Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Koushirou's Search! ❯ Mysterious Misayoshi... ( Chapter 16 )

Hi again everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the original characters for the last chapter. They were really fun to write about, especially Keisuke. I really was interested in a career involving writing of some sort, but due to certain circumstances, decided against it, and no, it didn't have anything to do with my family's being disapproving of it. Anyway, Keisuke's character was meant to be a repressed free thinker. I hope he came across as such. Oh yes, there is a meaning behind the cake Mimi had, but, that won't be brought up again or thought about until a few chapters from now.

 

Oh, just thought I'd include a bit of information that I didn't earlier. The way the Izumis address one another is usually the typical “anata” (Mrs. Izumi > Mr. Izumi). He uses one for her too, like “dear”, etc., just don't remember it specifically. I really didn't feel like constantly having them (as well as other parents) referring to one another with pet names…'cept for Mimi's. lol

 

Let's see, for this chapter, which is shorter compared to the previous one, both go to Tokyo University and run into a couple of familiar faces. Now, is Koushirou going to find the information he seeks here? You all have to read on to see.

 

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 16: Mysterious Misayoshi…

 

After everything was settled, Mimi finally managed to sit down with Miyako and Sora to explain most everything to them, which included her attack and everything involving Koushirou, minus the hug and the kiss, of course, and about his actually not being the biological son of the Izumis. Both were surprised to hear such news over Koushirou, but as Sora had pointed out, there really wasn't any reason for him to mention it as it never really came up in general conversation and how thankful she was that “Koushirou-kun was around” to defend Mimi.

 

When the serious discussion was done, Miyako started to grill Mimi on the dinner that she had gone out to with Koushirou. She truly wanted to know what was going on, but Mimi, with a slight blush, insisted that it was nothing, and it was just a friendly gesture on his part, treating her to a meal.

 

It was now the next morning, everyone preparing for school once again. Taichi didn't know why he was bothering going, as he was technically finished, just like all of the other third years who had already taken, and passed, their high-school entrance exams. Going, for the most part, was just a formality. He had tried calling Sora the previous night to finally ask her what he had been trying to ask for a while, but at the last moment chickened out. He just figured he'd casually speak with her. Her mother explained how she wasn't home. Because of this, Taichi tried Sora's mobile, but didn't get an answer and it went straight to the girl's voice-mail.

 

Both Sora and Miyako stayed overnight, which was the implied intention from the start. When Taichi had called Sora on her mobile phone, she was so into the conversation that the three of them were having, she didn't even notice that she'd received any calls. Even though he didn't manage to get Sora, it didn't bother him too much, but at the same time, he was upset because he couldn't speak to her. His emotions were terribly mixed.

 

At the moment, Mrs. Yagami was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for Hikari and Taichi, who were debating over who should get to go to the washroom first to brush their teeth. Mr. Yagami, during this, was seated at the table, smoking a cigarette.

 

“Oh no, not again,” Mrs. Yagami sighed as she prepared the omelet. “Seems they always end up in a debate over who brushes his teeth first. Well, at least they don't fight or anything.”

 

Mr. Yagami laughed a bit. “Seems they would've come up with a better system by now instead of just having Hikari give in and letting Taichi go first.”

 

“Susumo,” Mrs. Yagami began, a hand on her hip, “must you smoke every morning?”

 

He took in a long drag and puffed out before answering. “Yuuko, you know it helps to relieve me of my stress before heading off for work.”

 

“I don't smoke before I start my day,” she retorted while plating the two omelets. “What stress could you possibly have this early in the morning?”

 

He smiled to her. “Hm, for one, listening to Taichi and Hikari go on about who should brush first.”

 

She couldn't help but laugh herself as she poured out glasses of juice for the children. “I'm sure you can come up with something much better than that.”

 

He smirked, his grin very similar to a crafty Taichi's. “How about ever since you stopped letting me have a beer in the morning.”

 

“Nope, try again,” she said. “You stick to your evening drinking, don't do it in the morning. It looks bad to go into work with a red face, and we all know that you can't hold your alcohol well. After maybe two or three beers you're drunk. You act like such an idiot too when you are drunk…but a loveable one.” She poured her husband a cup of coffee with cream and a lot of sugar. The man seemed to enjoy it best that way. She finished setting everything at the table for their breakfast. “Taichi, Hikari, it's time for breakfast,” she called.

 

The two walked in and took their seats, all dressed and ready for school. “Hey,” their father greeted.

 

“Good morning,” the siblings greeted back.

 

Both thanked their mother for the “omelet meal” and dug in. Hikari ate her breakfast the way she would normally, but Taichi was eating it slowly.

 

Mr. Yagami put out his cigarette and took a sip of his coffee. “Is something wrong, Taichi? You're not eating.”

 

“You're up sooner than usual too,” Mrs. Yagami said in slight concern. “You don't have an early practice or anything.” She felt Taichi's forehead. “You're not getting sick, are you?”

 

“I'm fine,” he insisted with a forced smile. “You're just worrying too much.”

 

“Oniichan, did you ever get in touch with Sora-san?” asked Hikari.

 

He shook his head. “She wasn't home last night when I tried calling, and when I tried her mobile, I got her voice mail. She must've forgotten to turn the ringer back on after school yesterday.”

 

The family finished up their meals, a knock coming from their front door. “I'll get it,” Hikari volunteered. She rose from her seat and answered the door. “Hi Daisuke-kun! You're right on time.” She let him in.

 

“Yeah, well, it's not too big a deal to leave a little bit earlier since it's on the way.”

 

“What brings you by, Daisuke-kun,” asked Mrs. Yagami.

 

“I'm going to walk with Hikari-chan to school today.”

 

“We're going to meet up with both Iori-kun and Takeru-kun when we get there, probably.” Hikari slipped on her backpack. “We're trying to think of things to do for our spring vacation besides being stuck inside for the majority of it, especially since Takeru-kun, Daisuke-kun, and I already took our class trip to Kyoto, which was really fun.”

 

“Yeah, now I understand why Miyako liked it so much!”

 

“I'm sure that Iori-kun will like it too when he gets the chance a couple of years from now.”

 

“Well, Kyoto does have a lot of history and legend behind it. You can learn a lot about our history by going there,” Mr. Yagami wisely input.

 

Daisuke noticed Taichi eating slowly and greeted him. “Hi, Taichi-senpai.”

 

“Hey there, Daisuke. How is your soccer coming along?”

 

“I'm practicing really hard, and giving it my all!”

 

“That's good,” he responded distantly. Usually, Taichi would jump at the chance to discuss soccer strategy, but wasn't fully into doing so.

 

Daisuke scratched his head. “Huh?”

 

“Daisuke-kun, we better get going if we don't want to be late.”

 

“Oh yeah, that's right. Bye everyone.”

 

Daisuke and Hikari went back to the genkan at the front door. Daisuke put his shoes back on, while Hikari stepped into hers. The two then left.

 

“Taichi, if you're not feeling all that well, maybe you should stay home. You're barely halfway through your meal.”

 

“Eh, don't worry about it.” He swallowed down the remainder of his breakfast and gulped down his juice.

 

“Now that's the Taichi I know.”

 

Taichi gave his mother a toothy grin and the “v” for “victory” sign. “Well, I better get going. I don't want to be late.” The boy grabbed his jacket and book bag, and rushed out of the door, wondering why Sora seemed to be so unreachable lately. A part of him was getting the impression that she was purposely avoiding him, while the other, more logical side, felt that that it was ridiculous to even think in such a way.

 

“I wonder if Taichi is feeling a bit pressured,” Mr. Yagami said after the boy had left. “Their school is the only one doing all that extra testing.”

 

“True, but they're only doing normal testing due to the fact that the third years had entrance exams to worry about. They're actually free from tests this week, unlike the rest of the school. I think it's something else.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Their school is going to host its first ever social event. A dance of some kind; it's supposed to be a formal one.”

 

“A dance? No one mentioned that to me. When is it?”

 

“I think either Friday or Saturday. It's another part of the `experiment'.”

 

“How so?”

 

“The argument presented to the PTA was that having a dance would motivate the students to work harder if they knew that they're going to get a reward at the end of the school year. What the students don't know, though, is that this testing experiment and the dance thing is only going to be put in place for three years to see how it goes. It's only temporary.”

 

“I guess the students don't know that, though, right?”

 

“Nope. There's no need to tell them about it since it is temporary.”

 

“But, the students taking the exams now, aren't they being held during normal classes? Usually, classes are canceled for exam taking. Seems it's still much too stressful.” The man finished down the rest of his coffee. “I have to get going. I'll see you tonight.”

 

“Okay. See you later.”

 

With that, the man took off, while Mrs. Yagami started doing her usual errands around the home, before heading out herself…

****

Over at the Izumi household, sitting at the table…

 

Koushirou had already left for school. He'd gotten into a slight argument with his parents after he'd returned home the previous night. He was so upset over the fact that he'd argued in the first place (and with them) that he skipped out on breakfast just to avoid having to see them. This was new to the Izumis, as neither of them had ever had any real conflict with the boy.

 

Koushirou normally got along with his parents very well, so well that outsiders would comment on how well the three of them got along. It was the “perfect family”, most would say. It had the perfect housewife and mother, the perfect working husband, and the perfect, courteous son who never got into trouble and who never caused any.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Izumi were complimented all the time about how they had the perfect son, and how they wished they had children as considerate and kind as him. They never really had any problems with the boy. He was generally well-behaved and seemed to go out of his way to show his appreciation for them. It was rather unfortunate that they had the falling out in the first place, and that it was actually over Koushirou's secrecy. They had also discovered that Koushirou had lied about where he'd gone on Sunday.

 

“What are we going to do with him?” asked Mr. Izumi direly, while sipping on some of his tea.

 

Mrs. Izumi frowned. “I don't know. He's been very secretive lately, and the last time he acted like this, was when he first brought Tento-san home, so I know it's not that since we all know of him and the other Digimon. I hate the fact that he didn't tell us where he'd been yesterday after he came home and now he missed out on breakfast. He's going to get hungry!”

 

“I feel we have more important things to worry about other than whether or not he's going to be hungry. I understand that children his age tend to keep things to themselves, but he really didn't have the right to go on about not giving us some kind of an explanation, especially since he's usually home earlier than that. He got home much later than usual. We waited for him to have dinner.”

 

“What upsets me the most is that he's lying to us; he's never lied to us before! He's always been so open and honest.” She wiped a few tears away from her face.

 

“Yeah…”

 

“I just want to know where he went Sunday. I spoke with Yuuko-san yesterday afternoon. We got on the subject of the children and of that upcoming dance and of all the testing that they're doing. I brought up how Koushirou mentioned studying with Taichi-kun and the others. She then told me that Taichi-kun and Hikari-chan as well as the other children attended a get together and that she hadn't actually seen Koushirou in the longest time.” Mrs. Izumi lowered her head and sighed heavily. “Could he be acting this way because of my pregnancy?”

 

“No, stop thinking like that! It is not the pregnancy. I don't know why you fear that he disapproves of your being pregnant. He grew indignant with both of us. You shouldn't blame your being pregnant for Koushirou's unusual, secretive, grumpy moods lately.”

 

“But everything was fine before we told him last week! He's been acting strangely ever since.”

 

“No he hasn't. You're exaggerating. He's been literally acting strange since about Saturday or Sunday.”

 

“But it's still close to when we told him.” The woman grew quiet, silent tears falling. She then muttered, “Maybe I shouldn't have the baby if it'll make him happy again and everything will go back to normal…”

 

Mr. Izumi looked to his wife in surprise from her statement. She wasn't truly serious, he'd hoped, but did wonder now how Koushirou would react if they suddenly went up to him and told him that they wouldn't be having a new baby.

 

“Yoshie! How could you even consider such a thing?! That child is part mine too, and I know you really want this baby as well and as much as I do! Probably even more! You love children! Koushirou is the child of this home and we're the ones caring for him. We make the rules and just because he may not like the idea of becoming an older brother doesn't mean we have to give up our ways for him! It is not supposed to be that way! Whatever we say goes!”

 

“But…”

 

“I'm afraid that we'll have to get strict with him. We're going to have to,” the man paused slightly, “punish him. His behavior hasn't been acceptable, and that stress isn't good for you or the baby.”

 

“Oh, do we have to? We've never had to apply any kind of punishment before. He's always been so well behaved.”

 

“Yoshie, we don't have much of a choice. He's coming across as rude and disrespectful. I know some parents ignore those kinds of things, but I'm not one of them, and I'm sure you aren't either. I'm going to come home right after work today, if I can, and we'll both tell him that for the rest of the week, that he's to come straight home to help out more around here. We've definitely spoiled him…I guess you could say, even though it's difficult to fully say that since this is more of a recent thing. Maybe since he is older now, he feels he can get away with whatever he wants.”

 

Mrs. Izumi nodded somberly. She knew her husband was right, but still hated the idea of actually punishing Koushirou, but then again, what parent actually did?

****

The school day went on like it would usually, and it was now time for all to go home. The strenuous day of testing was over! Mimi noticed something a bit different about her usual group of friends. They were all giving her looks, like they wanted her to elaborate on something. Even Chinatsu seemed more anxious than usual. The look was the most noticeable with Yuuko, though. Mimi could only ignore it, as she had no idea what they could've wanted and frankly didn't feel like asking.

 

During lunch, Mimi told her friends that she wasn't going to eat with them and headed to the computer lab to join Koushirou. Hardly any work on the project got done. The two just talked and ate...well, Mimi did anyway. As usual, she had prepared a bento for her lunch filled with different treats. Seeing that Koushirou didn't have anything for his, she offered to share some of hers with him. It was the least she could do after he'd treated her to the nice dinner just that past night and he did offer to share his lunch with her just that previous day too. Knowing the girl wouldn't take “no” for an answer, he accepted what she offered. He simply loved Mimi's cooking.

 

Surprisingly, for Mimi, she really enjoyed sitting in the computer lab and just talking with Koushirou. It was better than hearing Yuuko and Ayame's current cute boy report that she usually had no real interest in or Chinatsu's obsession with volleyball and sports in general, not that that was an actual bother. Mimi knew how serious Chinatsu was when it came to sports, especially volleyball, since she hopes to go pro in someday, if fate allows it.

 

The girl also enjoyed talking with Koushirou because of what happened on Sunday. Of course it still bothered the two, and both were trying their bests to hide it, but it never seemed to work. They would both end up getting some of their feelings out on the situation, which involved Mimi to cry a bit at times. It was a very good way to relieve all of that tension that the both of them had been holding in, Koushirou, especially, who still was beating himself up over it. The talk with Mimi was very helpful for Koushirou, since other than her, he hadn't talked to anyone about what had happened, not even Taichi.

 

He was still holding back somewhat, but that was something that Mimi and their other friends had noticed about Koushirou for years. It was almost like he didn't want to give away too much about himself. He would usually act as if nothing ever bothered him and would allow himself to get preoccupied with something else, like the computer. The only one immune to a closed up Koushirou was Tentomon. Either way, talking was still helpful for Mimi. It made her feel better that she had the support needed, even if she still hadn't gotten over all that had happened, but under the circumstance, what person really does?

 

On her way to the computer lab, she ran into her four admirers. All four of them apologized to her and wanted to “apologize to Izumi” for the trouble they “caused yesterday”. Mimi went to the lab with them along and they apologized to Koushirou, who accepted it, as it was like Mimi had said earlier, they were just concerned about her and it was known that she had been with him last. Mimi noticed that they were acting differently around the both of them, especially Yuuji and Misao. Those two were acting more intent on getting Mimi's attention than what they would usually, while Seki and Ukyo did nothing. They just told them “bye” and left. The other two stuck around trying to offer to do things for Mimi, but she politely turned them down and shooed them away so that she could talk with Koushirou.

 

Another thing the two discussed was their plans for that afternoon and the quickest route to Toudai. They were now waiting for the train at Daiba Station. As Koushirou had pointed out after getting back from Odaiba University, it would've been faster for them if going in-land by train than by bus.

 

“Yes, Sué-bachan, I'm still working on that school project with Koushirou-kun,” Mimi told her aunt over her mobile phone. “We're going to the University of Tokyo this time…I know, I know, I should be studying for my tests, but tomorrow is our last day of testing, and I'm taking English and Music tomorrow, two of my easiest subjects…Why do I have to go?...Well, it's like I said before I left this morning, his parents graduated from there….I'm going to be late so don't worry about dinner, I'll pick up something while out….okay, bye.”

 

She put her phone back into her book bag. After what had happened with her aunt yesterday, she didn't want to inadvertently worry her again, so she decided to phone her. At least this way, her aunt wouldn't prepare too much for supper, and wouldn't have to worry about leftovers.

 

“I never thought I'd be going to different universities while still in junior high,” Mimi laughed.

 

“Yeah…”

 

Mimi noticed the distant tone in his voice, and how he actually seemed to be staring out into space. “What's wrong?”

 

“Nothing!”

 

“It doesn't sound like nothing!” she argued back hotly. “You don't normally snap at people when there's nothing wrong!”

 

“Sorry! Okay?!”

 

Mimi knew when to pick her battles, and this was one she didn't even want to touch and decided to just let it go and just get on his case later for the sudden attitude change. After the short wait, the train finally arrived and the two forced their way on. They were lucky enough to find a spot and sat together. He had the window seat, and was preoccupied for the duration of the ride. He had a lot of thoughts on his mind.

 

Koushirou was just cross since he'd thought about how upset he'd gotten with his parents, but was angrier with himself, still, for upsetting them in the first place. He really believed in the, “Never bite the hand that feeds you”, logic. He then thought of how they had kept his adoption a secret, and some of that slight resentment returned, but, at the same time, he hated himself for feeling the resentment. What really bothered him the most was that his mother had mentioned Sunday, a day he'd been trying to get out of mind ever since the attack happened.

 

He just had a lot on him currently and just blew up, like he had at Anje at Odaiba University, the main difference being that he didn't say anything too disrespectful to them, he was just rude and argued back. The tension just built up too much and their demanding to know of his whereabouts from Sunday was the final straw. All of this could be attributed to guilt. He had to find a way to release that distress, and his parents were, unfortunately, the victims.

 

Mimi noticed how quiet the boy was for the entire ride, completely different from how he was yesterday, but regardless of how preoccupied he came across, he was still pretty alert and knew exactly when to make his transfers.

 

“Here we are,” Koushirou said after the nearly forty-minute ride, “Toudai!” He was actually acting as if nothing had been wrong.

 

“Wow, this place is big too.”

 

“Let's try our bests not to get lost this time.”

 

“Right!”

 

The two entered the school, determined not to get lost. To help make sure that this wouldn't happen, Koushirou had brought up a map of the school before leaving the computer lab just earlier. He was in search of the library this time around, but he still ended up misreading the map somehow.

 

They asked a student who was walking by where the library was, and she told them where to go. When they entered the library, they took in the sight as they looked around in amazement. Even Mimi felt that the library was impressive, even though she wasn't much of an avid reader.

 

“Where do we start looking?” asked Mimi.

 

“I figured that we can look up the news article on the computers here and also try to find an old school yearbook or annual.”

 

`Yearbook? Why'd he say that in English? Is he showing off for me?! Nah...he's probably just practicing using English terms.' the girl concluded. “So it's like killing two birds with one stone?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much. By doing it this way, we can save a trip to the Tokyo Metropolitan Library.”

 

“Good idea, but where do we start on looking for something like a yearbook? Do universities have them? My old school back in New York did, but that wasn't a university.”

 

“I guess the term you're more familiar with is *Sotsugyou Arubamu (Graduation Album) and yes, Toudai has them.”

 

“Nice, I see now.”

 

“I'm going to go look for the article.”

 

“Okay, but that still doesn't answer my question. Where would I find something as rare as an old Tokyo University yearbook?”

 

“Well…I don't know, but I'm going to look for the article.”

 

“I'll come along with you. I'm curious about the article too.”

 

The two made their way up to the front desk, where a short, plump, old pepper-haired woman sat. She had a very nice smile. Koushirou explained the situation to her about his needing to use the microfilm projector to look up an old news article. Luckily for them, just as Koushirou had predicted, they did have ones dating as far back as 1990 and even further back than that.

 

When they asked about the yearbooks, the librarian was surprised that they wanted something like that. She explained how she didn't have access to the old yearbooks and how only those in the Editing Committee had that type of access.

 

“Let's go through these,” Koushirou said, his arms filled with microfilm reels. “I'm sure we are bound to find the article.”

 

The two took a seat in front of two microfilm projectors. Mimi was going to look through one set, while Koushirou look through the other. “Hey wait! Didn't Mitsuishi-san say that it happened in April of 1990?”

 

“Yeah, why?” he asked while loading up the film.

 

“Well…um…couldn't we just narrow down your search by just looking up articles from April of 1990? It'd be a lot quicker.”

 

“I was thinking about doing that too, but since we don't have any information aside from that, like the name of the article, this is all we have to go by. Besides,” he pointed to all of the reels, “these are all of the news articles that were put out for the month of April. Too bad Mitsuishi-san didn't give us a specific date.”

 

“Y-yeah, that's quite a bit.”

 

“We're going to be here for a while,” Koushirou sighed as he started reading through the first reel he loaded.

 

Those were words Mimi definitely didn't want to hear. She just knew that scanning through news articles would bore her silly. She also had never used a microfilm projector before, but did seem to get it by watching Koushirou load the one he was on. She loaded up one reel and read through it, and just like she had anticipated, she was instantly bored, even though she was highly curious. She decided to leave Koushirou to it. He had a better eye for that type of thing.

 

While Koushirou continued looking through the reels, Mimi went back to the librarian to ask if anyone had shown up that could get access to the yearbooks. She figured it would be a lot easier to find someone's photo, especially since she had a name, than looking for an article. The librarian shook her head. Before Mimi could respond, someone walked up holding a large stack of books. Mimi couldn't even see the person due to the amount of books he was carrying.

 

“Did someone say that they needed to get to the old school yearbooks, Tosho-san?” the voice from behind the stack asked.

 

“Yes, this girl and her friend need it for something that they are working on.”

 

After the boy set the books down on the librarian's desk, he got a better look at the girl and gave her a smile. “Mimi-chan!”

 

“Shuu-san?!”

 

It was the 22-year-old Kido brother, Shuu. Jou's older brother who took up studying Japanese Folklore and Mythology and Humanities instead of medical sciences to become a doctor, like his older, 25-year-old brother, Shin.

 

*Mimi didn't know Shuu very well, not like she had Shin. For one, when she first met Shin, who was about to start interning, it was when they all first returned from the Digital World and Vamdemon (Myotismon) was in search of the 8th Child and holding many people captive at Tokyo Big Sight. Shuu wasn't around during that time because he was away on a trip and even after the danger had passed and there was pretty much a three-year peacetime in the Digital World - other than the incident with Diablomon - and before Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori were chosen, Shuu still stayed away from home a lot compared to Shin. Shuu was the Kido brother who definitely stood out as the somewhat rebellious one.

 

Now-a-days, it was rare seeing him at all, just like Shin, who had moved to Africa and was apart of Doctors Without Borders, as he felt it was his calling. Shuu was still a student of Toudai and was still studying and traveling a lot on special assignments, like the time Miyako had met him while on her class trip to Kyoto a couple of years earlier while he was still a second-year student.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Koushirou-kun and I are working on a project, and I'm trying to find a yearbook. Are you a part of the Editing Committee?”

 

“Seems I would be with all the traveling I do,” he laughed, “but, unfortunately, I'm not.”

 

“Aww…”

 

“But Takenouchi-san could probably help. He's the sponsor for the Editing Committee.”

 

“That would be great! Can we go see him?”

 

“Sure, just let me drop these off first.”

 

“Wow, you checked out a lot of books this time, Shuu-kun,” the old woman responded, as she checked them back in.

 

“Well, yeah, I was just brushing up on the different legends and myths in other parts of Japan and also legends and folklore from the Western Hemisphere.”

 

“You mean like in America?”

 

He nodded. “Some of the legends told in North America, as well as Central America, and South America are very interesting. Folklore from England is even more interesting. I should look more into all of those places someday to go to the source of where some of these stories originated from.”

 

He helped Mrs. Tosho put the books away. Once done, he and Mimi headed off to see Professor Takenouchi. “Hey, how's Jou doing? I haven't talked to him in a while.”

 

“I really haven't talked to him much either since he's always studying, but he does find time to unwind every once in a while.”

 

“Jou is so much like Shin-niisan,” the boy laughed. “When we were kids, he was always studying. He went to juku (cram school) back in elementary school too, just like Jou did. He was really serious on becoming a doctor, like dad wanted. I was too, but I didn't take the extra classes like dad wanted, and thanks to mom, I got out of going to juku. I was never as interested in school like those two.”

 

“Well, I did see Jou-senpai a few nights ago. We all went out for karaoke.”

 

“Well, what do you know! I'm surprised Jou even went along with the way he studies.”

 

“I was a little surprised too, but since his school was already in spring vacation, I guess that's why. He's a pretty good singer and he had a lot of fun.”

 

It didn't take them long, but they finally arrived at Takenouchi's office. They overheard him speaking with someone else, and decided to wait, so as not to interrupt.

 

“Come on, Haruhiko-kun,” they heard a man say. “You should relax some.”

 

“No, I can't go with you and the guys on the trip,” Professor Takenouchi said. It sounded as if he were sorting through papers.

 

“But you and Kido-kun were going on another one of your trips to do some research, right? You're going to Nara this time, right? Instead of going to Nara, why not come with us to England? We're going to have the whole week free and we're going to leave Friday to head there to get the vacation started early.”

 

“You've been trying to get me to join you guys for a while, but the answer is still, `no'. Nara is one thing, at least I'm still in Japan and close to home, but heading to England is another. If I went to England, I wouldn't be able to see my daughter's graduation ceremony from Odaiba Junior High. That's more important to me right now. I rarely see her as it is due to my work and my constant traveling for book research. I could never forgive myself for taking a trip to England that wasn't work related unless I brought my daughter along.”

 

“We all had a great itinerary planned too, but you're going to be sorry that you're missing out,” the man laughed heartily.

 

“Well then,” Mr. Takenouchi smirked, “I'll be sorry.”

 

A heavyset man walked out of the office, who was another teacher of the school, who greeted the two, who politely greeted him back. After he'd gone, both walked in to see Mr. Takenouchi looking over some notes. “Excuse me, kyouju,” Shuu knocked.

 

The middle-aged man with the tired eyes looked up and smiled. “Kido-kun, nice to see you. Who's that beside you? Mimi-chan?”

 

“Hi there, Takemouchi-san.”

 

The man stood. “Glad to see you. What brings you by?”

 

Takenouchi Haruhiko, Sora's father, was a professor of Japanese Folklore and Mythology at Tokyo University. Due to his lectures, Shuu transferred over to study humanities as he enjoyed them, even if his father did disapprove of his doing so, since he had wanted all three of his sons to get into the medical profession, as it was a Kido family tradition dating back to the Edo era. So far, two of the three were still pursuing careers in the medical field. Shuu was one of Takenouchi's best students, which was pretty much why he allowed Shuu to accompany him whenever he went on trips for information gathering.

 

“I need a yearbook from 1985. Our history class is working on projects dealing with our family's history, and we have to get information on them, so Koushirou-kun and I are here because of his parents. They graduated in 1985.”

 

“I don't mind helping. So, the Izumis went to school here? I never knew that.”

 

“The Izumis sure are young looking to have graduated from here in 1985,” Shuu said.

 

Mimi thought for a moment, and wondered if they were younger than Koushirou's biological parents.

 

“Mimi-chan, how is Sora doing? I haven't talked to her in a long while. We mostly talk by e-mail since I travel so much.”

 

“She's doing great! I see and talk to her all the time! She's looking forward to her graduation ceremony and is also happy that she passed the entrance exam for Odaiba High School. I'm sure I'll be just as excited when the time comes for me to graduate too!”

 

“That's good to know. I've already put in the time to take off to see her ceremony since I am planning on taking a trip to Nara soon. What about her party? Did that go okay? I hope my friend let you all enjoy yourselves.”

 

“Um, y-yeah, sure was fun,” Mimi managed to get out, though awkwardly. She didn't feel like telling the man that she hadn't even been there.

 

“Oh yeah, you wanted the yearbooks…” He went back to his desk, opened up one of the drawers, and pulled out a key. He handed it to Shuu. “Here you go. They're in the back room of the library.”

 

Mimi found it odd how the actual librarian didn't have a key to the room. After thanking him, Shuu and Mimi made their way back to the library. When they got there, Mimi noticed that Koushirou was still searching through reels. Shuu opened the room, which had a slight muskiness to it, and found boxes labeled “Graduation Albums” and the decade each box contained. Shuu picked up the heavy box labeled, “Graduation Album (1980 ~ 1989)” and walked to one of the vacant tables. Luckily, most of the students were out for break, but there were still some around for whatever the reason. Shuu offered to help her look through them, but she insisted that she'd be fine, so he left to talk with Mr. Takenouchi about the upcoming trip.

 

Mimi looked through all of the books from 1980 - 1985. She was purposely doing so to keep from having to go through news articles. While looking through the club circles the school offered, she saw Mr. Fukami, who seemed to participate in many clubs and seemed to be very well rounded. He was on the soccer team, and looked to play goalie, was in the Computer Club, Science Club, and also a Math Club. How he managed to participate in all of those and study was beyond her. It seemed to be an impossible feat.

 

She studied the pictures of Mr. Fukami, and noticed how handsome he was. He had dark brown hair, about average in height, plain, dark eyes, and probably average in weight. He also had a friendly smile, which was his best attribute, in her opinion. She tried to see what of him reminded her of Koushirou. So far, Koushirou's current hair length and his eyes reminded her of Mr. Fukami. He and Koushirou also seemed to be about the same height. The main clincher, though, was that both were apart of a Computer Club. Personality wise, there was definitely no way of knowing if both shared that trait, but given how Mr. Fukami came across, she just couldn't see it.

 

When Mimi got up to 1985, she saw that there were two top students of that graduating class listed, Fukami Satoru and Misayoshi Miki. There was a photo of Mr. Fukami but there was no photo available for Miss Misayoshi. It was pretty odd. There hadn't been one single photo of her for either of the yearbooks. No clubs or anything. `I wonder if she hated taking photos,' she thought jokingly.

 

With that, she got up and decided to show Koushirou what she had found. She'd actually had fun looking through the books and seeing how strangely people dressed back then.

 

When she got over to where he was, she saw that he had found the article he was looking for. He had actually managed to get a copy of it, but how one can get copies from microfilm was over her head. He didn't read the article fully and decided that he'd go through it later as he didn't want to depress himself while around Mimi. He was pleased with Mimi's work and thanked her. They got all of the information needed from the yearbook, which included copies of the photos his father appeared in. Once done, Koushirou returned the microfilm to the librarian and carried the box of yearbooks back into the room it came from. They then gave the key back to Mr. Takenouchi, who talked with Koushirou for a while, since he hadn't seen him in such a while.

 

After the goodbyes and thank yous to Shuu and Mr. Takenouchi, the two left, glad that everything had gone smoothly. Koushirou offered to treat Mimi to dinner again, and since the last one was so nice, she took him up on his offer. Koushirou was a bit more spontaneous this time and suggested that they head to Decks Tokyo Beach before going home and going to one of the eateries in Daiba Little Hong Kong for Chinese cuisine. For some reason, Koushirou just wanted to do nice things for Mimi…he couldn't explain it.

 

After their dinner, the two headed home. The last place on their list was Odaiba Elementary. The closest of all of the places they had to go. Both had agreed to go after school as soon as possible, and then start working on getting something together.

****

Mimi had just gotten off the phone with Sora, as she informed her of how things had gone smoothly this time around. She was now soaking in the tub, thinking about how nice Koushirou had been to her lately and how grateful she was that the research part for this project was nearly over.

 

“This is so nice and relaxing.” She sank down deeper into the tub. `I'm glad we're almost done with all of this. I hope he appreciates what I'm doing for him!' She sighed. `I wonder why he offered to treat me to dinner again. It's kind of strange, thinking about it…'

 

After her bath, she dried off, combed her hair, and headed to bed. She just couldn't wait for the week to end…

 

Author's Notes

 

Note 1: Yes everyone, Tokyo University does have yearbooks or “graduation albums”. I was unsure of this when I originally wrote this and did say that it did have yearbooks, but seeing as how I have the resources now to look these types of things up, I am now certain that Toudai issues out yearbooks.

***

Note 2: Yes, everything mentioned about the Kidos was true. Shuu was away during the fight against VenomVamdemon when WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon first appeared and whatever. He was away on a class trip I think. As for the conflict, that's made up just for the heck of it. Now Shin had conflict with their father…or it was implied that he would have a little since he wanted to work in Africa.

 

It's also true that the Kido family has a life-long history of doctors in their family dating back to Edo Jidai (Edo Era), which started in 1603.

***

 

Fic Chapter Changes

 

I cut out everything implying that Mr. Yagami is a drunk and just changed it to how he's the type who can get drunk easily. In the first Digimon Adventure movie (the one that took place in Hikarigaoka), which I'm pretty sure they cut out for the US version, there was a scene which dealt with a seven-year-old (round about) Taichi and a four-year-old Hikari. When their father came home and was trying to get into Taichi's room, he was drunk then. Also, another bit of information. As some may have noticed, for that movie, Hikari rarely spoke for it. I think she was a late talker, and that was what her whistle was for.

 

I cut out a little humorous type situation, where random music started to play after Hikari opened the front door. Originally, I had that everyone was confused over where the music was coming from, and how Daisuke was really into it. The song was Adventure Heart~Daisuke no Theme~. It's one of the character background themes I just happened to really like. I like both versions of it, actually.

 

I dropped all of the implications that Daisuke was the type to not be on time for anything. Thinking about it and looking back on the series, I don't think that was ever the case. Given that he was a serious soccer player, which would include early-morning practices at times (even during school vacations), I couldn't see him being late. I also don't recall one single instance where he's been late for school or anything like that. Late to join the others to go to the Digital World sure (you know, like if he was held back for something), but not for school.

 

I dropped out Mr. Yagami going on about how educational Nara was as well, and how he, as a child, for his school trip, had to go there.

 

I cut out the discussion they had over whether or not Taichi should be allowed to stay home from school. His mother was insistent on it, while his father reminded them of Taichi's test taking. I cut out long ago that the third years had to take the tests too and just have that only the first and second year students had to participate in the “experimental testing”.

 

I didn't have either Koushirou or Mimi eating lunch originally. When originally writing this, I'd forgotten to write in their having some kind of a lunch in general.

 

Originally, I had Mimi speaking with her uncle over the phone as opposed to her aunt. Makes more sense to have her aunt on the phone given the time of the day. Her uncle probably wouldn't have been home that early, unless on vacation.

 

The librarian's name is borrowed from another fic of mine. In my fic, Digidreams Do Come True!, I had the librarian at Jou's school named “Ms. Tosho”…so yeah, just like with Malissa's character, she's borrowed.

 

Originally, I had Shuu address Mr. Takenouchi as “Takenouchi-hakase” but changed it to “kyoju”.

 

I changed a couple of things about Fukami. I added in the Math Club (replaced Debate Club) and dropped that he was apart of a fraternity (replaced with Science Club).