Y/N: Woo-hoo! Half way through D05! Okay. So…read it, and let us know if you enjoy it with a review!
U/N: So this is the halfway point of the story, and although nothing too drastic REALLY happens, this was one of the first plot points we planned for this story, it's pretty cool, well awful really... but we wanted to try a different feel. So you're welcome?
Anyway, I'm Sora here, and also Natsuko and Takeru. Takeru is like my favourite person to write as again which is funny because it just went in a total cycle, excluding Hikari who is so hard for me for some reason.
Anyway, I hope you like it :) Also review -_-
Title: Digimon Adventure 05
By: Yukira and Urazamay King
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 2: Shaped By Sin
Chapter 25: Happy Birthday
Natsuko:
So we'd finally gotten into the prison where Coronamon, Lunamon's friend was being held captive after leaving Merukimon and Volcanusmon behind, and then suddenly the "Death Knight of Wood" had jumped out and threatened to kill us. Hisyarumon he'd called himself.
It didn't take long for the fight to start though. This was my very first battle involving digimon, and it was absolutely terrifying. I was filled with adrenaline, and energy. It was a good thing my body had reverted to its younger years or else I'd have no chance in winning this battle, or even attempting to escape. Not that I seemed to be having any luck anyway. God I missed being alone. I missed the silence, the calmness—oh… Hiroaki's company was nice too… but there was no denying how good it felt to be independent and alone.
Hisyarumon was attacking us with some blade thing, and Lunamon and Coronamon were attacking with all of their might. I was pretty lost in the battle though, what with Lunamon's vortex of bubbles, and Coronamon setting himself on fire.
But they were too weak to fight against this beast. We needed to escape, and not to fight, but he was blocking the entrance and toying with the digimon instead of fighting them. Which was giving me time to think—but it was no use because there really was no other way out.
Kae gripped my arm tightly the moment Hisyarumon used his tail to whip at Coronamon. He was nearly hit, but he avoided it.
There had to be something to help…
And then there was. Completely silently Merukimon had reappeared. I had mixed feelings about seeing him, but I supposed that even if he did send us back to earth now, we'd at least have saved Coronamon. And this way we had someone to help us fight.
"Bomber Art!" Volcanusmon shouted out, running up from behind, and spitting fire all over Hisyarumon. Merukimon slammed the dragon against the ground where it shook violently in pain and attempts to escape. I couldn't help but keep my eyes transfixed on it.
"Come on!" I looked down to see Lunamon tugging on my hand and I nodded. I looked up as she began pulling me along to where Volcanusmon was waiting by the door with Kae and Coronamon.
We were outside the abandoned hideout pretty soon, running down the endless darkness. Volcanusmon motioned for us to wait still as he crafted some weapons out of thin air. Soon he held one with each of his eight hands and then was running back to help Merukimon.
Before he'd even managed to get back to the hideout, Hisyarumon had shot from the mouth of the cave, Merukimon holding tightly to the tail of the beast as he flew through the air.
Both Kae and Lunamon held tightly to me in fear as the dragon came toward us. Volcanusmon leapt into the air and sliced at the beast with two swords and a few axes and hammers. The dragon fell from the sky, and drifted to a stop nearby, Merukimon finally letting go.
Hisyarumon shot a blast out of his mouth directly at Merukimon who fell still the moment he'd been hit.
"Merukimon…" Kae gasped, her nails digging into me.
"We have to help." I said the very moment I'd come up with the idea.
"You're right!" Coronamon nodded, setting off at a run toward the enemy, his body bursting into flames again.
"R-right." Lunamon nodded, running after her friend.
I felt awful, I'd just volunteered two small creatures to fight. I needed to help too. But I didn't have a way to do so. So I'd just have to watch.
Hisyarumon slashed at Volcanusmon, and then reared his giant evil head toward Lunamon.
"Lunamon!" I cried out, "Run!" As the blast was fired from his mouth Volcanusmon and I started running at the same time. The blast hit Volcanusmon instead. He'd protected her… and as he fell limp to the ground his weapons flew off in every which way.
I picked up the nearest one, a heavy metal hammer and then ran toward Lunamon who was crying over Volcanusmon.
"He'll be okay." I said, patting her on the head. "But only if we win. We have to keep them safe, and help Coronamon."
"Okay." Lunamon nodded, looking up to me and wiping her tears. As she did so, one fell from her cheek and stopped falling mid air before it began to glow and change shape.
"A digivice." Lunamon and I said together.
"Ready partner?" Lunamon asked with a grin.
Partner…? We were partners? I didn't do well with partners… "Ready." I said with a nod anyway. I snatched the digivice off of the ground and Lunamon leapt into the air.
"Lunamon digivolve to… Lekismon!" When she landed she was a majestic warrior rabbit like creature. Pink with yellow and blue markings and a metal helmet.
Hisyarumon was distracted by her the moment she'd transformed and he turned all of his attention on her. Coronamon ran and hit him from the side and caught him totally off guard. Hisyarumon shook Coronamon off, but it gave me an idea.
He was blinded to the sides. He could only see forward, and his sides were totally defenceless since his arms were occupied holding those stupid orbs.
"Coronamon!" I shouted. He looked to me, confused as I motioned for him to come to me. "Hit him from the side." I told him. "Trust me."
"Mkay…" He said quietly, running around to the other side of him as Lunamon and Hisyarumon battled.
"Corona flame!" Coronamon said as a ball of fire shot from him and hit Hisyarumon directly in the side of the head. He turned toward Coronamon as Lekismon jumped back.
It was my turn though, and I threw the metal hammer as hard as I could, hitting Hisyarumon in the back of the head.
"Yes!" I cheered as he turned on me. "Now Lekismon!"
"Tear Arrow!" She was already saying it, and an arrow made of ice pierced straight through Hisyarumon's head, where Coronamon's fire had hit. And then Hisyarumon had burst into little bits of something. Is that how digimon died? I looked over my shoulder and saw both Volcanusmon and Merukimon waking up, with Kae there to help them stand.
"Oh thank goodness…" I said turning back to Lekismon and Coronamon who were holding a green orb the size of a snow globe.
"This was on his head." Coronamon said. "What do you think it is?"
"I'm not sure." I said, "But it wasn't part of him, which means he was trying to keep it safe."
"So he didn't want us to have it?" Lekismon asked.
"Exactly." I grinned. But he had failed. We did have it. It was now ours… whatever it was.
Mimi:
Seeing Sora mope about was hard. Mostly because I was seeing her so much more often than I usually did. She was on constant lookout for something that could catch her interest. Since she didn't get into that fashion program she'd been so excited about, she had decided that fashion wasn't for her.
And there was a part of me that actually upset right along with her. It had been her dream for so long, and now, because of my interfering, she lost her desire, the drive that had been pushing her along for so long now. It was almost enough to make me feel guilty. No. Strike that. I did feel guilty.
I hated it.
I hated her for making me feel this way.
And I hated everyone else for being so damn sympathetic about it all. So she didn't get into the college of her choice, so what? I almost didn't get to come to Japan at all, and no one even cared! And when my mother wouldn't let me study the culinary arts, no one batted an eye. Why was Sora so much more important to these people than I was?
But the worst part of it all, was that my plan came back to bite me. I was so determined to keep Sora from taking attention off of my restaurant and achievements that it didn't occur to me that she'd be sticking around now. She didn't have anywhere to go anymore. She would've moved out of my house, and had far less time to spend stealing my boyfriend…but now, I screwed myself over. She still had all the time in the world to spend stealing Koushiro from me.
I sighed, and stared down at my boring pieces of toast, and my lumpy, brown porridge. I felt like they looked. Boring and ugly. My own boyfriend, who loved me—me not Sora!—didn't even want to stick around today. Today of all days. It was my birthday, and I'd had to make my own breakfast, for the first time in a long time as it was a birthday tradition for me to have breakfast delivered to me while I was still in bed. Koushiro knew this. Even Sora knew this, despite my growing aversion to her.
But it didn't matter. I had to make my own breakfast, and worse, I had to eat it alone. There wasn't a note anywhere, saying where Koushiro and Sora had gone. Ken was still lounging, half-asleep on our couch. He hadn't left in ages. I wasn't sure if he cared enough to leave.
He was probably there for Sora. To comfort her. To console her. Perhaps he thought Sora was so beautiful, and wonderful that she outshone his own wife, and was here as a part of a well kept affair. It could happen. And he wouldn't choose me. Who'd want ugly, whiny Mimi, when they could have Sora in all her glory?
Wait.
Was I really jealous that Ken might want to have an affair with Sora, rather than me? That couldn't be right… I didn't want Ken to have an affair at all. Miyako loved him, and he loved her. They were the most stable couple in our whole group. I wanted them to stay together, to be a symbol, proof that stability could exist in a life so plagued by the Digital World's problems.
Besides, I wasn't even attracted to Ken. Neither was Sora I realized.
But it didn't matter, because he would choose Sora over me, if he made the choice. And no matter how little I wanted Ken, I wanted him to want me more than her. I wanted everyone to want me more than her. But especially Koushiro. My boyfriend. My boyfriend who clearly thought it was okay to go out with Sora on my birthday, instead of spending the day with me.
And since he hadn't left a note, I couldn't even be sure he remembered that it was my birthday…
"Mimi!" Ken whined from the couch, ruining my internal despair.
"What is it?" I snapped at him. It wasn't his fault that Koushiro forgot…well, it could be, but I didn't think so. I shouldn't be mean, but I wasn't in the mood for playing nice.
"The telephone is ruining my concentration," he informed me. I hadn't even realized it was ringing.
"What are you even concentrating on?" I asked, though I didn't expect much of an answer.
"I'm trying to think up more ways to save energy," he said. I rolled my eyes.
"Isn't that counterproductive then? Just stop thinking about it, you'll save lots of effort," I told him, reaching for the phone, which had rung again.
"You're a genius," he told me, sighing happily as he relaxed into nothing more than a couch potato, staring at the same movie he'd been watching on repeat since he'd shown up at my house. I perked up a bit. Iwas pretty great, wasn't I?
"Hello," I said pleasantly into the telephone.
"Mimi? Hello darling, it's your father," came Dad's voice.
"Hi, Daddy," I said excitedly. Finally, something was going to go right for me.
"It's nice to hear you dear," Dad told me. "You don't call nearly enough."
"I'll try harder in the future Daddy," I said grinning from ear to ear.
"I was just wondering, if you had heard from your mother," he questioned. And I felt my grin falter.
"Why would I hear from her before you?" I asked him. "She lives with you. You would have seen her…"
"I know I do," he said. "But she went to visit Japan a while back, and she hasn't contacted me since she arrived there. I'm not sure what her mission was this time, but I figured she wanted to break you and your boyfriend up…which means she ought to be wherever you are."
"I haven't seen her since I last came to New York Dad," I said, my grin having melted off my face entirely. I could always count on Mom to ruin my day, even when she wasn't there to do it herself.
"Oh dear…" he muttered worriedly. "I've tried calling her, but she won't answer. I always get a different message. Something about her not being on this plane, and to try again later…"
"I've gotten messages like that before," I said, thinking of the Digital World's phone booths. "Don't worry about it. She's probably just trying to do this 'mission' as you call it, under cover. I'll let you know if I see her."
"Please do. She's already been gone longer than I expected…"
"Don't you have something else you'd like to say?" I asked, realizing that was his way of finishing the phone call.
"Do I?"
"You should," I said growing impatient.
"Okay…then…how are Sora and Koushiro doing?" he asked hesitantly.
"Why'd you say Sora first?" I asked. "And why do you assume they're together?"
"I don't…know?" he offered.
"They're not you know. Together. Koushiro loves me dad. Me. And Sora's just a jerk that's getting in our way. And she's not going to be a designer, because she didn't get accepted into that school, so you can mourn her loss, just like everyone else is!" I shouted.
"I'm sorry I asked," he said honestly. I waited for him to continue, but he just stayed silent.
"You don't remember do you?" I accused him.
"Remember what?" he asked.
"How many daughters do you have?"
"Just one," he said.
"And how many other children do you have?"
"There's just you, Mimi," he said. I could tell he was getting impatient, just like I was.
"So that's just one birthday to remember, isn't it?" I said.
"Yes…" he said.
I waited only to be met with more silence.
"It's my birthday!" I shouted at him.
"Is it?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
I screamed and threw the phone down at the receiver.
This was the worst birthday ever. Hopefully, it could only get better…
Koushiro:
"Why are we here again?" I asked. I needed the reminder. I kept forgetting her answers. It was as if my mind couldn't be bothered to retain any information. No. Retaining information took trying, it was like work. And working took energy. I didn't have any energy. I didn't want to be out on the streets of Odaiba. I didn't want to be walking anywhere, and I especially didn't want to be dodging passersby, simply because they couldn't be bothered to move out of the way.
Didn't they realize that I didn't want to move either?
I really didn't want to be outside. I thought longingly of our beat up couch, and the ottoman that didn't match. I wished I was Ken. I didn't think I'd ever think such words. But then, I wasn't thinking much these days. Thinking was a waste of energy after all.
"You're girlfriend is pretty high maintenance," Sora insisted. "And she's going to be furious if she realizes that you forgot today was her birthday."
"I didn't forget," I told her, but stopped midway through my excuse, not bothering to tell her that I simply chose not to remember. Remembering, like thinking and retaining information, took energy. Energy that I simply had no desire to use.
"Sure you didn't," she said sarcastically. I would have rolled my eyes at her, but I decided not to. Too much work.
Tentomon and Biyomon were accompanying us on this mystery quest of ours. Both were wearing sweatshirts, once again. It was their standard disguises. Sometimes, when I had the energy to do so, I thought that the people of Earth who were ignorant of our parallel realms just couldn't be bothered with figuring out logical solutions, and were too lazy to do anything other than accept our pitiful excuses as to why a large pink bird and a robotic ladybug were wandering around Odaiba. There was simply no possibly way for the entire population to truly believe that the two digimon were children in Halloween costumes. But that was the only plan we had, and not one person had ever called us on the stupidly simplistic disguises.
Not that I could come up with anything better. Even when I was feeling inclined to try.
"Are we trying to find a present?" Biyomon wanted to know.
"No," Sora said. "Luckily, I had a few things stashed away after Valentine's Day. We just need something that'll push this over the edge. Mimi's kind of clingier than usual these days, and she needs something really special as proof that Koushiro loves her. And I thought, well, she loves sweet things, and you can do a lot with icing, so we're going to make a fantastic cake. What do you think?"
"I'm trying not to," I informed her.
"You're not being even remotely helpful," she complained.
I shrugged mentally, and let her continue dragging me towards the grocery store.
"Maybe we could make a chocolate cake?" Tentomon suggested. "I like chocolate."
"I think Mimi likes red velvet the best, but I have no idea how to make those, and I'm sure I'd fail if I tried," Sora said. "And since I have this strong feeling that Koushiro's going to leave me to make it all, I think chocolate sounds lovely."
Tentomon buzzed out a cheer, and Biyomon and Sora laughed. I didn't. Too much work.
"Come on Lazy Bones," Sora said to me. "I'm not going to let you ruin your girlfriend's birthday."
I was glad she was putting so much effort into this. That left less for me to worry about. Not that I would worry over it. I would've most likely ignored it and let everything fall to shambles, but it was nice of Sora to make sure that didn't happen.
"I'm sure I can download a recipe," Sora assured us, fiddling with her cell phone. "This one sounds good. 'Guaranteed to be perfect'…I don't know about that, but it looks easy to make. We'll need cocoa powder, flour, sugar…you know what. Let's just head to the baking aisle."
"Whatever," I muttered.
"Oh. This is delightful."
"Excuse me?" Sora asked the woman in front of us. Her black hair was tied up at the top of her head, and she was wearing a skin tight ensemble, underneath a set of purple robes. It was the wings on her back though, that had Sora on edge. I wouldn't have noticed they weren't part of a costume—oh the irony, falling for our own trick—had Sora not gasped. "Digimon!"
"Not so loud darling," the woman—no, digimon said. "You worked so hard to ensure these worthless peons were kept in the dark about the real goings on of the worlds that surround them."
"How did you get here!" Sora demanded.
"You keep the doors open, darling," the digimon said. "If you didn't want trespassers, I would suggest you separate the worlds more permanently."
We weren't being quiet by any means, and thus were attracting the eyes of various shoppers. Biyomon and Tentomon started fidgeting with the attention. I looked between Sora and the digimon woman, wondering whether I should remind them that we had an audience… I decided to let Sora figure it out. If she didn't, well, then I wouldn't have to walk all the way back outside, would I?
"You make it all too easy," the digimon purred. "I wonder if you truly have peace in mind, or if you really long for the adventures you had in the past. You cut so many corners with your methods, you let things happen when you could stop them years in advance. You ignore the murmurs of impending doom, and let them fester until they are a real threat."
I wondered momentarily just how long she was going to nitpick our methods. I didn't like that she was making me think. I also didn't like that she was right. We did do those things. We forgot to get rid of Fanglongmon after defeating the sovereigns, resulting in a disastrous event. And we'd been ignoring the threats in the Digital World thus far this time around. Arkadimon hadn't even been defeated in our last confrontation. And Daemon was kicking around somewhere. He had been for ten years now, and we'd done nothing to find him or eliminate his future threat. We just assumed that since he'd waited this long already, he'd wait longer.
We couldn't just assume that. Just because he'd done so in the past did not mean that he was content merely taking turns with the other evil and powerful digimon we'd been faced with. He could attack at any time, while we were hunting down Arkadimon perhaps. While half of us were fighting him, Daemon would be able to eliminate the rest of us with little to no trouble. Especially if he had a team…and let's be honest, when did an evil digimon not have an army, or a small group of minions at least?
My head was hurting, I was thinking too much. I just needed to sit down. Standing and thinking at the same time took twice as much energy. I really wished I was back home on my couch watching that dumb movie for the thirteenth time this week…
"But I suppose," the digimon continued. "I really must thank your lack of foresight. Without it, I wouldn't exist. Bravo. I must commend you. You've allowed the creation of your own doom."
"Like we haven't heard that before," Biyomon countered.
"Perhaps," Tentomon interfered, before the digimon could attack Biyomon for her pertinence. "We should remove ourselves from this public location?"
"Good idea," Sora told him. I was silently cursing him. I didn't want to move. "Get up Koushiro. We can't destroy the grocery store. We already did so much damage to the community centre…"
I groaned and allowed her to pull me to my feet—there was no need to do it myself if she was willing to do it for me.
"Oh. This is precious," the digimon laughed. "I suppose I won't have to deal with him after all. He's already affected. It looks like it's just you and me missy."
"Who are you?" Sora asked fiercely.
"I am Lilithmon," Lilithmon said proudly. "And I'll give you three seconds as a head start."
"What?" Biyomon asked.
"One," Lilithmon said.
Sora grabbed mine and Biyomon's hands.
"Two," Lilithmon continued.
Tentomon flew ahead of us, and Sora was dragging us through the people at the checkout counter, and practically threw me through the door.
"Three!" I heard Lilithmon yell. She flew towards us, jumping over the crowd, and slipping through the doorway behind us. Sora kept yanking me along. This time, we didn't need to weave around the pedestrians on the street. They all jumped out of the way of the crazy girl dragging her friends behind her. Or maybe they were just terrified and confused by the flying robotic ladybug who'd shed his sweater in his hasty retreat?
Then again, it might've been the look on Lilithmon's face as she ran after us that did it.
"I can do this all day, darlings," Lilithmon informed us. "Don't make this hard on yourselves."
"We can…do this…all day too…" Sora panted.
"We both know that's a lie," Lilithmon said, not sounding remotely out of breath. She launched herself in the air, and landed gently on the ground in front of us. "Now that we've gotten the chase out of the way, allow me to infect you, dear."
"No thanks," Sora said with wide eyes.
"It won't hurt a bit. And you won't even notice it," Lilithmon pouted.
"I think I'll notice when I'm dying, thanks," Sora said sardonically.
"That's the beauty of it. You really won't notice," Lilithmon assured her. "Now hold still."
Lilithmon didn't really leave much room for Sora to object. She backed her up against the wall of the nearest building. I looked around to see if there was anyone that might be able to save her, so that I wouldn't have to put forth the effort, but my search came up empty. I groaned. This was not what I wanted to do when I woke up this morning. I resigned myself to the role of hero, and took a step towards the two.
"Darkness Love!" Lilithmon called, readying her infection for Sora.
"Not so fast!"
Someone came and tackled Lilithmon out of the way.
"Don't just stand there," a different, shyer voice shouted. "It's a battle. Get your digimon ready!"
"Right," Sora said, grabbing her newly repaired—thanks to me, though I couldn't imagine where I'd found the drive to rebuild it…I couldn't remember a time when I actually wanted to do work—digivice and looked to Biyomon. I on the other hand, looked towards the digimon that had shouted out the order. It was a small dragon, and was quite familiar. Dracomon. Which meant the saviour was…
"Neo," Tentomon said surprised.
"Just digivolve," Neo snapped, while he wrestled with Lilithmon.
"Biyomon digivolve to… Birdramon!"
"Koushiro," Tentomon urged.
"No," I said. "That's a lot of work. We've already got Birdramon. That seems good…don't you think?"
"Oh!" Lilithmon said delightedly, throwing Neo off of her. He rolled along the sidewalk. "He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
I didn't know who she was talking about, and I didn't care enough to figure it out.
"Koushiro," Sora pleaded.
"Screw it," Neo said, pulling himself to his feet. "Just attack her before she infects you."
"Electro Shocker!" Tentomon shouted.
"Baby Breath!" Dracomon called, much to Neo's annoyance. Neo rolled his eyes and scoffed. Apparently he still didn't appreciate his digimon partner.
"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon bellowed, shooting large balls of fire towards Lilithmon.
"Now, now," Lilithmon said, batting each attack away. "You didn't think I was weak did you? I'm not. But I can see I've outstayed my welcome. Do not believe we've given up on you though, digidestined of love. You will be infected. All of you will. And then you won't stand in our way."
"You have to explain!" Sora insisted.
"Darling, you don't think I'd spoil everything, do you? No. We're not like those other villains in the past. We're confident, but not cocky," Lilithmon informed us. "If we tell you our plan, you'll derail it…well the few of you that have yet to be infected will try. But you've done incredible things in the past. We'll not underestimate you."
And then Lilithmon melted into a shadow on the ground.
"That was a lot of excitement for one day," I pointed out.
"You didn't do anything!" Neo said incredulously.
"I stood there and watched," I said. "And now I'm beat."
"Go home," Sora said with a sigh. "Mimi will be at work by now though… Just relax or something. I'll make the cake for you."
I smiled. That was a plan I could appreciate.
"I'll meet you at the house when I've gotten the ingredients," Sora said. But I didn't really care anymore. She'd already given me permission to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day.
"Need any help?" Neo asked awkwardly.
"Actually…yeah," Sora said. "I have to ask you something anyway."
I didn't hear anything else though, I'd already shut my brain off for the day, letting Biyomon and Tentomon lead me back home.
Takeru:
I smiled as the spring air washed over us. Spring was the best time of year. There was so much life and energy, everything was so clear and clean and, well… wonderful. We were in the park. It was like some sort of exciting idea that some absolute idiot had come up with.
Now I wasn't pointing fingers, but I was pretty sure Hideto did it on purpose.
Most of the digimon, including Lalamon, Gatomon, Terriermon, Lopmon, Agumon, Gabumon and Floramon were at Mimi's restaurant already, waiting for us to get there to join the party, but Patamon was still with me. I couldn't leave him. It was weird, but ever since he'd come back I'd been unable to leave him... I was just scared I'd lose him for good one day.
"Hey Patamon," I asked the moment he'd digivolved back to his rookie form a few days prior. "Do you... remember everything?"
"Yep." Patamon said with a smile as Norn checked him out excitedly. "I remember dying—and everything before. Just like last time silly."
And yet still it didn't feel right. I just... what if something happened on Earth? He'd never return to an egg. He'd die.
Willis was sitting on the swings between Hikari and Mari, and on Hikari's other side, leaning against the bars, was Hideto himself. Catherine was sitting next to me, holding my hand as we sat on top of the fallen monkey bars, Patamon wrapped in my other hand, in a nearly sleeping state.
I specifically removed myself from all of the awkward to spend time with Catherine who was finally here in Japan. I'd missed her a lot.
The more I talked to her the more I realized how much I really liked her, and how awesome she was.
The sun was beginning to set and the sky was cast with an array of beautiful colours.
"It is beautiful." Catherine said quietly in a breathtaking voice. Not only was she awesome, but she thought very similarly to myself, which was pretty awesome. I looked down at her and smiled. Suddenly she was leaning toward me though. Why was she doing that? What was she doing? Was she going to kiss me?
"You have a bug in your hair!" I lied as if it were the most interesting fact ever.
"Where?" She asked calmly, as she began running her fingers through her long, golden hair. She wasn't panicking. She was so cool. Down to earth, not a girly girl, super pretty and French and talented—well I'm sure she was talented at something, I'd just not seen it yet. She was really good at picking flowers though—oh shoot she was talking to me. "Did I get it?"
"Yeah I guess." I said, putting my arm around her and turning back to the sunset.
"Zen where were we?" She asked with a smile as she leaned closer again.
"We're on the monkey bars." I said, "Duh. Oh hey—maybe you should go home."
Smooth. Well done.
She looked to me, offended, and could I really blame her?
"I just mean that since it is Mimi's birthday that I really should see her. We're all going to go see her." I said with a smile.
"Can I come?" She asked.
"It's pretty dangerous." I told her, "Your parents specifically told me to keep you safe. Did you know that there were like twelve murders in this park last night alone?"
"Zen why are we still 'ere?" She asked suddenly frightened.
I shook my head, "No, look, I'm lying." She looked to me, again confused. "I'd love for you to come to Mimi's birthday party."
"As long as you walk me home." She said with a wink, "I wouldn't want to be the thirteenth unexpected death in the park."
"That's not a good joke." I said.
"I know, I'm sorry!" We both laughed for a while, about random things until Hideto stepped in front of us.
"C'mon." He said flatly.
I looked up at him. "To Mimi's?"
"The restaurant." He replied. "I have to work and that's where Mimi and the others are."
"Cool." I smiled and jumped to my feet.
After helping Catherine up as well, we set off toward Mimi's restaurant. Willis had gone to get the digimon without me noticing apparently, and sent them all to the digital world to continue playing. It was safer than taking them through down town when the sun was still up. We didn't want to cause any suspicion. Especially with investigations happening about the park, and who destroyed it. They were going to be taken out at Mimi's party later so they could join in on the fun though.
"Takeru," Hikari said, startling me. She was walking beside me, it'd thought it had been Catherine, but she was up with Willis, Hideto and Mari now. "I finished reading your book." She didn't sound overly impressed… "It was well written. You've got a gift, but…"
"But…?" I asked, "You can be honest. Blunt even."
"But it sucks." She said flatly.
"Not that blunt." I groaned, "What's wrong with it?"
"It's just not as interesting as what actually happened." She explained. We were all grouped up at the corner now waiting for the lights to change. "You have it so you win at everything. You're great Takeru, but you're great because of the build up. Because you got to where you are now, and you went through it all."
"But I know how to relate to me really well." I explained. But I did see her point. Perhaps it was time to rethink the plotting of the book. I supposed I could keep it so that Taichi had defeated Metalseadramon… and maybe I could give Palmon back to Mimi instead of giving her the Numamon… and Koushiro and Jou didn't have to be one person…
"Just, think about it." She said. "It's a great book, but I think it'll be better if you kept true to the original." She raised her eyebrows at me, "And for the record, I'm not an ancient reincarnated princess."
"Oh come on!" I laughed, "That was the best part!" She laughed and then patted my shoulder, hurrying off to walk with Willis as Catherine fell in step with me again, as the light had changed.
"It's pretty chilly." She said, rubbing her arms.
She wanted my coat! Damn I was a good boyfriend. Reading all the signs. I slipped my coat off and put it around her shoulders, suddenly realizing that she was right, it was kind of cold. I started rubbing my own arms when she linked her arm through mine.
I looked down at her and smiled again, and just like last time, she was leaning closer.
"Is that a fire hydrant?" I asked, super interestingly.
"Uhm… yes." She said awkwardly.
It wasn't that I didn't want to kiss her—I just maybe… wasn't ready for it. It wasn't the right moment. Being raised by my romantic novel obsessed mother I knew that the first kiss was supposed to be magical. It had to be with the right person, who I was sure had to be Catherine, I really liked her, we were dating—who else could it be? And it had to be special. Unforgettable. Romantic, and unique and beautiful. Walking in a group of people was not romantic.
Finally though, we had made it to Mimi's restaurant, and as if on cue Patamon perked up, waking up fully. I took my own coat and Catherine's from her and hung them overtop of Yamato's just so he would have trouble finding it because I thought it would be kind of funny, and then I took her hand and led her through the others and into the main dining area.
The moment we'd arrived Patamon patted my hand and flew off to the kitchen to where he knew the other digimon would be playing, completely sanitized, of course... but probably not actually.
Yamato was sitting with Rei at the counter, staring disgustedly at Taichi who was shoving food into his mouth like he was literally starving.
"I want that." Willis said, standing next to me suddenly. He was staring at Taichi's food, which honestly didn't look very appetising.
Hikari arrived a moment later only to rush after Willis who was already trying to place an order for the food. Hideto slipped past me and into the kitchen to start his shift which left me with Catherine and Mari.
"I feel so out of place." Mari said quietly, looking around the room.
"It's cool." I told her, "We all like you… just stay away from Iori and you'll probably have a good time."
"Mimi hates me too." She said, "This is her birthday…"
"Sit with us then." I told her with a smile. "We'll go find Miyako and it'll be fine."
She smiled at me and so I led her to where Miyako was sitting, at a table all alone. She was fiddling with a salt shaker nervously.
"Hey," I said cautiously, warning her before going too close. She jumped and spun around, sighing with relief upon seeing it was just us.
"Hi Takeru… Mari." I pulled out a chair for Catherine, but Mari took it with a grin so Catherine and I took the bench against the wall. "I'm Miyako." Miyako said to Catherine.
Catherine smiled, "Catherine." She reached out her hand to shake Miyako's, but all she got was a cold stare. Catherine awkwardly put her hand back to her side. "So how are you?"
"I'm fine." Miyako said flatly.
"Where's Ken?" Mari asked.
"You tell me." Miyako said. "He went to tell Koushiro something and never came home." She was speaking calmly, but I could see the panic in her eyes.
"I'm sure he's fine." I assured her.
"No!"
Willis' voice caught my attention. I looked toward him as he stared at Hikari.
"You can have that chair. I get the whole bench." He said.
"The whole bench?" She said, "How much food did you order? Are you going to inflate? Or do you just no want to sit by me?"
"Neither—I just want the bench. It's mine." He smiled at her and she just laughed, sitting across from him. I shook my head and turned to Catherine.
"I'll introduce you later when the party actually starts." I told her, "People will be happy to meet you I'm sure."
She smiled, but her eyes were transfixed on Jou, Momoe and Emiko. Jou was holding Momoe with her head rested on his shoulder as the two talked and smiled at one another as Emiko pretended her cup was an airplane, spilling water all over herself and the table.
"They're so cute." She said quietly.
I didn't have a chance to respond though because Mimi had entered the room.
"I'm here everyone!" She cheered, "You may applaud!"
I laughed and applauded rather unenthusiastically, like everyone else.
"Alright" She said with a grin, walking past Taichi and running her hands through Yamato's hair. She was at the other side of the room before she talked again. "This is a good time for us all. Mostly me, but you guys are getting some of the splash." She motioned behind her to a blackboard with today's specials written on it.
"Are you giving us all free food?" Taichi asked excitedly.
"Shut it Taichi." Iori growled. I turned my attention to him. He was sitting with Michael, Tatum, Kurayami and Daisuke… so where was Koushiro and Sora…? And Sigma?
"Dibs on all of it." Willis said loudly.
Mimi cleared her throat, "No… No I'm not giving you free food."
"Less interested." Taichi said.
Mimi, once again, cleared her throat, spinning around the blackboard. "I'm welcoming you all to the 'We Hate Sora Club!'"
The entire room was silent.
What?
"Mimi…?" My heart stopped for a second as I spun around and saw Sora standing in the doorway with Koushiro, Biyomon and Tentomon.
Sora:
I stood still. What was going on?
'Reasons why Sora sucks:' Was written on the blackboard behind Mimi. I had to force myself not to read the reasons why I sucked.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked around the room. Taichi, Takeru, Hikari, Yamato… why were any of them here? Did they hate me? Miyako…? All of them? I'd known Jou since I was about seven years old—and here he was in a hate club.
I took a deep breath. Each of them was staring at me. I knew I'd have to be as strong as I could, I couldn't cry, I shouldn't cry—I was going to cry.
Stay strong Sora.
I looked to Koushiro for a moment who was staring, wide eyed at Mimi, his mouth hanging open a little, and then down to the cake in my hands.
Happy 23rd Birthday It said amongst the green icing and intricately iced replicas of her crest of purity.
I knew what I had to do. I had to hand her the cake and stay strong. I had to show them all that I didn't care. Which was a lie. I did care. Very much.
I took one step, and instantly felt all the eyes bore even further into me, my knees shaking. I got a hold of myself and finished walking across the room to where Mimi was standing, her lips pursed.
I slowly raised my hands out and offered her the cake. "Happy Birthday," I said, my voice shaky as my eyes began to sting.
Don't cry.
Mimi took the cake and looked up at me, her eyebrows raised. "You know," She said, her eyes suddenly falling into a glare. "I'm the baker. I'm the chef. This cake probably doesn't taste very good you know." Mimi pushed past me, slamming into my shoulder, forcing me to spin around and watch as she strode over, behind the counter. "You know where this belongs, don't you?" I shook my head, unable to say anything. She held the cake at arm's length and then sighed, "In the garbage." She dropped the cake. "Like your fashion career."
I suddenly felt as if I'd been punched in the stomach, and no one was doing anything to help me, and I no longer cared what they thought of me. I turned and I ran toward the door, tears streaming down my face as I pushed past Koushiro and out the door.
Koushiro:
The room was absolutely silent. Half of the digidestined were staring that the door behind me that Sora had disappeared through, and the others were staring at Mimi in horror.
I didn't know what to think.
I didn't want to think.
But really, I didn't have to.
I knew which path I needed to follow. It wasn't a real choice. The only problem was making sure that I could force my body—in its lethargic state—to follow through and do the right thing. It came down to which would take the most effort. And while I knew that was the wrong way to think about the situation, I could not force my mind off of that one-track way of thinking. There was clearly something wrong with me. But I didn't have the time or energy to spend on figuring out just what it was.
"Koushiro," Mimi said as a warning. She must have seen my hesitance as the internal debate it truly was.
I met her gaze.
"It's my birthday, Koushiro," she said. "And as your girlfriend, I suggest you make your next choice very carefully."
But I didn't see the Mimi I loved staring back at me from those caramel coloured eyes. It was just a stranger in her body.
"You're not my girlfriend," I told her. She gasped, and a few others probably did too, but I couldn't be bothered to figure out just who did. "I don't know who you are. And honestly? I can't be bothered to try and figure it out. I love Mimi. Not this monster she let herself get turned into."
"Koushiro," Mimi growled, as I took a step away from her. The wildness in her eyes took on the look of a wounded animal. "If you walk out that door, we are through. You won't be able to get me back."
"And if I stay, I won't have you, not really," I told her. "And I'd have to sit through countless hours of couple's therapy... It's too much work, and I don't care enough to do anything about it. I can't care. Because you're not Mimi."
"Don't do this," Mimi said, her anger melting into pleading. "It's my birthday. You can't do this on my birthday. It already sucks. Don't make it the worst day ever."
"You made it that way on your own," I told her, and turned to stalk out of the restaurant, glad that I didn't have to spend energy on that anymore.
Next on Digimon Adventure 05: Sora and Miyako take charge in the next chapter, with Yoshie and Hiroaki back them up…