MISTLETOE
CHRISTMAS 2001: FISHING METAPHORS
He finally said it.
"So, Sora, are you going to the concert with someone, I mean, not that it means anything to me – just wondering."
"Oh, er, I wanted to be available in case Matt was free afterwards," said she, even as a deep blush etched across her face. She somewhat tried to cover the cookie box, but then it was obvious.
Taichi's heart sank. At the back of his mind, he tried to contemplate all those times when he thought she might have been in love with Yamato, but had ignored them as mere nuisances. "So, Matt, huh? It's okay."
He went ahead and placed an understanding hand on her shoulder. Sora looked up, a tinge of guilt and dejection slowly replacing the blush, "You're not mad at me, Tai?"
"No," he said kindly, before he gave a slight push towards the backstage door, "Now go. Say hi to Matt for me."
She hesitated, but then turned and smiled. His insides flipped. Agumon quipped in the middle of it, "The least you could do is leave us the cookies!"
Sora grinned, "Tell you what, I'll make special ones for you." She wheeled, and Tai watched her disappear into the darkness with two other digimons. He then exhaled.
"You've grown up, Tai," said Agumon. Tai was surprised; he had never thought that little yellow thing would see right through him. He patted on Agumon's head comfortingly.
He turned a lane. His footsteps were slow, almost as if he were dragging his body. He hadn't felt this down since three years back when he was rejected from the soccer team. He tried to bring his thoughts to focus, but everything was slightly abstract. What made him feel she might have fallen for him? Was it because of the incident with the hair clip? Or maybe she thought he was just too immature. Maybe.
She was happy though. That ought to lighten him up.
Unfortunately it didn't. He slogged on. Agumon looked concerned.
"Tai..."
"I'm okay, Agumon," he muttered.
As they turned another lane, he encountered a blast of stars under a dash of pink. It was Mimi. Obviously. She looked excited, her eyebrows so high they almost seemed to disappear into her pink hair, even as she flashed her teeth. Oh, Tai thought. He just remembered. Asking Sora out was Mimi's idea. Now he'd have to reiterate his ordeal.
"So...?" She asked. Tai spoke nothing and soon enough, her smile disappeared.
"What happened, Tai?"
"She's going out with Matt," said Tai, trying to sound as matter-of-fact as possible.
"Oh."
"Mimi, I think I need some time alone."
"I'm so sorry, Tai." Her voice grew heavy. Next moment, as Tai helmed at her, he saw her lips had begun trembling and fat tears were free falling down her face.
"Hey, hey, hey," Tai panicked, "Why are you crying?"
"It's my fault..." And her sobs per minute doubled. Tai found the situation slightly comedic, and that unexpectedly lightened his heart.
"Hey, no," he said, trying to be as compassionate as possible, "As they say, there're plenty of other fish in the sea. Just – just stop crying, Mimi."
"It's fishes," she moaned.
"Fish," Tai corrected, "What is America doing to your grammar?" He chuckled.
"Fish is for a single fish. It's fishes when there are a lot of fishes," Mimi stood on her point, albeit still with the sad moan.
"Okay, let's just check over a dictionary, alright?"
"So much for insensitivity, Tai."
"Whaaat? Now what did I do?"
"Fishing metaphors, when you ought to be –"
"Sobbing?"
She broke down into tears again, "You are a jerk."
Tai glanced at Agumon for help. The digimon looked back, powerless and confused.
"Hey, Mimi," he tried to change the subject, "Where's Palmon?"
"She's using my foot spa in the apartment." Some more sobbing. If Tai hadn't known Mimi, he'd have suspected she was coming right from Palmon's funeral.
"Hey, look," Tai sighed, for one final try, "I really appreciated your help. I had to make things clear, didn't I? Good that I know it, all thanks to you. Hey, there's an ice-cream parlour two streets down. Treat's on me. Coming?"
CHRISTMAS 2005: PINK MEDUSA HAIR
Mimi Tachikawa had mixed emotions about her return to Japan.
Breaking down into tears and into a mess was her usual way to obsess over and cope with life's problems. But she was grown out of it now; she had matured – if only a bit. Too mature is boring. And anyway, she liked being a bit of everything. And what is Mimi Tachikawa without a bit of ridiculous.
And that instantly made her feel better. She tore off a page and thought of making a list of everything she could shop. She earned a bit of her own money now, with occasional freelance designing – now she was a bit less of a spoilt brat and a bit more of responsible. She laughed to herself.
No. She reconsidered. She'd rather make a list of all things that would make her return to Japan a real deal.
"Hmm. Let's think." She began scribbling.
- The City Mall (Forever 21 store, YES!)
- Being the NEW GIRL at school (?)
- Joe Kido's house (the cityscape from the rooftop, whoa. *_*)
- Christmas at Sora Takenouchi's (the BFF from Japan :*)
- Free tickets to Sora Takenouchi's boyfriend's band concert? (LOL)
- Can effectively excuse myself from Michael's long distance pecking.
- Taichi Kami –
Wait. Why did she even feel like mentioning his name into the list? Tai was a jerk. He was the greatest jerk of all time – well, maybe apart from when he had helped save her parents or made wacko plans with her or offered her his ice cream to stop her tears, or when he had protected his sister or looked at Sora with starry eyes that no one else noticed. Separating out three weeks at most – he had been a jerk for the rest of the seventeen years of his life. And that was saying something.
Now that the exercise had positively ruined her mood, she grumbled and crumpled up the page, aiming it over at the dustbin (the paper ball bounced off the edge and she groaned). The moon was dim and the room was dimmer. She flung her arms about and they finally landed on her laptop. A bit of social networking might elevate her. Also, Christmas was around the corner and she might just end up with new design orders.
Thirty seconds into it and a new message bubble popped up.
'Dude! When did you land in Odaiba?'
It was Tai. She gritted her teeth. Good god, is this human everywhere? Not to mention the very offensive "dude". Did he even know how to talk to a girl? She buckled up with some serious sass as she typed: 'That was very observant of you, Tai.'
'Mimi, honestly if it hadn't been the Finals practice Kari and I would've blasted confetti at the airport reception.'
'At least Kari was there. Why don't you go learn some manners from your sister?'
'Uh, you seem pissed. I'm sorry buddy. Don't cry, okay?'
'Are you mocking me?'
'Whaaat? No, I meant it!'
'Rightttt...'
'I'll come dressed as a clown on the day you depart. Promise. :D'
That smiley actually resembled his goofy grin, she thought. But then she frowned again. Reminded herself how irritated she was supposed to be.
'Well, bad news. I'm here to stay. -_-'
'Damn. :P'
In spite of herself, this time Mimi grinned.
'... Ass.'
'Whaaat?' And there came his response with a dozen of extra 'a's.
'You're an ass, Tai.' She wrote it with utmost sincerity from the deepest core of her heart.
'Well, that I am.'
Mimi could imagine him smirking at the other end. Such a sadistic psychopath. She noticed he had gone offline, and wondered if she took her anger a level too far. Should she – umm, no, never was there a good consequence in provoking a complete ass.
Then the bubble popped again.
'I like to apologise with ice-creams. ;)'
"Well, if there hadn't been ice-creams, nothing could've saved you from my wrath," she quipped aloud. What an idiot. Mimi chuckled at the screen. Maybe she should've tricked him into believing she was going to leave. Tai in a clown dress would've been sweet revenge.
"I can't have ice-cream. I'm going to the dentist," Mimi announced.
"Uh, wait what? And you found this dramatic moment to reveal it, with the menu card in our hands?"
"Umm – "
"You could've just told me when I was bugging you last night, Mimi," Tai grumbled under his breath. He buried his face into his palms.
"Well, you bugged me so much it slipped out of my mind!" she shouted in defence. A couple of customers glanced back at the commotion.
Tai wondered how many crimes from the past could possibly sum up being tormented by Mimi this way. He felt like digging a hole into the floor and hibernating inside it forever. He had dreamt of a big platter of black currant sundae since last night, and watching it shatter was painful.
"I wish you weren't so insensitive." Mimi whispered curtly.
He found his temper rising this time. "Yes, correct, I am the one who cancelled a plan on the spot. Just to make a kind friend suffer."
"A kind friend?" she raised her eyebrows, "Which kind friend are you talking about? Did you bring someone along?" She pretended to look behind Tai.
"You can up the drama quotient of the situation once I leave," Tai warned, readying to get on his feet.
"Jerk."
And her eyes reflected something watery. Tai clutched his heart in panic. It was coming. Oh, no, not again.
"Hey, no, Mimi please, don't – don't cry – here –"
"I'm going to the dentist, Tai."
"Oh." Tai realised what she was trying to imply all this time. Mimi's eyes were all googly in the fear of the unknown. She rested her chin on the table, depressed. Tai held back a snigger.
"So, is it a cavity?"
"Yes," she murmured inaudibly, "and I don't like dentists. How painful do you think it's gonna get?"
"Umm," he play-acted to think, "Last time I went, it took two days to stop the bleeding. It was horrible." Mimi gasped.
"You're bluffing," she said suspiciously.
"Does it look like I am?"
"Yes. Yes!" She shut her eyes and bit her lip. She, indeed, was terrified.
"Is this your first visit to a dentist, Mimi?"
"First time for a cavity, yes."
"Anyone accompanying you?"
"I'm a big girl. I told mum I can do it alone... or at least I think I can."
"Owh. I'd rather lend you a handy tip. While they do stuff in your mouth, close your eyes. You won't like the scary drillers."
"The – what?"
"The drillers. You know, the things they use to drill out the black stuff –"
"You're bluffing, Tai!"
"Mimi," he said with a perfect poker-face, "you can call me a jerk and what not, but when it comes to the dentist I know that's serious business."
"It's not just the physical pain," she mumbled, "What about the social aspect of it?"
"Huh?" His eyebrow rose even before he could process the question.
"Look, I don't want one side of my face to look like a fat swollen blob at Sora's Christmas party."
Tai's face went blank at the mention of Sora. It felt like an old tinge of pain, a thorn stuck in his feet since so long he had stopped caring about it. It took him a few seconds to get back to normal. By that time Mimi had already noticed she had touched the wrong nerve.
"Tai?" She waited.
"Yeah – what were you saying? Oh, yes. No, Mimi, you'll be fine. It doesn't hurt much, really, I was only kidding," he smiled. He noticed that the sudden loss of his jokey tone concerned her. But he couldn't bring it back.
"What happened, Tai? Are you still..." Mimi stopped midway, realising she was only making matters worse.
"It's nothing. I'm okay."
"Hey, I was your confidante, remember?"
"Well, were you?"
"Yeah!" she beamed, "I was everyone's Agony Aunt in America, you know. Let's talk about it. You'll feel better."
"Um, okay. But not here. The waitress is glaring at us because we're sitting since an hour like goddamn vegetables."
"Are you sure you wanna do this?"
"So, begin."
"Begin what?" Tai looked somewhat aghast, "Do you realise this is real life and we're talking about my real what-could-have-been-my-love-life, and not a movie plot?"
"Cool down, yo," and there was Mimi being Mimi. She flipped her hair from her face and started, "Just tell me why you couldn't get over her. It was you who told me there're plenty of other fishes in the sea."
"It's fi – never mind," he shook his head in exasperation, "I don't know really. Why do you think?"
"Maybe because you're really close to her, you're her bestie... And she's got platonic feelings for you." She pondered on, when lightning struck her. Her eyes bulged with a sudden thought, "Wait a minute, tell me something – I should've asked you this before – it could've made this a lot easier –"
"Well, spit it out now," said Tai.
"Last year, this time, did you really confess to her? I mean, did you tell her you love her?"
"No, that'd have been awkward. And cheesy, please. I asked if she's going to the concert with anyone, that too pretty casually – and I do not understand why I'm telling all of this –"
"So you never really confessed to her. Am I right?"
"Yeah... kind of."
"Well, then you've still got a chance!" She positively beamed, "Maybe Sora thought you don't like her since you've been too oblivious. And then you never really told her how you feel."
"Uh, I'm sure Sora saw right through me."
"No, maybe she didn't," she crooned. Mimi's excitement frightened him, "Women sometimes don't work that way."
"What, don't you women realise if a guy likes you when he's pretty vocal about asking you out?" He asked, unimpressed.
"Well, it's not that. See, we women realise what's going on the moment a guy eyes us. But sometimes we need solid proof. Maybe she was trying to make you jealous. But you never responded ahead. See what I mean?"
"Mimi, do you realise you and your species don't make any sense?"
"Okay. Do it then. Confess to her."
Tai found his face going deep maroon. "Are you freaking kidding me?"
"No. Do it, Tai. This Christmas party. Or you'll never know."
"Sounds like a foolproof plan to ruin my friendship with Sora and Matt forever," he sniggered, "You don't deserve ice-cream."
"I'm trying to be Good Samaritan here and you're not even heeding to me," Mimi began to walk away. Tai jogged after her.
"I appreciate your help, buddy," he said, "It's just that your plan sounds like a recipe for a disaster."
Her gaze dropped to her fingernails. She stared ahead and bit her lip. "I just wanted to help you."
"I know," Tai felt a knotting in his chest. He didn't mean to disregard her, and now he needed to make up for it. He clutched her hand, and while she looked back in surprise, he topped it with a goofy typically-Tai grin."Hey, want me to accompany you to the dentist's?"
Mimi somewhat envied Kari. Because Tai was so comforting every time he tried to be big brother. Like he had said, the dentist experience wasn't much of a trauma, and a good lunch afterwards helped. He made sure the tooth didn't ache, even caricatured the dentist at the lunch table to break off a few laughs. Although he was very lame, Mimi felt better.
Then all of her sudden-grown appreciation died the moment Tai passed a certain stupid comment while walking down the pavement, patting his food-stuffed stomach.
"Thank god you got rid of your pink Medusa hair."
And lo and behold, she hated him again.
Well, who was he to comment upon someone's hair when he himself hadn't bothered to get an effing haircut in centuries? She grunted silently, thinking back, slumped on her bed and watching the array of clothes scattered before her. Tai Kamiya was a professionally useless git. Yes, the perfect oxymoron for the moron. Hell no, she was descending to his level of lame lines.
It was 6 o' clock and she ought to get ready for Sora's party. She picked up at random – maybe for the second time in her life – since half her mind was still fuming over Tai while the other half fretted on whether her pink-hair phase was as bad as he pointed out to be. She felt an internal screaming over every sight of pink, and her wardrobe didn't really help here.
Palmon hopped into the room so suddenly that Mimi got a jump-scare.
"How am I looking, Mimi?" she asked, twirling in her pretty skirt. And it was pink.
"Not pink not pink not pink..." Mimi covered her ears as if tortured by a loud screeching noise as she jabbered it like an incantation.
"Huh?"
"Not pink not pink not pink..."
Confused, Palmon left towards the balcony.
Tired of herself, she fastened into a black jumpsuit and shelled it with a, sigh, pink coat. One week in Japan and she already wished if her wardrobe had a secret passageway to escape to Narnia. If things went at this rate, she feared she might strangle Tai Kamiya before the school could even restart.
Sora's party wasn't at all like what Mimi had expected.
There was no bar counter or glimmering dance lights. It had a warm, comforting, even a kind of retro aura. Not taking too much effort to dress seemed a good decision. In fact, she and Palmon happened to have arrived a bit too early; the house was near empty, and Tai and Sora and Izzy were still putting on the Christmas lights in the lawn. Surprisingly no sign of Matt.
"Mimi!" Sora ran to hug her, tripped over the tangle of wires but nevertheless made it, "I'm so sorry I was busy over the weekend with Christmas preparations... I have to, need to actually, chat for long hours with you and – how's it going?"
From the corner of her eye, Mimi shot a glance at Tai. She thought he might wave, but he and Izzy seemed too confused over the battery circuit. "Huh? Oh yes," she said, "I missed you over the year too, Sora. We spent, like, seconds at the airport? And long phone bills kill saucy gossip." The girls broke into a fit of giggles. "Pretty hat, Biyomon," Mimi complimented, and the digimon blushed.
"Yeah, you might just land up with a date now," laughed Sora.
"I guess Biyomon needs a Biyomon to date, don't you think?"
"We are packets of data, Mimi-chan," said Biyomon, "We need human emotions to evolve. Romantic love is a much evolved emotion that we don't possess."
"Wow, four years I've spent with you and I never even wondered about that," said Sora, rather thoughtfully, "But then, guessing Mimi's romantic love must've evolved enough by now?" She nudged her with a smug smile.
"I'm sure Mimi needs a Mimi to date," and the jerk jumped into the scene, "Don't you think?" He chuckled at Sora.
"Get out, Kamiya. This is girl talk." Mimi retorted, "And I've seen enough of your face since the morning."
"Give it a rest, Tai," added Sora, grinning nonetheless. She was distracted by a knock at the door.
It was Matt. He looked like what Mimi remembered of him at the airport. He had a black jacket and his guitar tagged on – he must've been coming right from the band practice. Sora rushed to the door and gave him a small peck on the lips. Mimi couldn't help but look at Tai – to her surprise he had a smile, albeit a strained one.
"Been signing out autographs, have you?" Tai was the first to speak, before he went on and hugged him, "Merry Christmas, brother."
"Yes, and I might just need an assistant," Matt shot him an endearing look as he patted on his back.
"Merry Christmas, Matt," said Mimi, beaming, "Please tell me you'll sing here tonight."
Within the next hour, the place was packed.
"...And then it was a disaster," said Joe, so animated that he could spill his drinks over Izzy and Mimi any second, "And then I dreamt for a week that I've begun to answer the wrong paper only to realise it in the last minute."
"A medic's life must be pretty crazy I guess," commented Izzy, "and all I've been worried about is how to upgrade the OS without spending a buck." He grinned sheepishly.
"How're things in America, Mimi?" asked Joe, taking a respite from their geek talk.
"Oh well, it's usual I guess, I hardly feel a difference. There's school, and there're cute guys and good clothes and interesting design demands and – and er, that's it," she gave an awkward smile.
"I heard America launched the GT-17 OS, and it's still not there in Japan..."
"You know what, my brother's laptop crashed recently," said Joe, "I think you should come over and check. And there's this app that helps me with the anatomy, it's new and crazy..."
It didn't take Mimi a lot of time to realise she was useless in this discussion. She didn't even want to try; she knew these two could even dig out deep physiological and programming aspects of fashion and let their geek streaks out. She sighed.
"Hey, I need to visit the washroom," she handed her goblet to Izzy, "I'll be right back..." and she escaped as fast as she could.
She looked around for Palmon. The other digimons must have been on the 1st floor, she thought, and discarded the idea of trying to find her. The music was soft and catchy country. She tapped her foot on her own for a while, but no one else was dancing. Exasperated, she headed for the empty balcony; despite the shivery cold, it looked particularly inviting.
Her stomach growled as she leaned on the railing. She couldn't figure whether she was sick or hungry. The tune of the last song was still caught on her mind. It indeed was shivery; she could sense the cold seeping in through her coat.
"Do not lick the steel."
She turned. It was Tai, of course. She groaned at his sight, loud enough for him to hear. He smirked.
"Why in the digiworld will I do that?!"
"I don't know, what else can probably make you leave the cosy room and bring you into this goddamn cold?" he leaned on the railing sideways; strands of his hair were already drooping with frost drops, "And I personally always found it tempting."
"Well, of course you did."
"Hey, I took you to the dentist, don't you think I deserve better manners?"
"You called me Medusa!?"
"Well, I didn't technically call you Medusa. But you cancelled my ice-cream treat on my face!"
"Because I had to go to the dentist, genius."
"Remind me again, who took you to the dentist?"
"This conversation is so recursive." She sighed into her palms.
"Yeah, I agree." he chuckled, "And I guess I missed you a bit too, Mimi." Tai softly punched into her arm.
"Whoa," she laughed, and her eyebrows shot up dramatically, "Who are you and what have you done to Taichi Kamiya?" He joined in the giggles.
It was then they heard shouts in the hallway. Tai looked at Mimi, frowning, unsure if he heard it right, but then Mimi nodded in confirmation. Both of them ran for it. Tai was about to barge in when Mimi held him back. The hazy lights made two shadows – and they seemed to achingly resemble Matt and Sora.
"What?" Tai whispered fiercely at Mimi.
"It's a private moment. You cannot interfere," she whispered back.
Matt and Sora were shouting at the top of their voices, while Tai and Mimi stood behind the door in silence, stuck unwittingly in the situation.
"Are you even listening to what I am saying, Matt?" Sora screamed, "I never even thought it would come to this!"
"Why don't you just shut the fuck up, Sora?!"
At that point Mimi was practically wrestling against Tai to hold him back. "No, you can't ram into here," she mouthed at him.
"I abhor you, Ishida," Sora broke into tears, "I abhor you."
"Why don't you ditch me then? Why still stick with me?" asked Matt darkly.
"If you hadn't been this self-obsessed you would've understood. You could've just told me the day I asked you out that I'm not up to your level."
"What the fuck are you even talking about?!"
"I loved you, Matt," she sobbed.
An uneasy silence filled up the hallway. Mimi supposed Matt was going to slam the door shut and leave. Sora's sobs were persistent. Mimi realised Tai was still trying to break free, and while she could understand what was going on his mind, she knew he didn't possess the tact to handle the situation if he burst into it.
"Past tense," asserted Matt.
"That's it," Tai uttered with finality. He pulled away so hard that Mimi almost collapsed into him. He stomped a few steps ahead, but then stopped short, frozen. Mimi looked from behind him. Matt and Sora were locked in a tight embrace, their lips touching and eyes closed, unaware of either Tai's or Mimi's presence.
Mimi exhaled. It was strange. It was abrupt. And it must've had killed Tai. He must've been as confused as a little child right now, gaping at the complexity of human relationships. Why was she still hugging the man who hurt her? Why did he hurt her at the first place? Why couldn't she walk away? Why didn't this work the more logical way, like clockwork? Maybe they were being sarcastic. Maybe they cared too deeply to mean any of it.
Tai needed to understand, thought Mimi. He needed to be mature. But at the end of the day, it stung her to see the boy who had sacrificed so much for everyone, so broken inside.
"Come, Tai," she sighed quietly, a little apprehensive of his reaction. But he budged and followed her out to the lawn. Oh Tai, why didn't you confess to her sooner? But would even that have had been to any avail?
"Hey," she punched him into the arm the way he had before, "We'll figure it out."
"Yeah," he forced a smile, "Anyway, I'm happy."
Mimi didn't know what to say. Tai, of all people, deserved to be happy.
Just felt like writing this. Would be just a couple of chapters long. Michi, bitchezzz.