Note 1: Digimon belong to Akiyoshi Hongo, while Digimon Tamers belongs to Chiaki Konaka.
Note 2: Some characters, like Makoto, belong to The Nomad, a great writer.
Note 3: This chapter is mainly dedicated to my dear Senpai, who requested this and proposed to add some funny dialogues between the older Tamers…Well, just expect not that kid-friendly chapter you're used to XD.
XXX
[ Act III •2 In which confusion reigns in the whole chapter starting from a meeting among the older Tamers to a bunch of lost teenagers' thoughts. After all, life is such a confusing and confused miracle, right? Anyway, would the reader like some sake mixed with wine, I wonder? ]
In that sea of laughters, which still seemed so far from her, Itsuki couldn't help but occasionally stare at the outfit she had chosen for that evening. Crossing her house's corridor had never taken so long, she realized, sometimes sighing at the awareness she couldn't feel the excitement she used to experience when she was a kid anymore.
If I had been a child, she reckoned, I would have been sitting at the table since this afternoon, waiting for everyone to come and...Why not, bring me presents.
It's all their fault, she brought herself to indignantly admit, when she was pushed to kneel and stop again.
Itsuki heavily sighed once more.
"What's the matter, It-Chan?" Lunamon asked, getting off her shoulder. The Digimon's heart had spent a horrible day, fighting against the anxiety that would never leave the creature thanks to Itsuki's disregard for time's power. Actually, some hours ago the girl seemed not to care about the fact Lunamon had prepared a schedule for her she was supposed to respect: on the contrary, she stayed in the bathtub for almost an hour, she dwelled on brushing her hair, choosing her outfit, jewels, make-up...
"It's so hard for me to find an outfit that won't make Daddy suspicious but will be appreciated by Daiki-Chan at the same time!" While she was preparing, Lunamon had heard that sort of whining too many times.
"It-Chan?" The Digimon pressed, returning to the present and trying understanding what was happening in her friend's mind.
Human adolescence, the Digimon told itself.
"I just don't want to go," Itsuki whispered, squinting her violet eyes and letting herself lie her head on her kness.
"But everyone is waiting for you!" Lunamon had already started panicking, imagining the consequences of her partner's actions. "Oh My, Oh My!"
"I just want to go back to my bedroom and wait for him to come."
She stared at Lunamon with almost a melancholic expression, her mind pleasantly journeying to midnight, to the moment she would go out with her boyfriend and forget about everything, about what an awful experience was to have started hating your childhood and best friends; she looked forward to leaving Tokyo along with him and follow their dream together.
It's their fault if this has happened.
Joyful cheers could be heard coming from the kitchen, and Itsuki understood the Digimon Tamers' annual meeting had just started.
She bit her tongue, she couldn't stay there anymore.
"Don't worry, Lunamon, I'll go," She grinned at the Digimon, standing up and giving the nth glance to the outfit she had chosen.
Ah, there were times she had never cared about the way she dressed, those two would point out this fact whenever they saw her dressed up for her dates.
Stupid boys!, she clenched her fists. The only one Makoto should look at should be Atsuko-Chan, while the one Yang-
"Never mind!" She shouted a bit too loudly, before leaving Lunamon all alone and finally reaching the living room.
"I can't understand her anymore," Lunamon sadly said, taking into account it should read more about human adolescence.
"Good evening!" Itsuki gulped, waving her tanned hand with one of her large cheerful smiles.
A silence that froze her bones followed. Eyes staring at her.
Now the top she was wearing really looked and felt too short for her tastes, but a thumb that was risen by her mother made her feel a bit more comfortable.
Oh, thank ya Mommy!, she joined her hands, noticing her father and Takato were nowhere to be seen: probably they were still in the kitchen.
She also mentally thanked Hirokazu a second later, since he good-naturedly greeted her, making everyone start laughing and cheering again. Everything felt like a dream, Itsuki put a hand on her head; maybe she was imagining embarassing moments because of her nervousness.
"Looks like the little Lee has finally decided to join us!" Kenta gently smiled at her, getting a slight punch by Hirokazu.
"Ohi, can't you see she's not little anymore!" The light brown-haired man underlined, nudging his friend and making Ruki understand he was referring to something in particular. Drunk Hirokazu knew so many ways that could convince Ruki to kick him out of their house.
"I can see you've become so old you can't hold your liquor anymore," She began teasing him, staring intensively at his reddish cheeks and nose.
"Oh," He was almost stuttering. "I just think Itsuki has...Grown, yes, she has grown."
His brain had already started not working properly and a large smirk appeared on Ruki's porcelain face.
He thinks he can fool me, her smirk became bigger, she had never been one to mince words and was already enjoying the upcoming moment.
"She's my daughter, idiot. She may look like Jen, but she has taken that quite huge pair after me," Hirokazu's embarassed expression made her laugh genuinely.
"Hey, Ru! Don't take it so personally! I was just...Noticing our daughters have grown up too quickly, that's all," He repeated, completely wasted: Ruki did know he had drunk even before coming to their house. She had a proof and it was the unlistenable music he had chosen and everyone could listen to in the background; where had he taken that garbage from?
Hirokazu hid his face under his cap, alchool feeling his veins. "I mean, look at my Atsuko, Ruki ," He tried changing topic to fight against the awkwardness and Kenta's ashamed stare on him -which seemed to be shouting at him, "Look at where your perversion has arrived".
Ruki was enjoying every attempt he was holding onto to make her forget about what she had just seen and heard.
"My Atsuko doesn't look like a child anymore. She has even got a boyfriend now, one of my best buddies' son, no less!"
"Not again, Dad!" Atsuko exasperatedly shouted from the other side of the table. She wished her mother could be there, but she rarely attended those events among Digimon Tamers.
"I want you to understand how much it hurts Daddy to see you holding that other boy's hand! You would hold mine even while I combed your hair!"
The girl didn't ask him when exactly he ever combed her hair - it was something she had learned to do by herself because of her father's inability at even tying her hair into a ponytail-. Instead, she merely held Makoto's hand again and put their laced hands on the table to show them to her father.
"Uh, how much I admire your girl," Ruki chuckled along with Juri, Hirokazu had opened his mouth in disbelief at his daughter's behaviour.
Sometimes the woman's eyes would migrate onto her daughter's silhouette. She had just finished greeting everyone and was finally sitting...What in the world is she doing? Why was she so detatched from her friends? She tried beckoning to her, reminding her now she could stay with her friends. Nevertheless, she let herself be absorbed by Juri and Kenta's conversation about the holiday his husband gave him for his birthday as a surprise.
She had so much in store for her crew, after all, she told herself, not managing to keep the excitement.
Meanwhile, Itsuki sat down next to Atsuko, avoiding to meet Makoto and Yang's eyes, but the party wasn't meant to start in a good way for her.
"Your belly is showing," Makoto immediately highlighted."Do you think it could make you seem slimmer?" Makoto kept on saying pointing at her quite tight trousers , wincing because of Atsuko strenghtening her grip and Itsuki giving him a mighty kick that erroneously ended up hitting Yang. He couldn't understand how rude his statement had been.
"Y're are so petty!" Itsuki growled, her hands migrating to her top and trying lenghtening it to cover her belly.
"Mean!" Atsuko fiercely added, turning to her boyfriend. "I've helped her choose the outfit for her date, stupid." She lied and she turned her back to chat with Itsuki, leaving both Yang and Makoto wondering what they had said of so outrageous.
"I mean, it's freezing out there and we're just worrying about her getting a cold," Makoto huffed, crossing his arms. "Her next tournament is in a week. Right, Yang?"
He expected the other boy to say something way more entertaining than just a yes, but the truth was that Yang wasn't so focused on what Makoto was babbling about: he already knew Makoto was genuinely worried about Itsuki dating that boy, but he was also angry at her because of how many Hypnos missions of her team she had been skipping because of her dates. They had been discussing and arguing because of that attitude of hers for weeks. It didn't matter how many times they would make up, they would end up fighting again and again, like if they had ended up in a cursed circle.
Then, a detail struck his attention, one of those he had been noticing as the days passed by.
"She's wearing polish", Mako absently blinked, but the truth was that it was quite predictable. After all, everything had started with her wearing clothes the younger Itsuki would have never accepted to wear; then, she had begun staying in Hypnos' locker rooms for an hour straight, making them wait for their shower just because she had to apply make-up on her face right there; after some days, it was her ponytail's turn to disappear and now...
"She's wearing polish," He repeated to himself, Yang raised an eyebrow and wondered how his friend had managed to spot that. "She is wearing that lame thing too. Now she seems to care about her nails as much as Uncle Kenta does," The coconut coloured- haired boy shrugged, leading his red orbs on the man who was sitting next to Hirokazu. "I don't know if he used to wear polish too, but he does look at his nails like if they were treasures. He even goes to a manicurist once a week...I heard Mum saying that".
"A-a manicurist?"
"Yes, Yang, he's gay. Can't you remember that?"
"S-sure I can, but...A manicurist...I mean..."
"It's kinda unusual, I know," Makoto nodded. "I mean, imagine him relaxing on an armchair, reading those cheap gossip magazines and waiting for the manicurist to finish using that thing, yeah, the nailfile."
They stared at each other in silence, while Makoto recalled the powerful slap his mother gave him back when he was a child and told his parents Kenta wasn't a man he admired, indeed, in his childish opinion, he couldn't be considered a man at all.
I was just a child! I didn't really know the world is beautiful, because it's so various, he mentally justified himself.
Nevertheless, it still sounded quite strange to him: a man appreciating lady stuff? He would never do that. A day spent shopping with Atsuko, among frilly dresses and shops that looked the same, was enough for him.
"Are you still shivering at the thought of Uncle Kenta at the manicurist?" Makoto couldn't suppress a laughter at the sight of Yang's blank face.
"N-no, at all. I was just thinking about how amazing-"
"Dude, never talk to me again," Makoto had retained his tendency not to let other people finish talking, and this had led him to a huge amount of misunderstandings.
He pointed at the girls who were chatting next to him, completely ignoring them. "That's your place. Your place is among women."
"W-what are you talking about M-Mako?! You're wrong! That's not what I meant!" Yang frantically waved his tanned hands in front of his face, once more realizing it was better if he didn't speak at all. "I was just saying-" Man, if he wanted to be somewhere else, with his friends right now.
"That maybe you would join him at the manicurist...? So lame, Yang!"
"I-I think it's lame too! But I was...You know...Oh, never mind! "
Atsuko finally turned her head to pay attention to the boys. She didn't have a lovely expression, which was what Makoto hoped to see, though.
"Why are you two discussing about this matter, as if it was a disgusting one?"
"Y'two haven't matured at all," Itsuki joined her friend, pretty annoyed: it was such a rarity to hear such a tone coming from her mouth.
"You two should learn how to treat us from Uncle Kenta."
"You should let him take ya to hairdressers and manicurists to understand what our world is like, for example."
Itsuki and Atsuko stared at each other like Yang and Makoto had done some seconds before, and telepatichally agreed about the matter: girls' power.
"Every girl would deserve to date or be friends with a boy who's just like Uncle Kenta."
"He has got such a perfect understanding of our needs!"
Makoto and Yang evidently winced at those statements.
"So...He is the kind of man girls like?" Mako seemed to have been drawn by the topic, since women's world had always been such a big mystery to him..m
Most of all, did she like those kinds of men?, He asked himself. "Is that dork of Daiki like this, then?" He eventually spatted, gaining a terrifying glare by Atsuko. "Can he understand your needs and mind, or does he just brainwash you?"
Oh, they were talking about that again, Yang lied his elbows on the table, not wanting to even look at them. Why was he there again?
"Sure, he can, Mako, and he doesn't brainwash me, ya shithead. Y'should just stop accusing him of having done stuff ya come out with because of those scientific magazines ya always read!"
The boys were quite stunned in front of the fact she had defended her boyfriend, that boy they didn't like so much, in such a fierce way. Their expressions were astonished.
Itsuki crossed her arms and sinked on her chair, wondering when the main meal would arrive. She was starving and those two weren't helping her stomach at all.
" Bah, Mako, you must have already drunk too much beer. Darling, why don't you two try clubbing together and joining Uncle Kenta and his husband? I think it could be an instructive experience. I wouldn't blame you at all, eh! What would matter the most would be the fact that you'd come back as a better boyfriend, a perfect one."
Atsuko winked at him and turned again.
It was a joke, it was blatant, she would always treat him like that. However, Makoto was already fuming.
"If I dated Yang, I would enjoy myself much more than when I stay with you and hear you babbling about how beautiful the world would look, if there were more flowers!"
"What have you just said, Makoto Matsuda?!"
There was something that could make Yang forget about the unpleasant feelings that had been hitting his heart for weeks: Atsuko and Makoto's silly fights. They were so entertaining he couldn't help but laugh, whenever he found himself in the middle of one of those.
Itsuki used to laugh along with him too, but those were other times, other times Itsuki would also try stopping their fights instead of chatting with that boy on her phone, Yang melancholically realized, as his laugher quickly faded.
"Now now, you kids, don't fight. Your dinner is served."
Jenrya Lee finally got out of the kitchen along with Takato and put the huge pot at the center of the table.
"Finally! I was about to eat your lovey wives!" Hirokazu joked, rubbing his hands at the sight of the upcoming meal. He had already raised his chopsticks and Juri stared at him just like she was used to doing when it came to her students.
"Oh My, you can make me feel like if I've commited such a serious crime..." He withdrew his arm, immediately aiming it to the bottle of sake and wine he hadn't tasted yet. He was already rubbing his hands due to excitement.
He pretended not to see his daughter glaring at him for an istant, her frisky orbs slightly hidden by her long fluffy pigtails as she turned back.
Ruki noticed this little exchange too, noticing her daughter's weird attitude at the same time. Why was she acting like that?
What is she finding so interesting about her phone, when she has already her friends some centimetres apart from her?
She eventually gave up worrying about Itsuki -after having tried beckoning to him this time without no success- and started teasing Hirokazu again, the only thing she loved that could keep her from following her daughter's life like some kind of freak.
"And to think you wanted to become like your beloved hero, Akiyama Ryou, when you were a child! Now you've ended up being beaten by your daughter so many times in a row!"
He was about to organize his thoughts and reply to her teasing, before Terriermon jumped onto the table, mischievously grinning. It's useless to say Jenrya was already grabbing it to put it down.
"I know you have been expecting Jen's long speech," It began, Jenrya mumbling something like, Nobody has asked me for that!. " But we do know Jen can drag it out too much, he likes babbling about stuff nobody of us understands...So, today I'm here to save you from this torture and let you rush upon that soup and steak immediately!"
The Digimon clapped its paws in jubilation, Guilmon copying its gestures, enthusiastic, while lots of giggles filled the atmosphere.
"P.S!" It startled the diners with an abrupt theatrical pose. "I love you all with my whole heart, but there are two subjects that are excluded from having this honour! Why have you invited them, Jen? Why? Masahiko could have replaced both so easily! If I had been the main house's owner - I'm the second in charge, do I have to remind you of that? -you two wouldn't have even allowed to cross the entrance door! Still, your Digimon are more than welcome because they admire me like two children! Now, let's eat!"
The silence eventually exploded into a pelting applause, which pushed Terriermon to puff its chest and show Yang and Makoto some Tai-chi pose, those ones it would always exaggerate and turn into little circus shows.
The two boys' faces looked almost petrified.
"How is it nobody loves us anymore?" Makoto slowly asked, his mouth slowly opening.
"Maybe-maybe it's what happens when you enter adults' world.." Yang answered, lowering his gaze because of how perfectly Makoto's question could describe that unpleasant period of his life.
Terriermon quickly approached one of the steaks, after having shared a high five with an amused Ruki. Still, one of its ears was soon pulled by a strong and familiar hand.
"Now, my dear friend, you'll wait for each of us to take our steak for first, and, remember, I'm the one who prepared everything you can see on the table."
Jenrya calmy put it on the floor like if it were a poodle, ignoring its complaints. The other Digimon were there, chatting animatedly; there was its adorated Lunamon too, which looked at it for a second and shook its head to show its disappointment.
"They are just like Atsuko and Hirokazu," Impmon and Guardramon stated in chorus.
The Digimon Tamers' special night flew in a blink of an eye, which is what would happen, whenever they were together. Every year they would get older, would spot grey hair on their heads, wouldn't be able to hold their liquor anymore - which was what Ruki liked highlighting -, but they friendship would get stronger and stronger.
During that night it was like if time didn't exist at all and they were stuck into immortal soap bubbles, which floated higher and higer and multiplied, as the wonderful moments among them became uncountable.
Itsuki randomly found herself wondering whether the Tear Jumpers would be the same in the future. She closed her eyes, the last piece of Juri and Takato's cake remained suspended in the air at the thought of her waiting for them to part: she liked thinking about that...Still, she couldn't help feeling a vice strangling her heart, whenever she imagined a future without such a mirth, the mirth that came from the realization to have spent so many years along your childhood friends.
She delicatedly touched her throat, while she was being sucked in that dream in which her Daiki didn't seem to fit in at all.
What a contradiction that period of her life was.
She finished eating her cake, savouring that sweetness that could take her back to her childhood, to those days she would drag both Yang and Makoto to the Matsuda Bakery. Why did those thoughts have to enter her mind?
She greeted her teeth, huffing because time didn't seem to never pass.
"Mako! I would marry you immediately, if you could bake delicious cakes just like the one of your parents' bakery!" She heard Atsuko cooing, her cheeks blushing and her orbs implicitly asking for more.
"No way! Women are the ones who should cook for men, wash the floors and use the washing machine or vacuum cleaner!"
That was Makoto's tactless and childish answer, which reached his mother's ears as fast as an arrow.
The blonde girl's eyebrows twitched.
"Oh Atsuko, may be you be patient with our boy, more patient than ever," Takato gently cracked a forced smile, preceding his lovely wife who would have willingly pulled one of their son's ears in front of his girlfriend and friends, if Kenta and Takato hadn't been there to calm her.
A sexist and homophobic son! This is what eighteen years of scoldings, tears, sweat have been useful to! , she was shouting in her mind.
"See? I've always told you we needed a daughter too," She finally brought herself to tell Ruki and Kenta. "He wouldn't have only learnt to share his toys but he would have also learnt to treat ladies properly."
The other woman thought what her friend had told her over, "If we had had a son," She stopped to drink a bit of wine. "I would have made him become a motorcrosser rider."
"Which is what you're basically doing with that scoundrel," Her husband sneaked into the women's conversation, since Takato had interrupted theirs to give some advices to Makoto, advices the boy would never accept, of course, especially because Atsuko was listening to everything. Ah, well, he was talking about his good old friend Takato, after all.
His wife's pouty expression staring at him violently made him return to facing her. He soon understood it was better if he joined Takato and the kids' - he still defined
them such - conversation, avoiding to joke with her and say his usual I had forgot we had a son too.
Therefore, he chose to turn to his daughter, disobeying to Ruki who had told him not to annoy her with his protective father attitude. Itsuki had been acting in a weird way lately, and he blinked at her nervously smiling at him, covering her belly with her arms, as if she was in pain, and nudging at Atsuko to make her pay attention to her.
What were they talking about? He was so curious, but he didn't want to be kicked by his wife.
He was another specimen of the masculine gender who wasn't getting the love he deserved that night, and he could only stare at Terriermon clowining around with its fellows, as another glass of wine and sake went down his throat without his daughter noticing...For that moment, at least.
Wow, that wine mixed with sake tasted so great, he licked his lips craving for more. He was glad Masahiko had finally done something really appreciable by bringing that wine at work. Who knew where he had taken it from, he was pretty suspicious about that, knowing the kind of man his colleague was, but he couldn't deny it was amazing, and he was sure about the fact his friends were liking it as well: they had been drinking it since the party had started.
"By the way, Ruki, I'm glad you didn't succeed at convincing Itsuki to follow in your footsteps," Kenta, whose hand was on the quite dismayed Juri's shoulder, confessed: she had suddenly felt the need to join her best friends at drinking sake and wine because of its sweet taste. Her husband was too focussed on finally telling their son and Yang about his upcoming manga, adding who knows how many weird details that pushed Yang and Makoto to stare at each other, puzzled.
Weren't the adults drinking too much?, That was the question that was arising in the four teenagers' mind.
"Oh, well, it's not like I ever tried," The ramen coloured-haired woman replied after a bit of time , taking into account alchool was quickly raising to her brain. Kenta's statement was making her laugh and she could't understand why (of course).
"I only tried making her wear very tight trousers, zipped bras..."
Jenrya gulped too heavily: he had heard something very wrong, but somehow he couldn't really figure out why he was so worried. He looked at the glass he was holding, perplexed, the expression that coloured Makoto and Yang's faces, when Takato and Masahiko made them taste alchool for the first time. He didn't agree about that at all.
"Yesterday I showed her a beautiful pair of high heeled boots, you know, those ones that look even better when you are only wearing your underwear...Or lingerie."
Itsuki's violet orbs grew wide and her tanned skin seemed to become pale. She immediately gained an appropriate pose.
"Mommy!" She fought against the embarassment. "What are you t-talking about?!" Still, her mother wasn't listening at her at all: she kept on laughing at herself, hiccuping.
Her head quickly turned to Yang and Makoto, and their agape expressions made her lightly shiver.
"Itsuki, is she serious? Do you dress up like a... You've completely lost it!"
"L-Lee-Kun! What the-!"
She heard, but it was only her imagination that liked playing with her.
Fortunately, Atsuko already knew everything about her mother and...The strange ideas she often came up with. Those were so often the subjects of their friendly chats during which they would laugh only at the mention of certain objects and clothes Ruki adored showing her daughter.
In the middle of her imaginary paranoia, the girl decided she had to find a way to cover those shameful words everyone had just heard.
Therefore, she prepared to ask the man she trusted the most for help; she needed to turn the adorable and pure deer's eyes mode on.
"Daddy, she's joking, you already know that, don't ya?"
Her hands flew to his sweater's fabrics, tugging it like she used to do when she was a child, but there was something off with him.
Why isn't he paying attention to me?! He isn't listening to me at all! He hasn't even turned! Dad?!
She had begun sweating, frantically moving her head from a side to the other, inspecting every adult's face.
"Aunt Juri?" She tried again, rasing her voice to be heard. Her voice needed to make its way among that river of laughters.
When the woman seemed to have noticed her, Itsuki greeted the woman with one of her widest smiles...Which didn't mean to last long, as the woman only intended to reach out and open another bottle of that wine-sake. Wasn't her younger brother so great at choosing alchool?
"Ruki-Chan, you've made me remind
of when I gave you advices about lingerie stuff! Oh! And the toys? Do you remember about the toys?" She giggled uncontrollably, politely covering her mouth.
"Mum?!" Makoto leaned forward, standing up and reaching his mother. "Why will you never let me surf on those sites, then!"
"Oh, little Mako is growing up!" Hirokazu caressed his arm, the only reply he got (and, of course, Makoto got away from him as quickly as possible, quite disgusted).
It was like if they had ended up in some kind of nightmarish circus, both Itsuki and Makoto realized, sweat dropping on their foreheads.
Then, even Yang and Atsuko's soul became a frozen stalactite at what they heard after a bunch of seconds.
"Oh yes, then you would show me that stuff whenever we went to bed! Every night it was something new! So, Juri was behind it all? Takato, you were such a lucky bastard."
Obviously, it was so weird to hear such words coming from the most composed man they had ever met. Jenrya Lee talking about that stuff? It was something so overwordly, maybe even more than that for a certain poor dark-haired girl.
"D-daddy?" She could only say in that situation, her mouth suspended in the air just like her peers'. The temptation to make him get far away from that glass was hard for her to sustain.
"So...What Mum always says is true..?" She blushed evidently, putting a hand in front of her lips, as her orbs seemed to tremble. "Daddy and Mummy...Doing that stuff...Daddy doing that stuff..."
She shook her head, clenching her fists at Makoto mocking her through a mere wince.
"You're dating that meathead, but you become as red as a pepper when you discover your pure parents also did that years ago!"
His laughters joined the general ruckus, as he gave some powerful pats on Yang's shoulder: needless to say the Chinese boy was experiencing something more than embarassment.
"Weren't ya the one who ran to your mother moments ago because you discovered your mother used to buy kinky objects?!" Itsuki barked: suddenly, it had strangely become too hot.
"Mako Darling, you are still a little and pure bud, " Atsuko's pungent statement followed. She also sneered him, when his puffy cheeks got the same reddish colour that was melting Itsuki's' face's skin.
"As if! I-I'm not a child anymore, and I have no problems at imagining my parents- Uhm...Whatever, Yang agrees with me, right, buddy?"
"Y-y-yes... I mean, it's similar to sneaking into your sister's bedroom and randomly spotting her and her boyfriend...Him on her..."
It was a very comical picture that had been brought to life in front of Itsuki and Atsuko's eyes; a comedic picture that was into another funny and bigger one, one of them underlined in her mind.
There was Yang whose eyes seemed to have almost lost their breath of life, as he struggled to remember about that day he saw what he should have never seen -that's how his sister and her boyfriend called that accident, adding that he wouldn't even reach the end of his last high school year, if he told his father about that ( it wasn't like the man would have really cared about such an event, though, in Yang's opinion).
Then there was Makoto who was gradually drowning into complete awkwardness.
"You're boys, you are eighteen-year-old boys. Yet, you got scandalized when you find out your parents and relatives are human. Me and It-Chan are more mature than you."
How was it Atsuko and Itsuki
were that skilled at making them feel like two idiots? Still, Atsuko didn't manage to notice Itsuki was fighting against the disbelief she was feeling.
Everyone had got drunk, the dark-haired girl could look at the diners in complete horror, taking into account even her kind Uncle Takato had fallen into the wine's trap. Everything had happened in a blink of an eye, she couldn't understand how that could have happened.
Where were the Digimon? Had they gone to the kitchen's veranda to manage to talk in peace?
The only one who didn't seem to have lost his common sense was Uncle Kenta, but he was sitting at the opposite edge of the table. He would have never heard her and she would have to stand up and show her top, which was something she wanted to avoid doing.
She gave a glance at her phone, the nth one of the night: it was eleven o'clock, an hour and she would free from that madhouse. Nevertheless, what if her drunk parents didn't let her go out due to their precarious state? What a mess!, she wanted to bite her nails because of nervousness.
"In truth, Ruki, I was talking about your nails. If It-Chan had become a motorcrosser, then, she would have had such untreated hands!" Kenta pointed at Ruki's nails that were far from the ones you'd imagine a beautiful woman like her would have. He was aware she was drunk. He was drunk as well, but he knew his limits and he was the one who could hold his liquor for the longest time. After all, he would be the one who took her and Juri back home, whenever the others were hammered.
"I know you've been at the manicure again, Kenta. You're so gay, boy, putting creams and lotions whenever you have to go out or go to bed!" She had started hiccuping, which was something that was amusing Hirokazu so much...Just like the topic they were talking about, if that verb is the right one that should be used.
"Oh, Darling, you could hella use a manicure too! Those hands haven't seen lotion in a while, haven't they?"
Kenta had already leaned forward to touch her callous hands and caress her candid skin with his usual thoughtful manners .
Nevertheless, a random gesture by Ruki ruined his intention, and Kenta could only sigh and gain his perfect sitting pose once more.
Hirokazu finally found a way to fit himself in the conversation. It didn't last so long, though...Indeed, it lasted a blink of an eye.
"Neh, Ruki-Chan! Your hands want a little message?" He joked, his face turning into the creepiest expression Atsuko had ever seen in her life.
She was slowly boiling.
"Doubt you dare to touch me or those dirty nails will be in your eyes!"
The woman imitated an irritated cat that had already unsheated its dangerous claws, and the man fell on his chair, blatantly scared. Who knew what alchool was making him seez: maybe a lioness that was about to jump onto him.
"Anyway, Kenta, I can't really fight that," She gently leaned her head on her husband's shoulder, the wine-sake glass still in her hand. "The motorbike is not easy to repair!" Jen, tell them! Tell them about some nights ago!"
"Some nights ago, Honey?" The man repeated, uncertain about what he had to say. This time it wasn't alchool that was making him forget something.
Since he was unable to remember, he began staring at the wall, as he absently passed a hand through his daughter's hair.
The girl was near to being exasperated. She kept on calling her father without success: he continued and continued caressing her, her hands joint and her eyes intending to convey awkwardness.
"Oh, My, Jen. You're becoming too old. Leave it me. Basically, some days ago I accepted a request by a stupid Daddy's Boy. Hm, he wanted to buy one of my paintings because he was convinced his fiancèe would like it. So, he forced me to deliver this painting, even though it was pouring down. My motorbike eventually gave up on the way back."
"And you remained with your butt on the road?" Hirokazu dared to ask a Ruki that immediately thundered him with her glance.
"No, I didn't even hitchhike like your lame disco ladies would do."
"What did ya do, Mum?" Itsuki had strangely found herself being interested in that compelling story, even if she could swear she could hear the tick of every clock they had in their house. Time was running, despite the fact minute was feeling like an eternity in her mind.
Everyone's attention had been drawn by Ruki.
"I took my jacket off under the rain - I cursed every God of every religion, especially the one that dude believed in - and I literally dragged it to the emergency lane and-"
"And?" Someone pushed.
"And I repaired it by myself, putting my hands in the some gears I didn't even know they existed. Then, yes yes, a patrol came and showed me how sexist this world is by telling me I were to go out of that zone immediately because I had made a huge mess, there was smoke everywhere...He told me it was a man's job, can you believe it?!"
"Mommy...Did ya tell him...?"
"I told him to go fuck himself just like the whole world, of course. He took some points off my driving licence, no big deal, but I think they'll send some kind of letter home. Oh, who cares, right?"
Itsuki had already predicted something like that. She sighed, finally being able to get freed of her father's arms, feeling his tense muscles. Probably, alchool had stopped circling in his veins, allowing him to understand the one her mother had found herself into was a pretty bad situation. A fine would be sent to their family because of her mother's antics.
He would never-
She almost fell from her chair.
"Are ya laughing?! Are ya really laughing?! Dad!" She forgot about covering her belly and used her hands to grab her perfectly combed hair, as laughters pierced her ears again.
What was worse was that even Makoto and Yang were laughing.
Those jerks! There she was again, thinking about them.
She massaged her temples to let herself rationally think like she usually did, blood pulsing almost painfully.
The diners were commenting about Ruki's brave adventure, commending her and clapping their hands.
Alchool's effects on people are strange, she did know that. Daiki usually got drunk, after all, even though ice skaters weren't supposed to fall into that kind of temptation. Still, seeing her parents and their friends in that state was destabilising her so much.
"Ah, we're so drunk I can't believe it," Takato muttered, a peaceful smile entering in contrast with the words he had just pronounced.
"It kinda reminds me of when you drank so much you started flirting with me," Jenrya fleered.
"That was your eighteenth birthday!" Juri chirped.
"My beloved Takato experiencing hangover for the first time," Ruki absently recollected, and Makoto's stunned red eyes suddenly gained a spark of malice.
Actually, if Itsuki had to be sincere, it was pretty strange Makoto had left his usual self for a while, showing himself as a lost boy in front of his wasted parents. The Makoto she had known since she was a child would have exploited that situation in his favour.
"What was Dad's hangover like?" He asked Ruki like if he still was a child. Who knew how many times he would use the discoveries he would hear to threaten his parents.
"Oh well, let me think. He seemed to have grown to like the pub's WC more than Juri because he started doing something like making out with it. Oh!" She gulped the last drop of wine-sake she had in her glass. "However, when Juri showed up with her kitty suit, he immediately returned to the Earth!"
He really couldn't find words to describe what he had just heard. He could only stare at his parents, especially at his mother, his red eyes digging into her unconscious to try seeking out this side of hers he had never got to meet.
"Mum, were you a damned Playboy bunny?!" He eventually brought herself to spat, his mother and father got horrified, while Hirokazu had started laughing like an obsessed.
"Oh Gods," Atsuko would have liked to incinerate him with her glares.
She couldn't imagine her father...Could reach such low levels of decency.
"Ma-Mako, aren't things get of hand?" Yang stuttered. Hirokazu was creeping him out, just like the whole event.
And to think I should have expected this shit back when Matsuda-San told me and Makoto there wouldn't be brakes this time due to that sake.
Don't tell Lee-Senpai about this! The man lowered his voiced not to be heard. But the folk who sold me this sake said it is able to awaken the young sprits that have fallen asleep in our bodies. Senpai and my precious sister need a bit of enjoyment, right? They're always working and getting older before the estabilished time! I want to send them to Heaven with this sake! Oh, I wish I could have come!
A kind movement softly broke in that ruckus and Yang's recollections. After having cleaned her mouth with a tissue, Atsuko shifted and stood up without being somehow noticed by the adults.
"At-Chan!" A hand grabbed her arm, determinedly yet delicatedly at the same time. "At-Chan, where do you think you're going?"
Makoto was already in panick: he was feeling guilty for everything that had happened that night but he couldn't express it properly.
"At-Chan!" He tried again.
"Don't worry, Darling, I just need some fresh air."
And she went away, not forgetting to wink at Itsuki because of who knew what reason.
"Yang!" Makoto proceeded to grab the other boy's arm. He shook it, which is something the boy hated. "Yang, she's mad at me, I know it. Haven't you seen her eyes? She's mad!"
Nevertheless, Yang's orbs had happened to meet Itsuki's for a second, and he couldn't help but sit still for a while, despite the earthquake Makoto was generating on his body. He had already reached his neck, and was shaking it too.
"Yang! Are you dumb or what?!"
Oh, wasn't it beautiful how much she looked like the Itsuki they knew, the black-haired boy told himself in awe. Itsuki's frown, her trembling lower lip, her eyes conveying discomfort reminded him of what Itsuki used to be like as a child. That one was the Itsuki he really cared about.
The Itsuki they were so affectionate to was still there, wasn't she?
He had to do something.
Therefore, he slammed his hand on the table and stupidly raised his hand in the air just like students do.
"By the way, Ruki-San, you're-you're very cool! Maybe the coolest woman I have ever met! Y-you're also able to take care of your motorbike in such troubling circumstances! It's phenomenal!"
Everyone knows peace will always arrive after a thunderstorm, the waves of the sea will calm down and the trees will stop dangerously sway.
That was what happened after Yang had spoken up: the diners' laughters had faded just like Makoto's whims. He didn't think twice before turning his head to look at Itsuki, managing to grin at her...No, he hadn't drunk anything, it was just love that was sending him into a dreamy hangover he would soon wish he could escape from.
Everything seemed to have eased off...But Yang was way too young to win against the drunk Digimon Tamers.
"Is that some kind of way to flirt with an older woman?" Hirokazu began, shrieking when he saw a huge spot spreading on his t-shirt, which wasn't so suited to the winter weather.
"What the hell are you doing?! He growled at Kenta, who was the one who had done that; alchool had eventually seized him as well. "Don't you know my Honey has to run the flower shop and she can't really wash my shirts?!"
"And she has to deal with you too. I pity that woman," Ruki nonchalantly shrugged.
No, that wasn't a night for men and boys at all.
Yang did realize it when Ruki's violet eyes seemed to glow, while he was silently reminding himself he should never talk, never.
"Neh, Hirokazu, can you see what a loyal apprentice have I raised?" She cockily stated, giving Jen a swift kick, when he let a I would rather call him your son come out his mouth. Yang has kicked-start this night for real, because I'm going to show you all something that will make you old men rejuvenate!"
She winked at the boy, who was taking in consideration to invent an excuse and run away from that loony bin, and headed for a huge chest of drawers. In a blink of an eye she had found a thick book that looked like the Yellow Pages ones.
Itsuki almost choked due to her own saliva, when she understood that wasn't a book but it was a pile of magazines.
"Oh My, Mummy, no!"
Those were magazines Itsuki knew well.
Ruki slammed it onto the table ignoring her friends and the younger diners' expressions.
"So, I've recently found these magazines at my Mum's house. I don't know if I told you all before, but I've been a model for this motorcrosser magazine. C'mon, take a look at these photos!"
The drunk Jen heavily gulped at the sight of a twenty-year-old Ruki looking at him with a pair of seductive eyes that were already ensnaring him.
"This is," He coughed. "The kind of entertainment I needed, when you left for America."
He caressed the picture in a daze, as the others leafed through the others' magazines pages.
"I want these high heeled boots!" Juri cooed, not asking herself how a motocrosser was supposed to wear those.
"Man, look at these abs, girl! They rock!" Hirokazu pointed at a picture that was taken in summer: Ruki was wearing a pair mimetic trousers, a short jacket and...
She's wearing a zipped bra, my Gods! Her tongue is out and it seems like if she's about to-, Itsuki shook her head in desperation. "I don't want to see my mother like this! Please, stop!"
She abandoned her head on the table, refusing to look at her father too, even though her eyes could fully see what Yang and Makoto were doing in front of those pictures.
They are disgusting, c'mon.
"Ohi, ya two! That's my mother! Stop drooling like two perverts!"
"She wasn't your mother back when she was this hot!" Makoto barked back.
"Hot..." Yang echoed, blood raising to his cheeks in the process. Did these kinds of magazines really exist?, he couldn't help but wonder. Would he be considered a mentally ill type, if he started buying them?
Like, Dad would secretly buy magazines about flight attendants in weird poses once a week, why couldn't I?
He blinked when someone got the magazine out of Makoto's and his sight.
"What in the hell are you doing?!" The coconut coloured-haired boy snarled.
"Y-yeah, give it back, please," Yang begged and it grossed Itsuki out so much.
"This is porn, ya diseased minds! This is my mum on some porn magazine and y're liking it! I'm disgusted!"
"You're just jelous you're not this hot, It-Chan! Give it back!" Makoto spilled and Itsuki felt like giving him a punch and escaping.
Still, she had to deal with her mother and father before doing that. Therefore, she merely took the magazines away from them, disgusted by a glimpse at another photo featuring her mother standing next to a motorbike, oil attached to her skin and shining under the Sun.
"Yuck!" She acclerated, immediately reaching her father and got him far away from his magazine too. "Now, Mommy, take this rubbish away!" Maybe she was referring to the wine and sake too. "What have you taken these for?!"
Her mother lied forward to randomly hug her, "For you, of course. Have you seen this tight stuff? Wouldn't it-?"
"No, it wouldn't, Mum. He is not the creep ya think he is! He is so sweet ya have no idea!"
"Oh oh, It, we will see."
Itsuki didn't really have so much time to even raise her eyebrow, confused: one of her worst nightmare was taking shape in front of her eyes.
She shouted as hard as she could.
Nobody in that room could really describe her expression in fury.
"Yang boy, everyone has got their fetishes," Hirokazu still wanted to joke about Yang so much and bursted into another unbridled laughter that crashed against the silence of the room. "Takato likes kitty girls, Jen liked knocking down my sex dolls, my best friend's son likes porn sites, while you...Like imagining our Ruki wearing kinky motorcrosser stuff."
"And what's your fetish, Hirokazu?" Ruki teased him.
"Of course, staring at the butts and boobs of the girls who come to the disco. You know, those seemed to dance along with those sexy chicks!"
Itsuki, whose arms were around her mother's waist to try stopping her, felt like her heart could escape from her chest sooner or later. Instead, the Chinese boy's ears had turned into a train's chimney.
"Ohoh, did you get hot down there, boy?" Hirokazu continued and Yang would have liked to turn into sand at that moment. Itsuki was disgusted, yeah, he knew it.
"T-t-his is wrong! This is so-so wrong I could die right now!" He finally exploded, his imagination still running wild.
"This is more than wrong," A firm voice repeated and a sharp sound soon resounded in the room.
"Watch out while you're staring at other women's breasts. You may magically get your own pair without even noticing."
The woman who was standing next to Hirokazu drew back her hand, her heavy winter coat seemed to be protecting her from the weird atmosphere she could breathe in that room besides the biting smell that was laced with her husband's words.
"That hurt! What have I done to deserve this?"
She refused to give him a reply, her hand shaking and her eyebrows twitching due to her nervousness.
"Ohi, Hana! Have you come to pick him up like a kindergarten child?" Ruki bawled, not realizing the fact the woman had entered their house without permission.
Itsuki was the only member of the Lee family that had noticed that, despite the waves of feelings she was experiencing.
Her father hadn't either. He just sat still, repeating if someone had happened to hear doorbell ringing before. In truth, that was what happened and Atsuko had been the one who had opened the door.
"I expected we would end up like this tonight," The woman sighed, resigned, as she touched her short spiky hair. "C'mon, let me carry you."
Yeah, resignation was what had conquered the woman's soul, while she attempted to make Hirokazu stand up. There was no need to get mad at him, she reasoned. Her slap may have been too harsh at the beginning, but she had been washed over by her daughter's desperate calling. Mother and daughter had to collaborate in order to deal with that rogue, they both were aware about that fact.
"C'mon, stand up," Hana began saying while so many eyes were wolfing down every action she was doing. "C'mon, Hirokazu, let's go to bed."
Had she just said she didn't have to get mad at him, perhaps? She could choke on her words: after all, nobody would have helped her, Kenta seemed a little tipsy too. She wasn't really surprised, she mentally repeated.
While her mother's shouts seemed to wake up the diners from their dizziness, Atsuko put her coat on and grinned, satisfied, at Itsuki who had approached her.
"Did you do this for me, At-Chan?"
The light coloured-haired girl proceeded to put her warm hat on.
"Of course. Knowing that dumb man, this party would have never ended. He could have started talking about the sex dolls he used to give your father or that day he wore his boxers on his head. Nobody would have wanted to listen to those stories, especially me. Ah, Daddy is my responsability!" There was an affectionate vein in the last statement that had been pronounced by the girl.
Certainly, the Tamers completely forgot about those courtesies that someone who has been invited at dinner should stick to. On the contrary, everyone left dishes and glasses on the table of the Lee household's living room. The owners didn't even pay attention to that, but they gave life to a pretty grottesque picture thanks to the uncoordinated and inelegant hugs they were sharing with their friends. Hana had decided to join that chain of thanks and bye byes too, struggling to bear Hirokazu's weight on her shoulder.
"Why were we born in such families with such friends?" Atsuko pouted, but immediately smiled when she felt Makoto's hands hugging her from behind.
"Oh, Mako-Chan would have never met you, At-Chan!"
Itsuki felt another dagger piercing her chest, as soon as she found herself dwelling on thinking about a world in which she had never met her friends. Would have she liked it? She couldn't really believe she was even asking herself something like that.
Makoto had completely abandoned himself in that strange embrace that could only make Atsuko laugh and push Yang to wince; he was afraid of rising his head to meet a certain someone's violet orbs.
"Sorry for everything I said, ok? I don't want you to stop liking flowers because your love for them is what truly makes you beautiful," He said as quickly as a train, glad that she hadn't escaped from the party due to his words. She was the only one who could make him feel as ashamed and embarassed as he was feeling at that moment. Her silent yet warm caressed worsened the situation, since the coat he had just put on had started making him sweating.
"So, It-Chan , let's go. Don't you want to be late, do you?" Atsuko eventually told Itsuki, who had started staring in the space. Her ligh jacket was still in her tanned hands.
"Hm, shouldn't we help them?" She quietly asked, before being pulled by her best friend, who wanted to get away from that place and that night as soon as possible.
What and who did Itsuki want to quickly run away from?
XXX
"Finally, some fresh air!" Makoto inhaled two seconds before a truck whizzed in front of them, leaving a dark smoke in the air. "Whatever, It-Chan, don't you think your parents exaggerated with the heaters? Man, my chair felt like a furnace!"
Itsuki didn't answer at all, her contorted mind had completely absorbed her present, forcing her to live in her complex thoughts. She really wanted Makoto and Yang to disappear from her life, she was horrified by herself, by her darkened soul...But she didn't really feel like talking about that matter to anyone, which was something rare for a cheerful girl like her.
Wasn't it better if she could leave Tokyo as soon as she could? She would have started her new life without constantly thinking about how awful her old life was making her feel like.
A new life with Daiki.
"It-Chan? It-Chan, are you listening to us? Are you still stunned because of our parents being drunk?"
"No, she isn't, idiot. She isn't even thinking about that, I assure you!" Atsuko hastily answered Makoto and approached her friend, quite excited. "Have you already planned what you're going to do?"
Oh right, she had to go out with Daiki. And to think she was looking forward to that some hours, indeed, minutes before.
"Hm, I think we'll go to some pub. It's pretty cold here."
Her arms uncounsciously slipped to cover her belly due to that night's temperature, as her faint voice made Atsuko realize she couldn't understand what her friend was thinking about.
The other two Tear Jumpers couldn't either, even though Yang could clearly see Itsuki was trembling, despite the fact his scarf was fully covering his mouth and nose, slightly directing its fabric to his eyes too.
He hated cold, that March was too cold for his tastes, but that night his scarf and hat were mostly useful to cover how much flushed his face still looked. He didn't care about the freezing weather at all at that moment. He just wanted to think about whatever he wanted, avoiding talking to Makoto or teasing him about what he had told Atsuko back when they were about to go out.
He didn't feel like doing nothing but thinking and was looking forward to doing that on his ride back home.
Still, Itsuki's shaking figure was unbearable for him to see and was what pushed him to want not to immediately follow Makoto and Atsuko's decision to go back home.
That Daiki was leaving her freezing and he was late, wasn't he?
"Mako, let's go home. My feet are becoming two chunks of ice!"
"I want to wait for that knave and make him understand one thing or two!"
Atsuko grabbed his hand, tightening her grip to higlight how much rubbish he could come up with in a single day.
"Man, what are you waiting for? Do you want to become a penguin or what?" Makoto grinned at him, making his reddish eyes shine under the pale light of the poles.
"No, I-," He really didn't know what to say, he realized lowering his head. He didn't want to lie to him, but he really couldn't admit he already knew those two would stop somewhere and...Starting making out.
"C'mon, let's go to the arcades!" The boy insisted.
"Wait, weren't we going back home?" The pigtailed girl protested. She just wanted to cuddle with her boyfriend to warm that night, and now he wanted to go the arcades with that rascal!
"At-Chan, we'll go back home after the arcades, of course! We aren't students anymore, and Yang and me have got an unfinished business to deal with! Right, buddy? We have to smash those blowhards who beat us at Dogfights."
Atsuko didn't really want to repeat how stupid their past times were.
"Why don't you use your money for something more useful?" She blinked to look as cute and pure as possible. "You can take me to a cafe' and we could have a cup of vanilla milkshake. It-Chan! You and Daiki can join us after a while! That would be perfect! Oh please, Mako, please, Darling!"
It's not like Makoto could refuse his sweetheart's proposes, but he didn't absolutely want that boy to go along with them. He had finally realized he was making Itsuki wait, and his hatred for him grew even more.
"Hm, we'll take in consideration your offer, At-Chan," The violet-eyed girl finally replied, a flush had strangely appeared on her cheeks.
She was too quiet, a shadow of herself, Yang frowned, but he didn't and couldn't imagine Itsuki's mind had become a maze of abhorrence, regrets and horror. Memories had turned into fearful pincers, as her world, the one that had been surrouding her since she was a kid, was becoming a grabber.
She didn't want to go with them. Why were they waiting there in the first place? What they were waiting for?
"Hey, It-Chan! Text me, if you come!"
What will become of her when she becomes her shadow?, Yang wondered, a weird feeling driving him to grabbing his hand before Atsuko's incredulous expression, as if the Itsuki he had known for ages could disappear at any moment.
"You...Y-You could come with us and we could, like, share a cake together!" He slightly pushed aside his scarf, like if it was essential to do that in order to convey his feelings to her.
"But I'm waiting for Daiki-Chan!" She entered into an argument with her own true wishes by saying that. Atsuko shouted her same reply to Yang, her hat slightly slipping on her forehead as Makoto unusually stayed in silence.
"But-But ehy! We could wait for him there, you could share the cake with us, and, well, you wouldn't freeze out here, at least!"
"I've already eaten a cake today!" Itsuki talked back, her gaze aiming to the horizon, hoping to see Daiki soon.
"You've n-never cared about this stuff..."
"I care about it now, what's the problem with ya, Yang, honestly!"
"W-who knows what will happen when...We'll part ways for real..."
She ended up violently parting their gloved hands.
Stop it…
Two caring gloved hands caressed her cheeks and her orbs finally shone like they were supposed to be.
"Babe!"
The newcomer let himself take some time to gain the ordinary pace of his breath, and he scratched his head at the realization Itsuki and him weren't alone.
"Oh, I'm so sorry to have made you wait, apple of my eye," He encircled Itsuki's waist, before leaning his green eyes on the trio that was in front of him. "And thank you all to have waited with her! Apparently, the underground had some kind of problem! Honestly, thank you so much!"
He proceeded to plant a tender kiss on Itsuki's reddish cheek, making her shiver like an autumnal leaf.
There wasn't anything else to do, their stares were enough for everyone of them to understand it was better if their roads splitted.
At that point Atsuko could only cautiously grab Yang's arm, still holding her quite perplexed sweetheart's hand on the other side, feeling the pain the boys' heart was feeling for the first time.
What a night, she thought, somehow hearing the Tamers' laughters from Itsuki's apartment: their parents wouldn't go back home, yeah, it was blatant. Maybe her mother had fallen into that hell too.
"I've n-never liked eating chocolate cakes, who cares," The boy muttered under his scarf, while the handsome lad and Itsuki got far away from them and the cafe' they intended to go to.
"What have you done tonight, gorgeous?" Daiki asked in the distance, his wheat-coloured hair somehow reminding Itsuki of Atsuko's locks.
"Hm, so much stuff," She paused, taking into account Daiki's coat was feeling too cold against her skin.
There was too much wind that night, she stared at a red flyer being carried away by the gust of wind. Probably, it belonged to some new restaurant that had just opened, but her mind had landed somewhere else, as if her thoughts had been caught by a strong current.
"Neh, Daiki, would you ever mix sake with wine?" She laughed, as she let her fever take over her and herself lie her head on Daiki's arm.
Had Takato and Juri put sake and wine in the cake too?
XXX
Masahiko chuckled in front of how predictable Jenrya Lee was: of course, he would find the keys to his apartment under the doormat.
Still, that really wasn't a matter to laugh about, the young man did know about that.
"What has happened here?!" He opened his mouth at the sight of that mess: dishes and pots on the table, rugs that were upside down, and some bottles on the floor.
He recognized the empty dark one he found next to the sofa, on which a bunch of people were fallen asleep.
"Geez, where have Ai and Makoto bought this thing from?"
He couldn't help but laugh hard in front of that mess; it looked like if they had played truth or dare with that bottle, driving everyone crazy with some weird requests, like, apparently, making Hirokazu wear his boxers on his head or forcing Takato to hug his Senpai or something like that -their poses were quite ambiguous-.
"Oh My Gods," He laughed even louder, noticing his Senpai had a sort of sentence written on his face, Soon to be happy father-in-law .
He could recognize whose that untidy and clumsy handwriting belonged to. He just couldn't see that ball of fur anywhere, even though it should have been drawn by the box of donuts he was carrying. Probably, even Terriermon freaked out because of the weird behaviour the humans had adopted the night before.
Masahiko sighed, quite amused, putting his hands on the hips as his nut coloured-orbs scanned that bizzarre yet relaxing scenario, repeating to himself how much he would have liked to be there and see his Senpai and his friends acting like a bunch of savages. Those walls had seen so much that night, he thought, before cracking a smile because of a reason he couldn't really understand.
"Maybe something is missing..." He reasoned, before deciding to cover the sleeping adults with a blanket that was about to fall from the sofa.
It can help them overcome that hangover with its warmth, he thought opening the entrance door to let the group sleep in peace, writing an invisible list of what he should do in the following hours.
"I should search for the kids, since they aren't here and it's quite weird. Then, I should look for Terriermon: I mean who know what it could be up to! After that..."
He closed the door, a bottle that hadn't been opened yet in his arms, and he took in consideration the idea to thank Makoto and Aki for that weird gift, as he dialed a number on his phone.
"Hey, Shaochung! Would you like some sake mixed with wine?"
The curse would be meant to continue.