Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Koushirou's Search! ❯ Miyako's Crushing Day... ( Chapter 19 )

Hi again everyone. Okay, so we now have more information on Miki, and now Mimi will have to get that information to Koushirou, but, the question is, will she actually manage to before the boy does something drastic? You all shall see, eventually. lol

 

Anyway, I hope you liked Sui's character. I hope she didn't come across as all one-dimensional or a “plot device”. For the record, I implied last chapter that neither Mimi nor Koushirou had ever had her as a teacher, as Mimi and Koushirou seemed to always have the same classes together.

 

Now, for this chapter, if features Miyako, her two older sisters and mother, Koushirou, Misao, Iori (and his grandfather and mother, briefly), and the Izumis. Interesting combination, right? This chapter will definitely be focused around Miyako, though, and by the title, I guess you can assume what it's going to deal with, as it was hinted at a couple of chapters ago. Oh yes, I must thank Lord Puppetmon for reminding me what Iori's mother's name was. I actually forgot that she wasn't one of the parents whose name was never mentioned.

 

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 19: Miyako's Crushing Day…

 

Over at the Inoue household, Miyako's older sister, Chizuru, sitting on the couch, along with Momoe, was gossiping away on the phone, over something she considered very important…

 

“Yeah, I heard about it! It was a second year he asked out, my sister's friend….Why are you upset? I still don't have a partner!...You really thought that Yamato-kun was going to ask me?....Oh, that's silly. We aren't close friends, we're only acquaintances….Maybe I'll manage to get a partner by Friday morning at least….Oh, hey, I have to get going….What do you mean why?....Well, if you must know, I have some work to do around here. It's my day to cook dinner since my mother is watching the store….Okay, see you in school tomorrow….Bye, *Suzu-chan.”

 

The short-haired, glasses-wearing teen hanged up the phone on the table beside the couch and sighed. She was really disappointed that none of the boys had asked her to the upcoming dance. All of her male friends, who only saw her as a friend anyway, had partners, Yamato included. She acted as if it didn't bother her that Yamato of all people hadn't asked her, but it actually did.

 

Walking into the living room, Miyako greeted her sisters. “Hey, Momoe-neechan, Chizu-nee, what's going on?”

 

“Hmm, hmm,” Momoe responded distractedly.

 

“Nothing much. I'm just a little annoyed because I still don't have a partner to my own dance.” She crossed her arms and “hmmphed”. “I just knew Yamato-kun was going to invite me along, but he didn't! I thought we were okay friends. He told me a while back that if he ever needed a partner to accompany him to certain things, that he would invite a friend, and not an obsessed fan, although, Mimi-san isn't one of them. She treats him the way I do.”

 

“So you heard that Mimi-oneesama was invited to the dance by Yamato-san?”

 

“All of the third years know about it.” Chizuru gave Miyako a questioning look. “What do you know about it?”

 

“I heard and saw him ask her.” Miyako headed towards the kitchen.

 

“What?!” Chizuru jumped up from the couch and followed her younger sister. “You heard him ask her along?”

 

Miyako went through the fridge, and took out a can of juice. “Yeah, and if you're wondering, you were his first choice to ask.”

 

“Really?” Miyako nodded as she went into the cabinet to take out a glass. She then poured her juice in, while Chizuru gave her a skeptical look. “You're not lying are you?”

 

She disposed of the can. “I don't have any reason to lie,” Miyako told her plainly.

 

“Are you positive?”

 

She took a sip of her juice before answering. “Yes, I'm positive!” Miyako made her way back to the living room, and sat down on the couch, while picking up the remote. Chizuru joined her, while Miyako flipped through stations. “Yamato-san said that he would have asked you, but he figured that since you're kind of well-known that some boy had already invited you to the dance. He really wanted to go along with a friend who didn't see him as an `idol' like the majority of the girls do in general.”

 

“It's nice that he considered me, but still would've been nice if he'd just asked me first.”

 

Right at that moment, the phone rang. Momoe, who had been ignoring her two younger sisters, since she was engrossed with a book, looked up from her spot, and reached for the phone. “It's probably for me. I'm expecting a call from Jun-chan.” After answering, the person on the other end apologized for dialing their number by mistake.

 

“How come you've been receiving so many calls anyway?” asked Chizuru. “You're tying up the phone line! What if some boy is trying to get in touch in order to invite me to the dance on Saturday!”

 

“Where's your phone?”

 

“On the charger, but still, you're hogging up the main line.”

 

“Well, for your information, nosy, a few of us from my year are planning a trip for next month. We're still trying to figure out where to go, though. Jun-chan wants to go back to Kyoto, another friend of ours wants to go to Okinawa, and another wants to travel abroad, like maybe take a trip to Hawaii, but that's probably going to be out since it's so short notice to plan for that type of a trip and we wouldn't be back in time to start Toudai. I'm glad Jun-chan and Mayumi-chan got in too. We studied very hard for the entrance exam, and all three of us passed!”

 

“I wish we could take a trip someplace as a way to celebrate graduating, but I know some in my year are going to have barbecue parties eventually.”

 

The phone rang again. Momoe went to answer it while Chizuru and Miyako watched television. “Moshi-moshi,” she answered. “Oh, hold on.” She held the receiver. “Miyako, telephone.”

 

Miyako got up and took the phone from her sister. “Hello?”

 

“Hello, Miyako-kun,” the other person on the other end answered.

 

“Izumi-senpai!” A smile made its way to her face, as she tried to contain her excitement. “It's really nice to hear from you!”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What's going on?”

 

“I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had seen Mimi-san.”

 

“No, I haven't seen her. I didn't see her or Sora-san this afternoon at their shoe lockers, so she must have left right after school.”

 

“Oh okay,” the boy said in disappointment. “Thank you anyway. Goodbye.”

 

“No, wait, don't hang up!” Miyako pleaded. “Let's talk for a while.”

 

“I really don't have time for this, Miyako-kun,” the boy told her apologetically.

 

“But we don't talk much anymore, besides, I was curious about you. I wanted to know what was going on with you.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Y-you've been acing a little differently lately and I was just wondering why.”

 

“But---”

 

“You've been acting weird when it comes to Mimi-oneesama, and don't try to deny it because I've noticed it!”

 

“I'm sorry, Miyako-kun,” he told the girl urgently, “but I really have to go, and I really have to get in touch with Mimi-san.”

 

The boy hung up the phone. Miyako felt as if Koushirou had stuck his hand into her chest, pulled out her heart, and crushed it in the palm of his hand. She had a terrible crush on Koushirou, even though she could never fully admit to it, since she usually came across as having eyes for Ken. She was quite open with being attracted to him, but it was definitely Koushirou she was currently drawn to. The only other person who had an inkling about Miyako's crush on Koushirou was the one person that Miyako could actually become somewhat envious and jealous of…Mimi. She had always suspected that Miyako had some kind of fondness for Koushirou, just like she had her suspicions regarding Sora's liking of Taichi. She even managed to notice that Yuuko seemed to have a crush on Yuuji, but knew never to attempt bringing that up.

 

It was odd how she was able to notice how others may have romantic feelings for others, but how she could never notice that when it came to boys liking her, aside from her main admirers. It was definitely true that Yamato could have asked Chizuru, but he really did originally have Mimi in mind. Lately, he had found Mimi to be very pleasant to spend time around, and realized that having her as a partner for the dance would have been the perfect opportunity for them to go someplace as if it were an actual date. Going to the karaoke box was another opportunity, but after Mimi found out about the discount, she turned it into a group event.

 

Once again, Miyako was jealous of her mentor and friend, since, lately, Koushirou had been paying a whole lot more attention to Mimi than to her. Her sisters noticed the look on Miyako's face, as she held the phone in her hand. Both asked her what was wrong.

 

“Oh, nothing,” she told them with a crooked smile.

 

She put the phone back on the hook, and rushed to her room to get her jacket. She then ran to the front door, and stepped into her shoes. She really didn't want to hang around with the way she was currently feeling.

 

“I better get down to the mart, it's my turn to watch it,” she responded dully. She opened the door, and ran out, her heart aching, before either of her sisters could question her.

 

“What's she talking about? Weren't you going to watch it tonight?”

 

“Yeah, I was, but Miyako will probably be back soon,” Momoe said. “I doubt either mom or dad would let her watch the store by herself at this time. They never did with us.”

 

“I wonder what Koushirou-kun wanted.”

 

“Who knows, but wouldn't it be interesting if they were going to meet up in secret?”

 

Chizuru laughed. “Like a secret date! She just made up that stuff about going down to the mart.:”

 

Momoe opened her book up again. “It's getting late. Shouldn't you get started on dinner?”

 

“I'm going, I'm going,” Chizuru muttered, as she headed back to the kitchen.

****

Down in the Odaiba Ai Mart…

 

“That will be,” a woman in glasses, began, “*Â¥663, please.”

 

The customer handed her ¥1,000.

 

“Thank you, please come again,” the woman smiled and bowed to the customer after giving him his change.

 

When the customer left, Miyako walked in.

 

“Hi there, Miyako,” Mrs. Inoue greeted, while putting the money into the register. “What brings you down here?”

 

“I wanted to watch the store for the evening.”

 

“Your sister is supposed to watch the store. You know you're too young to be down here, by yourself, in the evening.”

 

“Please?”

 

“You're just a little girl.”

 

“You're always talking about how I could use more responsibility, so why can't I stay here until daddy comes down?”

 

“Maybe when you're a little older, like your sisters and brother.”

 

“No!” the girl protested. “Please, I want to prove to you that I am not a baby! That I can take care of myself! That I am better than Mi…er…oniichan, Momoe-neechan, and Chizu-nee!”

 

“Hm, I think I know what this is about,” the woman smiled knowingly.

 

“You do?”

 

“You want to earn some extra money for some new outfit you probably saw at a department store or from one of those fashion magazines.”

 

She nodded, hoping that it'd get her mother to leave sooner. She knew that Wednesdays were always slow business days and how that was the only place she could think of to go where she could be alone with her thoughts and away from her family.

 

“I guess that makes sense, but I still don't feel you're old enough to be here at this time of the night. Momoe was supposed to come down and watch it.”

 

“But I could really use the extra money.”

 

“If that's the case, why not work during your normal time, like on Saturday or Sunday afternoons?”

 

“I want to challenge myself.”

 

“Aww, my baby is so willing and eager to grow up!”

 

She sighed. “I'm not a baby anymore.”

 

It took a lot of persuasion, but Mrs. Inoue finally agreed to leave the store in Miyako's care. It was obvious that Miyako wasn't going to let up, which is why she finally gave in. She knew how the girl got when she was determined to prove herself.

 

`Why won't he talk to me?' the girl thought after her mother finally left. `I thought I was his friend too.' She sighed. `He's shutting me out of his life, but willingly letting her in…why?'

****

After the phone conversation with Miyako…

 

`I didn't want to do that, but I'm technically not even supposed to be on the phone.' He sighed while holding his cordless phone. `Where in the world is she?'

 

The boy had tried phoning all of his friends, when he could sneak away to do so, as he was trying his best to avoid getting into trouble. When he tried Yamato, he mentioned how he hadn't seen her since lunch. When trying Takeru, he mentioned how he had no idea when he'd seen Mimi last. When trying Jou for both his mobile phone and home phone, he got his voice mail. When he called the Hida household, Iori hadn't arrived home yet. Hikari mentioned that Taichi was out with Sora, and hadn't seen or heard from Mimi recently, just as Ken had told him. When he called the Nishimura home, since he couldn't get Mimi on her mobile, her uncle explained how she hadn't gotten home yet, but would pass along the message to her.

 

Koushirou had even grown desperate enough to look through his student register so that he could phone Misao. He always considered him, as well as other devoted “Mimi admirers”, borderline stalkers. Misao just seemed to be the leader of the pack.

****

“Izumi?” Misao asked in surprise after he answered the phone. “Izumi Koushirou? Computer Club Izumi?”

 

“Yes, this is `Izumi Koushirou', which you have obviously established,” the boy answered back in extreme exasperation.

 

“You're calling me,” the boy uttered out, still surprised. “Why?”

 

“I'm just as surprised as you are.”

 

The tall, buff, dark-haired boy was actually a bit concerned. Even though the two weren't the best of friends—they were barely acquaintances—he figured that something had to have been wrong for Koushirou to call him of all people voluntarily.

 

“What's wrong?”

 

Koushirou muttered to himself in annoyance. He really hated the fact that he was actually wasting his time calling Misao, especially concerning Mimi.

 

“Well?” he asked again since Koushirou had gone quiet, debating over whether or not to ask him about Mimi.

 

“Oh, I was just wondering if you'd seen or heard from Mimi-san,” he asked almost regrettably.

 

“No, I saw her leave right after school. I think she left with Takenouchi-san. I was going to offer to walk her home before Yuuji asked, but she left before I had the chance to,” the boy nearly cried.

 

He rolled his eyes over how ridiculous Misao was acting. Koushirou knew that Misao, as well as the others, who were obsessed with Mimi, annoyed him, and vowed to never call this boy again, and passed on even considering calling any of his fellow inseparable buddies, although, granted, Ukyo wasn't all that bad, if he had anything to say or ask concerning Mimi.

 

“I am so sorry to hear that, Takamatsu-san.” The tone of Koushirou's voice came across as insincere and fake. He sounded as if he was trying to be sympathetic, but it was oozing with loads of sarcasm.

 

“Don't you start anything, Izumi!” Misao threatened, taking notice of Koushirou's tone.

 

“Who says that I am?” he replied back coolly.

 

“Why are you looking for her anyway?” he questioned him, growing suspicious of the redhead's intentions. `He better not be considering asking her out or Iwill find a way to hurt him!'

 

“She has some class notes of mine and I just wanted to retrieve them from her.”

 

“Oh…that's all…”

 

“What did you think it was?”

 

“N-nothing.”

 

“I'm sorry to have bothered you, Takamatsu-san. I'll go now.”

 

“Izumi, wait! Don't hang up yet.”

 

Koushirou stayed on the line, wanting the boy to hurry up. “What?”

 

“C-could you do something for me?”

 

“What do you want me to do?”

 

“When you manage to speak with Mimi-chan, could you ask her if I could walk her home after school and if she'd like to hang out with me tomorrow evening?”

 

A look made a way to Koushirou's face meaning, “Is he serious?”

 

“Please?”

 

“Sure, I just hope I remember to ask. Good bye.”

 

The boy hanged up the phone quickly before Misao could say anything further. He really wasn't planning on passing along that message…

 

“I'd ask her to spend the evening with me before I would ask for a guy like him!”

 

He mentally slapped himself. He couldn't believe that he had just indirectly said that he would like to ask Mimi out for something other than his project. He shook off the thought and decided to not ask out Mimi for Misao's sake, or his…

****

“What should I do? I really have to apologize to her!”

 

Koushirou got up and walked into the hallway, preparing to leave, until he was startled from behind.

 

“Koushirou, where are you going?” a shorter woman asked the boy.

 

“Oh, mother, hi there. I just realized I forgot and left my English textbook at school on my desk, and I have to go pick it up,” he told her, agitatedly. `I have to find my article too. I haven't seen it since lunch, thinking about it now.'

 

Mrs. Izumi didn't seem convinced. “Really? Why do you need your English textbook if you've already taken your exam for the subject?”

 

“Well, I…wanted…to look up a phrase I think I may have gotten wrong on the test.” He started to sweat bullets. `Is that convincing enough? I really hope so. Mother, please let that be enough. I have to go find Mimi-san! I have to apologize before I lose my nerve!'

 

“That makes sense, I guess, but I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow,” she told him sternly. “You're being punished right now. You're not supposed to leave for any reason, except for school or if I need you to run an errand for me.”

 

“But mother, I really have to go! It's very important. I have to go see Mi--um…if those answers were correct!”

 

“Then tell me the truth,” the woman pleaded while staring into his eyes. “What is so important that you're willing to disobey us and make us have to be even stricter with you, like taking your laptop away? Your father was considering taking away both your desktop and your laptop, but I persuaded him not to given that you're still doing school work, like that project for your history class. Where do you have to go?”

 

He lowered his head in defeat. “No place. It can wait until tomorrow.”

 

Mrs. Izumi felt awful. She hated doing this to her son, but he had to learn not to be so defiant and to stop sneaking around. She could tell that Koushirou was still being dishonest with her, which was why she followed through with the punishment. “Koushirou, there are some dishes in the kitchen that need cleaning. Would you please go wash them and clean up in there?”

 

Koushirou obediently nodded, and headed to the kitchen to wash the dinner dishes. A short while later, Mr. Izumi returned to the not so humble home holding a bag.

 

“Hey, dear,” the man greeted habitually while stepping out of his shoes. He was surprised to be greeted by no one, and started to look around, the living room first. He saw his wife sitting on the couch in front of the television, which was shut off. “Oh, there you are.” He made his way over to her. “I managed to find what you sent me out for at the *combini nearby. Yakiimo Ice!” He handed her the bag. “Enjoy,” he said with a smile.

 

“Thank you,” the woman answered while taking the bag halfheartedly.

 

Noticing his wife's distant look, he asked, “What's the matter?”

 

Mrs. Izumi explained what had happened, which caused him to frown slightly. After putting the small, one-serving sized ice cream into the fridge, Mr. Izumi briefly saying hi to Koushirou, as he was still cleaning up the kitchen, the two headed to their bedroom to speak in private.

 

“What could be going on with him?” the man asked after they'd reached their room, looking down at his wife, who had taken a seat on the foot of the bed.

 

“I don't know, but I still feel he's lying about something. It seems obvious that he is.”

 

Mr. Izumi took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with his shirt tail. “So, he wouldn't tell you why he wanted to go out or where he wanted to go, and is covering it up with more lies.” He put his glasses back on. “I don't know what else we can actually do.” After hearing that, Mrs. Izumi started to cry. “Yoshie, what's wrong?”

 

“This isn't like our Koushirou! It's not supposed to be this way. He's supposed to be our perfect little boy! It's probably my fault that he ended up like this!”

 

“No, no, don't say that!” Mr. Izumi sat beside her, and cradled her in his arms soothingly. “It is not your fault. It's both our faults. We must were too lenient with him and spoiled him after we lost our own child. We pretty much spoiled every child we had in our home after our son's death.” She got out of his grasp and wiped her eyes, and started pondering. “Yoshie?”

 

“I-I'm starting to wonder if it's something else, not our spoiling him, because of what you said earlier. We really have never had any type of problem with him. He's always been well-behaved and well-mannered. I'm just starting to feel that he's definitely covering for someone.”

 

“Wait, what do you mean?”

 

“I just have this feeling that he's covering for someone,” she told him again. “I also feel that he isn't doing this because he wants to, but because he has to.”

 

“First he's a bad child, and now you're saying he's a good one?”

 

“No…not really.” She shook her head in slight confusion. “I don't know what I'm fully saying. I just strongly feel that he's covering for somebody. Let's look back at Sunday. He was gone all day; he said he was studying with Taichi-kun, but we know that's false because Taichi-kun, along with everyone else, was at the party that Sora-chan had. Before going, he mentioned something about Mimi-chan.

 

“Today, he was going on about having to see something, and I doubt he was talking about his textbook because of how serious he came across. I think he was about to mention a person, but covered it up with a lie. I think there's something happening with Mimi-chan, and Koushirou is covering for her and just doesn't want us to know about it.”

 

“Hm, interesting theory. Do you really think that's what it is, though?”

 

“It's a bit out there, but yes, that is what I truly think.”

 

“So do you feel that we're punishing him for nothing?”

 

“Well, in a way...maybe. I mean, he does have to learn to be a bit more respectful, but it's odd because, as we both have noticed, he's never been this way before. He also needs to understand that whatever situation he my face, that he can come to us about it. I just hope he learns this.”

 

Before he could respond, the two heard a light knock at their door.

 

“Um, mother, I've finished cleaning up everything. I cleaned the dishes and put them away. I'm going to work on my history project now.”

 

“Okay, dear.”

 

“If you are going to sleep now, even though it's still early, good night anyway.”

 

With that, Koushirou went to his room and locked himself in. He still had the lock on his door that he'd put up when he returned home from summer camp earlier, and put it up as a way to keep his parents out when he was hiding Tentomon. The boy was really backed into a corner. He didn't know if he wanted to sneak out to go and look for Mimi or just sit in his room worrying the entire night. He had sent a text asking for her to call him, but she had yet to send a return one, which made him feel that she was avoiding him for his reprehensible behavior towards her earlier.

 

Given how stressed out he was feeling, he wished that he had his Digimon companion, Tentomon, with him for some of his advice and wisdom, but there was a problem with that. Even though traveling to and from the Digital World wasn't much of a problem now-a-days, the children getting in touch with their partners was always a hassle, since they partied and hanged around leisurely, given that there weren't any threats. They were like this a lot, especially during the school year since all of the Digimon understood how busy their human partners were since they were getting older. The only one who still had some time on his hands was Iori due to his still being in grade school. Koushirou knew that he probably wouldn't be able to get in touch with Tentomon, or any of the others, until their spring vacation officially started, and he definitely didn't want to bother Gennai to look for Tentomon for him.

 

He sat down on his bed, contemplating on what he should do…

****

Back at the store…

 

Miyako was still sulking, moping, and lost in her thoughts over “Izumi-senpai”. Both Chizuru and Momoe were surprised to find out that Miyako really did want to watch the store. Their mother told them that Miyako wanted to earn some extra money to buy a new outfit. Momoe just laughed and joked with Chizuru that Miyako probably wanted to buy a new outfit “to impress Koushirou-kun” while Chizuru joked and said, “or maybe Ken-kun.”

 

The girl remained behind the counter in the quiet, currently dead store, drowned out in her own thoughts, oblivious to the customer who had just entered the store. She didn't even greet the customer in the same, routine manner like she would normally, due to her being so distracted. She just didn't understand Koushirou. How could she have such great respect for a person who rarely talks to her anymore? That's what she kept asking herself. She really missed her conversations and all the time they spent together before Mimi moved back to Japan. It never really bothered her before, but it had been more so since he was seemingly tuning her out altogether, even before he started the history project.

 

“Miyako-san?” the customer called, wanting to pay for his purchases.

 

She looked to see a boy standing in front of the counter. “Oh, hello there, Iori.” She smiled to him, as it was proper to greet customers with a warm, friendly smile.

 

“What are you doing here, Miyako-san?”

 

“I volunteered to watch the store until my father comes down.”

 

Iori noticed the tone of Miyako. It wasn't very energetic, playful, outgoing, or happy, like it would be normally. He was actually expecting her to give more of a reason for being there, as it wasn't common for her to be there at that time of the day.

 

“Is there something wrong?”

 

“No, I'm fine. I'm just hoping I passed my math exam with a perfect score,” she lied.

 

“Is that all? You probably did very well,” Iori told her confidently. “You are very good at math and you're great at tutoring it too. You help people in your class all the time, and you've helped me with mine at one point.”

 

Miyako rung up Iori's purchases, which consisted of drinks for him and his family. He paid her. “Thank you very much, Miyako-san.”

 

“You're welcome.”

 

“You know, my mother wanted me to ask if you would like to join us for dinner later on this week. It's her way of thanking you for fixing our computer a short while ago.”

 

“Mind if I take a rain check?” she asked him gloomily.

 

“But my mother was going to have sweets,” he added on. He knew how much Miyako loved cake. He knew quite a bit about the older girl, as she'd been pretty much a baby-sitter to him when younger or more so an older sister to him.

 

“That's okay.” She changed the subject. “You better hurry and get those drinks up to your family, along with that Chu-jelly. I know how much your grandfather loves those.”

 

“Oh, yeah, that's right. I better get going. We're having a late dinner today since mother knew I was coming home late. Bye, Miyako-san!”

 

The boy rushed out of the mart, and headed upstairs to his apartment. He felt it was strange how Miyako wasn't acting like herself and how she turned down having sweets. When he finally arrived, his mother thanked him for remembering to pick up drinks and informed him that he'd received a call from Koushirou.

 

“Koushirou-san?”

 

“Yes, he sounded like he really needed help with something.”

 

“I guess I should call him back. Too bad he couldn't call my mobile phone, since I hadn't given him my new number yet.”

 

“Well, hurry. We're about to sit down to dinner and I know you don't want a cold dinner.”

 

“Yes, and we all know that a cold dinner is the worst kind of dinner for one to have,” Iori's grandfather, who was sitting at the table, stated wisely while pulling on his bushy mustache. He then spoke in a playful manner, and commented, “Unless the dinner consists of natto, which is a terrible meal no matter how warm or cold it is.”

 

Mrs. Hida laughed at her father-in-law, and sat at the table, after setting a place for Iori. Iori, on the other hand, decided to phone up Koushirou…

~*~*~*~

“Hello, Mrs. Izumi.”

 

“Hello there, Iori-kun. How are you?”

 

“I'm fine. My mother told me that Koushirou-san called here looking for me, and I guess he couldn't text me or anything since I haven't gotten the chance to give him my new number. I was wondering if anything was wrong.”

 

`When in the world did he call Iori-kun? Not using the phone was apart of his punishment. It must have been important for him to risk something like that.'

 

“Mrs. Izumi?”

 

“Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't know why he called, but I'll go get him.”

 

The woman walked over to Koushirou's door, and turned the knob, but the door wouldn't budge. The door was locked. She knocked lightly, but didn't get an answer.

 

“Koushirou…Koushirou…phone…” There was still no answer. “I'm sorry, Iori-kun. He must have gone to bed early. I guess he exhausted himself out for the day. He's not answering.”

 

“Okay, then. Please tell him that I did call back and that he needs to get my new number.”

 

“Okay, I will. Bye, Iori-kun.”

~*~*~*~

“Was Koushirou-kun okay?” asked Mrs. Hida, after Iori had taken his seat at the table.

 

“I'm not sure. Izumi-san said that he must have gone to bed since he didn't answer her.”

 

“That's strange, going to bed this early. I know we're eating later, but it's just after 19:00 (7:00).”

 

“I am sure that whatever the problem was that he had has been solved,” Chikara input wisely, “now, let's dig into this wonderful meal that Fumiko-san has prepared!”

 

The other two nodded. “Itadakimasu!”

****

“Yoshie,” Mr. Izumi called, noticing his wife's look, “what's wrong?”

 

“Koushirou has locked his door.”

 

“I guess he doesn't want to be disturbed while doing his work.”

 

“Or maybe he decided to go to sleep early…even though this is very early for him…”

 

The woman didn't really believe what she had just said, though. She had the feeling that Koushirou was, once again, being secretive. She didn't know how right she was, for Koushirou wasn't in his room, he'd snuck out…

 

Author's Notes

 

Note 1: This is just an “irony” situation, for the most part, regarding “Suzu”, whose full name is “Suzuko”. No, she's not really important, but I do use this character in the sequel to this fic, but no guarantee I'll put the fic up. Her role was very miniscule.

***

Note 2: At the time I originally wrote this, ¥663 was a bit over $5.00 if rounding. Now, ¥663 would be about, $7.30, give or take, but who knows since the exchange rate is constantly changing. For all I know, the rate could be higher than this now or maybe even lower, as it's always changing.

***

Note 3: A “combini” is pretty much a convenient store or a mart, like the Obaiba Ai-Mart Miyako's family runs, and seems Japan has many of those.

 

Fic Chapter Changes

 

First chapter change…Miyako's drink. lol Originally, I had her take out a can of soda, as opposed to juice.

 

Momoe teased Chizuru more for the original. For instance, she made a joke about how she's going to starve because Chizuru was cooking and joking about how Chizuru was a bad cook. Chizuru then compared Momoe to their older brother (Mantarou), who would usually act the way Momoe was.

 

Originally, when I had Mrs. Izumi tell Koushirou to go do the dishes, she came across as more…blunt about it and it came across as more of an order as opposed to a request. She was pretty much, “Go do them!” That type of thing.

 

Originally, I had Mrs. Izumi wanting strawberry ice cream, but decided to go with a more exotic flavor, hence the “yakiimo ice” which is a “Roasted Sweet Potato Ice Cream”.

 

The “wise words” (yeah right, lol) spoken by Chikara about the natto was changed. Originally, I had him say brussel sprouts, since, at the time, I couldn't think of any other type of food that had an odd taste or either one that required the person to have an acquired taste for it. So yeah, brussel sprouts was changed to natto and having finally tasted it...yeah, definitely an acquired taste is needed to enjoy it to the extent that Mimi's character does.