Love: Definition
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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Shotgun on all the OCs though.
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3. Shun
Koushiro: He's my best friend.
Sora: I have absolutely no idea how to describe him in a sentence. He is one of the best and the worst guy I ever met in my life.
Shun: That's me.
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The next day Koushiro met Sora at the exact same spot where she had waited for him yesterday. He still couldn't believe that this beautiful red head was waiting for him, but he made sure that from now on he would thank the heavens every day for this opportunity.
The young boy had to admit he was a little apprehensive when he stepped out of his apartment bloc this morning. As he had gone home yesterday, he noticed that they never agreed on anything else except being friends: If their friendship was anything like their previous relationship – or lack thereof, it would have been all for nothing. Nevertheless, Sora was there, leaning against the same fence as yesterday, waiting for him. Things had definitely changed for the better.
They greeted each other and walked on: once again, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed at how natural it all seemed. They chatted about small things that happened during the week when suddenly koushiro was reminded of a rather pressing matter:
"Say, Takenouchi-san…"
"Yeah?"
"Are we going to walk to school everyday like this?"
"Why, does it bother you?" she asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
"No, not at all." He handed her sheet. "I just thought you might need this if that was the case."
Sora looked at what she had just received: it was her friend's schedule. He explained that he didn't want Sora to wait too long for him so he decided to make this for her. Sora felt touched by is thoughtfulness. They settled on times they should meet after school.
"So, what else do we need to do?"
"Well, I'll have to properly introduce you to all of my friends. See there's Akane and…"
"Hum, Takenouchi-san? Maybe it isn't such a good idea," said the boy now as red as his hair. "You know I'm more of the quiet type."
"Shy, are we? Fine then, I won't do that. But I have a condition."
"Eh!? A condition?"
"I won't do it, but you have to stop calling me Takenouchi-san," said Sora as she gave him a half-threatening, half-joking glare. "You make it sound like I'm some old lady."
"Really? But what the matter with calling you…" But he stopped when he saw that her leer hadn't subsided. "So then, what is it you want me to call you?"
"Sora-Chan, of course!" she beamed. "And you'll be Shiro-kun… or maybe Kou-chan."
"Eh, don't I get to choose how you call me?"
Sora was in a good mood. She enjoyed teasing her new friend. They kept walking and Sora wondered more and more how come they had never been close. Koushiro wasn't the cutest guy around not to mention he was a computer nerd, but he was still a good kid. It seemed those walks with him would be something to look forward to.
However, something wasn't right: for a while now a boy taller than both of them was walking behind them. It didn't look like he was spying on them or anything, but when she slowed or hastened the pace, he changed accordingly, getting so ever closer. Finally, she walked a little faster than before to stop abruptly the next second. The results were unexpected: The boy behind her and Koushiro tried to stop as well, but lost his footing. It looked for a second he was trying to hold on to either her or her friend, but in the end, he clumsily fell face first on the concrete sidewalk, surprising both red heads. "Ouch", said the boy, but it sounded like he didn't get hurt at all. Koushiro recognised the person in front of them immediately.
"Hasegawa-kun, is that you?"
"Yo, Izumi," said the boy as he raised his right hand in greeting, his face still flat against the concrete.
"Koushiro-kun, you know this stalker?" Sora looked at the newcomer dubiously.
"Oi! I don't remember calling you a stalker when you were following us yesterday."
Sora was surprised when she heard that. She remembered that Koushiro was accompanied by a boy yesterday, but didn't have the time to look at him properly since she had more pressing matters at hand. The boy got up and dusted himself.
"You're the guy who was walking with Koushiro yesterday…"
"So glad you could remember. The name's Hasegawa Shun. Just call me Hasegawa."
"Erm, Nice to meet you." Sora was a little shaken; the newcomer felt imposing. "Well I'm…"
"Takenouchi Sora", he replied, "second year tall and athletic red head, and Odaiba High's Tennis superstar. Izumi told me about you."
"Ah, that's odd." She turned her attention to Koushiro. "You never told me about him."
Koushiro did not give her an answer, only a blank stare. Sora quickly understood the reason; how could he tell her about him? During the all those years they barely acknowledged one another's existence. She decided to look at his friend a little more, trying to hide her embarrassment from the young genius.
He was donned of the Odaiba High green uniform, which meant that he was at their school, probably in Koushiro's classroom as well. He didn't seem to care too much for aesthetics though; his uniform was wrinkled, his tie loosened and his short raven hair was a total mess. His face was a little on the plain side, but that might have been because of his omnipresent scowl. He had black coloured, mean looking eyes. In other words, he looked like a delinquent; funny thing when paired with a small nerd looking person like Koushiro.
By the time she thought about paying attention to her friend again, he was in deep conversation with the newcomer. She felt a bit left out, but somehow didn't dare interrupt. The two of them talking together was completely different from when she talked to Koushiro a while ago. She couldn't put a finger on the why, though. She then noticed his smile; it was different from the shy smile he had with her. It reminded the tennis star of the digital world.
Koushiro only noticed that he had ignored his new friend when the school was in sight. He tried to include her in the discussion even if the damage was already done: It failed miserably. He walked the rest of way to Odaiba High, accompanied by a Sora's who looked like she was about to kill him. He didn't want what happened yesterday to go to waste, so he told Shun he'd meet him back in class and tried to apologize to her.
"I'm really sorry," he said. "Forgetting you like that. It's just that for the longest time it was only him and me walking to school together…"
"So, are you going to forget about me every time he comes by?" Her tone was sarcastic.
"Of course not! It won't ever happen again. So please forgive me."
"…"
"…Are you still mad, Take… Sora-chan?"
"It's alright Koushiro-kun, I'm not mad at you anymore."
"You sure? You still look angry to me."
She didn't answer, preferring to leave things as they were, and went to her classroom. Koushiro looked a bit worried when she left, which appeased her mood; she wanted him to understand that he wouldn't be getting away with anything. He was the one who talked so highly about friendship after all.
Yet she wasn't really mad at him. While it was true that she had being shunned – for the first time in her life and by Koushiro, of all the people – the incident only annoyed her. The problem was rather how Koushiro talked to this Shun person rather than the fact that she was ignored. This was what angered the red head somewhat. She felt the Koushiro she was talking with earlier was just a façade and that the Koushiro she had observed then was the real one. Sure, it was to be expected; they were only friends since yesterday after all. Didn't mean it was pleasant in the least.
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Sora found Koushiro and his friend waiting for her at the school gates. Shun looked bored out of his mind. The young genius tried to cheer him up; an impossible task at the look of things. She greeted them and quickly they walked on. Again, it seemed the newcomer had all of Koushiro's attention. She couldn't say that this time she felt left out though; time and time again the little red head asked for Takenouchi's opinion on the various topics they were discussing. Unfortunately, things weren't going so well. Even if she was talking with them, it felt like she was intruding.
In the young woman's mind, things would have been better if Shun hadn't suddenly appeared out of nowhere; she started to understand a little why Koushiro didn't want to meet her friends. At first, she contemplated the idea of leaving things as they were. They were now friends: her goal was accomplished. Seeing each other everyday like this was enough. It's not like she would have to worry about him having a real friend after seeing Hasegawa Shun.
However, the mere existence of Shun was also why Sora deemed appropriate to take things further. What kind of person was he? His attire and attitude screamed "delinquent", however that couldn't be all there was to it. She was sure Koushiro wasn't the type of guy who associated himself with these kind of people. He didn't look trustworthy either.
Soon Shun excused himself and went on his way. Sora welcomed the leave of Koushiro's friend. She felt like she could be more at ease with her friend now. Suddenly, a small thought erupted in her mind. It took one minute for that thought to turn into an idea and for that idea to become a decision. She left Koushiro under the pretext the she forgot to do something at school, yet she took a turn on the street where Hasegawa Shun had left them. It didn't take long to find him; he had a relatively slow pace.
"Hey, wait up!" she yelled, but Shun continued nonetheless. When she shouted a second time, he stopped. She halted herself in order to catch her breath, which resulted in a moment of silence. During that time he didn't talk nor move. He simply looked at her until she decided to talk.
"Hum hey, uh…"
"… it's Hasegawa."
"…Right, Hasegawa-kun."
"Hasegawa. I ain't your friend. Don't call me "Hasegawa-san" either; just Hasegawa."
She started to see why she didn't like him. Resisting the urge to tell him a piece of her mind on what she would call him, she focused instead on why she had come here: she wanted to learn more about him. Sora wanted to know what kind of guy he was: their short exchange gave her a clear answer. She would have to talk to Koushiro about his frequentations, but that would have to wait for another time. That Hasegawa Shun was now in front her, looking only at her.
She had an idea of what she wanted to ask him as she ran after him, but it had vanished. Finally, the silence being unbearable for her, words came out of her mouth. It wasn't at all the words she had thought up in the first place though.
"Hasegawa, to tell you the truth, I don't like you, and it seems you don't like me either, but I have a favour to ask you." He didn't answer, nor did gaze change. She decided to see what her lips had come up with: "Could you… not go to school with Koushiro tomorrow?" Hasegawa took his time to answer: "You're right: I don't like you."
With that said, he walked away. Sora wasn't ready to give up though: she ran passed him and stop so she could be in his way. "Please," she asked with her most pleading expression. Hasegawa looked at her again. Finally, he raised his open hand. Sora was at loss about what the gesture meant. His explained himself:
"500 yen."
"…what?"
"If you do not want me to come tomorrow, pay me 500 yen."
"I can't believe this!" she nearly shouted. "Are you selling Koushiro to me!?"
"Nope. You want a favour. You don't expect me to do something like that for someone I don't like for free, do you?"
She reluctantly paid the money, thinking it was a small price to pay to get more time with her friend. The next day did not go as she planned however; by the time they were halfway to school, she had nothing to say. It wasn't that she had nothing to say though: she kept comparing the Koushiro she had seen with his friend and the Koushiro she was talking with. Surprisingly, she preferred when she was shunned by the computer whiz. Apparently, Koushiro felt the same: his mood changed ever so slightly when they went passed the spot where Shun would usually greet him. Sora concluded she could suffer that boy's presence for a little while.
Shun was back in the afternoon. Sora decided not to talk to Koushiro while he was there. She couldn't believe it herself, but after a day of being the young genius' friend she was already jealous and worried. As they went home, she silently swore she'd make Koushiro more comfortable around her and make him stop seeing that friend of his: Clearly, Hasegawa Shun would become a bad influence on Koushiro in the long run.
She was still thinking about the two boys when she got home. She had barely enough time to put down her stuff that the phone rang.
"Hello. Takenouchi residence."
"Sora? It's me"
"Tachi-kun? What's up?"
"I saw you with Koushiro this morning. I guess I should be asking you what's up." He answered. "didn't you told me before that you didn't see him that much?"
"I did. That's why I tried to walk with him to school with him everyday from now on."
"Oh… and how is that working?"
"Well, it's a start, I guess."
"I've been thinking of way to get to see him more often myself. "
"Really? And did you come up with."
"Something good, but I'll need your help: We'll have a party for Koushiro next week."
"Okay… but for what occasion?"
"Leave that to me," he said in a mischievous way. "Just help me with the party, Okay."
"Sure."
"Thanks Takenouchi! See you tomorrow!"
"Bye. See you tomorrow."
Now what was that about?, she wondered. Taichi sounded excited at the end of the line. Whatever it was, it got Sora curious. Next week couldn't come soon enough,
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A/N: Well, I won't spoil you with what Tachi's plan is, but I'll give you a clue: The name of the next chapter is "Soccer". Care to guess what it's all about? If you can't, you'll just have to wait till next update.
