Janitor's Closet
By Firenze
A/N: Finally, this is actually something other than a 'Tai is depressed because Sora and Matt are together' fic that deals with the 'A Very Digi Christmas' episode. It doesn't even involve Tai or Sora or Matt at all. Proud? You bet I am. Anyway, about this fic... After foolishly picking a fight with the school bully, Daisuke is forced to hide in the janitor's closet...and gets locked in. Then someone unexpected shows up and gets stuck in there along with him... This takes place when Daisuke, Hikari, and Takeru are like fifteen or sixteen or something. Some characters were based off my teachers and classmates.
Disclaimer: Digimon doesn't belong to me. Duh. If you didn't know that, I'm -- and everyone else should be -- very worried about you.
* * *
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...
Daisuke stared intently at the clock, as it ticked that same repetitive noise over and over and over... Its rhythm pounded in his head, and he felt himself starting to go insane. When would the bell ring?!
All the while, Mr. Hiroshi, his core teacher, and teacher for literature, grammar, and history, droned on and on and on about how nouns, verbs, and adjectives were important. It was first grade work, really, and he just kept going at it, like it was so damn fascinating. (True story too; only thing is, my teacher's name isn't Mr. Hiroshi)
Time seemed to be going in slow motion. Something must have been wrong with the school clocks. This always happened right before summer vacation started too. He began to feel it was a conspiracy. The school set it up, didn't they? Yup, he was going insane. But that bell just wasn't ever going to ring...
It rang.
Daisuke scooped all his stuff into his arms, shoved them into his backpack, and zoomed off before the word 'dismissed' could even escape his teacher's lips. He dashed through the hallways, narrowly missing some students getting things out of their lockers.
"Hey!" someone shouted furiously, as he knocked them down, made their backpack come open, and leave a shower of papers falling down.
Daisuke didn't even notice; he was already too far ahead. He zipped past Miyako, who scolded him. "Where are you going?" she called after him.
"To my favorite class!" he replied, hurdling over trashcans and running as fast as he possibly could without falling over when he came to a straight-away entirely clear of students. Finally, he skidded to a stop in front of a door.
"Daisuke," a lady said pleasantly. "You're point five (0.5) seconds earlier than you were yesterday."
He was bent over and panting heavily, but managed to produce a smile. "Can't be late for my favorite class." He pushed the door open and walked into the cafeteria.
* * *
Daisuke placed a bowl of green Jell-O on his tray and then went to go pay for his lunch.
Takeru, standing in front of him in the line, looked at his tray and scrunched up his face. "I can't believe you got the mystery meat. It's blue, for crying out loud. The real mystery isn't what it is; it's a mystery how anyone can eat it."
He just shrugged. "It tastes like chicken. I like it." Takeru just pretended to barf, and then went forward to pay.
"I'm glad you like that mystery meat, Motimiya," a gruff voice said. "It's just too bad you're going to have to eat it through a tube when I'm done with you."
Daisuke froze and whimpered, hoping it wasn't whom he thought it was. But it was. His hands slightly trembled and his mashed potatoes fell off his plate. Hiroshi Tanaka, the biggest, fiercest, strongest, and scariest bully in the school scooped the mound into his hand and shoved it into Daisuke's face, smearing it all over.
Daisuke was too horrified to do anything. "W--what's up, T-T-Tanaka?" he asked, st--st--stuttering, spitting out a mouthful of potatoes.
"While you were running your Olympic race through the hallways, you slammed my head into my locker," he barked. He removed his left hand from his forehead and revealed a disgusting, bloody wound. Daisuke cringed. "No one makes me bleed and gets away with it."
At this point, Daisuke was out of options. He could: a) make a quick run for it, b) stay there and die, or c) stand up to Tanaka. Option C...yeah right. Only if he wanted to get beaten to a bloody pulp would he attempt option C. Then again, wouldn't that result be inevitable, no matter what he did? He had no idea what he was thinking when he did it; most likely he wasn't thinking at all, but Daisuke wiped the mashed potatoes out of his eyes and off his face, picked up the slab of messy, bluish mystery meat, and smacked Tanaka in the face with it. A split-second didn't even have to pass before Daisuke ran for his life.
Now Tanaka may have been big and strong, but it was a different way then expected. Sure, he was big: he weighed nearly 300 pounds; and he was strong: meaning if he sat on someone, their bones would get crushed; but he was really, really fat and out of shape. He couldn't run two steps before he fell flat on the floor, exhausted.
Daisuke had never been gladder he always ran to lunch. Everyone had always gotten mad at him for hitting them or knocking them over, or just plain thought he was an idiot. But this pointless act really paid off. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, leaving Tanaka to try and stomp after him.
He ran down all the hallways, backtracking his way to his core classroom. But he couldn't go in there; a class was in there. And he wouldn't even want to go into a classroom if he could. The vague thought of running to the boys' bathroom entered his mind, but then Tanaka would just corner him; besides, it was all the way across campus.
He kept running when a door caught his eye. The janitor's closet was the nearest place. He ran a quick list of pros and cons in his head. Con: If Tanaka caught him in there, he was completely trapped with no way of escape. Con: It was partially soundproof, and his screams of agony wouldn't be heard by many. Con: There were a lot of places you could hide a corpse in the janitor's closet. Pro...pro...what was a pro?
A light bulb flashed in Daisuke's head. Pro: Tanaka was way too fat to fit in that tiny closet, let alone squeeze through the doorway. This was good enough for him. He made a mad dash for the closet, praying that it wasn't locked. God must have been feeling sorry for him, or it just wasn't his day to die, but for the first time ever, the door was unlocked. What a strange twist of luck that day, Mr. Maki, the janitor, didn't lock it like he always did. Daisuke wrenched the door open, flung himself in, and closed the door behind himself.
The closet was pretty small, and smelled like lemon polish and Windex. It was dark and there was a cold chill in there. Almost kind of scary. Daisuke sat down and shivers instantly ran up his spine. His jeans were wet. Was he so scared that he had peed in his pants?
No. He had just sat down in a bucket full of water. He forced himself to calm down and breathe evenly. He had no reason to worry. Tanaka would never find him. He didn't have the brains to realize Daisuke wouldn't run in a straight line forever.
A few seconds later, Daisuke heard felt the ground rumbling and heard loud thudding steps. He knew it was Tanaka walking by. And he continued right past the janitor's closet, obviously confused.
Daisuke let out a sigh of relief, but the danger hadn't passed yet. He probably had to wait a few more minutes before it was safe to go back out. His watch wasn't one of those luminous ones with a light so you could read the time in the dark, so he just waited for as long as it seemed was ten to twenty minutes. But time really drags by when you're bored and hiding in a dark closet by yourself. Seconds seem like hours.
He was just about to get up to his feet and leave, when he heard vague, murmuring noises. What was it? Daisuke pressed his ear to the tiniest crack in the door and tried desperately to listen. It was...voices. He was saved! It was the voices of two men. After eavesdropping long enough, he gathered that it was Mr. Maki and possibly some repairman.
"I don't know what's wrong with the damn thing," Mr. Maki was saying, "It opened fine before. But yesterday I was looking for my old rag to wipe up the coffee spill in the teacher's lounge, when the door slammed shut, and I got locked in. You can still open it fine from the outside, but in the inside, you're trapped."
The last words echoed in Daisuke's head. 'You're trapped...trapped...TRAPPED.' He put his hand on the knob, slowly twisting it. It wouldn't turn. He *was* trapped. Daisuke dropped his head and hit the door. There was a momentary pause, and then he started pounding his fists against the door.
"Hey! Hello! I'm stuck in here! Open up! Get me out! Open up!" he shouted. But it was useless. He remembered: the closet was semi-soundproof, and...and 'it can only be opened from the outside...' He hoped that Mr. Maki would open the door to demonstrate to the repairman what was wrong.
"Maybe I should open the door and show you," Mr. Maki was saying. Daisuke's prayers seemed to have been answered. Today was just a day of lucky breaks. "Let's just go over to it..." There were footsteps coming closer to the door, and they suddenly stopped.
"Wait a sec, where are my keys?" Mr. Maki asked suddenly. "I seem to have misplaced them."
"The door's already unlocked!" Daisuke yelled. But his shouts went unnoticed.
"Maybe you could show me some other time when you've got your keys," the repairman said. "'Cause right now I've got some other things I've got to get to..."
Daisuke kicked the door, but it only made his foot hurt really badly. "No!" he called hoarsely. "No!"
"You're busy, I understand. And I still need to see where I put those stupid keys... Maybe next time then. Thanks for your time." And with that, the voices faded away as the men left.
Daisuke's heart sank. He was truly stuck in the tiny, foul smelling space that was Mr. Maki's supply closet. And he would probably have no way out for a long, long, loooooonnnng time.
* * *
Seconds, minutes, hours dragged by impossibly slowly, and Daisuke had fallen asleep over the course of time. That was, until he heard a noise. It was only a faint sound, but outside, it must have been ear-splittingly loud. It was the fire bell. The sound of hundreds of running footsteps passing by the closet was also hard not to hear.
Daisuke did all he could; slammed on the door, kicked it, screamed, shouted, yelled at the top of his lungs until he thought his vocal cords would become permanently inactive, but it was no use. He was truly trapped, and while the fire went on, he would be stuck in the enclosed space until he passed out from lack of oxygen, or was burned alive. And then...
"Daisuke! Daisuke!" He heard the calls, but he was probably imagining it. Whoever it was couldn't have been saying his name. It was just something that sounded like the name 'Daisuke.' Hopeless, it was perfectly hopeless...
Or was it?
"Hikari, come on!" It was definitely the voice of Takeru. "We've got to go now; the school is probably going to burn down! And Tanaka has a gun! It's not safe to be in here! Let's go!"
"No!" she cried, and the sound afterwards could only be described as a struggle. Or at least, that's what Daisuke figured it was. "Let me go, Takeru, I've got to find him!"
"Daisuke probably left a long time ago! Didn't you see at lunch; he shoved a piece of mystery meat in Tanaka's face! Tanaka probably started this because of him, and so I know Daisuke fled way back then. Come on!" He tugged harder on her, but she wriggled away.
"I'm sorry, but I've just got to find him! I know he's here somewhere. Now please, just let me try and find him. He'll die if I don't do something! I don't know how I know it, but I do! He's here, Takeru, I'm sure of it!" she said hysterically.
"I can't let you do this! You can't even be sure--!"
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," she told him firmly. "Just let me go..."
Finally, they quieted. Takeru must have released his grip on her. "Okay," he mumbled. "But if anything happens -- if you run into Tanaka, or anything at all -- just run. Come back. Hikari, if you die, or anything happens, I won't be able to forgive myself."
"It's not your fault, okay?" she whispered, crying. "I just have to do this...I'm sorry, Takeru!" And then she ran off, getting closer and closer to the closet.
"Hikari!" Daisuke called as his last hope. "I'm in here!"
The door suddenly opened. The light blinded him for a minute. But once his eyes adjusted, he saw who it was. She had heard him. She found him. Or she just somehow knew. Whatever happened, there she was. It was Hikari. Her face broke out into a smile, and she ran to him and gave him a tremendous hug. "Daisuke! You're all right..."
* * *
It was all a dream. Everything. The fire bell, the gun threat and Tanaka, Hikari escaping from Takeru to rescue him, and finally coming to the door. It was all just a stupid dream.
But Daisuke was finally awake, and he had to face reality. He was trapped alone in that closet. He would probably be trapped for a long time. And Hikari sure as hell wasn't going to rescue him. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps coming closet. He didn't see the knob turn.
The door suddenly opened. The light from the hallway temporarily blinded him, and Daisuke raised his arms to shield the light. His eyes adjusted, and he put down his arms to see who it was.
He was seeing things. There was no other way to explain it. He had been trapped in the janitor's closet, hoping, wishing, praying that the one person he wanted most to see in the world would come and rescue him. And here she was.
The one and only: Hikari Yagami.
He blinked a few more times. He pinched himself several times. It hurt. Hard. Very, very hard. He winced, but it still wouldn't convince him. Being locked in the closet was making him see things. It was probably the fat, old, mean monster of a janitor, Mr. Maki, coming to get the mop to clean up the puke in the boys' bathroom.
But it wasn't. Because *she* finally spoke. "Daisuke, what are you doing in here?" Hikari asked, walking into the closet.
"Don't close that--!" he cried out, but it was far too late. The door slammed with a loud 'THUD!' and made a 'click' noise as to remind them they were stuck.
"What's wrong?" she asked curiously, studying his face. However, it was too dark to see anything clearly. But she got the point. "This door...it wouldn't happen to be *locked,* would it?" she asked hesitantly. He didn't even have to answer. She turned around, reached for the knob and turned it. It wouldn't turn. Yup, they were locked in.
"Great, so we're both locked in," Daisuke said with a depressed sigh. Then it finally struck him. Kari. Him. Alone. Locked in closet alone together for god knows how long. He felt like the luckiest guy on the planet at that moment. A huge grin spread across his face, but then that grin faded a little...
Hikari sat down on an upturned bucket and rested her chin on her fists. Boy, it was a funny feeling bucket...
"Um...Hikari...? You're kind of...ummm...sitting on my lap," he said uncomfortably. Sure, it was what he had always dreamed of, all right, but when it actually happened, he froze.
She blushed a deep red, but he couldn't see it through the dark. "I'm sorry!" she said, and apologized profusely, and then sat on a proper bucket, too embarrassed to say a word.
* * *
The two were both silent for a long time after that embarrassing moment. (For Daisuke, a startling accomplishment.) They didn't talk, they surely didn't call for help (especially not Daisuke), and they hardly breathed aloud. It was too still for Daisuke's likes.
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer...take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall," he sang softly to himself. Then again, any sort of noise in that small, enclosed space was loud, and it echoed.
Hikari wasn't too annoyed at first; she was really used to that song. Her older brother, Taichi, would sing it all the time, especially when he rode on busses or in long car rides. Daisuke's singing on the other hand, sounded like a combination of glass breaking, nasal ducks quacking, and screechy cats in an alley. She started getting really ticked off, but she managed to restrain herself for a surprisingly long time.
"Fourteen bottles of beer on the wall...fourteen bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, thirteen bottles of beer on the wall!" As the time had passed, his voice had gotten louder and more confident. Now he was singing as loud as he could in a terrible opera impression.
Finally, Hikari snapped. "Will you please cut it out?!" she cried, extremely annoyed.
Daisuke's spirits dropped. "But I only had thirteen bottles left! That's the closest I've ever gotten without anyone slapping on some earmuffs and still telling me to shut up and screaming out death threats!"
"I wonder why," she grumbled, sticking her fingers into her ears as he continued the last thirteen verses.
* * *
Daisuke's voice left him right as he hit the last bottle. So he stopped. And it was quiet for a very, very long time. Hikari was grateful for the silence. Finally, she was able to just get some rest.
She wasn't as lucky as she thought. Daisuke spoke up again. "So...uh...not that I'm ungrateful of your company -- quite the opposite, really...but...um..." he cleared his throat, and then finished, "why are you here, Hikari?"
She slid off the bucket, drew her knees to her chest, and hugged them tightly. "Well...after the whole thing with you and Tanaka...he came back to the lunchroom and started the biggest food fight in the history of the school, I'm sure. A bunch of people are in detention right about now. They needed some people to clean up, so I volunteered. Everyone thinks it's because I'm a goody-two-shoes and I enjoy helping out and sucking up to teachers like that, but to tell the truth...it's because I can't stand Mr. Hiroshi's lectures. He just drones on and on and on about how nouns, verbs, and adjectives are important...and it's was first grade work, really, and he just goes on and on and on like it's so completely fascinating."
"Exactly!" Daisuke exclaimed. "Even you agree with me!"
"What's that's supposed to mean?" she asked defensively. "Don't tell me you're one of those people convinced I'm perfect in every way -- never mind, I should have known all along."
"Do you think I'm that obsessed with you?" he asked, seeming appalled.
She nodded. "Well, yes... I mean... Um -- uh -- Does this mean you aren't?"
"You and me...we think we know each other so well, but the truth is...even after being Digidestined together and all, we don't know all too much. I have this vision of you as some flawless goddess, and you think I'm a total idiot..."
"I don't think you're a total idiot!" she said in amazement. "Where did you come up with this?"
"Oh, come on," he protested. "Try to read my mind. Chances are, whatever your conception of what I'm thinking is, it'll be something totally stupid and dense. Try it."
"Ummm..." she said hesitantly. "You're thinking...you're thinking...that I can't think what you're thinking?" she guessed.
He rolled his eyes. "Just give it a try at least."
"Okay," she agreed, and thought long and hard. "You're thinking...that this closet is the make-out spot, and--"
"What?!" Daisuke said loudly. "You think I'm that perverted?"
"But it is!"
"I didn't even know that!" he argued. "Just my point...you think I'm that brainless and obsessed with you."
"You're right," Hikari said with a sigh. "We do make too many assumptions about each other. We stereotype, assume...but we really don't have a clue about the truth. So what are we going to do about that?"
"We're locked in a closet with no way out," he replied. "I say we have plenty of time to learn about each other right now. We can have a nice conversation about our lives, ourselves... And once we get out of here, we'll know so much about each other that we'll know more than we know ourselves, and we'll just be completely sick of each other."
"I don't think that'll happen," she said with a smile. "But this talking thing...what a good idea."
"Yeah," he agreed. "So...ummm...yeah."
"Well...the weather's nice," Hikari suggested.
"Yeah, it is," he said quickly, "but I was thinking we should talk about ourselves, you know?"
"All right...where to begin... So...so you like soccer?" she said weakly.
Daisuke groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Well this has started off really badly... I'm beginning to think this was a crappy idea and I am as stupid as everyone thinks."
"No, no, it's nothing like that... It's just weird getting a conversation started. We're trying way too hard," she explained. "It was a good idea. You're not stupid, all right?" She hesitated. "Okay...you are, sometimes. Like when you always have all those dumb little comments about things that are just so stupid..."
"I do that a lot, huh?" he asked. "Well, what about you?" he retorted.
She glared at him. "What about me?"
"Well -- you know -- how you always do that -- that thing...and you...ummm...you -- you know?"
Hikari stared at him blankly. "What do you mean, Daisuke? What *do* I do?"
"You -- you -- I don't know what you do!" he cried. "I mean...I'm the stupid one, Takeru's the one supposedly with two personalities, Miyako is just...*Miyako*, and Iori is that whole too mature for his age, Spock kid...and you...you...you're perfect... See, I think you're perfect. But you say you're not, and--"
"Daisuke?"
"And I just wish we knew each other better, and maybe you wouldn't hate me as much, and--" he went on.
"Daisuke!"
"And we just have to try and get somewhere with this conversation, no matter how stupid it seems--"
"DAISUKE!" she yelled loudly. "Cut it out! We're not going to get anywhere if you keep whining that we're going nowhere?! I'll try to have a conversation, really, I will. So how's your life been going lately?"
And Daisuke started talking about what happened to him recently at school, at soccer, at home... And then Hikari would tell some things about herself, and before they knew it...
"Wow, we're actually having a conversation, aren't we?" Hikari asked in surprise.
"Yeah!" Daisuke said excitedly. "Who knew?"
"We just had to stop forcing ourselves into it... I guess talking comes naturally like this. But actually...I was wondering a few things... Like...private things," she said shyly.
"Like what?" he asked, confused.
"So far we've been talking about family, and school, and friends, and that stuff...but what about like...our love lives?"
"I thought we wouldn't get into this," he groaned. "I mean, I just assumed... Because...because you know...me...and how I feel about you... We can't talk about this!"
"Well, why not?" Hikari asked. "Honestly? Just because you feel how you do, and I feel how I do, the bottom line is: we're friends, and--"
Daisuke looked up in surprise. "We're friends?"
She giggled. "Of course! Why -- why would you think we weren't?"
He shrugged. "I don't know...I thought you guys didn't like me..."
"Not this again," she said firmly. "Okay? We've been talking so much that now we almost do know everything about each other. And we've just always been, haven't we? Acquaintances, at least. But now, in just a few hours or so, it's past there. We could even be best friends soon. So we're friends. Period. And friends can talk about stuff, so..."
"So what?" he asked curiously.
"So..." Hikari paused. They were quiet while she thought about what to ask. "How was your first kiss?" she asked entirely out of the blue.
Daisuke blushed. "Wow, when you say personal, you mean it, don't you? Well, I -- uh, I -- errr..." He was hesitating, but Hikari looked at him expectantly. Finally, he hung his head and gave up. "I've never had one, okay? And before you start teasing me and all, let me tell you something. I could have gone and kissed any girl at any time, but no. I want them to want that kiss just as much as I do. I think it should really mean something. Even though we always joke about me trying to get you under the mistletoe and stuff, I really want it to be special and not just any stupid thing where she doesn't have a choice."
"That's very romantic of you, Daisuke." Hikari smiled, and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
His face was bright red. "Oh -- uh -- um -- er -- thanks," he stammered, "--I -- I guess."
This only caused Hikari to smile more. "You're awfully cute when you're shy like this," she remarked, only making his face flush a deeper shade of red. There was a long moment of silence between them, a little awkward and uncomfortable, mostly for Daisuke.
Finally, Hikari stopped laughing. "I'm really sorry, Daisuke...for teasing you like that. Takeru was right; sometimes I mess with your heart too much. But I don't really mean to. I guess I'm just to nervous to explain how I really feel for you."
He looked at her nervously. "How -- how do you feel for me?"
"I -- I -- I --" she faltered. "I really don't know. That's the truth. I'm just confused... You...Takeru...all the other cute boys..."
"You think I'm cute?" he asked, a small grin spreading across his lips.
"Don't be so cocky," she scolded him. "I don't think I like you *that* much."
His smile faded.
"I was kidding!" she said. "But really...I don't know. So don't go around gloating to Takeru about anything..."
"What do you think about Takeru?" he asked bluntly.
Hikari blushed now. "Well, there's that whole best friend aspect of it...and the fact that he's practically my second brother. I think it goes beyond that, but I'm too scared to admit it, or there's just really nothing there besides the friendship feelings. But I like him."
And right when she said that last sentence, the door opened. Their eyes adjusted, and they realized it was Takeru.
"Today's just the day off odd coincidences, isn't it?" Daisuke asked mainly to himself, but he said it aloud.
"Hikari! That's where you are! I knew you'd never ditch a class if you could help it!" Takeru exclaimed.
Daisuke and Hikari exchanged smiling glances.
"So come on. Mr. Hiroshi and everyone else were wondering about you. After all, you don't want to miss his lecture on the importance of nouns and adjectives and verbs." He extended his hand to her. "Come on, I'll help you up."
She hesitated, looking back at Daisuke, then to Takeru, and back again, trying to make up her mind. Daisuke didn't say anything, just waited patiently for her decision.
Takeru looked at her, puzzled. "Well, Hikari? Don't you want to get out? You've been trapped in there for hours! I mean, what did you guys do?" He paused. "You know this is the make-out spot, right?"
Hikari giggled softly. Daisuke returned the grin.
Takeru looked at them with an odd expression on his face. "...Did I miss something...?" he asked slowly.
"Nothing at all," Daisuke said mysteriously.
"Yup. Nothing at all," Hikari repeated. "Now why don't you go along back to class and tell Mr. Hiroshi that we won't be able to make it." Daisuke stared at her, wide-eyed. She just winked at him, gave Takeru an innocent smile and a wave, and then leaned over and shut the door. Daisuke and Hikari probably wouldn't be out for a long, long, loooooonnnng time.
By Firenze
A/N: Finally, this is actually something other than a 'Tai is depressed because Sora and Matt are together' fic that deals with the 'A Very Digi Christmas' episode. It doesn't even involve Tai or Sora or Matt at all. Proud? You bet I am. Anyway, about this fic... After foolishly picking a fight with the school bully, Daisuke is forced to hide in the janitor's closet...and gets locked in. Then someone unexpected shows up and gets stuck in there along with him... This takes place when Daisuke, Hikari, and Takeru are like fifteen or sixteen or something. Some characters were based off my teachers and classmates.
Disclaimer: Digimon doesn't belong to me. Duh. If you didn't know that, I'm -- and everyone else should be -- very worried about you.
* * *
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock...
Daisuke stared intently at the clock, as it ticked that same repetitive noise over and over and over... Its rhythm pounded in his head, and he felt himself starting to go insane. When would the bell ring?!
All the while, Mr. Hiroshi, his core teacher, and teacher for literature, grammar, and history, droned on and on and on about how nouns, verbs, and adjectives were important. It was first grade work, really, and he just kept going at it, like it was so damn fascinating. (True story too; only thing is, my teacher's name isn't Mr. Hiroshi)
Time seemed to be going in slow motion. Something must have been wrong with the school clocks. This always happened right before summer vacation started too. He began to feel it was a conspiracy. The school set it up, didn't they? Yup, he was going insane. But that bell just wasn't ever going to ring...
It rang.
Daisuke scooped all his stuff into his arms, shoved them into his backpack, and zoomed off before the word 'dismissed' could even escape his teacher's lips. He dashed through the hallways, narrowly missing some students getting things out of their lockers.
"Hey!" someone shouted furiously, as he knocked them down, made their backpack come open, and leave a shower of papers falling down.
Daisuke didn't even notice; he was already too far ahead. He zipped past Miyako, who scolded him. "Where are you going?" she called after him.
"To my favorite class!" he replied, hurdling over trashcans and running as fast as he possibly could without falling over when he came to a straight-away entirely clear of students. Finally, he skidded to a stop in front of a door.
"Daisuke," a lady said pleasantly. "You're point five (0.5) seconds earlier than you were yesterday."
He was bent over and panting heavily, but managed to produce a smile. "Can't be late for my favorite class." He pushed the door open and walked into the cafeteria.
* * *
Daisuke placed a bowl of green Jell-O on his tray and then went to go pay for his lunch.
Takeru, standing in front of him in the line, looked at his tray and scrunched up his face. "I can't believe you got the mystery meat. It's blue, for crying out loud. The real mystery isn't what it is; it's a mystery how anyone can eat it."
He just shrugged. "It tastes like chicken. I like it." Takeru just pretended to barf, and then went forward to pay.
"I'm glad you like that mystery meat, Motimiya," a gruff voice said. "It's just too bad you're going to have to eat it through a tube when I'm done with you."
Daisuke froze and whimpered, hoping it wasn't whom he thought it was. But it was. His hands slightly trembled and his mashed potatoes fell off his plate. Hiroshi Tanaka, the biggest, fiercest, strongest, and scariest bully in the school scooped the mound into his hand and shoved it into Daisuke's face, smearing it all over.
Daisuke was too horrified to do anything. "W--what's up, T-T-Tanaka?" he asked, st--st--stuttering, spitting out a mouthful of potatoes.
"While you were running your Olympic race through the hallways, you slammed my head into my locker," he barked. He removed his left hand from his forehead and revealed a disgusting, bloody wound. Daisuke cringed. "No one makes me bleed and gets away with it."
At this point, Daisuke was out of options. He could: a) make a quick run for it, b) stay there and die, or c) stand up to Tanaka. Option C...yeah right. Only if he wanted to get beaten to a bloody pulp would he attempt option C. Then again, wouldn't that result be inevitable, no matter what he did? He had no idea what he was thinking when he did it; most likely he wasn't thinking at all, but Daisuke wiped the mashed potatoes out of his eyes and off his face, picked up the slab of messy, bluish mystery meat, and smacked Tanaka in the face with it. A split-second didn't even have to pass before Daisuke ran for his life.
Now Tanaka may have been big and strong, but it was a different way then expected. Sure, he was big: he weighed nearly 300 pounds; and he was strong: meaning if he sat on someone, their bones would get crushed; but he was really, really fat and out of shape. He couldn't run two steps before he fell flat on the floor, exhausted.
Daisuke had never been gladder he always ran to lunch. Everyone had always gotten mad at him for hitting them or knocking them over, or just plain thought he was an idiot. But this pointless act really paid off. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, leaving Tanaka to try and stomp after him.
He ran down all the hallways, backtracking his way to his core classroom. But he couldn't go in there; a class was in there. And he wouldn't even want to go into a classroom if he could. The vague thought of running to the boys' bathroom entered his mind, but then Tanaka would just corner him; besides, it was all the way across campus.
He kept running when a door caught his eye. The janitor's closet was the nearest place. He ran a quick list of pros and cons in his head. Con: If Tanaka caught him in there, he was completely trapped with no way of escape. Con: It was partially soundproof, and his screams of agony wouldn't be heard by many. Con: There were a lot of places you could hide a corpse in the janitor's closet. Pro...pro...what was a pro?
A light bulb flashed in Daisuke's head. Pro: Tanaka was way too fat to fit in that tiny closet, let alone squeeze through the doorway. This was good enough for him. He made a mad dash for the closet, praying that it wasn't locked. God must have been feeling sorry for him, or it just wasn't his day to die, but for the first time ever, the door was unlocked. What a strange twist of luck that day, Mr. Maki, the janitor, didn't lock it like he always did. Daisuke wrenched the door open, flung himself in, and closed the door behind himself.
The closet was pretty small, and smelled like lemon polish and Windex. It was dark and there was a cold chill in there. Almost kind of scary. Daisuke sat down and shivers instantly ran up his spine. His jeans were wet. Was he so scared that he had peed in his pants?
No. He had just sat down in a bucket full of water. He forced himself to calm down and breathe evenly. He had no reason to worry. Tanaka would never find him. He didn't have the brains to realize Daisuke wouldn't run in a straight line forever.
A few seconds later, Daisuke heard felt the ground rumbling and heard loud thudding steps. He knew it was Tanaka walking by. And he continued right past the janitor's closet, obviously confused.
Daisuke let out a sigh of relief, but the danger hadn't passed yet. He probably had to wait a few more minutes before it was safe to go back out. His watch wasn't one of those luminous ones with a light so you could read the time in the dark, so he just waited for as long as it seemed was ten to twenty minutes. But time really drags by when you're bored and hiding in a dark closet by yourself. Seconds seem like hours.
He was just about to get up to his feet and leave, when he heard vague, murmuring noises. What was it? Daisuke pressed his ear to the tiniest crack in the door and tried desperately to listen. It was...voices. He was saved! It was the voices of two men. After eavesdropping long enough, he gathered that it was Mr. Maki and possibly some repairman.
"I don't know what's wrong with the damn thing," Mr. Maki was saying, "It opened fine before. But yesterday I was looking for my old rag to wipe up the coffee spill in the teacher's lounge, when the door slammed shut, and I got locked in. You can still open it fine from the outside, but in the inside, you're trapped."
The last words echoed in Daisuke's head. 'You're trapped...trapped...TRAPPED.' He put his hand on the knob, slowly twisting it. It wouldn't turn. He *was* trapped. Daisuke dropped his head and hit the door. There was a momentary pause, and then he started pounding his fists against the door.
"Hey! Hello! I'm stuck in here! Open up! Get me out! Open up!" he shouted. But it was useless. He remembered: the closet was semi-soundproof, and...and 'it can only be opened from the outside...' He hoped that Mr. Maki would open the door to demonstrate to the repairman what was wrong.
"Maybe I should open the door and show you," Mr. Maki was saying. Daisuke's prayers seemed to have been answered. Today was just a day of lucky breaks. "Let's just go over to it..." There were footsteps coming closer to the door, and they suddenly stopped.
"Wait a sec, where are my keys?" Mr. Maki asked suddenly. "I seem to have misplaced them."
"The door's already unlocked!" Daisuke yelled. But his shouts went unnoticed.
"Maybe you could show me some other time when you've got your keys," the repairman said. "'Cause right now I've got some other things I've got to get to..."
Daisuke kicked the door, but it only made his foot hurt really badly. "No!" he called hoarsely. "No!"
"You're busy, I understand. And I still need to see where I put those stupid keys... Maybe next time then. Thanks for your time." And with that, the voices faded away as the men left.
Daisuke's heart sank. He was truly stuck in the tiny, foul smelling space that was Mr. Maki's supply closet. And he would probably have no way out for a long, long, loooooonnnng time.
* * *
Seconds, minutes, hours dragged by impossibly slowly, and Daisuke had fallen asleep over the course of time. That was, until he heard a noise. It was only a faint sound, but outside, it must have been ear-splittingly loud. It was the fire bell. The sound of hundreds of running footsteps passing by the closet was also hard not to hear.
Daisuke did all he could; slammed on the door, kicked it, screamed, shouted, yelled at the top of his lungs until he thought his vocal cords would become permanently inactive, but it was no use. He was truly trapped, and while the fire went on, he would be stuck in the enclosed space until he passed out from lack of oxygen, or was burned alive. And then...
"Daisuke! Daisuke!" He heard the calls, but he was probably imagining it. Whoever it was couldn't have been saying his name. It was just something that sounded like the name 'Daisuke.' Hopeless, it was perfectly hopeless...
Or was it?
"Hikari, come on!" It was definitely the voice of Takeru. "We've got to go now; the school is probably going to burn down! And Tanaka has a gun! It's not safe to be in here! Let's go!"
"No!" she cried, and the sound afterwards could only be described as a struggle. Or at least, that's what Daisuke figured it was. "Let me go, Takeru, I've got to find him!"
"Daisuke probably left a long time ago! Didn't you see at lunch; he shoved a piece of mystery meat in Tanaka's face! Tanaka probably started this because of him, and so I know Daisuke fled way back then. Come on!" He tugged harder on her, but she wriggled away.
"I'm sorry, but I've just got to find him! I know he's here somewhere. Now please, just let me try and find him. He'll die if I don't do something! I don't know how I know it, but I do! He's here, Takeru, I'm sure of it!" she said hysterically.
"I can't let you do this! You can't even be sure--!"
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," she told him firmly. "Just let me go..."
Finally, they quieted. Takeru must have released his grip on her. "Okay," he mumbled. "But if anything happens -- if you run into Tanaka, or anything at all -- just run. Come back. Hikari, if you die, or anything happens, I won't be able to forgive myself."
"It's not your fault, okay?" she whispered, crying. "I just have to do this...I'm sorry, Takeru!" And then she ran off, getting closer and closer to the closet.
"Hikari!" Daisuke called as his last hope. "I'm in here!"
The door suddenly opened. The light blinded him for a minute. But once his eyes adjusted, he saw who it was. She had heard him. She found him. Or she just somehow knew. Whatever happened, there she was. It was Hikari. Her face broke out into a smile, and she ran to him and gave him a tremendous hug. "Daisuke! You're all right..."
* * *
It was all a dream. Everything. The fire bell, the gun threat and Tanaka, Hikari escaping from Takeru to rescue him, and finally coming to the door. It was all just a stupid dream.
But Daisuke was finally awake, and he had to face reality. He was trapped alone in that closet. He would probably be trapped for a long time. And Hikari sure as hell wasn't going to rescue him. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps coming closet. He didn't see the knob turn.
The door suddenly opened. The light from the hallway temporarily blinded him, and Daisuke raised his arms to shield the light. His eyes adjusted, and he put down his arms to see who it was.
He was seeing things. There was no other way to explain it. He had been trapped in the janitor's closet, hoping, wishing, praying that the one person he wanted most to see in the world would come and rescue him. And here she was.
The one and only: Hikari Yagami.
He blinked a few more times. He pinched himself several times. It hurt. Hard. Very, very hard. He winced, but it still wouldn't convince him. Being locked in the closet was making him see things. It was probably the fat, old, mean monster of a janitor, Mr. Maki, coming to get the mop to clean up the puke in the boys' bathroom.
But it wasn't. Because *she* finally spoke. "Daisuke, what are you doing in here?" Hikari asked, walking into the closet.
"Don't close that--!" he cried out, but it was far too late. The door slammed with a loud 'THUD!' and made a 'click' noise as to remind them they were stuck.
"What's wrong?" she asked curiously, studying his face. However, it was too dark to see anything clearly. But she got the point. "This door...it wouldn't happen to be *locked,* would it?" she asked hesitantly. He didn't even have to answer. She turned around, reached for the knob and turned it. It wouldn't turn. Yup, they were locked in.
"Great, so we're both locked in," Daisuke said with a depressed sigh. Then it finally struck him. Kari. Him. Alone. Locked in closet alone together for god knows how long. He felt like the luckiest guy on the planet at that moment. A huge grin spread across his face, but then that grin faded a little...
Hikari sat down on an upturned bucket and rested her chin on her fists. Boy, it was a funny feeling bucket...
"Um...Hikari...? You're kind of...ummm...sitting on my lap," he said uncomfortably. Sure, it was what he had always dreamed of, all right, but when it actually happened, he froze.
She blushed a deep red, but he couldn't see it through the dark. "I'm sorry!" she said, and apologized profusely, and then sat on a proper bucket, too embarrassed to say a word.
* * *
The two were both silent for a long time after that embarrassing moment. (For Daisuke, a startling accomplishment.) They didn't talk, they surely didn't call for help (especially not Daisuke), and they hardly breathed aloud. It was too still for Daisuke's likes.
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer...take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall," he sang softly to himself. Then again, any sort of noise in that small, enclosed space was loud, and it echoed.
Hikari wasn't too annoyed at first; she was really used to that song. Her older brother, Taichi, would sing it all the time, especially when he rode on busses or in long car rides. Daisuke's singing on the other hand, sounded like a combination of glass breaking, nasal ducks quacking, and screechy cats in an alley. She started getting really ticked off, but she managed to restrain herself for a surprisingly long time.
"Fourteen bottles of beer on the wall...fourteen bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, thirteen bottles of beer on the wall!" As the time had passed, his voice had gotten louder and more confident. Now he was singing as loud as he could in a terrible opera impression.
Finally, Hikari snapped. "Will you please cut it out?!" she cried, extremely annoyed.
Daisuke's spirits dropped. "But I only had thirteen bottles left! That's the closest I've ever gotten without anyone slapping on some earmuffs and still telling me to shut up and screaming out death threats!"
"I wonder why," she grumbled, sticking her fingers into her ears as he continued the last thirteen verses.
* * *
Daisuke's voice left him right as he hit the last bottle. So he stopped. And it was quiet for a very, very long time. Hikari was grateful for the silence. Finally, she was able to just get some rest.
She wasn't as lucky as she thought. Daisuke spoke up again. "So...uh...not that I'm ungrateful of your company -- quite the opposite, really...but...um..." he cleared his throat, and then finished, "why are you here, Hikari?"
She slid off the bucket, drew her knees to her chest, and hugged them tightly. "Well...after the whole thing with you and Tanaka...he came back to the lunchroom and started the biggest food fight in the history of the school, I'm sure. A bunch of people are in detention right about now. They needed some people to clean up, so I volunteered. Everyone thinks it's because I'm a goody-two-shoes and I enjoy helping out and sucking up to teachers like that, but to tell the truth...it's because I can't stand Mr. Hiroshi's lectures. He just drones on and on and on about how nouns, verbs, and adjectives are important...and it's was first grade work, really, and he just goes on and on and on like it's so completely fascinating."
"Exactly!" Daisuke exclaimed. "Even you agree with me!"
"What's that's supposed to mean?" she asked defensively. "Don't tell me you're one of those people convinced I'm perfect in every way -- never mind, I should have known all along."
"Do you think I'm that obsessed with you?" he asked, seeming appalled.
She nodded. "Well, yes... I mean... Um -- uh -- Does this mean you aren't?"
"You and me...we think we know each other so well, but the truth is...even after being Digidestined together and all, we don't know all too much. I have this vision of you as some flawless goddess, and you think I'm a total idiot..."
"I don't think you're a total idiot!" she said in amazement. "Where did you come up with this?"
"Oh, come on," he protested. "Try to read my mind. Chances are, whatever your conception of what I'm thinking is, it'll be something totally stupid and dense. Try it."
"Ummm..." she said hesitantly. "You're thinking...you're thinking...that I can't think what you're thinking?" she guessed.
He rolled his eyes. "Just give it a try at least."
"Okay," she agreed, and thought long and hard. "You're thinking...that this closet is the make-out spot, and--"
"What?!" Daisuke said loudly. "You think I'm that perverted?"
"But it is!"
"I didn't even know that!" he argued. "Just my point...you think I'm that brainless and obsessed with you."
"You're right," Hikari said with a sigh. "We do make too many assumptions about each other. We stereotype, assume...but we really don't have a clue about the truth. So what are we going to do about that?"
"We're locked in a closet with no way out," he replied. "I say we have plenty of time to learn about each other right now. We can have a nice conversation about our lives, ourselves... And once we get out of here, we'll know so much about each other that we'll know more than we know ourselves, and we'll just be completely sick of each other."
"I don't think that'll happen," she said with a smile. "But this talking thing...what a good idea."
"Yeah," he agreed. "So...ummm...yeah."
"Well...the weather's nice," Hikari suggested.
"Yeah, it is," he said quickly, "but I was thinking we should talk about ourselves, you know?"
"All right...where to begin... So...so you like soccer?" she said weakly.
Daisuke groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Well this has started off really badly... I'm beginning to think this was a crappy idea and I am as stupid as everyone thinks."
"No, no, it's nothing like that... It's just weird getting a conversation started. We're trying way too hard," she explained. "It was a good idea. You're not stupid, all right?" She hesitated. "Okay...you are, sometimes. Like when you always have all those dumb little comments about things that are just so stupid..."
"I do that a lot, huh?" he asked. "Well, what about you?" he retorted.
She glared at him. "What about me?"
"Well -- you know -- how you always do that -- that thing...and you...ummm...you -- you know?"
Hikari stared at him blankly. "What do you mean, Daisuke? What *do* I do?"
"You -- you -- I don't know what you do!" he cried. "I mean...I'm the stupid one, Takeru's the one supposedly with two personalities, Miyako is just...*Miyako*, and Iori is that whole too mature for his age, Spock kid...and you...you...you're perfect... See, I think you're perfect. But you say you're not, and--"
"Daisuke?"
"And I just wish we knew each other better, and maybe you wouldn't hate me as much, and--" he went on.
"Daisuke!"
"And we just have to try and get somewhere with this conversation, no matter how stupid it seems--"
"DAISUKE!" she yelled loudly. "Cut it out! We're not going to get anywhere if you keep whining that we're going nowhere?! I'll try to have a conversation, really, I will. So how's your life been going lately?"
And Daisuke started talking about what happened to him recently at school, at soccer, at home... And then Hikari would tell some things about herself, and before they knew it...
"Wow, we're actually having a conversation, aren't we?" Hikari asked in surprise.
"Yeah!" Daisuke said excitedly. "Who knew?"
"We just had to stop forcing ourselves into it... I guess talking comes naturally like this. But actually...I was wondering a few things... Like...private things," she said shyly.
"Like what?" he asked, confused.
"So far we've been talking about family, and school, and friends, and that stuff...but what about like...our love lives?"
"I thought we wouldn't get into this," he groaned. "I mean, I just assumed... Because...because you know...me...and how I feel about you... We can't talk about this!"
"Well, why not?" Hikari asked. "Honestly? Just because you feel how you do, and I feel how I do, the bottom line is: we're friends, and--"
Daisuke looked up in surprise. "We're friends?"
She giggled. "Of course! Why -- why would you think we weren't?"
He shrugged. "I don't know...I thought you guys didn't like me..."
"Not this again," she said firmly. "Okay? We've been talking so much that now we almost do know everything about each other. And we've just always been, haven't we? Acquaintances, at least. But now, in just a few hours or so, it's past there. We could even be best friends soon. So we're friends. Period. And friends can talk about stuff, so..."
"So what?" he asked curiously.
"So..." Hikari paused. They were quiet while she thought about what to ask. "How was your first kiss?" she asked entirely out of the blue.
Daisuke blushed. "Wow, when you say personal, you mean it, don't you? Well, I -- uh, I -- errr..." He was hesitating, but Hikari looked at him expectantly. Finally, he hung his head and gave up. "I've never had one, okay? And before you start teasing me and all, let me tell you something. I could have gone and kissed any girl at any time, but no. I want them to want that kiss just as much as I do. I think it should really mean something. Even though we always joke about me trying to get you under the mistletoe and stuff, I really want it to be special and not just any stupid thing where she doesn't have a choice."
"That's very romantic of you, Daisuke." Hikari smiled, and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
His face was bright red. "Oh -- uh -- um -- er -- thanks," he stammered, "--I -- I guess."
This only caused Hikari to smile more. "You're awfully cute when you're shy like this," she remarked, only making his face flush a deeper shade of red. There was a long moment of silence between them, a little awkward and uncomfortable, mostly for Daisuke.
Finally, Hikari stopped laughing. "I'm really sorry, Daisuke...for teasing you like that. Takeru was right; sometimes I mess with your heart too much. But I don't really mean to. I guess I'm just to nervous to explain how I really feel for you."
He looked at her nervously. "How -- how do you feel for me?"
"I -- I -- I --" she faltered. "I really don't know. That's the truth. I'm just confused... You...Takeru...all the other cute boys..."
"You think I'm cute?" he asked, a small grin spreading across his lips.
"Don't be so cocky," she scolded him. "I don't think I like you *that* much."
His smile faded.
"I was kidding!" she said. "But really...I don't know. So don't go around gloating to Takeru about anything..."
"What do you think about Takeru?" he asked bluntly.
Hikari blushed now. "Well, there's that whole best friend aspect of it...and the fact that he's practically my second brother. I think it goes beyond that, but I'm too scared to admit it, or there's just really nothing there besides the friendship feelings. But I like him."
And right when she said that last sentence, the door opened. Their eyes adjusted, and they realized it was Takeru.
"Today's just the day off odd coincidences, isn't it?" Daisuke asked mainly to himself, but he said it aloud.
"Hikari! That's where you are! I knew you'd never ditch a class if you could help it!" Takeru exclaimed.
Daisuke and Hikari exchanged smiling glances.
"So come on. Mr. Hiroshi and everyone else were wondering about you. After all, you don't want to miss his lecture on the importance of nouns and adjectives and verbs." He extended his hand to her. "Come on, I'll help you up."
She hesitated, looking back at Daisuke, then to Takeru, and back again, trying to make up her mind. Daisuke didn't say anything, just waited patiently for her decision.
Takeru looked at her, puzzled. "Well, Hikari? Don't you want to get out? You've been trapped in there for hours! I mean, what did you guys do?" He paused. "You know this is the make-out spot, right?"
Hikari giggled softly. Daisuke returned the grin.
Takeru looked at them with an odd expression on his face. "...Did I miss something...?" he asked slowly.
"Nothing at all," Daisuke said mysteriously.
"Yup. Nothing at all," Hikari repeated. "Now why don't you go along back to class and tell Mr. Hiroshi that we won't be able to make it." Daisuke stared at her, wide-eyed. She just winked at him, gave Takeru an innocent smile and a wave, and then leaned over and shut the door. Daisuke and Hikari probably wouldn't be out for a long, long, loooooonnnng time.