Part 2: The Meeting in the Park!
"I wonder where all of the older kids are," a familiar glasses-wearing girl muttered, anxious to get their meeting started.
"Let's see, my brother probably played pranks like he does every year, which causes him to get held back in class, along with Yamato-san and Sora-san since he seems to always drag them into it," Hikari started, "and Jou-san is probably just wrapping up some important extra-credit project at that private school he goes to."
"I'll never get Tai," Koushirou said with a sigh. "Why he always plays such practical jokes I'll never get, but I've never had the privilege of being punished for his jokes and pranks due to the fact that I am a whole grade under him and that more than likely, will never have a class with him."
"It'd also be more difficult for you to share classes since you are still in Junior High school and how Taichi-san and the others are all High School students now," Iori added.
"True..."
"Okay, now where are the younger ones of the group?" Miyako asked.
"Hikari-san and me are right here," Iori informed her.
"No, I meant Ken, Daisuke, and Takeru...those younger ones."
"You act as if you are way older than us," Hikari said with a laugh. "You're only a year older than those three and me."
"In my case, three years older," Iori said.
"I know that, but where are they?"
"I think Daisuke-kun got held back for not turning in his final project and since Takeru-kun was his partner, he had to go along with him," Hikari explained. "I have no idea where Ichijouji-kun is."
"He's probably on his way here from Tamachi Junior High right now," Koushirou stated as matter of factly. "Tamachi is pretty far off from Odaiba, you know."
"Hey everyone," they heard a couple of voices call.
They all turned to see a dark-haired boy along with a blonde-haired boy that was a bit taller.
"Takeru-san...Daisuke-san," Iori identified the two.
"Hey guys," Takeru greeted.
"Hey Takeru, hi Daisuke," Hikari smiled, glad that her two friends had arrived.
"Mind explaining why you two are so late," Miyako demanded of the two.
"Kiuchi-sensei held us back because somebody didn't turn in his part of our project," Takeru explained, slide glancing over at the goggleheaded boy.
Daisuke laughed nervously.
"Why am I not surprised," Miyako sighed.
"Hey, don't put all the blameon him. It's partially my fault too," Takeru said, defending his friend. "He just forgot and left his half of the project at home, I actually forgot to complete a portion of mine, so I had to finish that up right fast. Daisuke-kun had to call his sister to bring his part to school. It was fortunate for us that she graduated from high school last year and that she was actually home."
"Not to mention that Kiuchi-sensei didn't take off any credit since she was in an unusually good mood," Daisuke added.
"That's good," Hikari said. "She probably did that since she was looking forward to the summer break as well."
"So, where are the others," Daisuke asked, taking a seat under the shady tree.
"Late," Miyako muttered.
"Hey everyone!"
"Sorry we're late."
They all turned to see a tall, blue-haired boy and a tall purple-haired one walking towards the group.
"Hi Ken, hi Jou," everyone greeted.
"Tamachi sure is far off from here," Ken complained. "One day I'm going to ask my folks if I can move to Odaiba, or something, and transfer to your school district."
"I would have been here sooner, but I was finishing up a science project that's due when I get back from summer break," Jou explained. "It was fairly simple, but I'd much rather get school assignments finished as soon as I possibly can."
"See, what did I tell you," Hikari said. "Jou-san just can't turn down a school project when it is first assigned."
"So, where are Yagami, Sora-san, and Ishida," Ken asked.
"Late," Koushirou stated.
"Let me guess," Jou said, having an idea why they weren't there. "Tai probably annoyed his teacher, once again, and got held back and Yamato and Sora probably got dragged into it as well."
"Bingo," Miyako nodded. "That's what Izumi-senpai said."
"He does this every year, but lucky for me, I've never had a class with him since I have a grade up on him and I don't go to the same school as him. I remember Sora complaining about his doing that when we all went to Odaiba Elementary."
"I guess we could start discussing now," Miyako suggested.
"Yeah, the others will be here soon, so why not start," Iori said in agreement.
"Okay everyone; we all know why we met here, to discuss this trip and to figure out a way to get to the airport in an orderly fashion."
"First of all, who's going and who's not?" Hikari asked.
"I know for sure that my brother is," Takeru said. "He's been talking about it nonstop!"
"Same here with my brother."
"I'm still in for this trip," Daisuke said.
"So are we!" Hikari and Takeru said in unison.
Iori frowned.
"What's wrong?" Koushirou asked, noticing his younger friend's look.
"I can't go."
"How come?" Miyako asked.
"I promised to help out my grandfather at his dojo during my break," Iori explained. "I had forgotten about this trip when I made the promise to my grandfather. By the time I'm finished volunteering, you all would probably be on your way back."
"Aww, there's no way you can back out?"
The dark haired boy gave Takeru a look of disbelief, surprised by his statement.
"Back out? I wouldn't dare do such a thing. A promise is a promise and a real man live up to those and never breaks them."
"That's a very mature attitude," Jou complimented.
"This is Iori we're talking about," Ken said. "He's more mature than some of us older kids sometimes."
"We're going to miss you, Iori-kun," Hikari said sadly.
"We'll bring you back some souvenirs, I promise!" Daisuke said giving his friend a big smile.
"And I'll send you a post card when we get there," Miyako added.
"Thanks, guys, and please tell both Mimi-san and Michael that I am very sorry for not coming along after they so graciously invited me."
"Sure thing," Takeru nodded.
"Anyone else not going?" Miyako asked.
Jou started to raise his hand slowly.
"Jou?" everyone asked in surprise.
"Jou-san, why aren't you going?" Iori asked.
"Well, I just can't leave my school work behind. I have a big examination in my English course after summer break, one for my Advanced Physics, Biology, and Calculus classes, and I also have a project to work on for my Advanced Placement History class, and my time period is Feudal Japan. I wanted the Edo Period, but someone else got assigned that. At least with the Edo Era, I could talk about the medical part of it, since my family does date back that far. The Kidos have been doctors or physicians dating back to that time. "
*A/N: That stuff about the Edo period and the Kidos being doctors dating back that far is true, which is why Jou's father put so much emphasis of his sons becoming doctors since it had been a family tradition for centuries.*
Jou thought for a moment.
"You know, since I can't go with you all, I could keep Iori-kun company. Maybe I could help him out with his volunteer work at his grandfather's dojo. His grandfather is very knowledgeable when it comes to the history of the Martial Arts and I could use that for this project I'm working on. I could use Martial Arts as my topic and research that!"
"I am so glad I don't have advanced classes," Daisuke muttered to himself.
"It just won't be the same without the whole group there," Hikari said.
"Tell Mimi-kun, 'hi' for me and that I had too much school work to even consider coming along."
"Okay, anyone else?" Miyako asked.
Izzy started to speak up...
"No, not Izzy!" Miyako thought in alarm. "If he doesn't go, then this trip wouldn't be worth going on!"
The girl thought for a moment, but still kept her thoughts to herself.
"I'm a bit upset that Iori isn't going, same with senpai, but why do I feel as if the world would come to an end if Izzy doesn't come along with us on this trip..."
"I'm considering not going," Koushirou said. "This trip is to the Bahamas and there probably isn't much for me to do there."
"Then we'll find something for you to do!" Miyako said quickly and a bit nervously. "Don't stay home!"
"C'mon, Miyako, I'm sure you would find something more to do to keep you occupied than for a person like me," he said. "I'm sure I'd be nothing but a burden on you and the others."
"Of course not!" the girl said in asssurance. "We want you along! Bring your laptop! Just come along with us!"
The girl looked at Izzy and he could see the pleading look in her eye. He turned his head away from her quickly to avoid blushing. He was starting to get lost in her gaze and he always felt that Miyako was pretty.
"Izzy, please come along with us," the girl begged again.
The redhead nodded. He just couldn't say "no" to the persistent Inoue Miyako.
"Bingo, Bingo, Bingo, Bingo, Bingo!!"
Everyone gave Miyako a look, pretty much wondering why she was so overjoyed by Izzy's joining them. The glasses-wearing girl noticed the stares and stopped cheering, speaking up a bit nervously.
"I'm just, um...glad that we aren't losing another person for this trip, that's all," she said, laughing a bit nervously.
"Okay, so the only people not going are Jou-san and Iori-kun," Takeru said. "Ichijouji, I don't remember if you said you were or not."
"Yeah, I'm still going. I'm staying over at the Motomiya's for the weekend since I am."
At that particular moment, Tai, Sora, and Matt showed up. Everyone greeted them as they walked up.
"Hey guys," Taichi greeted.
"Did your teacher hold you back for playing some kind of a practical joke?"
"You know me so well, baby sister," Taichi smirked.
"Actually, this time, he just acted like the class clown that he is and ticked off Professor Fujita," Yamato explained. "She held him back, but luckily, he got off."
"I wasn't expecting him to, actually, since Fujita-sensei seemed furious with him," Sora said.
"The only reason he got off was because of his talking his way out of the detention by bringing up the fact that we're going on vacation and that he was looking forward to it," Yamato said. "He then asked her what she was planning and she got into a story about how she was planning on visiting relatives. Tai then started smiling since she was planning on having some kind of a life for her summer break."
"Professor Fujita couldn't say anything more, so she canceled Tai's summer detention and let him off," Sora finished up.
"Am I good or what," Taichi smugly responded while parading around.
"Nice," Miyako muttered. "Anyway, we've already figured out who's going and who's not."
"What do you mean?" Yamato asked. "Everyone's going, right?"
"I'm afraid not," Iori said.
"Who's not going?" Taichi asked.
"Iori-kun and Jou-san," Koushirou answered.
"Jou has some tests to study for and a project to work on, and Iori promised earlier, forgetting about this trip, to help his grandfather out at his dojo," Hikari explained.
"Taichi, Yamato, we should stay home too. We still have a lot of work to do ourselves."
"You can stay home, but I'm not!"
"Yeah, I'm with Tai," Yamato said. "So what if we don't have all 6 chapters read, or our review problems done, or all 50 of those equations solved, or that paper written by the time our break is over, even we students deserve a break every now and then."
"We'll just get a late grade," Taichi said.
"But she's giving that big test when we get back from break."
"I bet she's just bluffing," Taichi said, unthreatened by his teacher's assignment. "I bet the work in the book is just something to keep us busy. Now the paper we have to write, I'll take that seriously, and those 50 problems."
"And what about the test?" Sora asked.
"Details...details...I'll get to it later," Taichi said, unworried.
"Yamato," Sora asked, looking over at him for support and help.
"What? I'm doing as much of it as I can tomorrow and tonight so I that I won't have to worry about it."
"What subject is this?" Daisuke asked.
"Chemistry," Taichi informed him.
"I was going to offer to help you out, but---"
"What do you know about Chemistry?" Taichi interrupted.
"Absolutely nothing, which is why I was about to say that I couldn't help you," the boy said with a goofy grin.
"What subjects are you good in other than gym?" Miyako asked.
"I'm average in all my subjects--minus gym since I excel in that--I just have a difficult time when it comes to Math and Science."
"Those are the two main subjects you need to pass to the next grade!" Miyako informed him.
"I'm working on it..."
"I'm glad our class doesn't have too much to worry about," Takeru said. "We just have to read a few chapters for History and Science and write a paper on that, and we have to work on a few math problems. We could work on that when we get back."
"Or either we could do it tomorrow before we leave Sunday," Hikari stated.
"Sure, why not," Daisuke said, willing to get the extra work out of the way.
"Let's worry about homework later, we have to get organized," Miyako told them. "We have to get to the airport by 7 a.m, Sunday. We are all on the same flight, so---"
"Wait a minute," Jou interrupted. "Since I'm not going to be able to go, you guys can take my ticket."
"Same here since I won't be able to go as well. I'm sure you could get the money back for it."
"Good idea," Taichi agreed, a grin on his face. "I'll just use the cash as souvenir money, or maybe--"
"It would make more sense to use it to buy a pocket translator or something like that since none of us are fluent in the language," Yamato interjected wisely. "Jou's the only one who's able to pretty much speak English."
"That's only because I'm studying it outside of class since I really do hope to travel to America or maybe England some day."
"Don't worry, we have Izzy! He's pretty good with English."
"Miyako-san, his English is terrible," Hikari retorted. "He couldn't carry on a conversation in English if is life depended on it."
"Thank you Miss Informative," he muttered under his breath in a semi-annoyed tone. "What is it with people embarrassing me in front of Miyako lately?" Koushirou asked himself. "First, Tai brought up something I'd rather not remember a few days ago and I was with Miyako at the time, and then Yamato did the same thing not too long ago. Well, it's nice that Miyako has such faith in me, but Kari is right....my English speaking skills are pretty bad."
"How do you know he hasn't improved since then?" Miyako asked.
"I don't," Hikari said with a shrug. "He never mentions learning the language or trying to imrpove it."
"I think that he'd be a great translator, and I bet he's really learning the language too!" Miyako said while giving Izzy a smile.
"Yeah, I am," Koushirou responded slowly.
"Cool!" Hikari exclaimed.
"We have our translator," Yamato announced.
"What have I gotten myself into," Koushirou asked himself in thought. "Just because Miyako has faith in me, I just lied about my knowing perfect English."
"That's wonderful!" Miyako said with a smile. "I'm so glad you're going to help us."
"Sure, no problem," the boy muttered nervously.
"You know, why should we bother with Izzy when we have Mimi," Taichi said. "She's more fluent in English than any of us."
"Another language spoken there is Spanish," Jou informed them.
"Ichijouji would be perfect for that," Yamato said.
"Is that true, Ken?" Miyako asked, quite impressed. "Are you really fluent in Spanish?"
"Yep, I sure am," he nodded.
"Cool!"
Izzy noticed how impressed Miyako seemed to be from Ken's knowing fluentSpanish. He didn't know why, but it bothered him somewhat that Ken had all of her attention. He then did something that surprised himself...
"Um...um...I'm good with Spanish too!"
He then mentally slapped himself for saying something so untrue.
"I don't know one ounce of Spanish other than 'hola' and 'adios' and the other words and phrases that everybody knows!"
Everyone gave the male computer genius a look meaning, "You?"
"Well...you know...um...I have been iterating other languages as well and I just so happened to select Spanish," he said, finishing up with a nervous laugh.
"That's great!" Ken said with excitement. "Maybe you can give me some pointers. You seem like the type that learn things quickly."
"Um...sí...hehe."
"You can get all of the practice you need there, I'm sure," Ken informed Izzy.
"Sure," he responded quickly. He then stood up. "Well, I better get going now. I'll talk to you all later."
"But we aren't finished."
"I have some work to do," the boy informed Miyako. "Just send me an e-mail and let me know what's up."
"Sure thing," she said slowly.
"Bye Izzy," everyone called to him.
Miyako stared as the redhead took off, who was frowning at how dumb he was for saying that he was good in two languages he rarely even looked at. Even if English was a part of his curriculum, he still was no good at speaking it, but he was pretty good at writing and translating it...
"Okay, now whose place is closest to the airport?" Miyako asked after Koushirou had left.
"Mine is," Daisuke started, "and I have an idea."
"What's the idea?" Yamato asked.
"Why don't you guys stay over at my place? It'll be fun! It'll be Ken, Takeru, Miyako, Hikari-chan, and me. That would take care of us younger Chosens."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea and we would be saving on time," Miyako nodded, agreeing with the idea.
"Wait a minute, what about your parents?" Hikari asked.
"Well, they're going away this weekend too. They're going to visit a sick relative of ours in Osaka and my father also has some business to take care of and they both told me that I could do whatever I wanted this weekend since I'm going to be by myself, and that included having friends over."
"When are they leaving?" Takeru asked.
"Tonight, my sister is leaving tomorrow."
"Are your parents ever home?" Iori asked.
"No, not really. Jun and I always have the place to ourselves. Dad's always working, and when he isn't working, he's on business trips and takes mom along with him. He doesn't like to take Jun or me along with him because of school. They don't want us to miss any time, especially since Jun just started going to the University here in Odaiba."
"Do you get along with your father and mother okay since they leave you and your sister at home alone a lot?" Sora asked, feeling a bit concerned.
"I guess so," he shrugged, wondering why Sora would ask such a thing or why it was such a big deal.
"So I guess the younger ones of the group are staying with Daisuke, which will be a good thing since Mr. Soccer Player here likes to sleep in late!"
"We can be his alarm clark," Hikari said to Miyako.
"I'll get the bucket of ice cold water ready!" Miyako giggled.
Kari giggled as well.
"We could get the other two, too," Miyako whispered to Kari.
"Nice," Taichi muttered, "now what about the older ones of the group?"
"After Daisuke, Izumi-senpai has the place closest to the airport. I guess you all could hang over there, if it's okay with the Izumi's of course, or if you like, I could stay over there in the place of Sora and she could stay over Daisuke's with Kari..."
"Wait, how about all of you stay over at my place!"
"All of them?" Jou asked.
"Yeah!" Daisuke exclaimed. He didn't realize it, but he was starting to sound as if he were desperate for them to stay over. "Since my parents'll be gone, some of you could stay in their room!"
They all gave him a look of skepticism. He noticed it and started to explain how everything could be set up.
"Okay, Sora can stay in my sister's room along with Hikari and Miyako, Ken and Takeru are staying in my room, and Taichi, Yamato, and Koushirou can stay in my parents' room! That way, we won't have to worry about getting split up or anything like that since we'll already be together! It'll be like one big party and senpai and Iori could stay too!"
"That's not such a bad idea," Taichi said.
"I don't know you guys...all of you in one apartment...I think I'll pass, but I will come over on Saturday night and see you off."
"Lighten up, Jou," Taichi told his older friend. "It'll be like a camping trip, only we'll be inside."
"We will also be on time," Sora added.
"All in favor of Daisuke's idea say aye!" Miyako instructed.
"Aye!"
"All opposed..."
...
"Okay, the ayes have it! On Saturday night, we will all stay over at Daisuke's and then head on over to the airport from there Sunday morning. I guess there isn't much more we can do here for this meeting."
"Since everyone's going to be over at the Motomiya's, I guess I can give you my ticket tomorrow," Jou said.
"Sure thing, senpai, and I can get Iori's myself since we live in the same apartment building," Miyako smiled. "Now, what else can we do?"
"I say we go and get something to eat!" Yamato said.
"Yeah, we haven't had a bite since school let out," Taichi said.
The others agreed and walked off to go and eat except for Iori and Jou. They walked off in the other direction. Iori had asked to talk with Jou about something...
"What did you want to talk to me about, Iori-kun?"
"Nothing much, I was just wondering if you would come over to my home for dinner so we can get something set up for you to help out at my grandfather's dojo this summer break."
"Sure thing." He then laughed a bit. "I really wasn't looking forward to baloney sandwiches again for dinner anyway."
"Jou-san, is it just me, or did Daisuke-san seem incredibly desperate for everyone to stay over at his place? It's not like he wanted just Hikari-san to show up, he does have that thing for her, but he was willing to invite everyone over."
"I got the same impression, there's only one thing it could be."
"What's that?"
"Loneliness...he's lonely since his parents are always busy. I bet he doesn't even realize that he is. You heard him, he was going to have the entire place to himself for the entire weekend."
"But aren't you by yourself a lot?"
"Yeah, but it doesn't bother me much. Everyone is different," Jou told him. "Apparently, it bothers Daisuke-kun a lot, which is why he always seems to go out of his way to have a friend of some sort stay over. That's probably why he always wants Ichijouji to stay over so much."
"I guess so," Iori muttered. "It's really bad that he's like that."
"Yeah, and it's even worse that he doesn't realize that he's lonely."
"Well, we better hurry ourselves along, Jou-san. We're almost home."
The two hurried towards Iori's place to talk with Grandfather Hida about Jou helping them out this summer...