Arpulver is very organized and if you haven't already, I advise you to read their fic Odaiba Memorial Day. It's an excellent well-written fic and it's very realistic. It's 20 years later, after the defeat of Vamdemon (Myotismon) and Iori (Cody) wants to have a get together with his old Digidestined friends, whom of which he hasn't really kept much contact with within the past 10 years. That's when they all last saw each other, 10 years ago.
The problem is that not everyone wants to go to this gathering because of the different problems they're all having or have had within those years with the others. For example, because of something that happened in the past, Koushirou doesn't want to have anything to do with Ken or Miyako. Well, actually, Koushirou's the only character in this story that doesn't give a crap about seeing anyone, Miyako and Ken is just his main reason for not wanting to go.
So far, the only characters that didn't really have any problems that would affect their not wanting to go are, Daisuke, Takeru, and Hikari. Iori is the one who's sending out the invites. It's the older kids that are having the problems. That's another reason why I'm late putting this up, rereading his entire fic to keep myself caught up and prepared for the next chapter!! ^^'
I know you all are probably thinking that I'm weird for writing about another person's fic, but I really feel that this is a great story and that everyone will enjoy it. No character bashing, everyone is portrayed equally and everyone is pretty much in character, until they reached adulthood and their views change, which is about as realistic as one can get! No folks, A R didn't ask me to promote the fic or anything, I'm doing this all on my own and I hope some of you decide to read it. It's very interesting! ^_^
Okay, enough of my blabbing. Well, as always, I do not own any
of these characters or places normally associated with the show, game,
manga, etc.
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It didn't take him long, but Koushirou managed get back home. He just wasn't in the mood for socializing, which was pretty much constant now; even before his teacher gave him the assignment.
The boy walked over to the fridge to get himself a bite to eat. He was still hungry. He made himself a quick sandwich and opened up a can of soda.
"What do I do?" Koushirou asked himself as he took a bite out of his sandwich. "They're having a baby, a baby of their very own. They're going to have a real child now. A real child of their own." He put down his sandwich. "So where does that leave...me?"
The boy gobbled down the rest of his sandwich and headed towards his room. He sat on the bed, trying to think again. He wasn't there for long, though. He heard a knock at the front door.
The boy got up and muttered to himself, wondering whom it could be bothering him at this time of night. It was already after 10:00. Since the boy was in one of his moods, he didn't even bother asking who it was nor did he bother to look through the peephole. He just opened the door.
"Mimi-san?"
"Hi Koushirou."
The boy was surprised to see Mimi at his front door.
"What are you doing here?"
"Can't I come by and visit if I want?"
"I guess," he said slowly, still a bit surprised that Mimi had come to visit him at such an hour.
The boy didn't want to seem rude so he invited Mimi in and closed the door behind her, locking it. Mimi walked in and took herself a seat down on the couch. Koushirou walked to the room with the couch and leaned his back against the wall.
"So, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just a bit concerned about you, that's all. Miyako-chan was going to come over too, but she had to get home. Her brother picked her up and he had to hurry up and get back home."
"Well, I'm fine."
"No you're not!" Mimi scolded. "What is wrong, Koushirou! Why have you been so quiet lately? You've been more quiet than usual! You were a total drag tonight at the bar and what do you have against your parents? And speaking of parents, when are we going to start our assignment and when are you going to stop lying about what the project is to your parents!"
"I told you, I'm fine!"
"Even when we were kids I could tell when things bothered you but I never made an attempt to try and get you to open up! Maybe because we weren't as good friends back then, but I feel that we are now. It's not good to hold things in, Koushirou. It just makes you irritable and cranky!"
"I am not irritable and cranky!!"
"See what I mean!" she tsked. "Now, what's the matter?"
"Nothing, okay! I'm just trying to think of how we can do this project, that's all."
Koushirou was lying, yet he wasn't. He technically was trying to think of a way to do his project, but he wasn't at the moment Mimi had asked him.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I was just worried of not working up to Ishidzuka's expectations," he said nervously.
"You aren't lying to me, are you?"
"No, of course not!"
"Okay," the girl smiled. "So, what do you want to do now?"
"Do now?"
"Do you want to get some of the work done tonight?"
"You know, I'll just wait on that. Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"I'll take some of your mom's yummy lemonade if she has any!" Mimi told him. She then looked around. "Where is she anyway?"
"Her and dad aren't back yet," Koushirou shouted to her from the kitchen.
The boy poured the glass of lemonade and walked back into the room with the couch...the same room that Koushirou overheard his parents talking in years earlier about his adoption.
"You mean we're alone?"
"Yep, seems so," Koushirou said while handing Mimi the glass.
"Oh."
The girl sipped the lemonade and smiled.
"Thanks," she said as she sat the glass down on the table. "Take a seat, Koushirou-kun. All I want to do is talk for a while."
"Okay," Koushirou shrugged.
He sat down opposite from Mimi, making himself comfortable.
"So, what's on your mind?" he asked her.
"Your parents."
Koushirou rolled his eyes. Mimi noticed this, but dismissed it.
"What about them?"
"Is everything going okay with them?"
"Yeah, everything is fine. Why do you ask?"
"I'm just wondering why you seem so...I don't know, hostile towards them. I noticed it when we left this evening."
"Well, um, I was just overwhelmed by the paper I'm writing!" Koushirou said with a nervous grin and laugh.
"Koushirou, that's not funny!" she scolded.
The boy's grin faded.
"Since she's my partner for this assignment, I'm going to have to tell her sooner or later that I'm really adopted," he told himself.
"What's going on? It's better to talk about things that are bothering you than to keep them bottled up inside. Does your attitude have anything to do with why both your mother and father left here so happily this evening?"
Koushirou was a rotten liar and Mimi, as well as Miyako, knew it. Taichi also could normally tell when Koushirou was fibbing. The boy knew he wouldn't be able to make up anything believable so he decided to stick with the truth. Besides, he knew that his mother was going to start showing sooner or later, unless she lost the baby really early in the pregnancy, but he didn't want to think of such things. Thoughts like that made the young computer whiz feel selfish and he was surprised that he had even thought of such a thing.
"Yeah," he nodded slowly.
"I knew it! What's wrong with them? Why is their being happy upsetting you so much?"
The boy took his time before answering.
"Koushirou?"
"Well, my mother went to the doctor today. For the past week or so, she had been feeling tired, having strange emotional episodes, like one minute she's happy and then she's really sad the next, and she had been eating a bit differently lately too. She got her diagnosis today."
"Oh my gosh!" Mimi squealed in excitement.
"What, what?" Koushirou asked, surprised by Mimi's sudden outburst.
"Your mother is going to have a baby! This must be so exciting for you! You're going to have yourself a baby brother or sister!"
"Yeah, exciting," he muttered.
The girl noticed the unenthusiased tone that Koushirou had used. She was puzzled as to why.
"What's wrong? Why are you upset over them having a baby?"
Koushirou stood up abruptly.
"Mimi-san, I think you should get going," he said, changing the subject.
"But..."
"It's almost 11:00 and I really shouldn't be having company this late."
"But, why is having a baby such a big deal to you? I thought that you of all people would enjoy having a brother or a sister."
"I'll tell you about it later, I promise," he told her. He then muttered, "I don't have much of a choice..."
The girl could only shrug. She didn't understand what the big secret was and why he was having such a difficult time accepting the fact that his folks were going to have a baby, but she did believe in Koushirou when he said that he promised to let her in on what's going on and what's bothering him. One thing Koushirou was known for, as well as Iori and Jou, was their honesty and they always kept their promises. One trait she always found becoming in a person.
"Okay," Mimi finally said.
Koushirou walked Mimi to the front door and saw how dark out it was.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" he offered. "It's the least I could do for you since you came over to see how I was. You didn't really have to, you know."
"I wanted to," she smiled at him. "That's what friends are for."
"Let me go get my jacket and then I'll take you home."
"Okay."
Koushirou ran to his room to get his jacket, but then remembered that his mother had sent it to the cleaners for its weekly cleaning. Earlier that evening he didn't wear his jacket, only a thin long-sleeved shirt, but it was a bit cooler out now. He was considering wearing his typical green uniform jacket, but decided against it. His shirt was thin, but not that thin. His uniform jacket was pretty heavy and thick.
Koushirou then decided to put on his old "playcoat." He normally only wore this thin coat whenever he couldn't wear his other one, but it rarely came up for him to have to wear it. His mother normally kept it in the hall closet, a place he ever rarely went to. The closet was used mostly for storing cleaning materials and papers, but his jacket was probably in there. He opened the door and looked through the closet for his jacket. It had been about a year since he had even seen it last.
"I hope it's still here and that mom didn't throw it out," he muttered as he searched through the closet. "I hope it actually still fits!"
Koushirou looked up on the top shelf and saw a sleeve hanging down from it. He recognized the sleeve. It belonged to his jacket. He stood up and reached up for it. Lucky for him, he didn't need to use a ladder or a step stool to get to it since he had grown quite a bit within the last year. He was a tiny bit taller than both Mimi and Miyako now and those two were always the tallest girls out of the Chosen group. He was still the shortest guy out of the group, not counting Iori.
He saw that on top of his jacket sat a box filled with different papers. He moved them aside and picked up his jacket and put the box back, just not all of the way. He slipped on the jacket, which still fit him, only it wasn't as long as it was when he wore it last since he was taller now.
"Okay, I found my jacket," Koushirou announced. "I'm ready to go!"
"Okay!" Mimi called to him from the door.
Koushirou started to close the closet door when he heard something drop. It was the box he had put back on the top shelf in the closet. He didn't push the box on the shelf all the way. He started to pick up the papers and the box, until one paper caught his eye. He read the title of the letterhead on the paper...
"Hikarigaoka Adoption Agency!?!"
Mimi walked up to see what was keeping Koushirou.
"Koushirou, what's wrong?"
The boy took the papers and stuffed them back into the box fast and put them back on the shelf quickly after Mimi had called him.
"Clumsy me," he said nervously. "Well, let's get going," he said as he closed the closet door.
"Huh? What?"
"We better get going," Koushirou said again, holding Mimi's shoulders, pushing her along.
Koushirou led Mimi towards the door so that he could walk her home and hurry and get back. Those papers could have the answers to the questions that he had been wondering about for the past 11 years of his life...
