to her!”

“I-Izumi-senpai…why are you acting this way towards us?” Miyako asked, almost wanting to cry herself. “We're concerned about her and she won't even talk to us.”

“Then don't expect anything more from me!” he snapped at her. He noticed the looks on their faces. They actually looked fearful of him. He sat down in his computer chair and frowned. “I'm very sorry you two. I'm a little edgy right now and I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you two. I'm also very sorry for missing your party, Sora-san.”

`This is a little better. This is the Koushirou that I know.' She waved her hand. “Th-that's okay. So why are you edgy?”

“I'm sorry, but I can't really say,” he quietly responded. “If Mimi-san doesn't wish to discuss it, then I really shouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to her.”

“Did something happen in Hikarigaoka?”

Koushirou gave Sora a look, his eyebrow arched. “How did you know about Hikarigaoka?”

“Mimi-sama told us that she was going there with you today, but didn't say much more other than that.”

“So, did something bad happen in Hikarigaoka, like Miyako-chan said?”

“No, something almost happened here in Odaiba after we returned. We had one more errand to run and then we were going to head over to your party, but seems things didn't turn out that way,” he told them. `What if I wouldn't have made it in time? I don't even want to think about that!'

The two girls looked to one another in extreme confusion. None of what Koushirou was saying was making complete sense, which made them even more curious. Before either could ask anything else, Mr. and Mrs. Izumi walked in, and noticed Koushirou's bedroom door was open.

The boy stood up and rushed out to see his parents. Sora and Miyako followed behind him. “Hi, welcome back,” Koushirou said to the two, as if nothing had been wrong.

“Hi there son,” Mr. Izumi greeted. “Hi there Miyako, Sora.”

“Good evening, Mr. Izumi, Mrs. Izumi,” both greeted back.

“How was your study date today with Taichi-kun and the others at his place today?” asked Mrs. Izumi.

`Study date at Taichi's? What's she talking about?'

Koushirou noticed the looks that both Sora and Miyako had, and felt it would've been safer to get them out of there before they got him into trouble.

“Um, we studied a lot!” Koushirou told her anxiously. “I'm sure that I will ace whatever exam that my instructors throw at me and I'm ready to take my entrance exams thanks to Taichi-san, Sora-san, and Yamato-san.”

Mrs. Izumi smiled. “My my, I'm sure after all of that studying, you must have worked up a big appetite. Would you all like some snacks?”

“Aw, mother, we're all very tired from the studying, and what we need now is rest. Sora-san and Miyako-kun were actually on their way out when you two came in.”

They got the hint, and started to leave. Koushirou gave them an apologetic look and mouthed out “I'm sorry” before closing the door.

“Koushirou-kun is definitely hiding something,” Sora murmured as the two walked away from the apartment complex.

“Why did he lie about where he was today? Why did he say he was at the Yagami's all day when he was really in Hikarigaoka?”

“That's a good question. My assumption is that maybe he didn't want his parents to know that he was going to spend the day there, but that doesn't make any sense since the Nishimuras knew about Mimi-chan going there today. It wasn't really a big secret.”

“Maybe the Izumis don't like the idea of Izumi-senpai traveling outside of Odaiba by himself?”

Sora laughed. “Now I know that's not it. They didn't object to his returning to the Digital World when we had to go against the Dark Masters. Anyway, we should probably just go home and leave Mimi-chan and Koushirou-kun alone for now, but I'm more concerned over Mimi-chan. Maybe one of us could speak with her tomorrow.”

“Maybe you're right, but I still don't like this.”

“I don't like this any better than you do, but there isn't much more we can do. Something obviously happened with Mimi-chan, and Koushirou-kun is covering for her since she didn't give us any information herself and how he's holding back on sharing because, `it wouldn't be fair to her'.”

“I hate secrets and being left out of things! They're my good friends! They're like my mentors and here they are keeping a big secret away from me!”

“Now now, Miyako-chan, maybe we could figure out some of this on our own.”

“Well, so far, all we know is that whatever happened to her, happened after they got back here to Odaiba.”

“Hm, that really doesn't tell us too much, but we can add in that the police are involved in some way.”

“We're at a dead end already and we just started!”

“It would probably help if we knew why Koushirou-kun had to go to Hikarigaoka in the first place. That could clue us in as to what all of this is fully about.”

“The only way to find that out is if we ask him, but I have this feeling that he wouldn't tell us if we did. Even Mimi-sama didn't know why.”

“Well, I'm sure she must know now, but for the moment, we should just stick with our original plan.”

Miyako sighed. “Try to talk with her either tomorrow morning or after school. I'm going to be busy during lunch.”

“Yeah, same here, especially since the third years are still doing graduation rehearsals before school every morning and there's no way I'll be able to see her at lunch because of a club gathering.”

Their future tasks set, the two made their way home by bus…

****

Back in the Izumi home…

“They didn't have to leave so soon,” Mr. Izumi said after Koushirou had shut the door.

“Oh, it was okay. They were both already on their way out anyway.”

Koushirou left the two, and headed back to his room, shutting the door behind him. He sat down on the bed, resting his head in his hands, sighing heavily.

`She is worse off than I thought! Man, why do I feel this need to go over there and help her? What good would that do, though? She obviously doesn't want any help. I really have to talk to her about what happened today. It's starting to bother me now, more than what it did earlier. Yes, it bothered me, but it's like reality is starting to set in more now. For some reason, I'm starting to feel guilty over what happened.'

The boy lifted his head and scowled. He then started to punch his pillow in anger.

`I should have never gone there to begin with!' He punched the pillow harder to release his anger and sadness, while trying not to cry, but it failed, as the anguished tears poured out anyway. `It's my fault! I should've been paying more attention to her! Why do people like that exist?! Why do filthy disgusting bastards like that creep exist in this world? Why…'

Koushirou laid back down on his bed, his mind wandering back to all that had occurred after he and Mimi left the station after returning home to Odaiba…

Fic Chapter Changes

There are no author's notes this time, only chapter changes, and there weren't as many this time around. The main change in this chapter was the use of e-mail and telephones and messaging. When this was originally written, I'd totally forgotten that the kids had D-Terminals and didn't even think along the lines of text messaging using a mobile/cell phone since the concept, at the time, was still pretty foreign to me.

There were only four Mimi admirers, not implied others running around.

Iori and his friends originally had a `secret clubhouse' and stuff like that, but decided to drop it.

I had Miyako mention her sister and how sad it was that she didn't show up for the party. Originally, I'd forgotten all about her, even though I knew she was a third year with Taichi, Sora, and Yamato. Also, I changed how Miyako addressed her. I actually have no idea how Miyako addresses her older siblings, but, I like the sound of “Chizu-nee”, which is why I used it.

Daisuke and Hikari didn't go to Venus Fort for the original version of this fic; instead, they went to the movies at a made-up theater. The arcade seemed more appropriate given the time restraints.

I added in Sora and Miyako being concerned about both Mimi and Koushirou. Originally, I only had the two girls curious about Mimi and not thinking anything of Koushirou. Thinking about it, I changed that because of how out of character that came across. I also had Miyako send Koushirou a message too as opposed to just Mimi. Originally, I didn't have her send a message out to anyone, for the reason stated in the first change here.

Other change concerned Sora's character. I had her more blunt and accusatory towards Koushirou originally. That didn't strike me as very “Sora” like.

I never had Koushirou apologize for missing Sora's party originally. I just had him apologize for being jerky towards Miyako and Sora.

The other change is that I set up the ending for a “flashback” chapter. I didn't do that originally.