A/N: Well hello. No I did not give up on this story, I'm just a slow writer. And a huge procrastinator. Thank you for the reviews/follows/favourites in my absence, they are always appreciated.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Three

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The sound of knives hitting the chopping board was covered by the unstoppable chatter of the girls bustling around the Home Economics classroom. This was one of Sora's favourite classes and yet she couldn't bring herself to participate with as much vigour as she usually did today. They were supposed to cook in pairs of two, and their teacher assuming that Sora would be the most suitable person to help the new transfer student blend in, had paired her up with Mochizuki Meiko. Under normal circumstances, Sora would have loved nothing more than to help out the new student, as she had done countless times since her elementary school years, but Mochizuki was different.

It had been three days since Mochizuki had joined their school, and there was already a wall between her and Sora. Mochizuki hadn't actively done anything to push her away, or maybe she had, Sora wasn't sure yet but there was something about the presence of the navy haired girl that made a sense of discomfort rise inside her. She couldn't tell whether this was her own emotion or something coming through because of her ability, and thus, she decided to give the new girl a chance. Pushing all her uneasiness aside, Sora had still tried to make friends with her, but it wasn't easy. Mochizuki Meiko was an extremely shy girl, and Sora could tell that her forced interest was pushing the other girl even further away. But there was nothing more that she could do, she was good at hiding her ability but not her emotions.

Nevertheless, Sora attempted to play nice.

"Mochizuki-san, is there a different way to cook this dish in your home town?" Sora attempted another bleak conversation starter as the curry simmered on the stove. They had been asked to make curry and rice and Sora was pretty sure that curry was cooked in the same manner all over Japan but she still decided to take the risk and ask the silly question.

Mochizuki tilted her head slightly as she pondered over the question, Sora felt a little bit of relief wash over her because at least the new girl was considering her attempt now.

"It's not much different, but my mother had her own mini-farm back home and those vegetables tasted much better than the ones we buy from the supermarket here," Mochizuki finally replied after a while and Sora had trouble keeping herself from jumping up in triumph as she had finally gotten her partner to speak a full-fledged sentence.

"Disadvantages of city life I suppose," Sora replied, smiling earnestly.

"Takenouchi-san, have you always lived in Tokyo?" Mochizuki asked, a hint of curiosity in her eyes as she faced Sora.

"Yeah, my parents met while they were in college together so it's always been apartments and high rises for me." Sora sighed in reply, she did always want to live in a big traditional house with surrounded by mountains and greenery, maybe she could find more things in common with Mochizuki than she had initially expected, "Oh and you can call me Sora by the way, no need to be so formal!" She grinned.

Mochizuki's cheeks were immediately tinted in red as she shifted her gaze to the ground and nodded vigorously. They worked in comfortable silence after that, scoring praises from their teacher and classmates over the presentation and taste of their dish. Surprisingly, as the girls walked back to their classroom from the Home Economics room, Mochizuki caught up to Sora and in the quietest voice told her that she could call her Meiko too if she wanted and Sora couldn't help but beam in response.

Watching Sora comfortably converse with Meiko made a few other girls from their class step forward and take an interest in her and extend a friendly hand. Sora felt like the uneasy weight that had settled on her shoulders ever since she'd seen Meiko's red string stretch out towards Taichi was finally wearing off. She had been sceptical about the new girl because she was new, now that she'd slowly begin to blend in there was no need to worry about her and maybe, there was a chance of her string moving away from Taichi as she met more people and made new friends.

Or at least that was what Sora was hoping would happen. Another question she needed to solve was why on earth was she getting so affected by this girl's string moving towards Taichi? Maybe because it was the first time it had happened right in front of her eyes. Through their school years, a lot of girls in their class had had crushes on Taichi. But that's what they'd always been, crushes, their strings would suddenly face Taichi and in a week or month they'd change direction.

This time though, the string had materialized right in front of Sora, something she rarely witnessed. And from her past experiences, this only happened when someone fell in love and she just could not bring herself to accept that that was the case with Meiko's string. She knew she was being somewhat possessive about Taichi, but after watching him for so long she wasn't just going to give him up to just anyone, somewhere in the back of her mind a meek voice pointed out that maybe she'd never want to give him up, but she shut that thought down, not wanting to go down that road yet again...

The roof was occupied by a few more groups and was noisier than usual but the trio decided to eat lunch there anyway since Taichi pointed out it was still better than walking around school looking for a quieter area. Sora had saved some of the curry she and Meiko cooked during class and offered it to the boys, who didn't hold back in finishing whatever little was left of the dish.

"That was delicious Sora, thank you." Yamato smiled, he moved on to his own lunch which Sora knew would taste equally good if not better, which made his compliment even more worth it.

"You guys should have home economics every day," Taichi stated, he'd already started munching down his own lunch so he could quickly sneak stuff out of Yamato's or Sora's lunches when they weren't looking.

"I feel that the only part of you that's actually growing over the years is your appetite, everything else about you is just still 5 years old," Yamato muttered.

Taichi replied with a scowl, but eating took priority over arguing with his best friend so he continued his assault on food without retorting. Sora chuckled and picked up her own lunch, the smile never leaving her face. The weather was just right for lunch on the roof, the laughter mixed in with the voices coming from the other students was somehow soothing, letting a wistful sigh escape her Sora let herself relax and let go of all the uneasy thoughts that had been bothering her all day.

"So I have news on the band front," Yamato started, he'd split the sandwich he had packed for himself with Taichi claiming that he was full because of the curry they just ate, but Sora could tell it was because he just couldn't resist Taichi's puppy face. "We're playing at a small cafe this Saturday, entry is free."

"That's awesome!" Sora exclaimed, "It'll be easier to draw the crowd in right?"

"Yeah, I made a Facebook event about it and the response has been pretty good,"Yamato said.

"You made a Facebook event by yourself?" Taichi asked, snickering.

"Well, not by myself," Yamato replied, a tint of red covering his cheeks, "Takeru helped me do it."

"You mean Takeru made the event." Taichi taunted and Sora laughed along with him.

"Same thing," Yamato muttered under his breath, admitting defeat "I was hoping you'd spread the word in your various circles..." He trailed off, looking at Sora expectantly.

"Various circles." Sora repeated mockingly, shaking her head she added, "You guys make me out to be more social than I am."

Taichi rolled his eyes, "Yeah because you're not on the student council, three different clubs, friends with half the school-"

"Okay, okay you made your point." Sora interrupted him, her face red with embarrassment as Taichi gloated over getting the last word in yet again. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat as his grin widened and covered his whole face, reaching his eyes and making them brighter than usual. And when their eyes met, Sora felt a jolt pass through her entire body, immediately averting her gaze from Taichi's she took a deep breath and did the only sensible thing she could think of in that situation. She jabbed one of her chopsticks into Taichi's cheek to get him to stop smiling.

"Ow!" Taichi yelped, hurriedly pulling himself back from her reach, he picked up his own chopstick and readied himself for a counter-attack but she quickly shifted from her sitting position and took cover behind Yamato's back, "You think that I won't sacrifice Yamato to get to you?" Taichi asked dramatically and Sora unconsciously giggled in reply.

Yamato, however, already annoyed at their antics, pried Taichi and Sora's chopsticks from their hands forcefully, eyeing them angrily like a parent does to a two year old until they settled back calmly into their original positions.

"Getting back to the point, help me out here Sora." Yamato smiled softly.

Sora met his gaze and managed to return the smile, "Of course, you can count on me." Somehow, Yamato's smile did not have the same effect on her as Taichi's and she was able to hold his gaze without feeling electrocuted. She sneaked a glance at Taichi, he was concentrating on getting the chopsticks out of Yamato's hands, and although she didn't feel her whole body stir, the longer she stared at him the faster her heart started to beat. Odd, she thought, she had been looking at Taichi everyday since kindergarten and yet something about him had started to feel different. Like how his eyes shone when his smile reached his eyes. How had she never noticed that before, Sora wondered.

"I'll ask Mimi-chan to spread the word too, honestly she's way more social than I am," Sora spoke up, more to herself than to the two boys sitting in front of her, in an attempt to change the Taichi-centered train of thought currently running in her head.

"About that...uhm," Yamato began, Sora and Taichi looked at him curiously and he stuttered, his pale cheeks turning a light pink as he continued, "Did you know Takeru and her are friends?"

"Takeru-kun and Mimi-chan are friends?" Sora looked slightly puzzled, the younger blond's name had never come up in her conversations with Mimi, but somehow it didn't completely surprise her that they were friends, she could picture them getting along pretty easily.

"Yeah, not just friends, 'go out every other weekend' and 'shop for clothes together' kind of friends." Yamato scowled, not happy with his recent discovery.

"I am a little surprised, but why are you so annoyed?" Sora frowned, unable to understand Yamato's irritation.

"Isn't it a little suspicious, that they spend so much time together and-"

"Wait, are you worried that Takeru-kun and Mimi-chan are dating?" Sora raised her eyebrows, she could feel the laughter bubbling up inside her but she controlled herself for Yamato's sake.

"Not possible, Mimi's dating Koushiro." Taichi stated absent-mindedly, his eyes were still on those chopsticks.

"How do you know that?" Sora turned to Taichi, bewildered by his reply. Yamato on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief, comforted by the fact that his own predictions were wrong.

"Well Sora, you're not the only one who has a junior as their lackey," Taichi replied, throwing a smirk in her direction. Sora noticed that the only effect that smirk had on her mirrored annoyance and that was nothing new.

"Knowing how smart Koushiro-kun is, it's probably the other way around," Sora spat back, scowling in response to the brunet's cocky smirk, which faltered at her words.

"It really isn't. Koushiro comes to me for advice all the time," Taichi defended himself but Yamato and Sora both looked unimpressed with his reply. Neither could fathom the thought of Taichi playing out the role of a reliable senior to a genius like Koushiro.

"Right..." the two replied in unison, their voices seeping with disbelief. Taichi tried to glare at them but eventually pouted and turned away making the duo laugh out loud.

"Anyway, Yamato, you shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. If Takeru-kun started dating anyone I'm sure you'd be the first person he'd tell," Sora said.

"I know..." Yamato muttered, pink with embarrassment.

"So Takeru-kun must have already invited Mimi-chan right, I wonder if she's planning to come by herself or-" The bell signalling the end of lunch rang loudly and Sora was unable to finish her sentence. The trio headed back to the classroom with the boys taking the lead. She could hear Taichi ask Yamato questions about the gig but she wasn't exactly following their conversation, buried deep in her own thoughts, unaware of Taichi sneaking glances back at her as they walked.

Sora thought about how unsure Mimi had looked when she'd told her about dating Koushiro but nevertheless she was curious to see them together. She knew her ability usually made her overstep the boundaries when it came to other people's relationships but this time, with Mimi, she was hoping that the strings were wrong and maybe Mimi and Koushiro's relationship wouldn't end up in pieces. It was very rare for her to think like that. She'd always assumed her ability couldn't go wrong, and whenever the strings were right, adrenaline would rush through her, giving her a sense of power like no other thing ever could. Which is why, hoping for the strings to be incorrect was something very new to Sora, but lately, everything was starting to seem that way. Even Taichi's smile.

-x-

A/N: After tri, my habit of shipping the non-canon ship has caught on to Takeru as well, and rather than Takari, I've become a Koukeru shipper. So I'd like some feedback over the possibility of this involving KoushiroxTakeru instead of TakeruxHikari as the third ship. And of course, reviews are always welcome!