Me: Hey Guys! this is the second chapter of BMI! I know it took so long but at least its here!...right?

Zoe: I think you've abused the saying 'Better late than never'.

Me: Aw, c'mon! it hasn't even been two months... why are you so...i don't know...irritated with me? it wasn't that late!

Takuya: I'm more irritated with the fact that you actually posted it...

Tommy: You guys, there hasn't even been a Takumi scene yet... sure you two walked home together but that doesn't really count.

JP: And you guys should be thankful you're even in this story...

Me: *sighs* you know, let's just get to the chapter... oh, and before i forget, Mica, Koichi, come in!

Mica: Hey guys!

Me: You guys remember Mica, right? she's my very first OC who also appeared in my one-shot "Another Way to Say 'I Love You'". thanks anywayz to those who read and reviewed on my story!

JP: OH! Yeah, I like that story too. I was in there! even though it's just in the flashback.

Mica: At least you guys actually appeared. only my message was there.

Me: Well, the main characters are Takuya and Zoe so... besides, Koji had a pretty big part in that story.

Koji: the line might be scripted but the irritation was real...

Tommy: Yeah, i kinda noticed that. But you know, that was Takuya and Zoe's first kiss in all of your stories!

Takuya: Don't remind me...

Zoe: That scene was just wrong...

Me: Okay! Let's stop this right now... Koichi take us away! since you haven't talked yet.

Koichi: Okay... 61wisampa does not own DF04...

Chapter II: Five Steps to Success

It was 5 o'clock, about an hour after Takuya and Zoe started with their homework. They're now spread out in Takuya's big bedroom. Books and papers—specifically Takuya's old notes in Math—were scattered across his floor. Zoe was seated on the floor at the foot of Takuya's bed, trying to solve her homework with out Taki's help. While Taki, on the other hand, was finished half an hour ago and was now using his laptop. He was wearing his reading glasses and was checking on the stories he subscribed to and reading the updates. He was on the right side of his bed, also seating on the floor.

"Okay, I'm done," Zoe finally said, "Takuya, can you check my answers?" she said as she crawled towards him and handed him her homework.

"Hmm…" Taki mumbled as he looked through Zoe's answers. It took him a few moments to see if she has any wrong answers. Zoe, on the other hand, was a bit nervous that he might find some wrong answers and she'll have to do it again. After a while he smiled and said, "It took you a full hour but," he handed her, her homework, "you got all the answers right. Congratulations, Orimoto." He gave her a warm smile.

She sighed in relief. She was never that good at Math, but with Takuya helping her, she passed through middle school. "Thanks, Taki," she smiled.

He smiled back. "No prob,"

Zoe knew how lucky she was having Taki as her friend, not just because he's smart and you can always ask him for help in your homeworks but he also has a kind heart. He's helpful, reliable, trust-worthy, sweet, kind and he never leaves a friend. Zoe knows that because when her father died three years ago, he never left her side. He was always there for her.

"I'm hungry, you wanna grab a snack?" Takuya asked, removing his glasses.

"Sure,"

Not to mention, he brought out Zoe from her shell. She used to be a real negative thinker and was always frustrated with things she can't do alone. But he helped her gain confidence and trust herself. He brought out the best in her. And that's what Zoe is determined to do for Takuya. That's right, she hasn't given up yet.

They both got up and went down stairs to the kitchen to find Takuya's Mom using her laptop and his Dad watching the TV.

"Hey, Mom, got any food here?"

"You're father has some leftover pizza in the microwave," she answered her son.

"Thanks," Takuya said as he went into the kitchen.

Takuya's mother is a successful lawyer while his father is a veterinarian. So it's no surprise that they have a huge house and are very rich.

She saw from the corner of her eye Zoe was still at the bottom of the stairs and did not follow her son. She looked up from her laptop, "Hello, Zoe, is something the matter, dear?"

Zoe, a bit startled, looked at her best friend's mother. Takuya's father looked up, becoming interested with their conversation. She thought that she has to do what she has to do now. "Oh, hi, Aunt Yuriko, I was just…" she paused for a moment to look at Takuya to see he was paying attention to them too. "Well, I was wondering, would you let Takuya try out for the soccer team?"

Takuya looked at her in shock and a bit nervous of what his parents would say. Zoe still had faith, hopeful that they would say yes.

"Well, that would be a fine idea, son," his father said. "You would need a lot of extra-curricular in high school you know."

Zoe beamed, extremely happy with his answer while Takuya just dropped his mouth of shock. "Your father's right, Takuya. It would be a great idea." His mother then told him and gave him a smile.

Zoe can't contain her happiness anymore. She squealed in delight as Takuya still tries to process this in his mind. "Okay, whoa, whoa, wait, what happened with the 'stay away from sports and trying-out is a bad thing' stuff?"

"We wanted to teach you how to be responsible first before we give you too much freedom. And I think your father and I both agree that you really are responsible enough to stay out of trouble now." Her mother replied.

"Does that mean it's a yes?" Zoe asked, a big smile on her face.

"Yes,"

"YES!" Zoe squealed as she jumped up and down. Takuya was just raising his eyebrows at her and looking at her like she was crazy. He sighed at his friend's victory. Then Zoe grabbed his wrist, "C'mon, change into something more…sporty." She gave him a huge smile.

"Wha-," he started to ask but she was cut off.

"Change into your P.E. uniform. Stat!" and she pushed him into his room, landing on his face, before she closed the door.

Takuya sat up and stared at his closed door for a few seconds. "O-kay…" he doesn't really know why Zoe told him to do that but anyway, he decided to go along with her. He doesn't have a choice anyway…

--

It was just a few minutes before 5:30, and Takuya and Zoe were in front of the Orimoto's house. Takuya was sitting near Zoe, watching her as she was almost ready to go. He was already in his normal P.E. uniform, white T-shirt and jogging pants, like what Zoe told him to wear. Just one problem…

"What are we doing?" Takuya asked, eying Zoe while she tied her shoes beside her bike. "Why am I wearing this? And why did you drag me here?"

"Don't you know? I'm training you for the try-outs!" she exclaimed after she was finished tying her shoes. "You're gonna go through my five steps to success!"

"And that would be…?"

"Step one," she showed one finger to him as if she's counting, "Goal setting; what do you want to achieve?"

"Get in the soccer team?"

"Exactly, and why do you want to do that?"

"I don't, you forced me into this."

"Wrong answer!" Takuya jumped at her out burst then she sighed, "Look, Takuya, don't lie to me telling me that you don't want to do this cause I know you do."

He stared at her for a few moments, and then he sighed, "Okay, okay, I want to do this because I like to play soccer. And maybe make some friends along the way?"

"Now that's the answer we're looking for," she smiled, "now, let's do some warm ups,"

"Wait," Takuya made her stop, "The try-outs aren't coming until at least two weeks. Why are we starting now?"

"Step two," she showed two fingers, "Start today. If you don't start right away, you'll just get sluggish on doing it tomorrow. Now," she pulled him to his feet, "let's do a thirty minute run!" she announced, running towards her bike.

"Wait, I thought we're running," his brows furrowed

"No, you're running, I'll lead you where to go on my bike." She gave him a mischievous smile.

"What?!"

"You heard me," she said, already paddling away from Taki, "Now, c'mon! Or you won't catch me!"

He groaned. "Zoe!" then he began running after his friend.

15 minutes later…

Poor Taki was already gasping for air but still pursuing nonetheless. He almost reached his limit and he knows he might collapse soon. "Zo…e…could…we…stop…for…a…while…?" he pleaded between his gasps.

"We still have 15 minutes, Taki, you can't take a break." She wasn't riding so fast now, keeping up with Takuya's pace instead of the other way around. "Soccer players run non-stop for hours. You can't be one if you can't even run for 30 straight minutes." Her eye brows were slightly creased with worry. Takuya's fit, she very well knows that, but he's not that fit.

"Water…please…?"

"Here," she handed him the bottle of water she prepared and Takuya quickly drunk it.

"Can we continue this tomorrow? My lungs are burning."

"Sorry, no can do," she shook her head and gave him a weak smile, "Step three; no shortcuts. There's no easy way to do this so you can't use shortcuts or you wouldn't reach your goal."

"Remind me why…I was doing this…again…?"

"This is where Step four comes in. Motivate yourself. Keep reminding yourself why you're doing this in the first place. Use your inspiration to be able to finish your job." She smiled, pleased with herself of thinking of those steps. "Speaking of motivations…"

She had a sudden thought. She looked at the goggles he was holding. It was her first gift ever for Takuya. He always wears it wherever he goes. He either wears it around his neck, around his biceps, or around his leg. It's his side of their sign of friendship. Zoe has a "Takumi" wrist band in her side of the friendship sign, given by Takuya, of course.

She quickly snatched his trademark goggles while he was running. "Hey!" he protested but Zoe was already two feet in front of him.

"If you wanna get your goggles back, try and catch me!" Zoe called as she gain a little bit more speed, just fast enough so that Takuya won't catch her.

"Zoe! Give me my goggles back!" he shouted as he ran faster after her.

Another 15 minutes later…

Takuya was still running after her, thinking of nothing except getting his famed goggles back. I'm doing this for my goggles; I'm doing this for my goggles, he thought. See? He's doing Step four very well.

Zoe on the other hand checked her watch and saw it's been thirty minutes. Wow, Taki made it. Better end this now before he really collapses, she thought. She slowed down a little bit so that Takuya would catch up.

They were now by the park and not many people can be seen. When Takuya noticed he was catching up, he took his opportunity and made one last maximum effort to run as fast as he could. And just like that, he was able to take his goggles away from Zoe.

"Yes! Finally!" he cheered, as his run fades out into a walk before collapsing near a bench.

"Congrats, Taki," she got off from her bike and crouched down in front of him, "You made it. You ran for thirty whole minutes without stopping." She smiled down at him.

"And this is only a warm up?" he muttered on the ground.

"No need to worry, we can take a break before we actually train." She held out her hand to help him sit on the bench. "C'mon, you can't lie down on the side walk."

He took her hand tiredly—okay, that may be an understatement—and sat on the bench beside him. He drank another bottle of water to hydrate himself.

"Hey, want some ice cream? My treat," Zoe asked Takuya kindly.

"Sure, anything that could cool me down," he said with a grin. He was drenched with sweat and his shirt was so wet, you could probably wring out a few drops of Takuya's sweat. (Wait…that rhymed. I didn't mean fir it to rhyme)

Zoe ran to the ice cream stand near them and bought two ice creams. When she returned, Takuya's breathing was almost normal again. She handed him his ice cream while she sat down beside him.

"Here you go, one chocolate ice cream with strawberry syrup and tiny marshmallows on top and a piece of cookie stuck at the side," she announced happily, handing him his favorite ice cream.

He chuckled once of her high energy, "Thanks," he said as he took it.

They were eating peacefully on the bench, resting after their warm-up. No one talked between them until Zoe took a look at her watch.

"Ahh!" she screamed, but thankfully, not loud enough to catch a lot of people's attention. However, Takuya was very startled by her sudden out burst.

"What's wrong, Zoe? Did something happen?" he asked frantically.

"It's passed 6 o'clock! We have to hurry or else we'll be behind our schedule!" she said as she grabbed his wrist again and walked towards her bike.

"We have a schedule?" Takuya was a bit confused. "Uh…where are we going?"

"We're going to a place where you can finally train with a soccer ball."

--

Okay, so now they're in an empty lot somewhere in the outskirts of the neighborhood. It was pretty big, about as big as two basketball courts. No one can be seen walking around there, so it was a really great place to train.

Zoe was preparing the training course, putting cans, chairs and other things in a zigzag for Takuya to avoid. Once she had everything in place, she brought out a soccer ball (that I gave her when you were reading) and tossed it to Takuya.

"Uh…what am I supposed do?" he asked after he caught the ball.

"Simple, finish the course with a soccer ball." Zoe said with a smile.

Takuya looked at the course. There are parts where he should go around the cones, slide under a pole on two barrels on each side (like in limbo), jump over chairs, and…jump through a hula-hoop?

"You do know you're training me for a soccer team not a circus." Takuya stated dubiously.

Zoe crossed her arms. "Ha ha, very funny. Just so you know, this training course will make you a pro." Zoe stated matter-of-factly, "Plus, we won't stop until you master this." She threatened. A sweat ran down Takuya's temple in tension of Zoe's threats. He knows she always means what she says if ever she intimidates you. And she always makes you suffer for it. He swallowed nervously. "Now, go, go, GO!" Zoe ordered as Takuya began the course.

--

The sun is now setting but Takuya and Zoe still hasn't gone home. Takuya was now lying on the ground, exhausted of running through Zoe's training course at least twenty times non-stop. Zoe, on the other hand, was getting another bottle of water for Takuya. He was waiting for her but he was so tired and he needs to cool down. So, he decided to remove his shirt off.

"I hope this training would be over soon." Takuya mumbled to himself. He didn't notice Zoe was already back.

She was looking—okay, maybe staring at Takuya. She noticed that he has a pretty good built. And she has to admit, under all the shyness and being a bit of a nerd, her best friend is actually kind of…hot. Oh my gosh, did I just think about that?, Zoe thought to herself as a blush slowly crept its way on her cheeks. She shook her head to remove what she was just thinking away and decided to approach Takuya.

"Hey, Taki, here's your beverage," she told him without any hint of blush on her face. She tossed the bottle of water to her best friend.

Takuya caught the bottle with ease. "Thanks, Z." he said before chugging down its contents. "Can we go home now? Please? It's almost dinner time and my folks might get worried."

"Agreed," Zoe nodded. "C'mon, let's go." She pulled Takuya up on his feet and walked towards her bike.

"Are you going to make me run again?" Takuya asked a hint of fear in his voice.

Zoe just giggled. "Of course not, I think you had enough for today. Besides, there's always tomorrow." She removed her bike's stand, "Oh, and could you please put your t-shirt back on?" she said when she noticed that Takuya was still half-naked.

"Oh, I get it. You think I'm hot, don't you?" he joked while he gave her one of his famous grins and put both his hands on his waist. This is one of the rare times Takuya shows his egoistic side.

Zoe blushed a bit. "No, I do not! It's just a bit distracting is all." She defended while stubbornly crossing her arms.

"Sure, you don't." he mocked, "Then would you care to explain why you're blushing?"

"I-I'm not blushing! It's just because of the late sun!" she started pushing her bike home with Takuya trailing behind.

"Geez, Zoe, I was just kidding." He apologized while putting his shirt back on. "Why don't I make it up to you? It's almost dinner time so why don't you have dinner with us?"

"I gladly accept your apology." Zoe said trying to sound as formal as she could.

--

Back at Takuya's house…

They arrived home sometime around 7:30. Luckily for them, dinner was already served. They also found out that Shinya, Takuya's brother was now home from a hang out after school. After Takuya showered, they ate together while talking about their day. Zoe wasn't even the tiniest uncomfortable with it. She's like family to them and they're like family to her, too. It's like Takuya's her brother and his parents are another pair of parents for her. They're like an extension to her small family.

After they had dinner, Zoe decided to go home.

"Bye, Aunt Yuriko, bye, Uncle Hiroaki, bye, Shinya, goodnight!" Zoe waved as she walked through the door.

"I'll walk you home," Takuya stated, following her.

"I know. 'Cause you really love me, don't cha?" she joked, nudging him on the side.

"Yeah, sure, I really do," Takuya agreed sarcastically before closing the door.

Yuriko sighed, "Do you think they'll ever be a real couple?" she asked her husband.

"Maybe, but I sure hope it would be sooner." Hiroaki replied.

"I predict they'll be together by the end of the school year!" Shinya declared. While his parents silently hope their son was right.

--

Takuya and Zoe were already at the Orimoto's residence. Zoe was now parking her bike somewhere in their small yard.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Takuya waved goodbye as he started walking home.

"Wait," Zoe said, causing Takuya to stop, "before I forget, we have a morning jog tomorrow to continue your training. I'll be at your doorstep at 5 in the morning. Night!" she said before entering her home and shutting the door.

"Wait, Zoe-" he tried to ask her something but Zoe was too fast. "Was that serious?" he asked himself, having a weird feeling that she wasn't kidding around when she said that.

--

Takuya went home still debating against himself if Zoe was serious about what she said or not.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" he called as he walked in.

"Oh, hi, Takuya, I think you should sleep early tonight. With all that training you did, I'm sure you're exhausted." His mom advised, looking up from her laptop.

"Yeah, I think I should." Takuya gave his mother a peck on the cheek before going up to his room, "Night, mom!" he called as he walked upstairs.

When he reached his bedroom, he noticed that there were still piles of paper on his desk. He took a look at it and decided to arrange them again. After he finished organizing his notes, he saw another piece of paper. He took a look at it and snickered.

"I knew she'd forget this again," he said. And sure enough, there was Zoe's homework, forgotten at Takuya's house. He put it with his homework so he wouldn't forget it before brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed.

Me: So...?

Zoe: You know, i just noticed... I'm out of character too!

Me: Of course you are! we kind of switched your personalities a bit 'cause I'm a bit tired of seeing Takuya look stupid...

Takuya: Hey! I DO NOT look stupid!

Zoe: Yes, but do you have to make ME look stupid?!

Me: You didn't look stupid...just...Takuya just seemed smarter than you...

Zoe: Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is?!

Takuya: What exactly do you mean by that?!

Zoe: What do you think genius?!

Takuya: Are you implying that i'm stupid?!

Zoe: I'm surprised you even understood!

Me: Guys, guys! Can you have a little bit of consideration for others? Our ears are starting to bleed with all the shouting...

JP: My head hurts...

Tommy: I'm getting dizzy...

Mica: It sounded like they screamed through a speaker...

Koichi: I think they did...

Koji: ... reading a book

Me: Koji, how can you stand these two shouting?

Koji: ... reading a book

Me: Koji...

Koji: ... Still reding a book

Me: Koji... *Taps Koji on shoulder*

Koji: ... Hmm? *looks up*

Me: How can you stand these two shouting?

Koji: *removes earplugs* Pardon?

Me: Figures... Okay, that's the end so please tune in to the next chapter...