A/N: This is a follow-up to "Light and Lies" but can be read as a stand-alone without much confusion. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 01: Girls' Night In
"Here, Hikari. Open wide."
One of the major benefits of being close friends with the hostess of a sensational online cooking tutorial series was the taste-testing. Hikari Yagami felt a spoonful of moist western-style cake slip into her mouth and her eyes lit up like her Crest.
"Since Yamato is a quarter-French, I've been playing around with some European elements," Mimi explained. "If I can get the flavors and style right, I'll have both a recipe for the wedding as well as my dish for network auditions."
While her best friend enthusiastically gabbed on about her mentor's exceptional culinary skills, Miyako sat impatiently at the Ishidas' dining room table drumming her fingers. Having been informed of the American custom of "bachelor and bachelorette parties" by Miss Tachikawa, both Yamato and Sora were eager to plan respective Guys' and Girls' Nights but the evening was not as cut-loose or exhilarating as the younger Chosen had been led to believe.
"Are we really just staying in tonight?" she suddenly called out. "Ken said the older boys were preparing for at least one alcohol-induced hospitalization but we're not doing much with these bottles of wine."
"Oh, you've got plenty of whine, Miyako," Mimi playfully chastised before plopping a plate of baked gold onto the table. "Plus it's Sora's wedding. If she wants a quiet night indoors to dish about the boys, we're having a quiet night indoors to dish about the boys."
"Then let's dish about the boys!" Miyako brightened up, hastily refilling their wine glasses to loosen some tongues.
"Okay then, Miyako," Sora giggled excessively, her face a bright red. The grown-up Child of Love was a one-drink maximum pushing four glasses at the moment. Many believed her low-alcohol tolerance was God's gift to help her endure the antics of both man-children that were her soon-to-be husband and her longstanding best friend. "So is gentle Ken still gentle behind closed doors?"
The lavender-haired girl felt her blush building despite only a handful of sips of wine. Waving her hands frantically, she deflected the inquiry with, "Wouldn't you'd rather hear more about Hikari and Takeru?"
In the kitchen, Taichi's sister spat out her drink in surprise. Mimi peered into the mixing bowl in front of Hikari before muttering, "I guess the next cake is going to be alcoholic now" and adding copious amounts of liquor.
"That's right! It's been over a year now and you two had that promise, right, Hikari?" Sora beamed, attempting to clap gleefully but her palms missed one another. "So how devilish have our two angels gotten?"
Miyako sheepishly shot her best friend and apologetic look for throwing her underneath the bus. Hikari, however, missed this silent plead for forgiveness as she was now face down in the mixing bowl, shoveling spatula after spatula of unbaked courage into her gob.
When the young Yagami emerged from the batter and toweled herself off, she was beet-red, although none of the girls could determine whether it was from embarrassment or the Parisian cognac Yamato "accidentally" left behind at the apartment now seeping into the flour and eggs.
"The One Year date was great but we didn't actually do. . . it, " she explained as her hand crept once more for the spatula. Mimi softly slapped the younger girl's hand away before dumping the contents of the mixing bowl into the sink.
"Wha'? *hic*," the pending Mrs. Ishida drawled, one more glass vanished like she was a human Nanimon. "Promises are supposed to be kept, *hic*-ari."
"I know and I was ready," the younger Chosen admitted bashfully, "but Takeru seems so preoccupied lately that I didn't want to push it if both our hearts weren't 100% into it."
"What's got Takeru so riled up that it overrides his teenage hormones?" Miyako pressed, both curious and shocked. "I mean, if Ken so much as touches my elbow, his mind goes blank from blood loss."
"I think you just got your answer, Sora," teased Mimi, eliciting giggle from Miss Takenouchi and a bright blush from Miss Inoue.
"No offense, but I think it's the wedding that's bothering him," Hikari suggested, anxiously staring into the depths of her glass. Chancing a glance at her hostess, the young brunette found not a scowl but a broad grin plastered to Sora's face. With a relieved sigh, she continued, "He doesn't talk about it much, but his parents' divorce defined his childhood as well as a lot of concerns about love and relationships. I think he's just uneasy about the idea of another Ishida marriage."
Sora continued beaming and Hikari pondered if any of her words had registered at all until her senior leaned forward and jutted her index finger at the young Yagami.
"Tell Takeru not to worry *hic* cause I'm the Child. . . Woman. . . of Love," Sora declared cheerfully with a wave of the hand and some involuntary swaying. "Yamato and I are gonna be the *hic* the first stable Ishida marriage and Takeru won't have to worry so much. We'll have babies and they'll have a Gabu-*hic*-mon and a Biyomon and a Gabiyomon and a uh. . . uh. . . ."
Evidently, leaning forward to address her junior Chosen was too drastic a shift in equilibrium for Sora. That or that sixth glass of wine. With a slump and a THUMP, Yamato's fiancée fell face-first into the living room carpet. Silence and tension permeated through the air, dissipated only when a muffled snoring could be heard from beneath the hostess' head of auburn hair.
"Miyako, can you carry Sora over to her bed?" Mimi requested as she met Hikari's eyes, nodding her head towards the dining room table so that they could both take a seat.
The two sat in silence with the exception of Miyako's grunting as she unceremoniously tugged on Sora's leg to drag her to the bedroom. When the lavender-haired girl's groaning sounded far enough away, the rising cooking star abruptly announced with a small smile on her lips:
"You know, Koushiro used to worry he wouldn't be able to raise his own daughter."
Hikari blinked absentmindedly in awe of the gravity of something so random.
"His adoptive parents are wonderful but the rest of Koushiro's biological family generally ignore his existence, which is why he was taken in by such a distant relative, someone thrice removed from his father" she elaborated, her tone calm but acknowledging a latent sadness. "When his own flesh and blood has been apathetic to him for nineteen years, how is he supposed to emotionally connect to the next generation of that same family?"
"Thing is, recently when Koushiro finally had to face his fears," Mimi continued, perking up, "instead of cowering, he said he'd take what he learned from his adoptive father and build a family that could rely on him." Tears pooled in her eyes as she finished, "I'd never been prouder than when he told me he'd find some way to relate to his daughter so that he wouldn't be absent from her life as well."
"Mimi, that's wonderful," beamed Hikari. "But what do you meant Koushiro had to face his fe-"
An innocent glance at Mimi's glass caused the truth to hit the teenage girl like a sack of potatoes.
Has she been drinking only orange juice all night?
"Mimi, are you-"
Glowing with a radiant grin, the young chef explained, "We're waiting to tell everyone. Didn't want to steal the spotlight from the first Chosen wedding."
"Point of the story," she abruptly declared, patting the tears away with her sleeve, "is that sooner than later, Takeru will have to confront the anxieties of his own childhood, just like Koushiro and most likely Yamato did. And we both know that like Yamato and Koushiro, Takeru will make the right choice when that time comes."
"Thanks, Mimi," Hikari meekly smiled back.
After receiving more congratulatory doting from Taichi's sister, the internet idol excused herself from the table to check in on their inebriated hostess and her disgruntled caretaker. Leaning back, Hikari slowly exhaled. Some of the stress remained, but her senior was right: she trusted her boyfriend's judgment. And like Sora and Mimi, she would be there to support her paladin as he faced his own demons.
PING!
Midnight messages on the D-Terminal. Hikari casually flipped the device open.
Speak of the devil.
whenpigsfly: Well good evening, beautiful. And here I though angels rose and retreated with the sun like the brilliant lights they are
PinkPixie: Hey, save the sappy mush for when we're in person and I can mush your cheeks
whenpigsfly: Ok, but you can only squish my cheeks if my words don't make your cheeks blush
PinkPixie: Mimi's wondering why I'm giggling loudly from the next room over
PinkPixie: Can't wait though :)
whenpigsfly: Sudden topic change! How's your night going?
PinkPixie: Lol you're so weird! Writers need better transitions than that!
PinkPixie: But Girls Night has been pretty tame. Little awkward for a few minutes there but quiet again now. Still find it odd how Sora's demeanor flips with a little alcohol. Are you having fun with the boys?
whenpigsfly: It's been a relatively good night, kind of hectic but that was expected to a degree
whenpigsfly: Our brothers and I are trapped in the Digital World though
A/N: Due to holiday-related social obligations and an increased workload, this story is going to be updated at a relatively slower pace than the first one. I'll do my best to release the chapters as soon as possible without compromising the narrative, but bare with me :)
