Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I know I took a long time updating this story, and I am very thankful for all your support for this story!

For necessary crack/humour purpose, the characters, especially Hikari, will appear OOC indeed. This is a humour-driven fic, after all. Please bear with me on that.

'…and that's why Steve Nash is still the best player in NBA. Nobody can pass the ball quite like him.'

'Man, I agree that Nash is great, but you can't put him above the likes of Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, right? Look at Kobe's stats from last season! He's a beast!'

Even though he did not agree with a thing Michael said, since he found it ridiculous that his American friend could ignore Steve Nash's amazing performance on court, Takeru still appreciated the fact that he could talk to an American about basketball. None of the digidestined were basketball fans, and he was glad that he could finally someone who shared his interest. Michael had told him about his experience of watching some games in the stadium that made Takeru extremely jealous, since watching a live NBA match had always been a dream of his.

The two of them kept arguing in a friendly manner as they emerged from the shower and started wiping their bodies. They had just finished playing basketball with Takeru's friends, but the two stayed behind to play one-on-one for a bit longer. It was six thirty in the evening, and they had promised to meet up with the others for dinner. Takeru reached for his phone and checked to see if he had received any missed call or text messages. He frowned.

'Weird.'

'What's wrong?' Michael asked while wiping his hair, during which he cast a glance to inspect Takeru's naked body. The blond was pretty well-built for a senior high student. The fact that he wasn't overly muscular made him looked even cuter and sexier.

Despite his interest in the male body, Michael had never liked bodies with bulky six packs and Arnold Schwarzenegger-like biceps that looked more artificial than natural. Some muscles would be good, but he was never a fan of those body shapes commonly seen in TV commercials. Takeru's body, he noted, looked pleasing enough that he unconsciously licked his lips at the sight of him in all his glory.

'Hikari didn't send me any message.'

The American youngster looked dumbfounded. 'So? You're going to see each other in a bit.' He rubbed his chin for a second, before adding, 'Hikari's not actually an overly attached girlfriend, is she?'

'Of course not!' Takeru shot him a scandalous look while putting on his black boxers.

'Then what's the big deal?' Michael, confused by this, kept thinking that Takeru looked good in just boxers as well, especially the way he rested his elbow on the locker while scanning his phone. The way he bent his body forward gave Michael some pretty wild thoughts that he would keep to himself.

'She usually sends me reminder text messages before all of our gathering.'

'Don't think too much about it,' he casually commented. 'She probably knows that you know already, and besides, I'm here to remind you of that as well if you do forget about it,' he added with a wink.

Sighing, Takeru knew Michael was probably right. It was just a forgotten text message, and he shouldn't make a big fuss out of a text not sent, right? It didn't really matter anyway.

When he looked back at this moment later tonight, he would realize what a gloaming warning sign this had been.

If looks could kill, Hikari would have slaughtered the whole Odaiba by now.

Even the other digidestined could sense her silently glowing anger. What was supposed to be a casual gathering grew uncomfortable for all very quickly when all the girl did for the whole night was glaring daggers at two young blonds sitting to her right, the only two people oblivious to her intrusive stares. She dropped her fierce glance when Takeru turned to talk to her, but her smile tightened again when Michael casually put an arm around Takeru's waist and engaged him in a discussion of Hollywood movies with Mimi, all the while smiling innocently and even flashing her a wild grin.

Hikari swore he did that on purpose.

Mimi was usually the one to laugh at such matters, but one look from Hikari told her that if she muttered a word, she would not live to see tomorrow's sunrise. Seriously, that phlegmatic, saccharine smile on Hikari's face freaked her out. She had never seen such an expression on Hikari's face before, and she dared not try to test the wrath of the Child of Light.

Taichi and Yamato, the famed prankster duo who never let a chance of teasing their younger siblings slip away from their palms, shifted uncomfortably on their seats. Like Mimi, they knew that saying anything would result in their instant deaths, especially when Hikari's mahogany eyes showed no buzzing glister like her smile did. Taichi shivered and focused on eating, and Yamato silently prayed that his brother would return home in one piece. Devimon's haunting laughter was just child's play in comparison to Hikari's charmingly radiant smile right now.

The other digidestined tried their best to ignore what was happening. Daisuke and Ken, in perfect synchronization, kept bringing up topics of discussion to keep everyone occupied. They tried to talk about random stuff to keep their mind away from the devilish aura exerted by the brown-haired girl, and Daisuke had to pray for his life when Hikari turned to ask him, in a excessively sweet voice, why he mentioned the words 'score', 'rebound' and 'shooting accuracy' as he was talking about the football match from the other day. The young bearer of Courage and Friendship almost ran for his life.

All of them sighed heavily in relief when the dinner was finally over. Takeru and Hikari had scheduled to watch a movie together after dinner, so the two, or just Takeru in this case, announced that they had to leave early. The blond did not quite understand why everyone was sending him pitiful look, or why Taichi patted him on the shoulder and wished him best of luck, or why Yamato said he would always be proud of him no matter what. Everyone was acting weirdly, he reckoned, but he couldn't figure out why.

As the two walked to the cinema located in another shopping mall, Takeru found that Hikari was also oddly silent for the whole night. During their meal he already noticed she was unusually quiet, but he thought it was just because he and Michael were talking about basketball and American culture for the whole night, topics that Hikari had never been very interested in. His girlfriend wasn't a particularly talkative person, but it worried the blond that she was not saying a word ever since they left the group.

'Hikari, what's wrong?' he asked.

Hikari stayed silent, her fists clenching and her teeth gritting. She avoided looking at his concerned eyes and kept walking forward.

Takeru was now worried. It was clear that she was upset, but he wasn't sure why. He sighed, thinking that it might just be that time of the month. It would also explain why she didn't send him a reminder text message regarding the dinner earlier. As the uncomfortable silence dawned upon them, the sixteen-year-old decided to keep talking.

'I think you'll like this movie.' To add to the excitement of watching movies together, the young couple had agreed that they would take turn picking which movie to watch, without letting the other party knew beforehand. This time, it was Takeru's turn, and he thought he had picked a good one. 'It got really good reviews, and Michael has watched it before he came to Japan. He recommended it to me, actually. He said that…'

Stepping into an open minefield might be a less painful option for the blond now. The mere mention of the name of he-who-must-not-be-named was enough to bring Hikari to a halt, and before Takeru could even react to her sudden change of tempo, she snapped.

End of Chapter 2

Anyone likes this slight-haraguro Hikari?

Next chapter will be a heart-to-heart talk between Hikari and Michael!