August 2008 – Night in Summer


It's me, Inoue Miyako!

So, you might have heard it already, but I have a boyfriend! I've been dating Ken-kun for a few months now, and we're both still kind of getting used to it, but it's definitely working out!

I don't meant to sound all lovey-dovey, but he's really good to me, and I'm doing my best to be good to him. By all means, you could say we're a happy couple!

But you know, dating's not at all like I expected to be. Ah, I'm not trying to say it's a letdown or anything like that! It's just, you know, people talk about it all the time, but my experiences are turning out very different. Hm, maybe it's different for everyone?

I guess I shouldn't really be prattling on about this when I don't know much about it...


"Hey! You're late!"

Daisuke scoffed at Miyako (being followed by Hawkmon) arriving in her yukata, although his face was clearly smiling. "We were just about to go off without you!"

Hikari giggled, while Miyako only responded with "...yeah, like you'd actually do that."

Before this conversation could continue further, Ken himself appeared from behind. "I'm sorry I'm late..."

"Hey, no rush, no rush."

"That's not what you said with me," protested Miyako.

"Last time I checked, you weren't coming in from Tamachi..."

"Well, now that everyone's here, we should get going, shouldn't we?" said Takeru.

"We should, but..." Daisuke put a finger to his chin, looking deep in thought.

"What is it, Daisuke-san?" said Iori.

Smirking broadly, Daisuke pointed at Miyako, and then at Ken. "You know, this is a special event. Shouldn't we let the lovebirds have the day to themselves?"

"L-Lovebirds?!" yelled Miyako.

"I mean. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to deliberately exclude you from having fun with us or something like that, but this is a festival, isn't it? It feels like a bit of a crime not to let you have this to yourselves..."

"B-but – " started Ken.

"I think it's a good idea," said Takeru. "And you have our numbers if you want to meet up with us again, right?"

Daisuke nodded smugly. "Well, you two have fun, okay? Bye!"

"Oi, wait – "

But before the two could protest any further, the rest had detached themselves and gone off, Daisuke dragging Hawkmon and Wormmon behind him before they could make some kind of protest. Miyako angrily put her hands on her hips.

"Honestly! How rude, making decisions like that all by themselves..."

"Well..." said Ken, "not much we can do about it, I guess..."

Both of them sighed in unison.

"Should we go find something to do, then?" said Ken.

"Yeah," said Miyako.

The two of them headed off for the stalls aimlessly.


"...hyaaaah!"

Miyako threw her arms up in frustration, the torn poi sinking into the water. "After the fifth one, I should probably give it a rest, but I keep thinking something stupid along the lines of 'this time I'll do it'..."

"Just try it a little slower."

"I've tried that, but..." Miyako sighed and paid the stall vendor again. "One more, please."

"Want me to do it?" said Ken.

"Mm, it's okay, I want to do it."

"Then do you want me to help you?"

"Hm?"

Ken wrapped his fingers around the poi Miyako was holding, with his lower fingers overlapping her upper fingers and lowered it into the water.

"Which one do you want to try for?"

"A-ah? Oh! That one, that one right there. The one that looks kind of absent-minded."

"Okay."

Pulling the poi with Miyako also clutching it, Ken guided hand and poi through the water very slowly and carefully. It was at the kind of slow speed that Miyako would have never had the patience to execute on her own, but with Ken keeping her hand steady, she didn't feel particularly pressured to push the poi too quickly.

About a minute later, the poi was out of the water with the goldfish successfully on the paper.

"Whoa, Ken-kun, you're really good at this kind of thing."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

Ken looked back at the poi, handing it to the manager of the stall. "Do you want the fish?"

"Me?" said Miyako. "You're the one who got it, though..."

"I don't really trust myself to take good care of a fish...I don't really know a lot about them. So I think it'd be better to give it to someone who'd raise it well rather than torturing it..."

"Hm, you're probably right. But you know, I don't really know much about fish either...maybe we should just put it back and let others try their hand at it?"

"Are you okay with that?"

"I mean, we caught the goldfish, so that's good enough for me." She turned to the stall manager. "Ah, I'm sorry for making you pull the bag out and all that, but we're not going to be taking that..."


Miyako tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in line. Ken had run into a classmate who had wanted to talk to him about school for a bit, so Miyako had offered to pick up some food.

"Hey, Miyako."

Daisuke came up and approached her, a plastic mask from some tokusatsu show dangling off the side of his head. In the distance, Miyako could see the rest of the group at a cork shooting stall, with Iori struggling to hit the target.

"How's the date going?"

"Hmph. You're the one that forced me into it."

"Okay, okay. Maybe I overstepped a bit. Sorry about that. Still, though..." He sighed. "It felt a little sad, though, watching you two. Never getting to go on dates because he's a workaholic and you're studying for university admissions tests. Always at cram school."

"I'm still managing fine, though..."

"You might be, but what about Ken?"

"Ah - " Miyako sighed and hung her head a bit. "Well...I mean, if he wants to, I'll..."

"Listen, Miyako," said Daisuke. "You need to come to me for advice more often. I have the benefit of knowing things as his friend. Obviously I can't tell you everything because that's personal for him, you know, but...well. I'm sure you could use a little hint once in a while."

"A hint...are we treating this like some kind of quiz game?"

"Nah. But I mean, you could use something or other." He looked back at the group, where Hikari was now fumbling with the cork shooting gun. "Well, I've got to get back, but let me start you off."

"Eh?"

Daisuke walked past her and, before departing, whispered in her ear: "He doesn't always say up front what he's thinking. Just because he doesn't say anything about something doesn't mean he's not interested."

He walked away, waving his hand slowly as if to say "good luck".

Miyako frowned irritably at him walking away, still miffed that he'd put her in this situation.


"Is it good?"

"Yeah."

Finishing the last of her dango off her stick, Miyako sighed. "So, then...what do we do next?"

"It's getting late, so we should go watch the fireworks, right?"

"Yeah, you're right."

Slowly, they headed to the viewing point. Ken seemed to be handling himself well, but as Miyako looked at the empty stick that had once held dango on it, she realized she was holding in an abnormally large amount of frustration and stress.

She had no clue what she should be doing in this situation. They'd been hanging out casually for the duration of this event, with occasional small talk. It felt like there was something missing.

The two of them sat down, waiting for the fireworks to start. Miyako couldn't help but keep holding her breath, with all sorts of thoughts running through her head.

Here she was, at what one could easily say would be an extremely romantic situation – here she was in a situation Daisuke was deliberately setting up for this purpose, but it wasn't at all like the way a romantic date should be. What kind of girlfriend am I? she thought.

The first firework went up.

"Ah, it's started!" said Ken.

Miyako watched the fireworks, her face smiling but her stomach still in a knot. This was a romantic date. She was at what was considered by many to be one of the most romantic parts of a festival, and all she was doing was staring like an idiot.

"...Miyako-san?"

"A-aah! Ah? Yeah?"

Ken looked at Miyako questioningly. "You look worried about something. Are you okay?"

"A-ah..."

"If you're worried about something...if you're willing to tell me, could you?"

"K-Ken-kun!"

"Ah, I mean, if it's not something you can talk about, that's fine! It's just..." He looked at the fireworks again. "...I'm really happy right now. Really, really happy...watching the fireworks with you like this, so..." At this point, he was blushing a bit.

It was at this moment Miyako realized how unfounded her worries had been. Here she had been worrying about this whole situation being unusually awkward, the what kind of girlfriend am I? sort of feeling...and now Daisuke's words finally made sense to her.

He doesn't always say up front what he's thinking. Just because he doesn't say anything about something doesn't mean he's not interested.

Ken hadn't said much over the course of this entire date, but it was very possible he had really, truly been enjoying it. Miyako herself could easily admit that had been so busy with cram school and studying to get into university that she hadn't been able to hang out with her own boyfriend as much as she liked...he probably had been hoping for more chances to hang out with her as well, even if he didn't directly say it.

Miyako's thoughts finally trailed back to where they were, but in a different context: What kind of girlfriend am I?!

Now irritated at her own idiocy, not quite thinking properly, and acting long before she thought about any potential consequences of her actions, Miyako grabbed Ken and kissed him.

It was incredibly satisfying.

Releasing herself, Miyako realized exactly what she had just done and started panicking again as Ken looked at her in shock. The thoughts sailing through Miyako's head were variants of what did I just do I shouldn't have done that help me –

Ken began laughing softly.

"Y-you're not mad?" said Miyako.

"Why would I be mad? We are dating, after all...and it was pretty funny."

"...hey!"

"I'm just telling the truth!"

Miyako was blushing furiously, but was immensely relieved as Ken continued laughing.

They'd had their first kiss under festival fireworks. It still looked pretty romantic on paper; not many could attest to being as fortunate.


As Ken and Miyako met up with the others again, Miyako caught Daisuke's eye. Miyako's pride would not allow her to do something as huge as thank him for what he had done that night, but she allowed a passive shrug in this direction.

Daisuke, getting the message, smirked as if to say I told you so.