Author's Note: This was written in response to a challenge on the Anime Iowa forum. And this is the result from that. On to the story!
It was lunch time at Odaiba Junior High School. The mad rush to the cafeteria was ridiculous. Taichi Yagami and Yamato Ishida took a leisurely pace to the cafeteria, but they were still getting ran over by various underclassmen who apparently couldn't be bothered to bring a lunch or just starve to death. Taichi blinked.
"Hey, Yamato?" Taichi ventured. "Is that Sora?" He pointed over towards a girl that had a bit of red hair sticking out from under a kitty hat. Yamato blinked as well, seeing her.
"I didn't think hats were allowed in school." He said. "Hey, Sora!" He yelled down the line. "Save us some seats, will you!" Sora just blushed and rolled her eyes.
The two boys finally got to the serving line. "What is this?" Yamato asked, looking at the day's main course. The main course was slightly unfamiliar to the two boys. It was a breaded piece of meat, with some vaguely familiar vegetables, but the meat was the big mystery to the boys.
"It's a pork fritter." The lunch lady said. "We're trying different types of food for lunches"
"Uh...yeah." Taichi said as he grabbed his tray and walked out to the cafeteria. They found Sora and went over to sit with her.
"What's with the hat, Sora?" Taichi asked. Sora glared at him as she mumbled something. "What was that, I couldn't understand you."
"I got a bad hair cut, and this was the only thing I could find to cover it up!" She screeched at him. Taichi flinched back at the verbal abuse he just received. Yamato said nothing as he sat down.
"I'm sure it can't be as bad as you say it is." He told her reassuringly. She pulled the kitty hat off to reveal that the only thing left of her pretty red hair was some hanging down to her shoulders, and the rest done as if someone had just cut random strands out of it.
Koushiro Izumi was just coming to sit with them when Sora had pulled the hat off. His eyes widened when he saw her hair. As he sat down, she pulled the kitty hat back on, and pulled it down over her eyes. "Hello, everyone." He said, not mentioning Sora's hair, as he noticed that Taichi's usually wild hair had been blown back, most likely from Sora's voice.
"Hey, lady bug boy." Taichi greeted him. "How is that mutant anyway?" Taichi winked at Koushiro. Koushiro kicked him under the table. "Okay, Okay, how are you then?" He asked.
"I am as giddy as a school girl with a new yaoi doujinshi." Koushiro said sarcastically. "This is all I have for lunch." He said as he tossed a banana on the table.
"Ouch." Yamato said, as he took a bite of the school food. "I'm sure that banana is better than this...pork...thingy..."
"It's too dry." Taichi said as he took a bite.
"And that's why I eat salad." Sora said. "It's at least identifiable." She said as she ate it.
Koushiro looked at their plates. Taichi looked sorry for him. "You want it?" He asked Koushiro. Koushiro shook his head.
"I'm a vegetarian, remember?" He answered.
"I'm not sure there's meat in it." Taichi said, as Koushiro widened his eyes as he remembered something.
"Does anyone have a push pin? I need to post a computer club announcement on the bulletin board." The other three stared at him like he was crazy.
"Koushiro? Who in their right minds carries around push pins, of all things?" Yamato asked. Sora was rummaging through her book bag.
"Here's one, Koushiro-kun." She said as she handed the pin to him. Taichi and Yamato just stared at her.
"That is just..." Taichi started.
"...plain weird" Yamato finished.
Koushiro went to the cafeteria bulletin board and posted his announcement, and rejoined his friends. At that point he peeled the banana and started to eat it slowly. Taichi stared at him.
"Must you do that?" He asked.
"Do what?" KOushiro asked innocently as he took another small bite. Taichi blushed.
"You're not that innocent." Taichi told him. Sora and Yamato snickered.
"Just like you, Taichi, right?" Yamato teased him.
"You know, if it will make Koushiro-kun cuter..." She pulled her kitty hat off and put it on Koushiro's head. "There, now he's cute and you two can flirt with each other all day until you kiss." She grinned. She just remembered Koushiro's sarcastic comment about yaoi doujinshi. "I need to go have talk with some girl friends of mine." She winked at the boys and ran off.
"What was that about?" Koushiro asked, as he ate the last few bites of his banana.
Yamato stared. "Koushiro, you're clueless. Her friends are in the art club." He got up and tossed his trash, and headed back to their classroom.
Koushiro blinked. "Taichi? Is there something they're not telling me?" Taichi was struggling with some of his own problems.
"Uhhh... Gotta go." Taichi quickly got up, dumped his trash, and ran for the restroom. Koushiro was the last one left.
"Taichi, you sure don't how to respond to sexually suggestive flirting appropriately to the person doing it, do you?" Koushiro said as he got up and tossed his banana peel away. He plucked Sora's hat off his head, and grinned and also headed for the restroom.