Title: Nowhere near
Author: Ara Tane
All characters in this short story are property of Toei Animations Inc.
Nowhere near is copyright of the band Summercamp
Kari woke with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. Today was the day of Matt's big concert and she had front row tickets along with Yolei, Kat, Tai, Izzy, Sora, and TK. She had heard TK talking to Davis about the concert and when she found out that Davis wasn't going with them, she was genuinely bummed. She knew how much Davis idolized her big brother and Matt was Tai's best friend. Davis would go and enjoy it because he knew that Tai would be enjoying it too.
She picked out the usual to wear for the day and grabbed her camera, because you never know what you'll see that you might want to remember. She just wished that she had had a camera with her all her life. There was so much that she had been through and she wanted to remember every minute of it. Oh, well… she thought, I'll be sure to take pictures at Matt's concert. I'm so excited!
Kari walked out of her room to find Tai picking at the health food breakfast routinely. Yay… brussel-sprout omelets… She flinched when her mom noticed her and shoved over a plateful.
"Eat up! Since you two are going to be out in town all day today I thought that you would enjoy a big hearty breakfast!" Kari couldn't help but smile at her mom. She always tries so hard… Maybe I should be more like her, only with new recipes.
"Yeah, thanks mom." Kari took a bite and held back the urge to gag. Oh man! And I thought liver-sticks were nasty! She looked over at Tai and could tell that he was having the same feeling about their breakfast. When her mom went into the bathroom they both dumped their plates in Miko's bowl.
"Mom! We're going to meet Matt and TK at the concert hall!" Tai called out just before he shut the door behind them.
Kari pulled out her cell phone. "I'm going to call Yolei and everyone and ask them if they want to meet us for breakfast somewhere. Mom was right about us eating a good breakfast. I probably won't get the chance to eat again until after the concert is over. And even then, I'll probably be so tired that I won't care about anything but my bed."
"I hear ya'. Only I've been up since six thinking about what I'm going to say to Sora. Then again, I had to get up to practice…" Tai walked ahead of Kari not expecting her to be paying much attention to what he was saying.
Too bad for him, she was listening, "What do you mean practice Tai?" She watched half of the facial expression he made since she could only see half of his face.
"Just what it means, I was practicing." Tai smirked, pleased with his smart remark.
"Well, what were you practicing Tai?"
"Yeah Tai, what were you practicing?" Davis was heard to their left. He had a smile that said he already knew what Tai was talking about and just played along, not wanting Kari to know their secret.
But Kari was not easily swayed, "Hey Tai, that's not fair if Davis knows and I don't! Tell me!" Kari never probed anyone for anything, except her brother.
"I can't tell you Kari! All I can say is that Davis and I have to go to the concert hall with Matt after breakfast…"
The air in the concert hall was thick with thousands of voices, all anticipating the moment when Matt and his fellow players would step out on stage. The moment came and the roar was deafening. The first few bars were played and Kari knew that this night would not be forgotten. She snapped a picture of Matt as he sang the first few lines. After a while she looked over at Yolei who was singing along, smiling with the confidence that came with knowing she had done a good job with the sound system. After a few songs had played she noticed that Ken had actually relaxed and was moving to the beat. She danced along with him and Sora. She turned to see if Tai was enjoying the show as much as she was and gasped when she saw that he had left. Why did he leave? This is his favorite song. Why on earth would Tai leave? She expressed her distress to Ken and Sora and they told her not to worry.
"He probably went to the bathroom or to get a burger or something. Don't worry about it!" Kari could barely hear Ken even though she could tell that he was yelling almost as loud as he could. Kari's tension eased. If Ken's not worried then why should I be? He's probably right, Tai barely ate anything at breakfast and probably didn't eat anything at lunch either.
The music played and went by in a plethora of beats and sounds. If sounds were colors, I have millions! Kari thought to herself happily and soon forgot that Tai was gone.
That was until he walked out on stage next to Davis. "Oh my god! Davis what are you doing?" She heard herself just as she heard Sora say the same thing to Tai. Kari looked at Tai who was looking at Sora. She followed his gaze when he looked to Davis and she almost jumped when she saw that Davis had been looking at her. Davis, what are you doing?
"Davis…" Kari spoke as he began to sing.
"I don't wanna waste your time, make you hang around thinking you've done wrong, you can only wait for me for so long. I ain't comin out or provin nothin, cuz I know it's always somethin, and how you, value your time alone. So I'm outta here, cuz I know I'm nowhere near, what you want, what you want, what you're lookin for. I don't wanna make you smile, only to see it all turned around, when you decide that I've just let you down. I ain't makin up my mind just yet, how easy I forget, just how you, add to my confusion. So I'm outta here, cuz I know I'm nowhere near, what you want, what you want, what you're looking for." Kari unconsciously realized that he was talking about her and saw his eyes soften, "If I'm breakin your heart, you'll always know where mine got it's start, it's better like this anyway. If your world has fall'n apart, maybe you'll find me in the dark, searching for the right thing to say. But I don't wanna waste your time, make you hang around thinkin you've done wrong, you can only wait for me for so long. So I'm outta here, cuz I know I'm nowhere near, what you want, what you want, what you're looking for. What you want, what you want, what you're looking for. What you want, what you want, what you're looking for."
A single tear rolled down Davis' cheek as he took a bow and looked at Kari one more time before he left the stage. Kari looked towards Tai and realized that he had been singing for Sora, and that he, too, was crying for her. Oh Tai… Why tonight? Why Davis? And why, oh why me?!