Tales of Tear Jumpers Commissions

by Sage Striaton

Just a row of commission about the tjs I’ve written during the time. They mostly belong to Act II, two are from Act III, one is an Au. I do plan to include the Yang one and the kouatsu one in the main story though!

3. Chapter 3

This chapter was requested by my Senpai who wanted a bit of Jenruki having fun at the disco with Itsuki and Shaochung. We really had fun talking this. We landed on sugar dads territory amd she was like, LET'S MAKE JEN BE MISTAKEN FOR A SUGAR DAD. And chaos ensued XD!

[ Act II •3 In which what the reader needs to know is that everything can happen during a family night at a disco: you can randomly meet friends or meet weird people, you can feel like experiencing a time travel, you can assist to old bonds shattering in thousand pieces. Still what matters the most is that it is mostly a night of blooming love in its every shape.]

"This will be my new profile picture!"

That jovial voice managed to make its way among the powerful notes of a song that could be heard coming from inside the disco.

Itsuki raised her head at her aunt giggling while showing her a photo she had just taken featuring a very confident young woman striking a charming pose and...a girl on her eighteens forcing herself to crack a shy smile.

"You look so cute," Shaochung pointed at that uncertain face, at those trembling eyebrows, at those flushed cheeks and at those violet eyes expressing her slight hatred towards taking so many photos in a row.

Itsuki blinked for a while, her orbs couldn't get far away from her and her aunt's silhouettes as if they wanted to try appreciating that photo somehow. Actually, it wasn't that bad, she found herself realizing: if she had decided to mimick Shaochung and had posed in a very flashy way, it would have been a decent photo ,in her opinion; it would have been so appreciable she could have posted it on some social.

"So what do you think?" The young woman handed her the phone to let her see her new profile pic. "My colleagues will start asking who you are for sure".

It wasn't like Itsuki was feeling that comfortable at listening to Shaochung telling her that photo would be seen by her colleagues coming from all over the world. The girl didn't really want to imagine a bunch of adults discussing about how to furnish an apartment before beginning talking about her and her kinda clumsy attitude.

"They will be so fascinated by you, you'll see," Shaochung continued, her long wavy hair framing her tanned face on which she had perfectly applied a consistent amount of make up. Itsuki had decided to use make up that night too, but she wasn't wearing a lipstick since her mother had suggested her to save it for later. Her weird ideas, Itsuki couldn't help but slowly shake her head, abruptly interrupting that gesture when Shaochung whispered something in her ear; that something made Itsuki feel an unbearable thrill on her spine, so cold the heat of that summer night didn't suddenly bother her anymore.

"Please, Auntie, no!" She begged and grabbed Shaochung's bare arm before she could reach a blonde boy who was chatting with some peers of his.

"Oh, c'mon, Darling, he would love this. I can tell you're too worried not to look pretty in the photos we've taken so far, so what would be better than your boyfriend's opinion?"

"He always tells me I look great in photos, so his opinion isn't that objective! Furthermore, I don't need him and his thoughts to feel confident about how beautiful I am!"

She raised her voice a bit and Shaochung put an end to that joke, brightly smiling at her nephew.

"Maybe I'll delete this photo from the gallery," She concluded and Itsuki opened her mouth, surprised at that statement and the joyful hug that followed. "That's only because our night hasn't started yet and we have got so many other great photos to take together," Then she streched her elegant neck to whisper something into her ear again. "I want to take a photo of you two too!"

Of course, Itsuki's reaction to her words was an embarassed one. It was so funny to notice her nephew would always be hyperactive and cheerful except when they touched the topic of her relationship with Daiki; they were near to celebrating their first anniversary and she would still act so awkard at his only sight. It was so endearing to be able to spot such an immature behaviour from that girl she loved so much and who was so ready to enter the adults' word.

Her precious Itsuki...

Indeed, their precious Itsuki, because two other adults werestaring at the moments happening between the aunt and the nephew with tenderness.

"I think Shaochung has stolen your role as the photographer of our group," Jen commented, amused by the fact Ruki had been staring at the younger couple for some minutes, while Jen was inspecting their surroudings that were full of boys and girls he couldn't bring himself to trust starting from their appearance.

"Scary, eh?" She commented, observing their surroundings just like he was doing.

Jen snorted almost insitinctively and frowned.

"Scary for real! Look at these dudes who are lying against the wall. They have got piercings and tatoos everywhere! And that girl too! What is that hair supposed to look like? She's all alone among so many boys! Our It-"

He froze because her gaze was silently yet blatantly mocking him.

"Do you know who has got a piercing on her ear or who used to hang out with a lot of boys not thinking it was a problem ?" She smirked at his dumbstruck expression and she held his hand, touching a specific spot under his wrist while she raised hers too. "And do you know who has got matching tatoos?"

"B-but they're almost invisible and they are dedicated to the most precious gift we could ever be given !"

She would have liked to continue playing with him in that way, but the mention of the tatoo they had decided to get when their daughter was born made them warmly smile, their foreheads lying on each other and their hands quietly laced as their eyes mirrored so many memories that were full of happiness and emotion.

"Anyway, I was talking about how scary it is to come here after so much time and see how much The Temple has changed", She laughed, her gaze shifting to the entrance of the disco that was very similar to what it looked like when they were younger.

That place. That crowded and too noisy place had so much value for both Ruki and Jenrya as well as for the other older Tamers. When some days before Shaochung had rushed to their apartment to give them some flyers about the upcoming re-opening of the disco, Ruki hadn't hesitated before immediately organizing a night there.

"Can I come too? Pretty please!" Itsuki had begged, holding onto her father's arm and giving him the most adorable stare he had ever found himself in front of.

"I've been hearing Mum talking about the Temple for years! I know about the fun you would have there and I've always wished to come! Please, Daddy and Mummy. Please!"

That was shortly what had happened: Ruki couldn't dwell on trying remembering more because what mattered the most to her was to breathe that atmosphere again and, why not, let herself and Jen be engulfed by recollections over recollections to turn back to younger years again. It was enough for Ruki to stand there, in that long queue to feel like she was turning back in time, to that period -which felt so far to her- during which her and Jen were still a couple of friends. That couple of friends surely would have never expected they would manage to get to that point, to build a family, which had even been some kind of taboo when they had finally started dating.

"Have you seen how Mum and Dad seems to want to be so intimate today," Shaochung's voice made them turn, a smile formed on Ruki's face while Jen could only wince, surely a bit embarassed.

Still the affection he could feel from Shaochung made the muscles of his face relax in a blink of an eye; of course, the successive sight of Itsuki following her aunt and placing herself between Ruki and him made every akward emotion completely disappear.

His heart was so full of joy because of that family night. He hadn't done that for a while as his job would take away so much time he could have spent with Ruki and Itsuki. Even if he would try compensating his absence by taking them at fancy restaurants or just spending some time at home, him cooking for them and them giving him so much love while watching some film...It would never be enough.

"Daddy, what are you thinking about?" Itsuki asked him, quite concerned, noticing he was too absorbed into his thoughts.

He scracthed his head and giggled, passing his arm on her shoulders and brushing his cheek on her hair.

"Daddy, don't electrify my hair tho'!" She joked, holding onto his arm while her violet eyes inspected her surroundings looking for Daiki.

"Where's Daiki Darling, It? He won't enter along with us if he doesn't hurry!" It was like if Shaochung could read her mind.

Fortunately Daiki managed to make his way through the crowd of the queue at that right moment, apologizing and explaining he was along with someone else.

Itsuki's orbs brightened up at the sight of the blonde boy and she trotted to him hugging his well-toned body for Jenrya's dismay; the man could feel his arm getting cold without Itsuki's neck pressing against it.

"Daidai! You always make me wait for you!" Itsuki pulled her tongue out to playfully mock him, and Daiki could only pinch her cheeks that became so red Shaochung and Ruki let a long tender noise escape their lips.

"They were some friends from middle school. I hadn't seen them for ages and it was nice to share some chats with them. I promise you I will organize some meet-up at a cafe' so you can meet them, Babe!"

He eventually engulfed her in a lovely hug which made Jen evidently wince.

"Bab-!" He shouted, but he was interrouted by Ruki tightening her grip on his forearm. "But he called him babe!" He whined, massaging the hurting spot.

"And? Didn't I call you Bean-pole ? It was as cute as the usual you will hear in so many young couples!"

"Bean-pole! I didn't know this!" Shaochung joined the conversation. "Hey, Bean-pole!" She laughed, calling her older brother with that name that was connected to so many other memories. However the funny fact was that Shaochung was almost as tall as her brother, so that nickname could have fit her so well too.

"Please, Jen," Ruki got his attention by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let them have their fun and," Her index crawled onto his neck, tickling it in a seductive way. "I promise you we'll have fun too".

She didn't need to add other words, her violet orbs shining of pleasant promises in front of him.

"Don't ruin her night and ours," She pretended to threaten him, her slender finger remaining in the air because they were soon called by a radiant woman who had some bracelets in her hands.

"Ah finally the time has come!" Shaochung streched her arm to let the stranger slip the plastic bracelet through her wrist, beckoning at Itsuki and Daiki to do the same.

"It's like entering a private club!" Itsuki chirped, letting Daiki go for a moment to grab the bracelet from the woman's grip.

"Will I be able to keep this when I get out of here?" She asked, staring at the simple black accessory and making both her and Daiki's arms touch. The boy didn't hesitate before holding her limb and keeping it in that position, attached to his, so he could take a photo.

"Aesthetical," Itsuki laughed, waiting for him to modify the new photo with some special filters.

However, he suddenly stopped, turning his head repeatedly.

"What is it?" The girl questioned, confused. She was already heading for the disco's dark entrance. "Don't make me wait again, ya silly!"

"Hm, it's just that somehow I feel observed..."

Itsuki let out another sincere laughter, pulling his black t-shirt.

"C'mon, Daidai, it's just Daddy who's keeping an eye on ya. Don't let this bother ya too much, 'kay? He can't just trust boys approaching me so easily."

He gave another glance to the crowd that was behind him, his green eyes rapidly scanning the many different faces chatting animatedly to defeat boredom.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," He eventually swept away that uneasiness with a confident grin, finally following her and wondering if it was fine to hold her hand while her protective father was only some centimetres far from them.

He didn't know Jen had been feeling observed for a while too, his strong sense of wariness he had got thanks to tai-chi was what made him certain about the fact someone was spying on them. He could even occasionally hear his name being pronounced.

For real.

In truth, both the young Daiki and Jenrya weren't wrong. They should have just insisted having faith on their senses for a little longer and they would have surely spotted two rascals sneaking from behind a wall and getting into the queue...Again. One of them, the tallest, had just stopped pressing his clumsy hands against the other one's mouth.

"Man, Mako! Make up your mind! Do we want to go to this disco? Yes or no?! It-it seems you costantly needs to take a leak behind the wall...And girls are staring, Heavens. Friendly reminder these are the same girls we will find in the disco. If they think we've already got prostate problems, they will never approach us!"

Yang breathed heavily, still experiencing the effects of having been kept from taking air for a minute straight. Makoto gave him a glacial stare he tried ignoring without success.

"W-what is it?" Yang raised an eyebrow, fumbling into the pockets of his dark cardigan to take his cigarettes.

"You are smoking again!" Makoto groaned and in a blink of an eye Yang found himself looking at the pack of his cigarettes being smashed against the floor.

"What is it?! Are you my mother, perhaps?! I'm almost in the a-academy and I can do whatever I want."

Red dull orbs blankly looked at the horizon, before Makoto slapped himself on his forehead, quite desperate.

"Can't you just remember the reason why we are here? Have you forgot?"

"Surely, I do," Yang made his coal-coloured irises roll, preparing himself for a brief unnecessary explanation. "We are here because you want to see how Itsuki is doing with that dude- I can't even remember his name-. Nevertheless you hadn't predicted her whole family would come here. That's why we're costantly hiding behind that wall: you're so afraid of being spotted; well, I mean...I am too. W-what would Ruki-San think about me?"

"No, I didn't expect it, you're right. I thought they would spend the night at the disco all alone. Hey, Yang, is he a part of their family now, in your opinion?" The tone of Makoto's voice almost sounded melancholy while that question was taking shape through those sad words.

Yang didn't hide to have been quite taken aback by that mood his friend had suddenly got. He stayed in silence for a while, inspecting that face being locked on the ground and on the other people's shoes.

Makoto was so weird as a person. He was one of those people Yang had never managed to understand when it came to his feelings.

"You don't care about this at all," Makoto continued. "I had told you to dress like any boy coming to the disco would, but you are wearing your stupid daily clothes. How do you think we can get progresses with this spirit of yours?! You just don't want to get Itsuki back and get her far away from that person who has turned her into another kind of girl," Makoto continued, probably recalling those days Itsuki wouldn't even know how to apply make up on her own.

" W-Well, I might have got used to her having changed so much, you know", Yang dared to say, pretending to be focused on a tune he could hardly hear coming from the building.

"What?!" Makoto snapped and he was aware he would get that reaction from him. Now Makoto's eyes were on fire and he did know he had to choose a line of reasoning that could save him from being humiliated in public...In front of that red-haired girl he would often find on the subway.

"Ah...Every girl of ours has changed, if you think about that. Let's make an example: let's take in consideration Ran," He smiled at that name with affection, pretending not to have heard Makoto apostrophising her with a very rude nickname. "Well, Ran used to be so unbearable."

"She still is," Makoto mumbled, but got ignored again.

"I couldn't stand her because she was such a big pain in the tooth with her princess-like attitude, being certain the whole world had to rotate around her, being so picky and disgusted about staying with us and having to deal with our tastes, with men world."

"What's the freaking point of this stupid and long solliloquy? I bet even these dudes are dying due to your lame litany!" Makoto huffed, pointing at the back of two miserable other boys who were complaining about their failed exams, but Yang was too content to be able to talk so passionately about someone else.

"Now she's turned into the opposite self of that capricious child she used to be! Sometimes chatting with her feels like doing that with a boy! Kou and me joke a lot about her truly being one of us now, and we appreciate the person she has become, her princess-like side that's still into her and her new masculine one. I wish Naomi-"

"Ok, time's up and you can't add anything else, remember. You have had the chance to explain me properly the reason why you've told me about this cheesy story, but you've thrown it away. I won't listen to you anymore."

"B-but-".

"Just shut up!" Makoto hissed, a fist of his near to Yang's face. "Let's not get distracted or we might miss our turn."

"We've missed so many turns, if we have to be sincere...I've lost my cigarettes too..."

Yang could only heavily sigh and stand still next to Makoto: his sensible speeches wouldn't easily cancel Makoto's obsession about Itsuki's love life, so what he could do was to hope the night would be interesting, at least.

He surely didn't want to risk to fall asleep on a cheap table and be seen like that by that pretty red-haired girl.

XXX

After having chosen a table, the women of the group didn't wait twice before throwing themselves to the dance floor, Jenrya holding Ruki's hand, Itsuki and Shaochung dragging Daiki along with them.

Shaochung was already dancing just like Itsuki: her tall body swinging back and forth in a dynamic yet sensual dance.

"Auntie, y're fabolous," Itsuki stopped her own dance, admiring the woman's movements that were so beautifully adapting to the song that came next.

"I agree! Your aunt is amazing!" Daiki energically nodded, feeling like the rhythm of the new song was flowing into his veins more easily than the previous one's.

He let himself go, his legs losing the stiffness they had before and making him eventually perform a pirouette that pushed Shaochung to applaude.

"I could't expect less from a professional ice skater!" She commented and he slightly blushed, feeling the need to do that again.

Only Itsuki was feeling a bit ashamed of her awkward dance that was full of eccentricity and hyperactivity. It was her own way to develop what a song would make her feel, without brakes and inihibition.

Still...Inhibition was hitting her hard among those people dancing in such a different way from hers, near to Shaochung and Daiki being so confident about their steps. She had never felt in that weird way; she loved dancing a lot, but that situation was making her feel restricted somehow.

That didn't have any sense to her.

"It, what are you waiting for! Move your body, my girl! We're here to have the time of our life!" Shaochung genuinely laughed, holding her hand and dragging her closer. "Look at me and let's do this together! Do you remember, It? Kpop dance! Out and in, out and in," She began showing her nephew simple yet graceful movements with her legs, opening and closing them. It was almost ensnaring to see her on the dance floor, her long light violet hair being washed by the colourful lights that would intermittently lie on their bodies. "Now the arms, cross you arms and...Let's rock a bit!"

After the first steps Shaochung had performed, Itsuki's limbs and hips started moving on their accord, recalling that easy choreography Shaochung had taught her on her eighteenth birthday. Whatever reason she had to feel that shy some minutes before wasn't that important to her anymore.

"You two can dance Kpop on whatever kind of song you could hear," Daiki grinned, his phone raised to take a video of the running wild woman and girl. Their souls had aligned so perfectly as the notes penetrated their beings: they looked like the reflection of a mirror; they were so coordinated and spontaneous there were some people staring at them too.

"Daiki, look at this, you could love it," She arrested their show, assuring there was enough room behind her. Backing a bit, she started rotating her hands, closed in a fist as if she was pretending to be a cowboy throwing a lazzo. Their pace increased more and more until she felt ready to spin for three times, ending that perfect pirouette with one of her attracting poses.

"This was from SF9's K.O. I think it would sui-"

She didn't even need to finish her explanation to see Daiki brilliantly mimicking her and proudly smiling at Itsuki.

"Wonderful!" Shoachung and Itsuki said in chorus, their amazement being so opposite to Jenrya's digusted expression.

"What a show-off!" He snorted, the enjoyment of seeing Itsuki and Shaochung bonding disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"Remember he can do that on the ice too, so I think the boy does have his own rights to be a show-off."

Slightly closing those mismerizing orbs of hers she silently persuaded Jen to approach her.

"Closer," She tenderly smirked, noticing some strangers gathering there were quickly keeping the couple from looking at Shaochung and the lovebirds, like Ruki adored calling them. Despite how entertaining they were, she wanted Itsuki and Daiki to stay alone that night, without caring about their presence too much...And especially about Jen's costant desire to oversee their daughter.

"Closer, closer," She whispered and Jen struggled to hear her soft voice, some magic he hadn't experienced for ages made his wise eyes flew downwards, onto her rosy lips that were giving life to words he could suddenly understand perfectly.

Reading her labial, he obeyed to her wishes, getting so near to her their chests were almost pressed agains each other's.

It was incredible to get lost in that sea of people and to abandon themselves to the unstoppable tides. It felt like the currents of that wavy sea would increase as the two fused together, their faces tenderly colliding, their orbs melting and his strong arms reaching her hips. The more powerful the current became, the more they would feel like being pulled along with it, going through years and years spent with each other.

It's like if we're going back in time, Ruki thought, mentally swearing Jenrya's shaggy locks felt softer under her fingers like they used to be when they were younger.

"Maybe we could wait for them to put a romantic music on," Jenrya broke the train of her thoughts, his voice muffled because it was still pressing against her neck. "We must be looking so weird, hugging here and rocking as if we were in the middle of a slow-dancing."

"As if we cared about the music they would choose back when we would find the emptiest spots of the dance floor to make out." She straightened her back to look at him into his wise grey eyes . "And we would come back really believing Juri hadn't already spotted the traces of lipstick you had on your cheeks."

She would still burst in laughters at those recollections of them not being able to resist to passion and go beyond the limits they had imposed to themselves before hooking up. Yet...Some nights she would forget to wipe Jen's face, during others she wouldn't realize Jen's shirt was slightly raised and a part of his belly was showing.

Both had fallen in the marvelous hole of their memories once more, as if they had ended up in a dream in which they were young adults again. Ruki leaned forward onto his broad chest, listening to the last notes of that song without that much interest: what she wanted was a kiss, a deep one; Jen longed for that as well, she could perceive his sweet intentions looking from down to up at that pair of glasses he had refused to leave at home.

However the night they had ahead was so long and there was so much more they would come to see. It wasn't time for their intimate wishes to be granted yet.

Actually Fate had apparently sent someone that would soon break the pleasant tension of the romantic moment.

Ruki spotted the familiar silhouette behind them and immediately recognized the flamboyant jacket fluttering along with that slim body and the greenish bush this person's head was covered by.

"Look who's here!" Ruki let Jenrya go, making the man more confused than ever. Only when he turned to follow Ruki the clouds of his mind vanished.

"Kenta!" He exclaimed, approaching his wife and suppressing his laughters at the sight of Kenta dancing in a very weird way, spreading his arms and dangling continuously.

His husband was standing still, taking a photo of him by slightly hiding the phone into his colourful jacket. It was hilarious to see that Kenta wouldn't stop at Ruki's hands' touch either -which was what was making Ruki extremely enjoying that meeting: she wanted to pull a slight prank on Kenta by scaring him but Jen calling him could have ruined everything; instead she was glad Kenta was still in his universe made of incoherent pop music lyrics and shaky notes-.

Ruki placed herself behind the man and her soft lips, which were curved into a malicious grin, come in contact with his right ear.

"Kenta!" She said out loud and the man made a jump that made every attempt not to laugh from the other tree adults vain. Jenrya found Kenta's reaction so exhilarating tears were also starting tarnishing his glasses. They were quite similar to the pair Kenta was struggling to put on his nose in a decent way.

"Let me help you," His husband sniggered and finally Kenta's sight became clear again.

"But you are Ruki and Jen!" He naively opened his mouth at the figures he had in front of us. He avoided being hit by a dancing woman and exchanged greeting with Jen, their elbows in the air and their fingers interlocked.

"Fancy meeting you two here and seeing you're turning into a blind mole as they days pass by," Ruki joked, her muscled legs moving at the pulsing rhythm of the song as if they had their own will.

"I was expecting you would be here too somehow! They have been advertising the new opening of The Temple almost everywhere for weeks and we finally exploited a weekend to come here! After all," He timidly gave a glance to the calm man sharing a brief chat with Jenrya. "We met here, remember that!"

Ruki felt the need to look at Jenrya too, her cheeks getting flushed like they always would whenever her younger self found herself close to him and gave his traits a brief glimpse, not too fleeting to be able to keep her from noticing new details about that particular face of his.

Would I have ever expected to wake up in front of that gorgeous face everyday?, She wondered smiling at herself, remembering how uncertain she felt about their relationship back then. Friends or more than that?

"Hey Ruki!" Kenta loudly called her, probably because he had been doing that for a while but Ruki had been so much engulfed by her younger dreams her surroundings had turned into total nothingness. "My back is killing me! I told you we're moving and we've been carrying so many boxes from a house to the other one. I am-"

"Old, an old blind mole," Ruki pulled her tongue out like if she was a teenager and grabbed Kenta's arm to drag him in the crowd, Jenrya and Kenta's elegant husband following. "Let's talk for a bit, what do you think? I want to know how your holiday to Bahamas went."

"Oh you do know how we spent that," Kenta gave a friendly and weak pat on her shoulders. "I had lots of massage sessions and manicure sessions...You know, Ruki, the ones your coarse hands have been asking for since you took on motorcrossing."

"Ah, the same Kenta who never changes and worries about his hands getting older and older. You do know motorcrossing isn't a job you can do with pretty hands belonging to a shiny Barbie."

XXX

"Ah, we're so old and hopeless."

"Speak for yourself!"

Sitting between Kenta and Jenrya, Ruki showed her biceps to the so weary man who was slowly trying gaining his breath in a very weird position he needed to make the pain in his back stop.

"Again, who needs delicate hands when you have these?" Her muscles inflated and became as hard as a stone; sure, Jenrya's were even more impressive, but she was so proud of what she had managed to get after years and years of sweat. "If you want to drag a motorbike or lift it after a fall, you have to own these!" She wished Hirokazu could have been there admiring her powerful arms her youthful camisole enhanced starting from their sleek shape: nobody would have never expected what her limbs hid at a first glance at her gracious figure. Kenta was aware about the fact appearance didn't matter at all when it came to Ruki; Jen did know that too, it was only Kenta's husband who had become so speechless at that sight.

"I have got no muscles like that," His face was warped by an embarassed wince for some seconds until he heard Kenta whispering he was perfect the way he was. "Well, when Kenta and me go to the gym, I just sit on a sofa while he runs on the tapis roulant. I'm just not cut for sport, I guess," He proceeded at passing his hand through that perfectly slicked-back hair he had spent hours to get: maybe they were too shiny in Ruki's opinion, she considered staring at the nut-coloured top of the hairstyle that seemed to be gleaming below the lights that were attached to the red wall.

"Whatever, you should see my calves. They're my true trophy, but those are the result of my love for biking," She nudged at Jenrya, a hand covering her mouth and making everyone stand at attention: she was about to tell them about a story, Kenta could remember the same atmosphere her tale about having quarreled with a policeman had brought along during the annual meeting of the Tamers. He was still lucid and hadn't drunk that much at that moment, so he could recall the whole recollection and the gestures the tipsy Ruki had enriched her adventure with.

"What is it?" Jen smiled at her, curious about what she wanted to communicate to him with that fox face.

"Our honeymoon." She merely said and Jen took a while to understand what she was implying. When the realization hit home, he couldn't even open his mouth to gently protest.

"Basically we went to China, like you all can remember, and there was the chance to visit some zones of Beijing in bike. I begged him to join me in a whole morning we would spend pedalling together, but my prayers weren't listened at all. So I joined the bike tour all alone, of course; how could I refuse? Some men stared at me while we were having occasional breaks but," She turned to Jen, watching him and his red ears out of the corner of her eye: they had been married for more almost twenty years and he would still get that flushed at her teasings. "There was a man staring at me from a sightseeing bus who won over every other hunk being there." Her head rubbed against his shoulder as if she was a lovely cat. She did say she would make the best of that night and Kenta and his husband's presence wasn't interrupting her plans at all.

"So, that's the reason why you fell that day!"

Needless to say, Jen had managed to briliiantly defend himself in her game. She was telling about the last and most hilarious day of their honeymoon, after all. He could mentally state she had made her own bed.

"Fell?! Who fell!?" She straightened her body up, avoiding to meet Kenta and the other man's eloquent gaze.

"Yes, you fell, Darling. You got distacted for a moment - due to me, I've discovered now- and you tried keeping yourself from hitting a pole that was so dangerously near to you," He was the one hiding his mouth now, making Ruki pout evidently and cross her arms. "You ended up breaking the bike you had hired and we had to use the money we had spared in order to have dinner on the Houhai lake. Remember? The beautiful restaurant on that fancy boat."

"And you called me to send more money, how could I forget?"Shaochung showed up from the partial darkness, holding her hips and shaking her hand to push a bit of fresh -she hoped- air to her sweated face.

Itsuki and Daiki were behind her, holding onto each other as their bodies attempted to metabolize the insufferable heat. Still it was enough to spot Jenrya sitting at the table for Daiki to quickly get off Itsuki.

However the girl didn't really pay attention to that action of his as her priority was to hug Kenta, almost ending up on the table due to the excitement that had overcome her senses. A real child at heart, Shaochung had already said it and now she was tenderly smiling at her along with Daiki: both were so in love with that side of Itsuki's.

"Uncle Kenta, I would have never expected to find you here," She tweeted after having realized to have accidentally made a mess on the man's greenish hair; his glasses had shifted down his nose too. She sat a bit embarassed, seeing Kenta tidying his appearance.

"Where's Uncle Hirokazu?" She moved her hair from left to right trying to find Kenta's exhilarating best friend.

"Yeah, where is he?" Shaochung nodded after having given a lovely kiss on Kenta's cheek before greeting his husband.

"He's not here ," Ruki nonchalantly answered. "I believe Hana put him on a leash after he came to our meeting and got close to admitting his job as a deejay consists in staring at other women's asses too."

Kenta gulped, looking for his beloved's eyes as he remembered how mad Hana had been at him for weeks.

"Yeah...She gave him some considerable punishments." Ruki was already touching her belly at what the thin man was going to say. Instead, Daiki, who had brought himself to sit in front of the intimidating Jen -this was his opinion, at least,- streched his neck, eager to listen to some story that was connected to that night Itsuki had refused to talk to him about. "She made him do the chores. Whatever role was usually given Atsuko or Hana had to be covered by him for a month."

"And Hirokazu hates doing the chores, you know that," Ruki rolled her orbs, putting her elbow on Jen's shoulder. "If I had been Hana, I would have made him dress up as a maid, if you ask me. Imagine his bulky frame in a dress like that."

"Well, if you want to know, he was wearing an apron back when we visited them to celebrate Atsuko entering university," Kenta's husband added and Ruki was even about to spit due to the huge effort she was putting in holding her laughters.

"Mummy, what is that funny in Uncle Hirokazu heing treated like a maid?" Itsuki frowned, knowing the expression her mother was wearing very well. "I pity him, if I have to be sincere," She turned to Shaochung who was softly laughing as well. "Auntie, that night everyone was drunk, even Uncle Takato. They all should have been punished: Aunt Juri confessed she used to dress up as a cat, Uncle Kenta poured wine on Uncle Hirokazu's shirt and Mummy showed some magazine on which...On which...She was all covered in oil from head to toe and was wearing weird outfits. There was a photo in which her trousers were almost falling down her legs and-and- Mum told Yang we were dating and- and-,"

Daiki reached out to put his hand on her shaking one: the effect of the memories of that night during which she had also fallen ill were still so intense. Nevertheless, he would have never imagined something like what she had just finished rambling about had happened: Lee-San on a weird magazine? Maybe they just were some bizzarre nightmares fever had provoked her, he mulled about that possibility, a bit baffled.

Nevertheless, it was blatant the atmosphere Hirokazu dressing up as a maid had generated had faded in a heartbeat.

"Wait, what magazines?" Jenrya blinked just like his sister, perplexed, so isolated from the rest of the crew who did know what kind of magazines Itsuki was referring to. Kenta could faintly recall Hirokazu laughing like a freak while looking at a younger Ruki's solid abs: it was a recollection he had shared with his husband and maybe that was the reason why he could remember about it so vividly.

Conversely Ruki couldn't really recall what had happened at that point of the night because that wine sake had surely clouded her mind. Yet she did know she had done something with those magazines she had randomly found at her mother's house. Actually, after she had woken up the following day and experienced the worst hangover she had ever felt on her skin, she had found them scattered on the floor, her younger face mischievously staring at her. Since she quickly hid them in the depths of Jen's library, he couldn't recall anything about them. Still...She would have liked to show those to Jen again to see his reaction; who knew about the others' reactions, though. Ah what a pity, alcohol was so tasty to her but its consequences were so deprecable, especially these ones.

"By the way," She skillfully changed the topic. "Did you enjoy yourself dancing, lovebirds?" She sneered at the sight of Itsuki blushing furiously and Daiki avoiding to meet Jen's gaze.

"I enjoyed myself a lot, I'm looking forward to standing up and doing it again," He replied as fast a rocket that has just been launched into the space.

"Daiki Darling, no one will hear you if you're whispering in this way," Shaochung caressed both the teens' hair before taking her phone, its cover was encrusted with brilliant fake diamonds. "Anyway, let's take a photo. All together!"

Her tanned arm tried encircling Kenta's back, beckoning to the others to squeeze in, so everyone could be included in the photo. Ruki held onto Kenta but her violet orbs were attached on Jenrya's figure that was quietly smiling: he looked so handsome to her, like always, but...

She didn't think twice before making her pale hands sneak to his face and steal his glasses.

"Ruki! Give me back my glasses!" He complained, which was predictable to her.

"They're so steamy, just let me clean them ok?" She pretended to be wiping the lenses planting a fleeting kiss on his lips, susprising him.

Itsuki couldn't notice that lovely effusion between her parents since she was too focused on explaining Shaochung they all wouldn't enter in a single photo.

"We are too ma-"

The flash blinded her leaving Itsuki open-mouthed, troubled, an expression you wouldn't surely expect in a photo.

"What a disaster," She was about to cry while putting her finger on Shaochung's phone's display. Another photo of that night she would have never showed anyone.

"You're so photogenic, It," Shaochung proudly clapped her hands, but Itsuki wasn't going to believe to her: she looked like if she had just seen the worst scene of a horror film. No, what was she saying? She loved horror films and they would never make her...Look like that. "My cheeks are so red too," She also noticed, realizing the only element of that shot she could save was her striped cropped top. Her parents kissing hadn't been detected by her worried pupils.

"Maybe next time I should put my selfie stick in the suitcase," Shaochung mumbled thinking the problem Itsuki was noticing was represented by her arm she hadn't managed to fully get in the photo.

Passing the phone to the others, the shot was greatly appreciated.

"Maybe you should change the light here...And here Kenta looks red-eyed." Jenrya was the only one who commented about some improvements that could be made.

"Where?! Red eyes are so horrible, I don't want red eyes in a photo! They're as unpleasant as wrinkles, if you ask me"

Fortunately Ruki grabbed the phone from her husband knowing that he would have never stopped babbling about that field he even wasn't an expert in and that Kenta would have got paranoid about non-existent details.

"Ah, Darling," Ruki flapped a napkin she had found on the table some minutes before. Sweat was falling on her porcelain cheeks, just like was happening to almost everyone in the group. "Why don't you get something to drink for us?"

"Oh yes, please, Onii-Chan. Take me some good vodka," Shaochung unnecessarily shouted directly into Kenta's ear. "Let's see if they still manage to make my head spin like they used to!"

"I can't really drink because we have to go back by my motorbike," Ruki tapped her finger on the wooden table. "But a single glass will do me no harm."

Jenrya obediently nodded, thinking it was the right moment to share some serious chat with that boy that had changed their life forever. Itsuki had been dating him for a year and he was still concerned about how he was treating his precious star. He couldn't trust him, maybe he wouldn't for the rest of his life.

Even if Itsuki and Daiki would get married in the future, but he didn't want to dwell on imagining his daughter's wedding because his heart would sink like a boat. Itsuki marrying him meant Itsuki would start living with him and leave the household she had been raised in.

No, stop thinking about this far, so far, very far event, Jen, stop, He clenched his fists, suffering internally.

"Ehm, Daiki, do you want to help me?" He proposed, seeming as polite as possible, while he was looking forward to talking to him face to face.

The boy found himself being unable to speak at that request, even more drops of sweat falling down his forehead. His legs felt weak all of a sudden but he managed to stand up and approach Jen...Maintaining enough distance though.

"Let's go, then," Jen grinned and Ruki could foresee what he was planning.

Damn me, asking him to be a gentleman, she slapped her face, pitying the poor Daiki and his destiny. She was about to pull Jen to one side but luckily she didn't need to since Itsuki stood up as well.

"Daddy, I wanna join!" Itsuki chirped for Daiki's delight and Jen couldn't say no to his daughter. He would have liked to persuade her to stay there but Ruki was almost thundering him with her mere glance. His project had been spoiled by his priceless bright aster, how cursed was he?

"Ok, fine, more people will be a bigger help, of course, I guess..." His confidence sagged when he couldn't already see the two teens. He abandoned his arms down his hips and thighs, without strenght, and let our a shriek when someone pinched his backside.

"My dear husband, let those two alone and you'll live a safe night. Remember I'll be looking at you from afar."

She showed him her teeth in an intimidatory way, just like some kind of big feline, and Jenrya understood he couldn't mess with her -but he had learnt that lesson throughout almost his whole life, in truth, so it was no news to him.

"Bye, Onii-Chan! I'll let you choose my cocktail! What matters the most to me is that you'll pick a very fresh one!" Shaochung waved at him in a very theatrical way.

"Yes! Bye, Jen and, if you meet Mako and Yang, tell them we did recognize them in the crowd," Kenta mimicked the young woman, making Ruki raise an eyebrow, slightly aghast.

"Wait, Mako and Yang? No Kou around?"

"Yes, those rascals, like Jen often defines them," Kenta finally felt like getting a more appropriate pose, the pain in his back had slowly yet surely subdised. "We spotted them while we were waiting in the queue and while we were dancing too."

"They didn't seem to want to say hello though," Kenta's husband underlined, increasing Ruki's confusion and bewilderment.

"This is impossible. Dancing? Yang dancing? I'm not so suspicious about Makoto but this place doesn't fit Yang at all. He's more interested in jazz, blouses, and he wouldn't even dance at their rhythm. Yang just doesn't like dancing".

"No, believe me, he seemed to have the beat in his veins," Kenta highlighted so she could be persuaded.

"I can't just believe it", Ruki breathed, amused. "Man, they could have joined us. I can't, really."

"Well, Ruki, I can't believe Jen is going around the disco without glasses, instead."

Shaochung pointed at the glasses Ruki was holding, even more misted than before because of her fingers pressing agains their glasses.

"Oh my, Shao, I can't believe to this either. He's not as blind as Kenta but it's very hard to part him from them...Just like it has been so difficult to make him wear that simple shirt and those charming trousers," Her smirk was one of the widest they had ever seen: the thought of her husband wearing such juvenile clothes was sending a frail thrill down her spine. What a weird feeling.

"Yeah, Ruki, I agree. Those trousers are so charming. Maybe I would have matched your camisole with an elegant jacket...Even if it's hot, it would have suited you and-"

Ah, the same Kenta who would never change and who would still attempt to give her fashion advices.

XXX

"Have you seen her?"

"Wow, as if I could ignore her."

"The make-up and the top. That cropped top sucks so hard."

"That dark violet looks so perfect on her".

Makoto slammed the straw he was about to bring closer to his mouth into the blue cocktail, deforming and making it bend; he surely could have never used it anymore.

"Violet? Dark violet?! Have you become colour-blind or what?! Maybe these ligths are too bothering to your eyes...?! It was striped, pink and white, just like..." He lowered his head, absently looking at the pile of bottles that were placed on the shelves of the lounge bar. "Well it looked like the cardigan she would always wear when we were kids."

"I see," That was Yang's nth lame reply of the night and Makoto could have made him choke on the crisps he was eating with taste. Judging by his distracted dark orbs he wasn't finding Makoto's words so compelling.

"You aren't listening to me at all, are you?"

He merely shook his head, his wavy hair bouncing from a side to the other and irritating Makoto even more.

"You really don't care about Itsuki, do you?"

This time Yang finally faced him, that statement resulted rather harsh to him.

"It's not true, you-you do know about that" He tried defending himself, frantically waving his hands and attempting to keep his patience level high. Still it was so hard for him to do that while looking at Makoto mimicking his speech in a rude way.

"No, you only just care about those two now. Ran the bitch has become more important to you than Itsuki, Kou the longshoreman has become more important to you than me."

Yang didn't manage to hide his disappointment at Makoto's insinuation, especially about the last one. He was aware the ribbon tying him and Makoto together was slowly ripping apart. It had happened with the one that connected them to Itsuki; why would he be so silly and think the friendship between him and Makoto would last forever?

However it was blatant he wanted to live in that conviction and in that lie as longer as Fate could push itself to, even if it all was happening faster than he had imagined, even if it all was happening before his eyes without being able to control events.

"If..." His dark eyebrows trembled on their own accord and suddenly the crisps and the red-haired girl he had been staring at for the whole time they had been there didn't care to him anymore. "If it had been true, I would have been enjoying myself along with them right now. Kou had invited me and Ran to a party his university mates have thrown...Because, you know, he always wants to share his fun, what he has got with us. You never seem to do that, instead. Y-you have got your own university friends and you will always put them on the pedestal preferring going out along with them to doing that with me...While I turned Kou's offer down because I was so happy to spend some time with you after such a long time."

"It's not my fault if you have chosen to be here tonight, though."

It was possible Makoto didn't really know how to react to that outburst by his quiet childhood friend and thought pretending Yang's opinions had no value to him was the right option to choose. It was possible he was scared to answer to him in a very serious way. It was possible he was hearing the sound of something tearing somewhere in his heart like Yang was at the same time. Whatever reason there was behind Makoto's actions, his last sentence hurt the chinese boy so much he felt like abruptly standing.

"Is that what-what you truly think?!" He let out his indignance, groaning and drawing the attention of some people who were drinking at the loung bar.

"Really, Yang, I'm a boy who likes maths and science. I'm a rational being and there's no philosophy that can justify this sacrifice - like you're making it sound- of yours. Your choice is only yours, you can't blame me about that."

Makoto's red eyes seemed cold to him, despite the colourful lights that had been engulfing both for hours. They were as cold as Yang's soul at that moment; he was about to yell at him without resorting to his patience anymore.

"Y-you know what?! I'm getting that chick out of this crowd and I'm leaving this place! Sorry if I have chosen you over Kou and Ran, if I have preferred getting along with you instead of having the time of my life. You know, Mako, if I had been Atsuko, I would have dumped you at once as it's not normal you're so obsessed about Itsuki and that dude. No sense!"

His heart exploding in his chest, Yang bit his lips, realizing he would have liked to leave Makoto there, sitting still and hoping Itsuki would appear sooner or later so he could spot other details of the girl's new self he hadn't noticed before.

Nevertheless, even if he would have liked to do that with all his might, those fiery eyes he had known for ages felt like a rope tightening its clench around him.

Just like those sort lazzos coming from Digivices Ryou had taught him and his group to perfectly throw to Digimon.

It began pulling and pulling the chords of his inner being, red meshing with black and making Yang's destroying anger evaporate.

"I'm so tired of being your third wheel, Mako..." He sadly sighed, because, although anger had dissipated, melancholy had taken its place.

It was so paradoxical to stage that argument in such a carefree place, but it wasn't rare for them to feel like fish out of water in their lives. "I just wish we..." Yang swallowed that obnoxious lump that had formed in his throat. Talking had become so unsustainable to him and it wasn't alcohol's fault: he couldn't drink since he did care about his riding licence. He tried opening his mouth again, mirroring into Makoto's heartless eyes once more. Suddenly they seemed to get a glimpse of emotion: they seemed to be getting larger due to something that was similar to...Fear. Makoto didn't waste time and abruptly forced Yang to sit down again by grabbing his quite long black cardigan.

"What-?!"

"Shut up and put your hood on!" Makoto hissed at him but Yang couldn't see him anymore as his world and its light had stopped giving him the blessing light in its every shape is to living beings.

Makoto kept his hand on Yang's head, pressing it against the desk while he was looking at the trio that had joined the lounge bar. Jenrya Lee was turning his head repeatedly, as if he was afraid of someone lurking in the dancing jungle and suggested Itsuki and...Daiki, who were cheerfully chatting with each other, to let him order drinks. As far concerned what Mako could hear, he would call them when he needed help at taking the glasses at their table.

Incredible. Even if Jenrya's face was so uncertain about what he had suggested, he was really letting Itsuki and Daiki alone.

The two chose a couple of seats that were quite distant from where Jenrya was waiting; this consequently meant they were closer to the two boys.

"Oh fuck, we have to get far away from this zone," Makoto gritted his teeth, his head abandoned on the table just like Yang's.

"W-we ve've been spotted?!" Yang stuttered while trying to get freed. "What will Ruki-San think about me now?! Spying on her daughter!"

"Geez, she isn't even wearing her ribbon anymore," Makoto unashamedly ignored him, focusing on Itsuki's bare belly and low-waisted leggings. "She has forgot what covering her abdomen means."

Then his mind framed Daiki and his denim jacket, his blonde -and blatantly dyed, in his opinion- hair. He would have never forgiven that boy for having stolen Itsuki from them. A conplete stranger couldn't really get away with that so easily (even if a year had passed and Makoto hadn't reached his goal yet).

"I hate him so much," He couldn't resist groaning and in a second his hand was clenched in a fist and left Yang's head.

"Don't ever do that!" The chinese boy spatted, his finger pointed at Makoto's chest. In the process he made the glass Makoto was drinking from dangerously undulating until it fell and poured its content on both's trousers, of course.

Makoto would have jumped onto him noticing his simple shirt had been stained as well; fortunately - or unfortunately, according to his view- a surprised voice interrupted them.

"Look at who is here too!" Daiki greeted them without standing up. "I would have never imagined you two liked discos. You aren't festive types at all. Anyway, it's been a while! How are you?"

Itsuki wsn't that excited about that meeting, so she held onto Daiki's arm. He boggled at that affectionate touch, too frightened about Jenrya seeing them like that; even if he was quite far from them, the man had an eagle sight and Daiki was aware it would be better if he avoided finding himself in trouble.

But perhaps he isn't that concentrated at checking on us , the boy scratched his chin, doubtful. He could clearly identify the presence of two comely girls sitting next to him and talking to him. Good for him, Daiki smiled, he must have found some old friends or classmates.

"Good for me too," He grinned, boldly grabbing Itsuki's tanned hand now.

He only got a faint smile from Yang; Daiki himself had quickly understood he wasn't liked by Makoto that much. He didn't know what he he had done to be hated in that way, though.

"Ehm, is he angry at me because I let you wait in the cold last March?" He naively whispered in Itsuki's ear, implicitedly referring to the fact Makoto was blatantly pretending he didn't exist . It was what Makoto truly wished, Yang could swear it. Therefore he decided to reply in Itsuki's stead, having heard Daiki's too loud whisper and apologizing for Makoto's behaviour that could truly be embarassing.

"E-ehm, forgive him. He has had an argument with his girlfriend, so he's moody tonight. Yes, very moody..."

"No, At-Chan hasn't told me anything about it," Itsuki bended her head, intending to take her phone to check if Atsuko had sent some message that night. "Is that why y're here? Are ya trying distracting him?"

It was so strange Itsuki was talking to him; she had been quite irascible to him and Makoto lately. It was just a hunch, but Yang could perceive that calm derived from the fact she was along with her entire family and her boyfriend. If she had been alone, she would have acted just like she had done during the tamers' meeting: she would have been defensive, obtuse, so stubborn even he had ended up disliking her.

And it was so horrible for him to think that about one of his dearest childhood friends, so horrible he felt like his soul was rapidly darknening.

"Y-yeah, I guess...Dancing a bit might help him release...Tension...His girlfriend might have been so harsh to him," And that was how he got the worst pinch ever on his forearm, but it was worthy since he couldn't really stand Atsuko.

"Good, dude! Helping your heartbroken friend. Fortunately It and me have never had serious arguments," Daiki stopped after having heard Makoto snorting, scurrilous. He had been too tactless, he wanted to slap himself right at that moment, but he could amend his mistake.

His green eyes furtively shifted on the spot Jenrya was sitting in. He was still surrounded by the blonde girls he had seen before and apparently they had offered him a drink.

Weird...? Very weird...? He would never waste too much time there chatting with friends while his relatives were waiting for him to arrive with their requests.

"Babe," He patted on the annoyed and silent Itsuki's shoulder to tell her about her father, but giving another glance to the man made him think it wasn't that fair from him to spoil the man's fun. What if they hadn't met since they were teens ? Still those women looked so much younger than Jen somehow.

"What's the matter?" Itsuki blinked in a way he found adorable.

"What do you think if I ask my friend for some drinks for us? What do you two think too ?" He turned to Yang and Makoto, friendly spreading his arms.

"Ah...I had promised myself I wouldn't drink today but a drink won't hurt," Yang shrudded before giving a powerful nudge at Makoto to push him to reply to the courtesy.

"Itsuki doesn't drink," He finally spoke but that wasn't surely what Yang wanted to hear.

Indeed, that wasn't what Itsuki wanted to hear. At all.

"I drink cocktails, instead! Daiki makes me taste them and sometimes I can drink more than a single glass. I also like white wine, isn't it true, Daidai?"

"Yes, I can confirm! We can't really drink that much before a tournament, but I often let It taste what they offer at the parties our society has to attend to. Do you remember when we got so drunk we fell asleep in the same hotel room? If the coach found out..." Both Itsuki and Daiki laughed, Daiki tried arresting himself to ask his waiter friend for four Passion Iced Teas - it was the only kind of cocktail he was sure his friend could prepare in a decent way-.

"He didn't even ask for which cocktail we wanted!" Makoto slowly talked to make Itsuki lip read at which the girl replied sticking her tongue out: a pretty eloquent gesture.

"Watch me drinking, Mako," She challenged him, making Yang astounded as he was certain Itsuki was the only girl of their group who didn't like drinking alcohol.

"Amazing. It kinda reminds me of when me and Kou made Ran taste a Strawberry Shortcake Shot. S-she agreed because it was pink, can you believe how silly she is? After that night she never stopped dri-"

"Yeah, yeah, we don't care about your A.A team," Makoto winced, bothered and disgusted.

"B-but"

"We don't! If you miss them, I told you, just go to them and drink until your liver bursts".

They looked at each other, almost furious, their arms crossed and their mouths curved downwards.

"They're really good friends. I have got so many friends I don't think I have got a best friend besides my girlfriend," Daiki commented, cracking a smile to Itsuki that wasn't returned. There was so much stuff about the earlier trio of Tear Jumpers Daiki hadn't been told yet.

When they got their cocktails, somehow they felt like if time was proceeding at a quicker pace. The clock that was hanging on the grey wall of the loungebar seemed to be spinning faster than usual and somehow they had almost reached one o'clock.

"Wow, and we came here at half past eight! I would have never thought we would stay here until so late at night," Itsuki exclaimed checking the hour on her phone. "Ugh, I fee like I have abandoned Auntie..."

Looking at Daiki with deer eyes, she sipped the remainings of his cocktail through the straw they were sharing. Makoto would have liked to vomit, while Yang had enjoyed himself talking about sport with Daiki. He was glad in a year he had learnt not to judge people without having even talked to them once.

On the contrary that lesson was a mistery to Makoto who was probably regretting having satisfied Yang's wish to have crisps after having danced so much he really looked like of he had been possessed.

"I can't see Daddy anymore," Itsuki yawned, rubbing her powdered cheeks. "It's so strange he has been waiting for so long," She playfully tried pushing Daiki off the chair. "You could have let him order drinks from your friend, you weasel!"

"No, I care about your family and I don't want them to drink those cocktails of his, please..."

Daiki wished his friend's cocktails could have been the true problem of that night, but his reality wasn't that easy at that moment as he could perceive something was off in the atmosphere he was breathing.

"I'm going to check what Daddy is doing, do ya want to come?"

Daiki unintentionally gulped, that sinking feeling was crashing against his sternum so hard. Still he nodded and found hinself asking Yang and Makoto if they wanted to follow them too.

"It's not like Itsuki needs you or us to go taking her father back," Makoto jumped off his seat without wasting time. "But, if you go, I'll come as well," The gesture he showed him was a veey threatening one; he wanted to convey him to be extremely careful as he will never trust him.

"Why doesn't so many people in Itsuki's life trust me?" Daiki let himself hunching his quite broad shoulders, his bangs falling on his forehead.

"I trust you, though," Yang genuinely stated. "You're a very nice person and you kinda remind me of a good friend of mine."

They smiled at each other before following the others, even though it wasn't necessary because Itsuki and Makoto were already going back to them.

"Daidai, ya saw Daddy sitting there, right, ya saw him like I did?" Itsuki looked extremely worried, her violet orbs seemed to get wider due to the shock she had experienced at not finding her father on the seat he was supposed to be on.

There was it, the sweating tickling his flushed face and Makoto didn't absolutely ignore it.

"Do you know something about the matter, Daidai?" He smirked, tapping his foot and making Daiki sweat even more.

"I-I-" Why hadn't he told Itsuki about those women? Weren't they too intimate to be friends? "I might have seen your father being along with a couple of women who weren't your mother and sister..." He confessed, too afraid of looking at his scared girlfriend.

"Ah! It-Chan, this is so mean from him, your lovely boyfriend. He just wanted to stay with all you the whole night getting rid of Uncle Jen for a while."

Makoto was feeling so proud at the sight of Itsuki's sweet traits getting rippling; her limbs were rapidly stiffening too. Somebody was getting his slap, Makoto cockily sniggered, satisfied, but he surely didn't expect Itsuki would slap herself on the face.

"What are you doing!? You should slap him, not yourself!"

Itsuki let out a brief yet impetuous shout come out of her mouth.

"This is all my fault. Whenever I'm with Daidai, I'll forget about my surroundings and I'll even forget about Daddy. I wanted us to stay alone, that's all, so I was so happy Daddy had sent us far from him. Ah! What have I become?! Probably I saw him with those women too but I just pretended they didn't exist."

It was predictable Makoto would get open-mouthed: this wasn't what he had planned!

"Mum will be so worried about us," Itsuki added and her sticky hands grabbed her phone. "Oh yes! She-" The girl froze when she saw a pile of messages that had been sent by her mother and her aunt. They all were full of hearts and photos of them dancing -probably because Shaochung had persuaded them to kill boredom with another unbridled round in the dance floor. Other messages featured her mother encouraging her to spend as much time as she could with Daiki and leaving Jenrya behind them.

Now it was Itsuki the one being open-mouthed.

"So, is she worried ?" Makoto insisted seeing her standing still but Itsuki didn'r reply at all, too embarassed due to the SMS she had just read. Still, she did wish she could escape along with Daiki somewhere, but she couldn't really abandon her aunt. The young woman had been looking forward to that night for a while, her too...But Daiki's presence had made that strong desire to fly away with him arise again, just like it had happened during that night everyone got drunk in front of her.

"Hm, I think we could ask the bartender if he has seen him along with these woman," Yang woke her up from those labyrinthic thoughts of hers she could have lost herself in. "I mean, l-let's not panick. If those girls did what I think, Jenrya-San is a rational man who would be able to get out of this trouble."

After having said that, everyone was devouring him with their curious eyes.

"W-what is it?" He wasn't that used to being observed in that way. He felt like putting his hood on to hide how shy he was becoming.

"Ya do seem to know what will happen to Daddy, that's all," Itsuki approached him because she blatantly wanted a reply from him.

Weren't they wasting too much time there?

"Ahm...How can I explain this to you...My father is younger than yours but once he took my sister to a disco and well," He scratched his head, his cheeks on fire at the mere memory of that tale his father found funny. He would come up with that tale whenever he couldn't find a topic to chat about with Yang...Back when that man would still go back home after months, at least. "He met those chicks and they took him to the toilet. They thought a pilot could make them swim in a pool of money. That's all," Now he was feeling like an alien because of their weirded out stares. "They are girls who wants to get presents over presents, that's all. A pilot could have given them so many free travels around the world, I guess. Of course, they give men something in exchange..."

"Ok! I don't want to know, ok?!" Itsuki's legs began shaking on their own, too many fear were overlapping in her mind.

"Still, Unlce Jen could only give them the whole Hypnos. What would a girl do with Hypnos?" Makoto was seriously thinking over that question, but they couldn't stay even a second there. They had to find out where Jen was without making the other adults too concerned about them.

Why couldn't nights just go well?, Itsuki felt her head lighter than usual. She was so cursed.

XXX

Holding Shaochung's hands, Ruki made both spin for the nth time that night.

"That's also what you can use those strong arms for, Ruki," The young woman panted, deciding to pull her particular hair into a ponytail. Ruki found herself flinching at noticing how similar Shaochung was to Itsuki. Admiring Shaochung's beauty made Ruki feel like she was having fun with an Itsuki in her late thirties. After all, Itsuki had taken after Jen in so many kinds of ways, starting from her appearance to some traits of her personality.

"Haven't you ever wished to cut your hair once," Kenta showed up from nowhere behind Shaochung, touching her long locks.

"No, Dear. Remember I love trying so many hairstyles during my free time. My hair is a hobby to me!"

Ruki shook her short hair to make Kenta comment about it as her hands went down to the pocket of her large trousers.

Itsuki has viewed the messages but hasn't replied, typical of hers, She sneered being aware Itsuki had got extremely flushed at reading those messages. However, almost two hours had passed and her Jenrya, the man she wanted to spend her night with, hadn't come back yet. She couldn't deny there were so many people at that disco that night and surely so many of them had gathered at the lounge bar, but they had been waiting for him to come for such a long time.

"Shaochung, why don't we reach Jenrya and the guys?" She asked, increasing the tone of her voice so the wild horse could hear her.

"Yeah, I agree. They must be getting bored over there! Furhtermore we've come here to spend the night together, remember!"

Without adding more, they both decided to head for their table to check whether Jenrya and the others were there. It was a possibility, after all. Shoachung pulled Kenta's hand and dragged him along with them, leaving his husband dancing all alone.

When rhythm takes over him, Kenta sniffed, reaching out to be noticed by him, but it was useless.

"I was expecting they wouldn't be here somehow..." Ruki aimed her index at the empty table.

"What we can do is reaching them to the lounge bar," Shoachung was already diving into the waves of that turbulent sea again.

"At this point of the night I think we can also tell them we don't want the drinks anymore, right?" Kenta expressed his opinion in Ruki's ear. "It's two and a quarter, I would never be able to digest a cocktail at this hour."

Ruki scoffed, amused at that statement, avoding to run into a stramger and ruin their dancing.

"Kenta, we used to come out of here at the sunrise when we were younger. You would drink beer and cocktails along with Hirokazu until you felt like throwing up."

The man couldn't recall those details, in truth; he could remember Hirokazu would drink too much but he remembered he couldn't really stand alcohol that much...Just like as the adult he was now.

"Are you sure? I was the one who would take you home sometimes! Have I got this old?!"

He could have even avoided loudlu expressing those doubts to her as ir was blatant Ruki was mocking him again. And he had known Ruki for ages! He should have known!

Looking for air to inhale, Ruki leapt out of the crowd and found Shoachung at the lounge bar, her tanned hands framing her face.

"They're not here either," She announced, anxious.

"Well, there's a slight percentage that could make us calm down at this moment and let us think Jen and the guys are going back to the table right when we are now," Kenta put his hands on his hips, raising his pupils to be concentrated in that useless calculation Ruki and Shaochung weren't that interested in.

"Shao, just call a bartender and let's ask if they have seen a tall, broad-chested man," Ruki suggested, putting a hand under her chin. There was a second of silence among the trio that followed that description of hers. "What is it? How would you describe Jen without underlining that characteristic of his? Honestly there are so many other predominant features of his body I could mention but," She cackled, looking away. "It's not like you can add those details in a profile you want to depict to a stranger..."

Yes, everyone was staring at her so dumbstrucked but she managed to shake it off.

These pure grown up ass adults!, She sighed.

Shaochung determinedly made her way among those who were waiting for the cocktail to be served, bowing to apologize and not paying attention to some men who were looking at her from up to down, from her high and long ponytail to her baggy trousers. If she had to be sincere with herself, the bartender she chose to talk to wasn't that bad-looking; he likely was five years younger than her but his kind eyes and bronze skin were details she couldn't ignore that easily.

"Ehm, excuse me? I need an urgent information," She leaned on the counter without even realizing it. "I'm looking for a, ehm, a tall and...Broad chested dark-haired man. He was along with a short girl who looks similar to him and a blonde boy."

The bartender smiling at her and cradling her senses was about to fall due to another one, a woman that time, who was annoyingly cleaning a glass.

"What is it? Why is everyone looking for that man?" She huffed, placing the glass on a shelf with nervousness.

Shaochung was puzzled just like Ruki and Kenta who were trying listening to the conversation from afar.

"Have others already asked you about him?"

"Yes, they have. A group of teens who who were in hurry. Tell me, is he some kind of new celebrity? He did have a handsome body at the age he showed."

Shochung turned to invite Ruki and Kenta to come closer; what she was hearing to was hilarious.

"So, he's a celebrity, isn't he? One of those holding a guitar and making girls lose their head thanks to their love songs? That's the kind of man I can see in him," The woman pressed, choosing another glass that was in a sink and raising an eyebrow at Ruki's presence.

"No, he's not a celebrity, at least in the celebrities world. He's my husband and he wanted to order a drink from here. Can you tell me where in the world he is?"

Ruki wasn't known to be the most patient lady you could meet out there and Kenta could swear little thunders were taking shape between the two women. They already hated each other and there was no reason why, incredible.

"Where is he?" Shaochung attempted to adress to the dishy young man that was already becoming the main character of her private dreams.

"Uhm, I saw him with a couple of blonde girls, all covered in jewels," He made an effort to remember. "They were very intimate to him, touching him everywhere. Ehm, but I can't push forward, can I?"

Two blonde girls. All covered in jewels. Touching him everywhere.

Ruki abruptly parted from the lounge bar, her heels ticking when they touched the plastic floor. Kenta had begun incoherently rambling about weird kinds of people you can find at discos Hirokazu had told him about.

"Kenta, why would a couple of women try hitting on my Onii-Chan?!"

Yeah, they were panicking.

That meant Ruki had to deal with the problem all alone, having remained the only sailorman on the ship that had weighed anchor with seven people. She was the only quiet one there too, not being that worried about what had happened: it wasn't the first time some toygirl had tried stealing her husband from her. She could still remember a light-haired woman who tried doing that back when they weren't even dating, a cigarette in her hands, a very eye-catching hairstyle and a big tatoo on her arm and back. As if Jen would ever be prey of those women.

"Hirokazu told me once they dragged him out of the disco too and he found so hard to get freed from them!"

"And my Onii-Chan is so kind to people! I don't think he would use some tai-chi move when it comes to women!"

Yeah, she was really alone, she brought her arms behind her head wondering if their night had completely been ruined.

Jenrya being lured by a two Barbies?, Ruki thought, that was surely exhilarating, but she was also tremendously jelous of her husband and family, so she didn't know how she would react in front of them.

Hm, she might need a tranquillizer.

Fliddering woth her pockets, she took her blue digivice in her hands, turning it on and remembering they had really been that brave and left Terriermon and Renamon alone at their house.

"Let's see," She muttered, opening a radar whose green arrow began rotating for almost non-existent three seconds: apparently there were so many digivices nearby and she also did know who they belonged to. The red dots that had been identified were quickly running after another bigger one.

"So they're dragging him to the closet," She aimed the digital device to the direction it was indicating, recognizing the door she could hardly glimpse. "And Itsuki and Company are following him hoping to manage to deal with those gooses. I wonder if she managed to do that without getting scandalized: surely they have already unbottoned his shirt if they want to cover him in-"

She almost crashed her Digivice due to the pang of jelousy that was ascending to her mouth and mixing with her saliva. She had to find Jen immediately or she could have even called Renamon.

"Shao, Kenta," She peremptorily called the duo was was still babbling about Hirokazu's disco adventures. "I know where Jen is. I've used the Digivice, of course".

Couldn't have she done that before?!, Kenta and Shaochung could only think while giving a glance to each other.

XXX

Since they were entering the closet they had left their belongings in, Ruki knew that time was the last one they would delve into the dancing dark meadow. While they were running through it, crashing against people and dropping beer bottles, she felt like some big feline wandering and hiding in the high grass, waiting for its target to make wrong moves and make their paths crossed.

"Ah, those bitches don't know who his wife is like," She licked her lips, losing Shaochung and Kenta's track for some brief seconds. She shouldn't forget Itsuki and the others were going after the same target so they would enter her field of vision soon.

Meanwhile the poor Jen everyone was looking for was tenderly pushing these excitable girls away without sounding too rude. They were caressing his cheeks, titillating his lips, seductively scratching his thighs.

"Ah, ladies," He resisted for the nth time. "I think there's a mistake. I'm not interested in this kind of...Yeah, bussiness."

"Shh, your secret is safe and sound with us", One of them, the young woman who was wearing a dress that was full of pailettes, whispered, her index near to her nose.

"Yes, we have seen you with that bombshell", The other, who was wearing a top that looked like Itsuki's even if it was shorter than her, continued.

"Bombshell?!" Thousands question marks were floating in his head as they sent him into a room in which there were many bags.

"Yes, the orange-haired bombshell. She had such solid spheres attached to her chest and she was so lost in your eyes. Still who could ever blame her? Your bedroom eyes are what made us fall for you so fast."

"You tried approaching the dark-haired girl too but she had a boyfriend. What a pity but fortunately we are here to cheer you up."

Their excessively glazed nails migrated to his hair, pushing his short and sweaty locks back.

Wait, ladies, you're so wrong," He exploited the fact that they were pressing him against a wardrobe to gain enough strenght and jump to the other corner of the room. "I don't want to be unpolite to you because it's blatant there's a misunderstanding, a huge one. You see the one you've just called orange-haired bombshell is my wife."

The couple blinked for a while, memorizing Jenrya's body with their eyes that were decorated by a thick eyeliner, and bursted in a swarm of laughters. There were tears falling down their faces too.

"Yeah, sure. Your daughter. Your wife."

"She must be on her thirties and you're a middle-aged sugar daddy, a charming yet middle-aged sugar daddy, even if you have thrown your glasses who knows where!"

Jen got petrified, asking himself why in the world those girls would think he was in that category of men. His glasses too! His glasses! How is it he had realized he wasn't wearing them only at that moment?

"But look, I have got a ring! This is my wedding ring!" He showed them his index finger and the golden ring he held so dearly to his heart.

They welcomed that explanation with other irrepressible giggles and hiccups.

"What do you want to make us see? You can also have got a woman at home, but who cares. We don't care about our daddies' private life". C'mon, come here".

Ok, that was enough, Jen indignantly pouted, avoiding them with repugnance and opening the door of the closet too brutally, making the rap music that was playing livenin up the white and silent room (even if nobody knew there was another couple who wanted some privacy there as well. Who knew if they had paid attention to the scene).

That song made its entry in great style, bringing along a group of people Jen knew so well. He couldn't finish shouting at the strangers that he was going to take Ruki there to show them he was telling them about the truth because the woman had already pulled his collar and quickly trapped him into a voracious kiss she had waited too much for. Itsuki let out a little shriek at that sight even though the inhibition that used to be a part of her teenage self had weakened more and more as the time passed by and as she had so many kinds of experiences (including the one of the tamers'meeting night; that was still so thraumatic to her though). She hopped to hug Jen too, some regrets and a frail sense of guilt still hunting her, especially when she had met Ruki and the other adults who were looking for Jen just like they were.

Holding Ruki's hips with a hand and Itsuki's shoulders with the other one, Jen let a very unusual stream of pride and mischief fill his veins.

He gave Ruki another fugitive yet heartwarming kiss that amazed her.

"So, Ladies, I introduce you to my wife and my daughter. Those other people out there are my large family," He thetrically highlighted his words by tightening his grip on them. "And my wife is a middle-aged woman too. Surprised, right?"

The two girls inspected Ruki's frame just like they had done to Jenrya some minutes before. They gulped at the muscles of her graceful arms and her mischievous, so rare violet eyes. Those wrinkles she had around her mouth and on her eyelids didn't need to be covered or hidden as they seemed to enchance her smooth and candid skin. Then there were her solid thighs, her round and strong calves...

"She's so beautiful," The young woman who was wearing the shiny dress brought her little hands to her mouth, touching those dark big lips of hers

"Am I ? Just like my husband, I guess". Ruki swayed her hips, another feature of hers the girls had glued their eyes on. She gave Jen his glasses back. "You did notice my husband's beauty too, didn't you?"

Taken over by a reverential fear, the two girls vaporized, holding hand in hand and getting out of that room, ashamed. Both Makoto and Yang couldn't help staring at their revealing oufits Jenrya hadn't really paid attention to.

"Jenrya-San has managed to draw some beautiful chicks, I must say," Yang scratched his head, following them with his gaze and cursing his crazy hormones.

Still Makoto was strangely agreeing with him that time. He was feeling like if he had wasted so much time that night bur at the same time he couldn't deny to himself he had had fun: following the chast Jenrya through the disco after having discovered some girls had lost the head for him -weird tastes, in Makoto's opinion-, seeing Ruki and Jenrya being intimate to each other -disgusting, he would have liked to puke-, assisting to Yang's nonsense outbursts. What a night.

Oh right, there was Daiki too who had dared to give a kiss on Itsuki's cheek.

"Ah!" Makoto suddenly remembered the reason why he was at that disco. "You're so indecent!" He yelled at Daiki, his face getting a red colour just like a pepper. "Indecent just like the clothes you force her to wear! Like, do you know what her style was like back when you didn't exist in our life? She used to wear long sleeves! Sleeves covering her hands. Now she- Now she-"

He struggled to find the right words that could help him unleash his childish hatred towards that poor Daiki who was holding onto Itsuki, more than baffled.

"Makoto, what the hell!" Itsuki deepened Daiki's embrace.

"I'm the one who should say what the hell! You were so different a year ago and the last time I saw you the ribbon was still there, on your head. Now he had told you to stop wearing ribbons too. Pathetic Daidai, whatever you call him!"

His speech was beyond the definition of embarassing. The level Makoto had reached was so low Yang was pitying him in the depths of his soul as he was certain somehow the crush Mako used to have on Itsuki was still so alive in his friend's being. Why should he act like this, if that wasn't the reason?

"Ehm, was Atsuko and Makoto's argument that horrible to him?" Daiki asked him while caressing Itsuki's head to keep her from destroying Makoto's nose. "Had they already planned to get married or what?"

"B-believe me. I tend not to get involved in their quarrels. It's better," He shrugged, trying not making that lie of his bigger and bigger.

Shaochung encircled Makoto's neck from behind, making him arrest that series of implicit insults.

"Aw, Atsuko-Chan and Makoto have had a serious couple argument," She cooed, making him growl out of anger. "Do you know what you need to distract yourself?"

Ruki nodded enthusiastically while Kenta was already massaging his back. Who knew where his husband was! He needed to call him!

"A dance!" Shaochung replied to that rethorical question almost strangling Makoto. "This time we are so many and we can really be the queens and kings of the dancs floor. Oh! And let's find Kenta's husband so we all can take a big photo!"

"Another one," Ruki ironically said as she subtly reached out to pull Yang's red hood. He really thought he could escape from her. "A little birdie just told me you actually hide a dancer spirit behind those lame music tastes of yours".

"B-Busted, right?"

He never got to know who that little birdie was, though.

XXX

The last dance was the most enjoying one Shaochung had ever experienced in her life. Itsuki and her performed another series of kpop dance movements Daiki learned in the blink of an eye.

He attempted to convince Makoto to join, determined to cheer him up, and somehow Makoto eventually let him hold his hands and spin along with him.

Ok, Daiki isn't that bad. I could spend some time along with him, He confessed as Daiki himself taught him some kpop dance steps for Shaochung's delight. That outburst he had probably thrown against the boy had purified him.

On the other hand, Yang refused to dance in front of Ruki and Jenrya, staring at Kenta and his found husband tiredly leaning on each other's bodies.

Ruki thought she would manage to persuade him to dance a bit just like Daiki had convinced Makoto, but his decision was categorical. Nevertheless after a while Ruki turned to him to announce they had to take the photo Shaochung was so thrilled about and she noticed he had disappeared. She laughed so much when her eyes caught him dancing next to a red-haired girl. Surely, he wasn't such a great dancer, at all.

When the clock struck three o'clock, the whole crew was out of the disco, of that colourful, noisy and paradoxical hell. Life materialized on their skins again with its bothering heat and with its time to say goodbye.

"Let us know about the next trip!" Ruki and Jen hugged Kenta and the other taciturn man with satsifaction; they were looking forward to seeing the men in suit and tie to make the most important promise of their life.

"That night I demand to take you along with me to a manicurist," Kenta winked at Ruki and she answered him with the eloquent nth demonstration of her tonic arms.

"We have had so much fun, Uncle Kenta! I would have preferred if Daddy hadn't undergone through that trouble but...I will never forget this night despite that accident." It was Itsuki's turn to hug them tightly. "I hope y'll come to the ice rink in autumn to watch me and Daiki!" She chirped and let herself be engulfed by Jen's affection.

Shaochung and Daiki were standing still next to Makoto and Yang while Shaochung was checking the photos she had taken throughout the whole night. She was waiting for Kenta and his husband to go away so she could take Itsuki along with her and leave Ruki and Jen alone: that was what they deserved after that tantrum, right? Their passionate kiss held so many meanings to the young woman, who was still thinking about the younger barman. Ah! Whenever she went back to Tokyo, she would get an innocent crush about some dude.

Her ears were carefully listening to Yang and Makoto saying goodbye to each other too. The chinese boy was wearing a very melancholy expression, looking at the ground and fliddering with his hands.

"Do you still regret not having accepted that invitation," Makoto brought himself to ask, a burning jelousy lighting the cave of his heart.

"I-I don't know," Yang sincerely whispered, his sad eyes mirroring the fact that he hadn't forgot Makoto's previous words just like the arguments they had had so many other days.

Was he ready?

"What a shitty reply," Makoto crossed his arms in that not so private conversation that was sounding as such, tough. He patted Yang's shoulder hoping to make him return to his usual dull self, but the only result he got was a tired smile.

"I was thinking I want to change".

"Not philosophy at this hour please!" Makoto complained, but Yang's dark orbs were more serious than they had ever been.

"M-maybe I'm already changing, you know, since some years ago I would have never told you about this. You're changing too and this means...We are near to parting from each other for real, I guess."

He was too exhausted to give life to a coherent speech but gestures were more important than words. The pat he gave Makoto back, a very weak one, made both 's chests tremble.

"No, wait," Makoto found himself saying, but Yang had already turned his back to him, ready to mimetize with the darkness of the night.

"Ah, Mako, one last thing," He turned for the last time. "I wonder if you would go that far because of me too. You-You are so upset about Itsuki having changed so much. Would you ever try getting my past self back in the future? After all, nobody can turn into a completely different person. We're always the same in our inner beings."

He hated it when he confused him like that.

"Yang! Come back!" He shouted as loudly as he could, stunning both Shaochung and Daiki who were already taken aback due to Yang's sibylline question.

And that was just the beginning of the end. The ribbon tying together that was so desr to Yang hadn't totally ripped yet, but it was enough from a mild wind to blow for it to cease playing its vital role.

After Makoto had grumpily marched away from them, in the opposite direction Yang had taken, Shaochung pulled Daiki and Itsuki to one side.

"So, where do you want me to take you two to?" She began.

"So funny, Auntie, as if Daddy would let me go somewhere else so late..."

"I wish we could though. I would even stay at the disco until sunrise," Daiki admitted, rubbing Itsuki's hands. "But I don't want your father to hate me mo-"

"Nonsense, Daiki! It's not like Jen always makes decisions about our daughter on his own!" Ruki suddenly startled the trio, not standing to overhear them any second longer. "Jen, what do you think? Shaochung can take Itsuki and Daiki home right?" She called Jenrya who was staring at the horizon; he was still thinking about his weird adventure, probably.

"Oh yes, Shao, please. Don't let he-them stroll around this quarter all alone!" He begged, placing himself next to his sister as fast as a thunder. "My star is so beautiful everyone would like to steal her from my sky".

He obviously glared at Daiki without mercy, the poor boy regrettiving having thought he could really spend more time with Itsuki. However, Ruki's wink made him feel better: it was an encouranging one just like the shove she gave Jen to make him understand they had to look for the spot where they had parked her motorbike.

"Oh my, Jen, do you remember where the parking spot is?" She pretended not to be able to remember so her husband could stop being obsessed about Daiki for a while. "I need to give It my keys, just a second, Darling," She kept up with her comic play, hurrying to Itsuki and fliddering with her bag without a specific purpose.

"Remember about the lipstick," She whispered to her daughter without making others notice.

"And ya have fun with Daddy," Itsuki whispered back, surely Ruki wasn't expecting that. Actually she kept on playing that scene over and over again in her mind.

What...?

XXX

"And to think we have let Terriermon at home. I'm so curious to know from Renamon what mess it has made ."

Ruki looked up at the sky, the so majestic sky that was looking upon them that night, with its bright asters and costellations.

"We have never been a couple who likes stargazing," Ruki said, awed, her attention still focused on riding her motorbike.

However Jen was too frightened about the possibility to fall off the vehicle to even strech his neck. "My crybaby," She mocked, caressing his hands that were shaking on her belly, so terrorized to let her go. "I'm going so slowly, though. You can relax a bit or you will feel ever hotter."

He held her even more tightly and Ruki smiled tired yet amused.

"What do you think if we stopped here?" She had already decided they would in truth, in a field in which soon there would be buildings over buildings.

"But you've just said we aren't a stargazing couple," He yawned, getting off the motorbike trembling. "The only stars I look at are the ones in your eyes, you do know that."

Ruki sat on the grass, hearing the cicadas singing a monochord melody and she stared at him raising her eyebrows.

"Tell me, how much have those Barbies made you drink?"

"What? Why?" Jenrya questioned, abandoning himself on the grass near to her.

"Because you sounded so cheesy, geez, just like when we were younger and you listened to Hirokazu's advices."

"Ah! Who did tell you about that?! I only tried once and I failed so hard, c'mon!"

She lied down, remaining mute to tease him, but her endless smirk was still there, making him feel like a fool.

He climbed on her, their faces so close to each other, their so umid breaths wetting their skins.

"Do you think you failed now?" She sweetly blinked at him, her violet orbs looking like lovely spring flowers.

She had always been his spring in his life after all, even when it was winter, autumn...Even when it was summer, a very hot summer.

Their irises became the mirror of their whole existence again, just like it had happened at the disco. Another life being experienced again, hand in hand, going through the most beautiful and saddest moment.

As their mouths got closer and closer, their bodies slowly becoming one, the universe seemed to rotate backwards just for them, stars enveloping them in the cloak of the night and making it longer than usual so they could fuse and merge as long as they wanted, their limbs more energic, their strength fully restoring, their faces featuring less wrinkles.

Yet their eyes weren't subjected to time's power, they would retain the deep and mutual love they felt for each other forever, even the last day of their lives.

And that was Itsuki's wish as well while she was finally kissing Daiki that night, hugging him while they slowly cradles in that dance they had found themselves in; yes, she had thrown Ruki's lipstick in a bin, who cared about that.

It was Shaochung's wish too while she was animatedly chatting with the bartender who had joined her for a drink for a while.

She never told anyone how that night ended, but surely she would look at the photos she had taken in the following days and years repeatedly, especially the ones featuring the tender lovebirds...

And another featuring Jen and Ruki in front of those weird girls everyone had seemed to have forgot that night.

Who knew what other poor man they had ended up finding.

Still Jen asked Ruki if he should put off his glasses more often after their night of fun.