Hi again everyone. I'm glad you're enjoying this, and sorry for taking longer to update this. I've been very busy with this new job of mine. It's very time-consuming. Now, let's see. Oh yeah. Finally, everything is pretty much resolved between Koushirou and his parents. All apologized for the things they didn't mean and got everything out in the open. Koushirou now no longer feels slightly insecure over his being adopted and realized that if his parents could accept him, then most anyone could.

Now, for this chapter, Koushirou gives his presentation. Since I changed the date of the dance, things are going to be slightly different. Originally, this was supposed to have been the last day of school for everyone, but since the dance is going to be on Saturday, that's now going to be the last day. Other things to happen in this chapter will be Koushirou going to Odaiba Elementary School and running into a character that hasn't been seen since Sora's party. I had to get him back in here somehow. lol

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 26: The Presentation and Introduction!

Friday had finally arrived, and it was time for Mr. Ishidzuka's history class presentation. Mimi was a little bit nervous, despite how happy she'd been after receiving the news from her volleyball head. The nervousness the girl now felt was definitely a first for her. Normally being in front of people didn't bother her too much, and she was pretty much a natural when it came to being in front of an audience of her peers. She was hoping that she and Koushirou had gathered enough information about his family for Mr. Ishidzuka to give the pair a good mark.

The main thing that was causing her uneasiness was the fact that during cleaning time after lunch Koushirou had requested that he do the presentation by himself and how he had made his "final decision".

Mimi sat and awaited the start of his presentation, not really understanding what he meant entirely. She noticed that Koushirou didn't have his laptop with him; instead, he just had a few sheets of paper.

"Okay Izumi-kun," Mr. Ishidzuka pulled out a pen and writing pad, "we are all ready for your presentation."

The boy nodded and began. The entire presentation was good overall but there was one main thing Koushirou did which surprised Mimi. He gave her recognition, and thanked her for her assistance, but instead of mentioning how successful Satoru was or how great a teacher Miki was, he spoke of the Izumis. He spoke of their histories, like the schools they attended, their majors, etc. Not once did he mention his biological parents nor did he ever allude to the fact that he was even adopted.

After the simple, to the point presentation, Mr. Ishidzuka told Koushirou that he had done a very good job, and that pairing him up with "Tachikawa-san" was a good choice. For the assignment, Koushirou received a 95% since he was pretty thorough with his information, but he didn't bore anyone or drag it on too long either. Most of the students were actually surprised that being head of the Computer Club, that he didn't just do some type of a computer presentation.

"Great job, Izumi-kun. I'm proud of you. This one project has made up for the many class discussions you've avoided for the year."

"Thank you Ishidzuka-sensei," he shyly mumbled.

"Well, class is now over. I must say that I am very pleased with your work on these assignments. Wasn't it more fun than sitting through a lecture?" Some of the students hesitantly nodded. "Yes, free thinking is one of the more fun aspects of life! Out of all the projects presented, I must say that Ueda-kun and Tomokazu-kun had one of the most creative ones that I have ever seen."

The two boys stood. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Ishidzuka-sensei!" both boys bowed.

"This entire assignment was my idea, so I should receive a higher score than my cousin."

"You would say something like that," Seki muttered while rolling his eyes.

"Of course I would! I do deserve more credit than you since it was my idea!"

"Ueda-kun, you both receive the same amount of credit." The man massaged his temples from the headache that had started forming from Yuuji's silliness. "I don't know what made you think that you would receive more credit than Tomokazu-kun."

"Aww!"

Both Yuuji and Seki asked to be partnered up for the assignment, and Mr. Ishidzuka, reluctantly, allowed them to. Yuuji figured that since they were both from the same family anyway, why bother doing two separate projects. The two decided to put together a slide show. The slide show was mostly Yuuji's idea, though. While giving the presentation, Seki did the narration while Yuuji did the slide show, which consisted of drawings of their family tree. Each highlighted a specific family member of the tree.

"Class dismissed everyone. I'll probably see you tomorrow for the third-year graduation ceremony."

The clock chimed, and the entire class cheered and rushed out of the room happily, glad that they only had one more day left and then their long awaited vacation would start before having to return for all of the mandatory preparations for the first years and for the club activities that did meet during the break. The now empty classroom, since their teacher had rushed off himself, just had Koushirou in it, who was still getting his books situated. "At least this is all over," he sighed out in relief.

His book bag in order, he was greeted by a karaoke loving girl.

"You don't have to say anything," he spoke up before she could question his presentation. "I already have an idea as to what you're going to say."

"You do?"

"It's probably about my presentation, correct?"

She nodded. "We did a lot of research. We got a lot of information. How come you didn't use any of it?"

"Well, this assignment was for us to talk about our true families and their histories, and thinking about it, my adoptive family is my true family. That was the decision that I made, to either speak of the Izumis as opposed to my real parents and their histories. For my mother's side, anyway, I really couldn't say much given her circumstances. The decision I mentioned to Miyako-kun was whether or not I should tell the Izumis about what I had been doing for the past few days, and how I'd made my decision not to, but you talked some sense into me.

"The Izumis have taken care of me my entire life, like I was their own flesh and blood. We may not be fully related by blood, but those two are the only family I have ever had and they are the only family I have ever known…and I love them as if they were my real parents. I know that my mother doesn't want to kick me out of the family just because of her being pregnant or think that her new soon-to-be child will be more important to her than I am…"

"I guess," she took in everything Koushirou said slowly, "but what about all the stuff we found out about your biological family?"

"Originally, I went off in search of gathering information for the sake of this project, but at the same time, I felt a little guilty about doing that, but, my curiosity grew, as I wanted to know more about myself. Even though I didn't use that information today, I'm highly appreciative of your help and can actually rest a bit better knowing what they were like."

"I guess that's okay, but it was still a lot of work."

"Like I said earlier, I really appreciate what you did for me, Mimi-san. I don't know too many people who would have put up with me the way you did, especially when my behavior towards you at times was inexcusable."

Mimi wasn't sure how to react. She was neither mad at him nor was she even remotely annoyed. She was a little surprised at herself for feeling neither towards him, given how much and how long it took them to gather the information. A few years ago, she probably would have complained about doing so much work for nothing, but the present-day teen realized that the time the two had spent together wasn't an entire waste.

Their friendship had improved tremendously because of their traveling and hanging out together more than usual. The two were definitely a lot closer, and Mimi always felt that friendship was very important, and finding ways to improve friendships were even better.

Another thing that made Mimi glad, was how Koushirou's views had changed a bit. He was one of Mrs. Izumi's biggest supporters now, and his insecurities over it, were now gone. She was glad that Koushirou realized that there was nothing wrong with his being adopted, "You're the same Koushirou to me," she'd told him during the train ride home. If the Izumis were really bothered with his "tainting the Izumi bloodline", like Koushirou had partially felt for some of his life, they wouldn't have kept him around nor would they have treated him with lots of love and kindness over the years.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Koushirou apologized, noticing the spaced out look on her face. He figured that the girl must have been so annoyed with him that she couldn't speak. He started to walk off.

"No, Koushirou, wait!" Mimi called, breaking away from her thoughts.

He turned back to face her. "Yeah?"

"You didn't waste my time." She smiled. "I chose to help you, remember? I could have turned down the offer to help, but I didn't and helped you out anyway because I didn't mind it. I was a little surprised that you went through so much trouble to get all of that information and then not use it, but I understand why you didn't, and am glad that you are happy more than anything. I'm glad that we're better friends because of working on this project together."

"Better friends?"

She nodded. "That's enough for me. I love making new friends…"

"But I'm an old friend…"

"…or getting closer to an old friend."

He gave her a goofy, uneasy grin. He was really happy that he'd grown closer to Mimi too, but deep down he wished that they could be a bit closer, maybe something beyond friendship. Of course, whenever any type of thought like that remotely inched close to his mind, he'd shake it off, as, to him, the idea was unnatural and absurd to think of her in any way outside of friendship.

Mimi looked down at her wrist watch, realizing the time was slipping away.

"I have to get going. I'm meeting up with Sora-san since I have to get ready for tomorrow. I still haven't found a gown for the dance yet." Her eyes grew starry. "This is going to be really exciting. At least if I go this year, I'll know what to expect when I go to the dance next year!" She gave Koushirou a gentle smile. "I would be honored for you to be my partner for our dance next year, but first, there is the Cherry Blossom Festival next month. I would really like for you to go. The bloom is going to be really nice this year. We can even make a party of it. A Chosen Children get together."

Ignoring everything about the festival, as that wasn't too farfetched to begin with, it surprised him a bit over how she had invited him to be her partner. "You would actually want to go with someone like me to that type of a social event?" He felt himself vaguely blush in embarrassment; he didn't know the first thing about formal dances, unless the bon dance counted.

"Sure, why not." The girl gave Koushirou a quick, light kiss on the cheek and a playful giggle, which left him incredibly red. She then took off to join up with Sora, who was going to help her pick out an outfit for the dance, even if it was last minute.

Quite a few students, who had been walking by the classroom, saw Mimi give Koushirou this kiss. Most everyone started murmuring amongst themselves about it, and the word was starting to get around the school. Of course, the more and more the rumor spread, the more and more exaggerated it became as the students anxiously, and discreetly, messaged one another, as they were still on the school grounds.

After Koushirou got over the shock that this had been the most kisses he'd ever received from a person of the opposite gender, he started for home. He noticed that a lot of students would look at him and then start talking amongst one another as he would pass them by. He had no idea what was going on, but dismissed the thought since he had more important things to worry about, even though from some of the boys, he was receiving death glares. That just made him feel a bit uncomfortable, but he still continued on down the hallway.

The walk didn't last for much longer, as he was confronted by a jealous, lovesick fan boy. "Ueda-san…"

"Izumi, what is your secret?" the boy asked, almost as if he were begging.

"My secret?" Koushirou felt more of those death glares coming from behind him. 'This feeling…it's weird…and almost feels dangerous…'

"What is it about you that Mimi-chan likes so much?"

"Eh?"

"I want to know so that she can like me too!" Yuuji whined loudly, tears streaming down his face.

'Is he always this melodramatic?'

"Izumi…please…"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We all know that she kissed you!"

After Yuuji mentioned that, Koushirou's demeanor grew somewhat arrogant, and he partially smirked. He was actually enjoying the jealousy Yuuji was displaying this particular time, although, personally, he wished that Misao was in Yuuji's place at the moment. He personally found Misao the most annoying of all of the Mimi followers, and was still a bit put off over how the boy had had the audacity to request him to ask out Mimi for him.

"So?" Koushirou responded in a coolness which could rival that of Yamato or Eijiro.

"So! She's kissed you! Do you know how many boys would love to get a kiss from Mimi-chan!"

"I'm sure there are quite a few boys who would love for Mimi-san to use her 'kiss attack' on them, but we are only friends, Ueda-san."

With that, the boy hurried himself along to get away from Yuuji, and the other students of their school. After changing out of his shoes in record speed, since he did feel himself being stared at evilly, and exiting the school, he saw Miyako who was just a few paces ahead of him. "Miyako-kun!" he called to her.

She turned around to see Koushirou running towards her. She forced on a smile once he caught up. She heard about what had happened but from the message she received and from what she'd briefly heard, it was an all out romantic kiss shared between the two, not a simple friendship kiss from Mimi to him.

She, as well as many others, knew that something like a kiss was meaningful and normally only given in a romantic sense, which is why everyone was so suspicious over the two and why Miyako thought the way that she did. She then would think back to how Mimi did spend a good amount of time in America, and to her knowledge, she heard about how kisses were common there and shared between friends. She really hoped that that was the case.

"Hey there, Izumi-senpai. How are you?"

"Fine," he plainly stated. "It's nice out today, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," she answered back quietly.

"Would you like me to walk with you? It's on my way since I'm planning on dropping by Odaiba Elementary before going home."

"I guess that'd be okay," she replied nonchalantly.

The two resumed their walk, but Koushirou noticed how quiet Miyako was. That was definitely a first for her.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not really. I was just thinking about something…"

"What about?"

"Mimi-oneesama…"

"Mimi-san?" asked the boy in surprise. 'No, I can't handle something like that! She couldn't be interested…could she?'

"Yeah, I just really envy her."

'Good, I thought she was going to say something else. Seems everyone else is into her in that way lately…' He coughed slightly. "Um, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She shot him a look of annoyance. "I guess not," he muttered. "What is there for you to be envious over?"

"I guess," she looked up at the clear blue sky, a bird wistfully soaring by, "sometimes I wish I could be more like her. Every boy likes her; no boy likes me." She chuckled lightly, feeling a little embarrassed. "I don't know why I told you that."

He didn't know why either, but he tried his best to cheer her up and give her some kind of words of encouragement, even if that wasn't his specialty. "That's alright; I'm sure lots of boys like you. You're a really nice girl and so is Mimi-san." He gave off a nervous grin. "Maybe they're just too shy to approach you."

"They sure aren't shy when it comes to her," she retorted. "She has a fan club and even Yamato-san seems to like her! I know that Sora-san, Chizu-nee, and I were other choices for him to ask along to be his partner, but he asked her first anyway."

"Maybe it's not like that. Maybe he only asked her first because he's known her longer and Taichi-san had already asked Sora-san according to what you told me in your messages. Mimi-san probably wouldn't have gone at all unless she was asked, which she was. If not by Yamato-san, maybe someone else would have asked her along eventually," he quieted down considerably, and sub-consciously said, "like maybe me, perhaps," but then added on quickly after realizing what he'd said, "or any of her other friends."

She looked over at him in surprise, her face going partially red from what she had in mind to ask him. "Well, um, Izumi-senpai," she started slowly, "do you think that well, you could ever, like, um…"

"Do you think I could like what?"

She shook her head, losing her nerve. "You know what, just forget about it!" she cried out in frustration. "I-I-I have to go. See you tomorrow," she told him, completely flustered. With that, the girl ran off, surprised at herself for what she was going to ask him; if he could ever see himself falling for a girl like her. It was also surprising how she wasn't very open with her feelings on the subject since she's never been one to keep quiet about guys she found attractive or liked. Her feelings were usually very open, which really showed how she was suited for the Digimental of Purity.

Koushirou stared at the girl in pure confusion, but figured he'd be better off ignoring it. The behavior of girls was one topic he had no knowledge of, and, frankly, he figured there was no logical way of ever figuring them out, and Miyako had just proven his point.

'How does he really feel about her? Could he ever see me the way he sees her? I have this strange feeling that he likes her more than he lets on, especially since he's gone out of his way just to be nice to her…Yuuko-san might be right about him…'

After Miyako ran off, Koushirou continued the walk, alone, to his former elementary school. He was planning on paying Ms. Nagataki a visit. Mimi told him a lot about her during the train ride home from Odaiba Beach, which left Yamato completely lost and confused, and made him feel like a third wheel, almost. She even delivered her message about how he wasn't abandoned. The conversation was vague to the ears of the local celebrity, which caused him to feel slightly disgruntled, and caused him to forget to ask about Professor Nagare's peculiar name. Koushirou found it very ironic how, at one point, he was in close physical proximity of a person who could have saved him a lot of travel time, yet so far away.

It didn't take him long, but he finally reached the school he had graduated from just a couple of years earlier. The school was pretty empty, as the students only had a half-day. He entered it and headed straight to the library, hoping to find Ms. Nagataki there. He too recognized the name like Mimi had, but he couldn't recall her face at first, until he'd seen her photo.

When he arrived at the nearly dead library, he looked around to surprisingly find a tall, slim boy with dark shoulder-lengthened hair wearing a grey school uniform playing chess with a woman who resembled Ms. Nagataki at one of the tables. He remained at the library's doors, recognizing the boy at the table. 'Ichijouji-kun?'

Koushirou could tell that the game may have been close to finished. Both Ken and the woman were down to their rooks, and the woman still had two of her power pieces left included with that. Ken only had one aside from his queen. As they continued to play, Ken managed to capture both of the woman's rooks.

"Hm, I don't think I have too many choices as far as moves are concerned, Nagataki-sensei."

"My old friend, Miki-chan, would figure out a way to get out of the mess that you are in, Ichijouji-kun. I'm sure that you could come up with a nice strategy to capture my king using your two rooks and your queen against my two bishops. You have a big advantage over me since you're not fully limited by the direction that your remaining pieces can move."

Ever since everything dealing with Ken's Dark Seed, he wasn't as "spectacular" as all had thought of him to be. Since it no longer served any purpose, the Dark Seed's powers no longer worked for him. Ken was just as average as any other person when it came to school, sports, and most anything else, although, he did prove to be intelligent by studying, like any other normal student. In a way, he was the way that he was before he was infected by it, maybe slightly above average. One of the things he enjoyed when younger was chess. His older, deceased brother, Ichijouji Osamu, had taught him how to play. Ken, back then, was an okay player, but Osamu, in Ken's eyes, was a genius at the game.

Whenever time allowed it, after school, Ken would ride in from Tamachi and head over to Odaiba Elementary to get refresher lessons from Ms. Nagataki. He met her when visiting the school to meet up with Daisuke, as the two were going to go over some soccer plays. He saw her in the library studying a chessboard. While Daisuke had to run and get something, he spoke with her, and found out that she was a good player of the game and asked if she could teach him how to play efficiently again, which she gladly agreed to.

Ever since the Dark Spore incident and its powers being deactivated, technically, Ken had lost some of his power to concentrate on some things, and chess was one of them, as it reminded him of his brother so much. He just recently got back into the game of chess when he played against Miyako and lost.

Dark Seed or no Dark Seed, there was one thing that did remain pretty much the same, and it was his uncanny ability to attract girls, just like Yamato and Takeru. Girls seemed to flock to them as well.

"Come on, Ichijouji-kun, I know you can get this," the woman said with encouragement. "I only have two bishops left here, and no pawns that can actually help aid me in any way. What could you do to get me into check, and then into checkmate?"

He thought for a moment as he finally started to see what she had. "Okay, I'll move my rook here." He picked up the castle shaped chess piece and moved it to the row in front of where Nagataki's king sat. "B5 to B2..."

Ms. Nagataki smiled as she moved one of her pawns up a space, but as she'd pointed out earlier, it wouldn't have helped her much.

"Okay, now I'll move my queen…here…A5 to F5…"

He moved his queen to the column beside Ms. Nagataki's king so that way, she wouldn't be able to move her king there if he managed to get her into check. She nodded in approval, and moved her pawn up another space. Seizing the opportunity, Ken moved his second rook onto the actual row that her king sat.

"H8 to H1." He then got an almost evil, Digimon Kaiser-like smirk, and said, "Checkmate!"

"See, with the first rook you moved, you prevented my king from moving or running to that second row. With your queen, you blocked me from going over to column f, and with your second rook, you made it so that I couldn't run or get my king to safety. Great job, Ichijouji-kun! "

"Thank you."

"Although, you could have done that with just one of your rooks and the queen, or maybe just with the two rooks, but never mind that. It was still a pretty good play." She gave him an assuring smile. "See, you are not too dumb to play chess. You just have to learn how to concentrate. Considering your past, I can understand why you have so much distraction and why you have a bit of difficulty concentrating sometimes. You still have your brother's death on your mind, I'm sure."

He looked a bit melancholy and a nodded slowly. "Ever since he died, I avoided playing the game of chess because it depressed me, but ever since I played a friend of mine a while ago, I finally realized how bad off a player I had become, and felt that maybe I should get some lessons, so that I may improve that skill again. It was like we were fated to meet. I know I was a champion at one point, but those days are over. My brother wouldn't want me to mope around and I know he wouldn't want me to stop playing the one game I always enjoyed most with him, other than blowing bubbles together…"

"It's always nice to do things to remember a loved one by. I even do it myself. I always try my best to keep my friend who died years ago in my memories. I loved her a lot. She was like a sister to me, and my playing chess and sharing it with others is my way of keeping her memory fresh and alive."

"I guess we both have that in common, Nagataki-sensei."

"It seems so. We both lost a person close to us that enjoyed a good game of chess."

He stood. "Thank you very much, Nagataki-sensei. I really appreciate your taking the time to help refresh me in the basics of chess. This past month has been very enlightening. I just wish I was able to come by everyday instead of maybe once or twice a week."

"It's no problem at all, Ichijouji-kun. It's always refreshing to see a young person interested in such a strategic game."

He nodded, but didn't leave quite yet. Koushirou still remained at the library's door, a bit anxious to enter fully to approach the two. He shook off the nervous feeling in his stomach, and decided to walk up towards them anyway.

"-and that was the year of the big tournament that was won by my friend!" Ms. Nagataki finished up. "I ended up in the semi finals, but I wasn't good enough to even get a chance to play her," she heartily laughed.

"She must was a really great player!"

Ken sat back down, engrossed in the conversation, until they heard the sound of someone lightly clearing his throat.

"Hello there, young man. How may we help you?" The woman didn't pay the boy too much mind at first, as she was still putting away the chess equipment as neatly as she possibly could.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you, Ichijouji-kun. You're kind of far from home and from your school, although, from Tamachi, it only takes maybe…a half hour by train or so not counting the commute to the stations both here and there."

"Nagataki-sensei is helping me brush up on my chess skills. She sets up different scenarios and I have to find a way to capture her king. Today, she used a simple and basic procedure, mainly because it's one of the easiest to set up."

After having finally finished packing up everything, she got a better look at the boy. She studied his face immensely. "I can't believe it!" she exclaimed while standing up. "It's you, isn't it?"

Ken was a bit confused as to why Ms. Nagataki was acting so strangely just because of Koushirou's being there. Koushirou, on the other hand, wanted to verify that who he was speaking with, was the right person he was in search of. "Hello there. Are you Nagataki Sui-san?"

She nodded, feeling her voice temporarily leave her due to the overwhelming emotion of joy she felt.

"I am Izumi Koushirou."

"Nagataki-sensei, Nagataki-sensei?" He looked back up at Koushirou from his seat. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"I can't believe it! I really can't believe it! It is Chibi-Koushi!" Joyful tears started to fall from her eyes.

'Chibi-Koushi? Why is Nagataki-sensei calling him that?'

"After all of these years, worrying about you and wondering if you ever found a good home, I get to see you again! It's so surprising how I missed you all those years ago when you were a student here. Of course I'd seen you before, but never had you as one of my students. I'm sure if I had, I would've taken more notice of you. It's been nearly 15 years since I've seen you last!"

"You know Koushirou-san, ma'am?"

She nodded. "His mother and I were the best of friends as children."

"Mrs. Izumi?"

"No, my chess-playing friend, Miki-chan."

"Misayoshi-san?" He scratched his head in confusion. "Did Izumi-san change both her given name as well as her family name for some unusual reason when marrying?" Ken shook his head. 'No wait...that can't be right. Misayoshi-san is dead.'

Koushirou, who had remained quiet so far during this reunion, answered the younger boy's question. As of right now, he didn't care who knew of his adoption and realized that if people knew about it, it wouldn't be an embarrassment to the Izumis nor would anyone shun him for it. His adoptive parents had accepted him and so did his friends, although, granted, to his knowledge, the only one who knew of his adoption was Mimi - and figured that she probably would've passed it on to some of their other friends by now - but she didn't think ill of him, and figured that his other friends would react in the same manner.

"No, she didn't change her given name when married. You see, Ichijouji-kun, Misayoshi Miki is my biological mother. She passed away when I was very young, both she and my real father. The Izumis adopted me shortly after their deaths."

Just as the others, Ken was surprised to hear such news. He felt that his attitude was undeserved compared to Koushirou's situation. Here he was, mourning over his brother, still, because of something as trivial as a board game, while Koushirou had lost both of his parents.

"My, you've grown so much!" the woman exclaimed, seeing how tall the boy had become. "Referring to you as Chibi-Koushi would be inappropriate now," she laughed.

"No, I don't mind," he told her, even if he did truly mind. The name didn't sound very becoming at all. "Please, call me whatever you are accustomed to."

The woman sniffled slightly, and tears started to slowly drip again. "If I would have been able to, I would have taken you in," she told him guiltily. "Please do not feel as if anyone abandoned you after your parents' deaths."

"No, I'm not upset or anything. I just wanted to meet you. Mimi-san told me everything that you shared with her. It is my responsibility to come meet the person who was close to my biological family. According to Mimi-san, you and Misayoshi-san were like sisters."

She nodded in confirmation, and began telling both boys the story of how she and Miki were great friends, and why Miki had become a teacher.

After the long, tearful reunion between Koushirou and Ms. Nagataki – Ms. Nagataki doing all of the crying – Koushirou made her an offer.

"Nagataki-san, would you mind coming over to my home for dinner? My parents would love to get to know you. You are technically family to me since you knew both my real mother and father and you also spent a lot of time with them. I am very grateful that Mimi-san didn't stop searching and managed to discover you."

"I really wished I'd have known about your attending this school earlier. No one ever let me know of your where-a-bouts or anything like that after you were adopted. I was really concerned about your well being, and wanted to take you in myself, but we all know what happened."

"So, Nagataki-san, will you accept my request?"

"You know, since you said yourself that I'm like family to you, please do not refer to me as 'Nagataki-san'."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I usually always address adults in that manner."

"No need to apologize," she lightly laughed. "Why not refer to me as your Aunt Sui? It seems appropriate since your mother and I were like sisters."

"Right," he nodded, "Sui-obasan."

"The Izumis did a wonderful job in raising you," she complimented. "You are very polite and well-mannered, and I would love to visit you and your family."

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Nagataki-san...erm...Sui-obasan..."

The woman grinned widely and smothered Koushirou in another hug once again. "I am just so happy that you've been living a nice, healthy life."

With a nervous smile, he responded, "So-so am I."

"My, it's starting to grow late around here. I should let you two go."

Koushirou could tell that Ms. Nagataki wasn't ready to part ways yet. "I promise to visit you, Naga-I mean, Sui-obasan. We will have dinner on Sunday evening at 19:00 (7:00)."

"I'll definitely be there."

The boy got her address and vice-versa for her. They also exchanged phone numbers. Koushirou explained to her that he'd personally come and fetch her and escort her to his home. After the exchanges, he, along with Ken, exited the school.

"Wow, I had no idea that you were adopted."

"Don't worry about it, Ichijouji-kun. I never mentioned it before, and I guess it's because I never had much of a reason to."

"Well, it's still a little surprising. I don't know much about you, thinking about it now. You rarely ever talk about yourself, unlike maybe Miyako-san or Daisuke-kun. Every time I'm around you, you're always theorizing or sharing some type of information.

"You're so smart, but at the same time, very mysterious."

He laughed shortly. "Miyako-kun has told me that."

"It's actually true. It's strange meeting another person who knows what it's like to lose a family member."

"I never really thought about it in that way before..." he trailed off.

To Ken, Koushirou didn't seem to be in much of a talking mood, as he looked to be deep in thought over his words. He decided to leave him alone, and figured that talking about his adoption and his real parents, must have bothered him some, due to the fact that both had died, or either speaking with those younger than himself bothered him in a general sense, unless that person was Miyako. *He had never seen Koushirou associate with those younger than himself all that much, except for probably Miyako, and be able to hold a steady, casual, everyday conversation with them—not the types that would involve him explaining away one of his many theories.

The two came to an intersection. "Well, I better get going. I have to go meet up with Daisuke-kun, Hikari-san, and Takeru-san at the Motomiya place. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. See you later, Ichijouji-kun."

Ken rushed off as Koushirou waved to him and continued his walk home. He had quite a bit on his mind now, and it all revolved around Ms. Nagataki. He couldn't wait to inform his mother how the woman agreed to come over for dinner. It was pretty much Mrs. Izumi's idea to invite her in the first place. The actual thought of doing something like that hadn't even crossed the young, computer whiz's mind. He just wanted to meet her face to face. His interpretation of the woman was similar to that of Mimi's, loneliness. He picked up on that vibe very well. She wasn't married and she didn't have any children, as far as he knew.

It took a while, but Koushirou finally made it home. He and his parents had very well made up, but in a way, he was still being punished, which he insisted upon. His parents had decided to end the punishment, but Koushirou felt it was better to be more helpful for the time they had originally decided upon. He realized that if he'd just talked to them in the first place, like Mimi had pretty much insisted early on, none of the past events would've happened, but apologies were made on both sides, especially the Izumis who kept his adoption secret from him.

"Tadaima..." Koushirou called as he entered the home.

"Hi, Koushirou," greeted his mother brightly.

"Hi, mother!"

"You seem to be in a very good mood."

"Of course! We only have one more day of school, and it's a half day for the third-year graduation. After that, we will all be able to rest until school starts back up after spring vacation, even though we'll have to go back sometime before that to set up and practice for the entrance ceremonies and the promoting of the clubs. Being the head of a club comes with a lot of responsibilities. Miyako-kun and Mimi-san will have to go in early too. Miyako-kun will have to help me out and Mimi-san, being in a sports club, will still have to practice at some point during the break."

"Very true, but I'm glad to see that you're happy. You all had a very busy week since you were doing so much testing, so a short time off is better than nothing. Usually only high school students get exams at this time of the year getting down to it."

"Yeah, still strange how we were forced to take those. We'll know the results of them tomorrow morning."

"I probably shouldn't be so friendly with you since you insisted on remaining punished, but I just can't help it." She hugged Koushirou. "I'm just glad to have you back! I don't ever want you to do what you did again! If something is ever bothering you, come to us! Your father was wrong for keeping your adoption a secret, as he told you, but I was just as wrong too."

"I'm really sorry, mother!" Koushirou hugged her back. "I know I said so before, but I didn't mean to cause so much trouble, and I didn't mean any of what I said Wednesday."

"I understand." She let go of him. "I didn't mean any of what I said either. At the time, I felt frustrated, sad, angry, embarrassed, and upset all at once. That's the best way I can describe the feeling. I guess I just...exploded."

"I'm just grateful that you still accept me as your son, even if I'm not a real Izumi."

"Even though my blood doesn't flow through your veins, I will always love you as if I had given birth to you myself! That's how important you are to me, Koushirou! I don't ever want you to feel or think otherwise! It doesn't matter to me whether you are my son by blood or not! I will still love you just the same."

His eyes watered. "Thank you...mother..."

"What for?"

"For being a great mother to me all these years."

"You're very welcome."

"Oh by the way, I spoke with Nagataki-san before coming home today, like you suggested."

"Is she going to come over for dinner on Sunday?"

"She agreed to come. I'm planning on going to get her and bring her here. It's the least I could do."

"That's great, I can't wait to meet her again. I remember her vaguely from the times I had to visit, since I was apart of the PTA, but never really spoke with her directly or anything since you never had her as a teacher."

"She's a very nice lady. I can't wait for you to meet her too."

Mrs. Izumi offered Koushirou a snack, but he passed on it and headed to his room to prepare himself to help out around the home, but before he did so, he sat down on his bed to think for a while over what Miyako had said earlier, as he had purposely put it off. Could Yamato have romantic feelings towards Mimi, and if Yamato did, why was it bothering him so much?

He was with her when she found him at Odaiba Beach, and was told by Miyako that before Mimi had gone to look around for him, that she was out with Yamato on what one would technically consider a date. In the message Miyako had sent him, she seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the word "date".

'Could it be true? Could Yamato-san like Mimi-san in that way?'

Koushirou shook his head, trying to dismiss the thought. He didn't want to believe it, even if there had been quite a bit of evidence leading up to it...

Author's Note

Note 1: Until it was pointed out to me, at the time, I never noticed how Koushirou really hadn't associated much with the younger group voluntarily and have maybe a simple everyday conversation with them. He seemed to always talk to those older than he or either with "internet friends" or those his age. It's obvious that Miyako is definitely the exception, since both work together on the sound for Yamato's band and did seem to spend casual time together (at least I always felt that way anyway), but that's about it for the younger group. He didn't even seem to associate much with Iori, and he was his predecessor. In a way, I feel at times that Miyako should have received the Digimental of Knowledge over the Digimental of Love. Seemed to suit her more, then again, I felt that the second Digimental that each newer Chosen Child received suited them more so than the first one which just seemed like "defaults" for them, especially Daisuke. Seriously, he was definitely best suited for the Digimental of Friendship, as, imo, that trait showed for him from the very beginning.

Fic Chapter Changes

I changed the time of the dinner since I changed the time of the dance. Originally, the dinner was for Saturday night, not Sunday.

I changed the conditions of Koushirou's punishment. Originally, I had that the Izumis insisted that he remained grounded for being brought home by the police and for "breaking curfew", which I dropped anyway. I decided to reverse it so that Koushirou would be the one to feel that he should be punished, not his parents. That seems a bit more in-character for him, imo.