This will probably be unpopular, but this is an optional side-chapter to the main story. You don't have to read it, but I felt an update was needed because I haven't updated in so long.

Unfortunately, Chapter 25 is an absolute mess that I don't even want to look at it, so this was the next best thing. It isn't an official chapter because it doesn't really focus on the three main characters of the story, and I wrote it very, very quickly.

Anyway, to those who are interested, enjoy.

A Losing Game
Tanabata

Mimi hadn't had a single second to read her magazine on the train, as she spent the entire hour and thirty minutes gushing over how cute everyone looked. With a bit of pushing, she had managed to force each person to wear traditional clothing for the festival. America was nice, but Japan was her home. She liked to experience it to its max when she was here, even if it meant she had to be a little cliché.

"You've grown since last summer," Kari noted, looking at the bottom of TK's yukata as they walked into the festival grounds. "You're getting a bit too tall for this one."

"Think so?" he asked, pulling the fabric down.

"That's okay. It's not that noticeable," Kari said quickly when he started to look self-conscious. "I bet if you let the hem down a little bit, you wouldn't have to get another one."

TK looked confused by Kari's words, prompting her to explain what she was talking about.

Mimi grew giddy.

She loved matchmaking.

She nudged Sora's arm. "Oh, bless them. Look how cute they are."

Sora looked at the youngest two's direction, nodding politely to acknowledge Mimi's opinion without inputting her own.

"Come on, you're dating Matt. Give me the scoop on those two," Mimi demanded, tugging on Sora's sleeve.

Sora pulled her arm back. "I don't know… Matt and I don't talk about that kind of stuff…"

Mimi rolled her eyes impatiently. "Honestly, Sora, what do you two talk about anyway?!"

"Lots of things," Sora defended quickly, growing offended though for no rational reason.

Mimi, however, took no note of it, eyes locked on her targets. "I reckon it'll be fun to set the two of them up, don't you?"

"I don't know. I don't think we should really meddle—"

"Nonsense, everyone needs a little push every now and then," Mimi interrupted, disregarding Sora's opinion. "Come on!"

She grabbed Sora by the arm, suddenly sprinting to catch up with everyone else.

While TK and Kari had been open to join, Joe and Izzy had practically been dragged here against their wills. Joe especially had gotten whingey after finding out that Tai and Matt wouldn't be attending, though he stopped once Mimi gave him a guilt trip about how he must not have wanted to spend time with her.

Joe was nice. Mimi liked that about him.

Izzy, on the other hand, hadn't complained, but his general demeanour showed he wasn't the least bit interested in attending the festival.

Despite his lack of effort in creating a uplifting, enjoyable atmosphere, Mimi appreciated that he went along with it with minimal complaint.

"It's hot," Joe complained, shielding his eyes from the harsh sun.

"Yes, it is," Mimi agreed, turning to where TK and Kari stood. "Will you two get us some drinks?"

"Sure, what do you guys want?" TK agreed.

"We could all go together," Sora suggested.

Mimi pinched her quite painfully, annoyed that her friend wasn't catching on to her master plan. "Nonsense. They're the youngest, so they need to listen to their elders."

"You know, you don't really listen to your own teachings," Joe pointed out.

She ignored him, fishing out notes from her bag to give to the two while the others gave them their orders. When they had walked away far enough, Mimi turned around to look at the remaining trio. "I'm setting those two up, and nobody try to stop me, understood?"

Joe and Sora, probably used to her determination, agreed half-heartedly, while Izzy merely sighed. There wasn't any use trying to stop her.

An hour and a half later, she was one step away from changing her mind. They were so platonic that she couldn't stand it.

Scouting TK standing by himself, she skipped over to him, linking her arm over his once she reached him.

"Hi TK," she chirped.

"Hello," he greeted back, his tone polite and comfortable despite the slight confusion on his face.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Kari looks really pretty today, doesn't she?"

TK nodded, turning back to the stand he had been looking at before she came to him again. "Yes, she does. So do you and Sora."

She frowned. "Yes, but Kari's in a different league. She's much prettier than the two of us combined."

TK frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "Don't think like that, Mimi. I think you're really beautiful."

She grew flattered, subconsciously twirling her hair as her lips grew to a smile. She knew she could get self-centred, and honestly it was something she was really trying hard to fix, but sometimes she couldn't help it.

There was nothing wrong with appreciating one's own beauty.

"Really? Do you think so? I recently got a fringe, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I think it looked better before, and I'm afraid I look homely."

He assured her that she looked nothing of the short, and before she knew it, they had gone off topic. She didn't realise it until TK excused himself, and as he walked away she wondered if he had diverted her attention on purpose.

She moved on to the younger Kamiya instead. Perhaps it was their shared gender that made her easier to talk to. She found Kari talking to Sora and Izzy, and she promptly pulled her away from them.

"What's up, Mimi?" Kari asked, looking back at the friends they had left behind.

"Oh, nothing," Mimi sang. "I was just thinking, don't you think TK looks so cute in his little yukata?"

Kari glanced at TK, who was with Joe, before smiling at Mimi. "I guess he does look a little young, but he's always had a bit of a baby face."

Mimi shook her head. "Oh, I don't mean it that way. I meant that he looks really handsome."

"Ohhh…" Kari glanced at him again. "Yes, I suppose he does. TK's a good-looking guy."

Mimi grew excited, as this was the most progress she had seen all day. "I know, right? If I were your age, I'd definitely go for him."

Kari giggled. "Maybe you should ask him. You never know if he likes older girls."

Mimi frowned. Kari was being so cool about the suggestion, which wasn't what she wanted to hear.

It was then that they saw a random girl approach TK. Mimi could tell that she looked interested in him, but he only talked to her briefly before catching their eyes. He waved to them and started walking to her.

"He doesn't seem interested in her," Mimi thought aloud, knowing TK was still too far to hear them.

Kari shrugged, obviously not bothered. "She isn't his type."

Mimi raised an eyebrow. "What is TK's type?"

Kari shrugged again, lowering her voice a notch as he got closer though her expression showed no change. "He was once smitten by a beautiful blonde girl in France. Maybe that's his type."

He was bored.

On top of that, he was hot.

And he had no idea where anyone was. It was crowded, so all he could really do was blindly walk around in an attempt to find the others.

Out of nowhere, as usual, Mimi popped up beside him.

"Ugh, they disgust me."

Thankful he found at least one of his friends, he asked for the clarification that he knew Mimi wanted him to ask. "Who disgusts you?"

"TK and Kari! Here I am, going out of my way, trying my hardest to get them together, and they aren't even pretending to follow along!"

Izzy sighed. He felt sorry for those two to be the newest victims of Mimi's experiments.

"Maybe they aren't interested in each other."

She frowned. "Izzy, why would they not be interested in something like that? They're TK and Kari. They're… Takari!"

"Come again?"

"TK. Kari. Takari. See what I did there?"

"Yes, that's very clever."

She sighed. "It's such a shame. They'd be so cute together."

He saw a familiar twinkle in her eye, one he already knew the meaning of.

"You're scheming something again."

"I am not scheming," she huffed, looking annoyed.

He had to admit that Mimi was one person he never wanted to be on the bad side of. For such a small person, she was scarily authoritative.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked, changing the topic.

"No," she pouted.

He sighed. "Because of TK and Kari?"

"No, because I'm hungry, but I can't buy food because I can't stand crowds."

"You've lived in Tokyo and New York your entire life," he pointed out.

She scowled. "It doesn't mean I can't hate crowds, Izzy! I don't like touching strangers! You don't know where they've been or when they've last washed! Do you realise how dirty of a city New York is?!"

He flinched. "Okay, I'm sorry."

"I'm hungry," she whinged again.

It took him another second to realise she was insinuating something.

He sighed. "Do you want me to get you something? I don't mind crowds."

She batted her eyelashes at him. "No, you don't have to do that."

He sighed again. "Tell me. I could use something to eat too."

"I kind of want okonomiyaki."

Which meant that he had to want it to. "Fine, I'll go find us some."

"Can you get me two?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Can you even eat two?"

He had watched Mimi eat before. She wasn't a big eater.

"No, silly. We should get one for Joe. He mentioned he hasn't eaten yet, and I wouldn't let him go with TK and Kari when they went to get lunch."

Izzy wondered if he was suddenly going to be the one paying for everyone's lunch, but out of courtesy asked, "Should I get one for Sora too?"

"No, she ate too."

He was a little relieved as he hadn't brought much money with him, as he had mistakenly thought he would only be buying for himself.

She made sure he could repeat her exact order twice before she let him leave to fetch their lunch. It took him a solid fifteen minutes to push and shove his way to the street vendor, order, wait for his food and go back to where Mimi was. She had secured a bar table for the two of them, and she thanked him graciously.

"I kind of want that doll over there," she said through her tiny nibbles, gesturing towards one of those silly festival game booths. "That pink one."

Izzy looked over, uninterested in her doll but intrigued by her desire. "Have you ever considered how ingenious these people are? These booths always have the sort of prizes you wouldn't even think for a second to buy if you were at the shops, but when they advertise it as an achievement, suddenly people will spend well over the value of the prize in order to win it."

She frowned, not amused by his observation. "I don't care. I want one, Izzy."

"Then try to win one," he concluded.

Her frown deepened.

"Are you trying to ask me to win one?" he asked, reading her expression. "I've never played those games in my entire life."

"Well, aren't you supposed to be a genius?" she asked him, unimpressed. "You can write an essay on nanotechnology or whatever, but you can't figure out how to win a cheap festival game? That doesn't sound right to me."

He was lost. He knew he'd get lost. He hadn't seen anyone in ages. They had probably all left him behind.

"Hi Joe!"

He jumped at the sound of his name, startled at first but then relieved to see Mimi smiling sweetly at him, holding a paper plate in her hands.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm all right," he said, not comfortable with taking her food. "You can eat it."

"I already ate," she chirped. "This one is for you. Do you know where everyone else is?"

"Well, they were with me, but now they're gone," he said, panicked but trying to remain calm. "Nobody's answering their phones, but no big deal. It's not like they were invented to communicate or anything like that."

Mimi didn't note his sarcasm. "Hmm, okay!"

She shoved the plate in his hands. He merely stared at it, not particularly hungry.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him.

"How behind I am with my holiday schoolwork," he answered honestly, knowing she didn't care.

Indeed, she ignored him completely. "Joe, do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Why not?"

He hated when people asked him this question. Mostly, he only got it from his parents, but Mimi was probably even nosier than them. They were more concerned with his schoolwork too, thank goodness.

He shrugged.

"Oh, come on, Joe!" she said cheerily, slapping his back. "You're a catch!"

He sighed and started to pick at the okonomiyaki Mimi had brought back with his fork.

"I'm so serious!" she insisted, clearly exaggerating. "You're smart and tall and responsible, and I know plenty of girls who are into geek chic."

'Geek chic'? What on earth did that mean?

"…Thanks," he said, almost offended.

She beamed. "You're welcome. You should really find someone. Nobody wants to go through life alone."

"I think I'm okay for now, Mimi."

She gasped. "Do you want me to set you up with someone?!"

"No," he said sternly. "I absolutely do not want you to—"

"I'm going to set you up with someone!" she interrupted excitedly, grabbing his arm. "Oh, Joe, this is going to be so much fun! I'm a really good matchmaker."

"No, really, I don't—"

"Oh, but I absolutely insist," Mimi cut him off with a touch of authority. "All I need to know is what kind of girl you like."

He didn't answer.

"Come on, Joe! I have other friends besides you guys in Japan you know. I can introduce one of them to you. You're going to be a doctor. That's a big deal."

He had seen Mimi with her other friends before. They were all very much like her. Beautiful girls he would never talk to, much less have a chance to date.

Truth be told, he was just like any other guy. He too liked pretty girls, but the pretty girls were never interested in guys like him. They liked guys like Tai, who was charming and funny, or Matt, who was cool and attractive.

"Are my friends not good enough?" Mimi pestered when he remained silent. "I can find you a girl here! We're at a festival, Joe. There are bound to be a lot of single girls just waiting for you to talk to them!"

"Mimi, I really can't—"

"Look!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "There's a group of them right there!"

She dragged him to what became the most awkward ninety seconds of his life. After introducing his name, his single status and his medical studies, she ran off, leaving him by himself with a group of giggly girls. They waited for him to say something, while he stood in painful silence.

He wasn't terrible with girls. He was just terrible when thrown into a random group of six strangers who were clearly closer to Mimi's age than his own.

So, instead he asked if they wanted him to take a group picture of them, which they thankfully accepted. He took the picture and said he had to run with his friend, but he turned around and saw that Mimi had already disappeared.

He thought of looking for her but could already imagine her reprimanding him for chickening out.

So, instead, he decided to roam around some more, lost as he had been for the majority of the day.

For some reason, her judgmental opinion mattered a little to him.

By the time Joe found Mimi again, he saw she had gathered everyone with the exception of Izzy. After a few minutes of scolding him for his lack of success with the girls, TK and Kari broke from the group again. Evidently, TK found a fish that looked just like Davis, and they wanted to win it for him.

Mimi scowled sourly as she watched them leave.

"It's annoying that they won't just date," Mimi grumbled once they were out of earshot.

"They're only fifteen," Joe pointed out. "They're still young."

"I was dating at fifteen," Mimi retorted.

"Mimi," Sora warned, "you know Tai will be very upset if he finds out you're trying to set Kari up with anyone."

She stuck her nose in the air. "Hmph, I don't care. Tell Tai to get that pole out of his arse."

"What about my ass? Are you talking about how nice it is?"

Their group turned to the source of the voice, and for a second Mimi was surprised that Tai was standing in front of them, grinning.

That quickly turned into horror, and she took a step back. "Why do you look like that?"

She knew that Tai never really worried too much about his appearance, but this was just unacceptable in her eyes.

He was in his soccer uniform, looking so unkempt that she was embarrassed to be associated with him. He even managed to make that horrendous hair she hated so much look even worse now that it was flattened against his head.

Tai shrugged his shoulders, unfazed by her horror. "I just came from soccer practice. I would have washed, but I didn't want Sora here," he turned to smile tightly at her, "to yell at me for prioritising a shower over you, Meems."

"Ew, that is literally the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. Don't come near me with your dirty, nasty, sweaty body, Tai Kamiya."

He smirked. "Everyone sweats, Meems. Even you."

She was horrified and offended by the mere suggestion. "How rude! Even if I do, I certainly wouldn't go out in public without a proper bath!"

"If it bothers you so much, just hold your breath."

She furrowed her brows angrily, taking a step away from him. "Please stand at least five metres away from me at all times."

Sora watched her two friends bicker. Tai hated that Mimi always made fun of his appearance, but Mimi hated that Tai never took her seriously. It would have been entertaining, but she felt guilty today.

"Did you come here just because I yelled at you?" she asked him. "You must be tired."

"It's fine," Tai said, turning his attention from Mimi to Sora. "I brought Davis too because I didn't want to ride the train by myself. I lost him at the entrance since we split up to look for you guys. This place is huge."

"Honestly, Tai, I can't believe they even let you in with you looking like that. Please tell me Davis looks a bit more socially acceptable."

"I can leave if it bothers you," Tai said darkly.

Mimi laughed, grasping his arm as if she thought he were serious. "Don't be so sensitive, Tai. I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings."

"Is that a fact," he muttered. He seemed to forget about it a second later, turning his head to look around curiously. "Where is everyone anyway? Where's Kari?"

"Well, Izzy's trying to win a doll," Joe explained. Tai raised his eyebrow. "And TK and Kari are catching a fish that looks like Davis. Mimi's trying to set them up."

He glared at her. "Mimi, I swear to God…"

"Don't get your knickers in a bunch," she snapped, letting go of his arms and cross her own tightly. "They're so platonic that I can't even stand it."

"Oh. Good." Tai instantly lost interest and started looking around. "What about Matt?"

Sora felt her spine stiffen, and she looked at her friend sheepishly. "Actually, he couldn't make it today."

"Spectacular," Tai muttered sarcastically. "Do you know how many drills I had to do in order to get out of training to come here?" He darkened. "How is it that he's already immune to your nagging when it has been eleven years for me, and I still haven't figured it out yet?"

For no reason at all, she felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Tai."

He brushed it off, genuinely not seeming to care. "So where's Kari? I need to make sure she's okay, plus I want to see a fish that looks like Davis too."

Bickering ensued. Mimi insisted that Tai would be an obtrusion to their privacy, while Tai retorted to each of Mimi's complaints by mentioning that she was his sister. Eventually, Sora was able to mitigate, and the four of them went off to look for the youngest two. When they found them, they found neither had succeeded in the game yet.

"You guys have no skill," Tai accused, stepping between them. He took the paper net from TK's hand. "Observe."

"Way to just take over, Tai," Mimi accused, wagging a finger at him. "You have no manners. Can't you see they're trying to be cute?"

TK glanced over at Mimi with curiosity, though Kari was carefully watching her brother.

Sora nudged her friend and lowered her voice. "Mimi, maybe you shouldn't interfere in their lives."

Mimi frowned. "Sora, I have to interfere in people's lives. I enrich them and make people see things they wouldn't have otherwise seen."

Sora smirked playfully. "Oh, really? Like who?"

"Got it!" Tai cried out triumphantly. "First try, bitches!"

"Tai!" Sora hissed, running up to hit his arm. "What's wrong with you?! We're at a family-friendly event!"

"Sora, no!" Tai wailed as the fish flopped from his net back into the water. "Look what you did!"

"Well, somebody has to stop you from acting inappropriate!"

"I'm not being inappropriate. I was trying to win something for Kari; how is that inappropriate?!"

"You're swearing!"

"I didn't say anything, and you're the one being inappropriate by yelling. Don't you know we're at a family-friendly event?"

She glared at him and lowered her voice. "That's not funny, Tai."

He grinned back. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again, but I'm trying to catch Davis the Fish." He looked around suddenly. "Where is he anyway"

When Tai had first said that he was going to Sendai for the Tanabata festival, he had had no interest in joining him. It was a typical hot and humid day, and the last thing he wanted to do after an intense workout was go all the way to Sendai for some crowded festival.

He then heard that Kari would be there, so he followed along enthusiastically.

After he and Tai had split up, he had wandered around for half an hour until he finally met up with the others. He was pleased to see that Kari looked just as excited to see him.

"Look at this, Davis!" she said, holding up a clear plastic bag with a goldfish inside. "Doesn't it look exactly like you?"

"Oh, yes," he said, laughing loudly. "He looks exactly like me, the handsome devil!"

Okay, so actually he couldn't tell, and he was only saying it for the sake of agreeing with her, but he was flattered that she had thought of him, if only to compare his appearance with a fish.

"It's for you," she offered, providing him with the first non-holiday related gift she had ever given him.

"You won this for me?" he asked, profoundly touched.

"Actually, TK found it, and Tai won it," Kari explained.

"Kari was just holding it because Tai and TK have no manners," Mimi chimed in, earning a glare from Tai and a flush from TK.

"You won this for me?" he repeated, not listening to what the others are saying. "I'll win something for you too! You know, I saw this really great plushie on the way here. It'll be perfect for you!" He felt a competitive fire burn within him. "TK, I challenge you to see who wins it first!"

"I'm all right."

"Are you scared of losing?" he jeered. He turned to Kari again. "You'll love it, Kar. It's a pink cat plush that reminds me of Miko."

"Oh, that does sound cute," Kari admitted.

"And I'll win it for you!" he announced. "You guys coming?"

TK, who had looked extremely uninterested before, put his hands in his pockets. "Fine."

"Nah, I'm starving," Tai declined, groaning loudly.

"There's food all around you, Tai," Sora said matter-of-factly.

"But I don't know what's good."

"You think everything is good."

"Wrong," Tai said with a frown. "Recommend something to me. Let the kids go off on their own, and we can eat."

"We've all eaten," Joe admitted.

"I hate all of you," Tai muttered grumpily. "I come all the way here, and I have to eat by myself."

"Well, if you hadn't tried to cancel at the last minute," Sora nagged, "we would have waited for you."

"Hey, I'm here, aren't I?" Tai snapped. "Go yell at your boyfriend later. Unlike him, I showed up."

"Okay, let's just break this up now," Joe stepped in. "Come on, Tai, I'll go with you to get food."

"No, you don't!" Sora hissed, following the two boys as they too walked away. "Tai, how dare you! I'm not done with you!"

"They're hopeless," Mimi said, shaking her head at them.

"What's their deal?" Davis muttered. "Come on, TK! Let's go!"

TK turned to Kari. "Coming?"

She shook her head. "I'll stay with Mimi. I think we should find Izzy. I haven't seem him in a while."

"Don't worry, Kar!" Davis said. "I'll be back before you know it!"

Davis rushed off, TK trailing not too far behind, and Mimi was left with only the younger Kamiya. "Kari, you're so lucky. You have two boys after you. I had to force Izzy to try to win me something."

"Do you think he's won it yet?" Kari asked, looking around for him.

Mimi noticed that Kari didn't refute her statement. She gasped loudly. "You know they like you, don't you?!"

"What?" Kari said, blinking innocently.

"Well, everyone knows about Davis, the poor bloke, but you totally know that TK likes you too!"

"Don't be silly, he only likes me as a friend," Kari brushed off. "Do you remember where Izzy is? I don't think I was with him when he wandered off."

"You mean he likes you as a girlfriend," Mimi corrected, knowing how childish she sounded. "I'm only telling you where Izzy is if you talk, Kari Kamiya!"

"But I don't know what you're talking about…"

Mimi frowned. "Kari, don't put up that façade with me!"

She seemed determined not to break that image everyone had of her, and it took a few more tries from Mimi's end, but finally she faltered.

"I know he likes me," she admitted finally, causing Mimi to erupt in squeals. "That's why I'll never give him the wrong idea."

Mimi was crestfallen at the suggestion that his feelings may not be reciprocated. "I don't get it. Why don't you give him a chance? You two would be so cute, and TK is such good boyfriend material. Take it from me, Kari. Guys like him don't come around very often."

Kari shrugged. "He's never asked me out."

Mimi grew excited again. "That's it?"

"That, and I made a promise to someone that I wouldn't, and I would like to keep that."

She thought the second one was strange, but she didn't dwell on it. "So if TK asks you out, would you give him a chance?"

"TK will never ask me out," Kari answered, confusing her. She explained, "He'll never do it as long as he is unsure about how I feel, and I won't ever let him think I like him more than what we are now."

Mimi furrowed her brow. Who ever knew Kari could be so harsh?

"How do you feel?" she pried. "I won't tell anyone. I'm in a different country anyway, remember?"

Kari shrugged coyly. "It's not that important."

Dusk was settling by the time TK and Davis came back, Davis holding the overstuffed cat plush in his hands, moving its inanimate arms with his fingers as he proudly held it out for Kari.

"Isn't it cute, Kari?" he asked happily, offering it to her. "TK was useless and everyone made fun of him, but I won it for you."

TK frowned. "You know, I'm not going to play along if you're going to act like that. I was trying to be nice."

Davis ignored TK, smiling at Kari. "Okay, TK won it, but it doesn't matter. I was the one who found it in the first place." He shook the plush a little bit, demonstrating the jingle bell tied around its neck with a pink ribbon. "Do you like it?"

"I do," Kari said happily. "Thank you, guys." She took it from Davis' hand with a warm smile. "Shall we write down our wishes?"

The suggestion was met with everyone realising that they hadn't yet done the most important ritual of the festival.

Davis, TK and Kari led the way, Davis trying to stand between the two as they walked. Curiously, TK, who usually wouldn't mind such aggression, was fighting back a little not to be excluded.

Tai shook his head, appearing with a kebap in his hand. "They're like animals fighting over a piece of meat. I can't have that kind of behaviour around my little sister."

Mimi smirked at his comment, looking up at him and finding it humorous that he couldn't see the irony.

He didn't notice her, looking over at Sora instead, who had walked back from wherever she had gone. "Hi."

Sora smiled sheepishly. "Hey."

"What's wrong?" he asked, furrowing his brows at her uncomfortable stance.

"Nothing," she said quickly. She cleared her throat. "I bought you something." She held out a coloured paper flower. "It's a bluebell."

"A what?" Tai asked with little curiosity, though he looked quite happy with it anyway.

"A bluebell," she repeated. "It represents gratitude in the flower language." She smiled sheepishly. "Thanks for coming today, and I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday."

He smirked. "It's nothing. You yell at me everyday."

"I do not," she refuted lightly, turning to face Mimi again. "Shall we right our wishes as well?"

"You two go ahead," Mimi said with a wave of her hand. "I'm going to find Joe and Izzy first. They have to write them down too."

"Oh, that's right!" Sora exclaimed. "We can look for them together."

"Nonsense! I know exactly where Izzy is, and I'm sure Joe is around here somewhere. You two go ahead. We'll be right there!"

"But—" Sora started to protest.

"Mimi will be fine," Tai interrupted gently. "Let's go."

Though she didn't look thrilled with the idea, Sora eventually agreed, following close behind. The uncertainty dissipated as she saw Tai tossing her present around in the air.

"Tai!" she screeched, forgetting she was in public. "Be careful!"

"I am being careful," he insisted, not taking her seriously at all. She scowled, thinking about the time she had spent looking for the darned thing only for Tai to be so thankless for how awful she felt for being so mean to him. Typical Tai Kamiya.

Her irritation too faltered by his infectious grin.

"What are you going to wish for?" he asked.

Sora shrugged. "An acceptance letter for uni would be nice."

"Already have a few of those," he bragged.

She rolled her eyes. "Well then, what are you wishing for?"

His grin widened. "I don't know. I'll think of something."

"Think of something fast. We're already there, and you don't want to miss your chance."

Thank you for reading this extra bit if you got this far. Some of my extended family members live in Shibata, which is also located in Miyagi where Sendai is, so I've been to the same Tanabata festival a few times. If you're ever in Japan at the right time, I highly recommend you go.

I was going to make this equal parts Takari and Daikari, but my bias got to me. Takari will forever be my favourite pairing, no matter how hard I try to keep it out of this story. It doesn't really matter since it's just an optional short, right? For me, Sorato is the biggest monstrosity that came out of the Digimon franchise, but the lack of a Takari ending is its greatest injustice. Oddly enough, even though Takari is my favourite couple, Daikari does not bother me the way Sorato does.

Lastly, I apologise for the lack of proper editing and proofreading. I find that with my more recent chapters, I simply just want to upload something. The next one will have more effort; I promise!