Anyway, as always, I do not own any of these characters and/or places
associated with the game, show, manga, etc.*
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
Since Sora was planning on throwing a big party, she knew she couldn't use her home for it. It was way too small, so she was holding it over at one of Odaiba's best clubs. It was used more so at night, though, and Koushirou probably knew this area fairly well. For that was where, Raremon attacked when his Digivice got a signal of the Eighth Child and went after it almost five years earlier; it would be that upcoming August anyway. Sora's father was responsible for her being able to use this club, and since her father was friends with the owner, Sora got the entire place for the entire day for free.
"I guess Mimi-chan couldn't make it," Yuko said while looking around.
"I guess not, but it is still pretty early," Chinatsu pointed out.
"It's just not fair!" Yuko complained. "I wanted her to see her admirers make fools of themselves!"
"You mean more than usual," Chinatsu laughed.
"Not to worry, I have a camera," Ayame smiled.
Both Chinatsu and Yuko laughed. Right at that moment, a loud boy burst through the door.
"The party can really start now that the handsome Motomiya Daisuke is here!"
With him was a quiet looking girl wearing a pink blouse and a pair of yellow shorts along with a pair of sandals.
"Daisuke-kun, calm down.," Hikari said calmly.
"Ahh, gomen," he sweat dropped.
Right beside her was a tall, blonde-haired boy wearing a white cap.
"Yeah, calm down, stop making a scene! There are High Schoolers here!" Takeru reminded him. "We don't want them to think that we are nerds!"
"Okay, okay, I'll calm down," the boy said, anxious to have some fun. He started to dance to the upbeat music in the spot he was standing in. "But I want to party!"
The hyper boy saw some friends of his and went over to them. They were all friends of his from Odaiba Elementary's Soccer Club.
"He sure can be hyper at times," Takeru laughed lightly.
"Yeah, but you must admire him for that. He always seems to make people happy."
"Yeah, I guess," he muttered. "So, would you like for me to get you something to drink?" he asked nervously.
"Oh, Takeru-kun," she smiled, "I can get my own drink but you can come along with me of course."
With that, she walked off towards where the refreshments were. Takeru sighed and went along with her.
It was still early and guests were still arriving. There were people from all grade levels: Elementary, Junior High, and High School. Yamato and his group had gotten there early. Sora asked if they could play for her party. They gladly accepted the offer. While playing, Yamato had his eye out for Mimi. When he got the chance, he was planning on asking her to dance with him.
"Ichijouji-kun, Miyako-chan, Iori-kun, hi!" Sora greeted, seeing them enter.
She ran over to them.
"Hi, Sora-san," both Miyako and Iori greeted.
"Hey, Takenouchi," Ken greeted.
"I am so glad that you all could make it!"
"So am I," Ken said. "I love get togethers and parties. They are so relaxing."
"Yeah, and Sora-san is the only person I know that would have a party for all grade levels!" Miyako laughed.
"Well, this party is for everyone to relax, especially with everyone having to take High School Entrance exams. It is very stressful at this time of year."
"I am glad that we do not have to take entrance exams to get into Junior High."
"Unless you do what senpai did," Miyako told Iori.
"I really idolize and look up to Jou-san, but I do not think that I am going to go to a private Junior High School where taking entrance exams are required when the time comes for me to attend Junior High School."
"He is really into his education, but I guess that is a good thing," Sora said. "Well, enough talk about school, this is a party!"
The three nodded and went off to find something "party" like to do.
Iori just went and joined some friends of his from his class.
****
"I wish some nice, handsome guy would come ask me to dance," Yuko sighed
while sipping on some punch.
"You aren't the only one," Ayame sighed. "A nice, handsome sophisticated guy."
"Like a High School boy!" Yuko smiled dreamily.
"We should not get our hopes up too high," Ayame said. "What are the chances of a High School boy coming over here and asking us to dance with them?"
"A zillion to one!" Yuko sighed.
"There they go! There they go!" Chinatsu said while pulling on Yuko's sleeve.
"What, you saw some cute boys?!?" Yuko asked while looking all over the place to see what Chinatsu was talking about.
"Where?" Ayame asked, looking around as well.
"No, something better and amusing!"
The other two girls laughed when they saw what Chinatsu was pointing to.
"Oh my gosh!" Yuko said while staring. "Look at Yuuji-kun! He is actually carrying around an autoharp!"
"Oh man, and his hair is a total mess!" Ayame said while taking shots with her Digital Camera.
"Not as messed up looking as Tomokazu!" Chinatsu said. "He is here too!"
Seki's hair was all over his head and he was wearing a pair of glasses, which looked a bit broken, along with a pair of square goggles.
"We specifically said round," Yuko snickered.
"I see Takamatsu and Hashimoto now," Ayame said while snapping photos with her digital camera.
Misao had a briefcase, wild hair, glasses, and wore a pair of round goggles, but they weren't blue. They were those small black ones that everyone could possibly get. Ukyo had a toy computer laptop, blue glasses, wild hair, no goggles or autoharp. Ayame got as many photos of them as possible. The four then ended up walking towards the three snickering girls. Seeing them walking over, Ayame slipped her camera back into her purse.
"Where is Mimi?" Seki asked.
"Mimi," Ukyo called, "I dressed up for you!"
"Why don't you guys just back off!" Misao told his three friends. "We all know Mimi-chan likes me best and she will like me even more once she gets a look at me."
"Get real!" Ukyo argued. "I'm the one with the laptop and the glasses!"
"But I have the autoharp!"
"It is so obvious that my dear Mimi-chan likes sophisticated looking men," Misao said.
"No way, I'm the real man around here!" Yuuji retorted.
"I'm the one with the briefcase!" Misao pointed out.
"So!" Seki shouted at the two.
"Calm down, boys," Ayame sweat dropped.
The four stopped arguing with one another and turned towards them, shouting, "Where is Mimi-chan!"
"We haven't seen her," Yuko told them.
"What!?" the four asked in unison.
"There is a chance that she might not even show up," Chinatsu told them.
"Yeah, she had to go out of town with Izu---ooph," Yuko started, getting elbowed in the side by Ayame in the process.
"Um, like Chinatsu-chan said, there is a chance that Mimi-chan might not even show," Ayame said, finishing up what Yuko had started.
All four boys face faulted.
"Stop worrying," Yuko smiled at the four. "There is a chance that she may show up later. That is what she told us."
"For the sake of Mimi-chan, I hope she doesn't show!" Ayame whisperred to her two friends.
"I know what you mean," Yuko agreed. "I wouldn't want her to see how pathetic these four are being!"
"I didn't even think that they would actually go through with dressing up!" Ayame said.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Yuko agreed.
"How do you think Mimi-chan would react, though?" Chinatsu asked.
"She would probably giggle all cute and sweet like, like she always does, which makes the boys melt. I wish I had that power"
Chinatsu and Ayame laughed. After the four boys left them alone--actually, stopped harassing them for information on the where-a-bouts of Mimi--Yuko saw someone walk in with a couple of friends.
"Oh my gosh!" Yuko said, hearts in her eyes. "Who is that handsome boy that just walked in with the friend of Mimi-chan...that Kido guy!"
Her other two companions looked and saw who she was referring to.
"He's cute!" the two said.
The person to show up with Jou and his friend, Malissa, was Eijiro.
"Do you think you can go one party without hitting on a girl?" Jou asked his friend.
"Let me think about that for a moment," Eijiro said while acting as if he were in deep thought. "No!"
"Why am I not surprised," Jou muttered.
"You actually expect me to?" Eijiro asked Jou in surprise. "How can I, especially when there are a lot of cute girls around here, like that friend of yours I met the other night!"
"C'mon, Malissa," Jou said while shaking his head. "Who knows what is going to happen with him with all of these girls around."
Malissa laughed and nodded, walking off with Jou to get some refreshments.
The party went on all day, Mimi not showing up at all. Mimi's admirers stuck around for the entire party, of course, still dressed the way Ayame, Chinatsu, and Yuko had tricked them into dressing as. Ayame got plenty of photos of them to show Mimi later on. When not taking photos, the girls were having a blast just hanging out with their other friends and they were approached by some first year boys from Odaiba High.
Eijiro, of course, was approached by almost all of the girls at the party, all of which were drooling over him. Malissa spent all of her time with Jou, mainly because she didn't really no anyone other than Jou and the ones she had been introduced to at the karaoke bar. Sora and Taichi may have invited a lot of people, but they were all from public schools. Jou, Malissa, and Eijiro all went to a private school.
After the party was over, Miyako was talking with both Sora and Taichi.
"This sure was a great party!" Miyako complimented. "The band was great, the food was good, and this club was perfect for it!"
"Was there any doubt with me being the second planner of it?" Taichi asked while blowing his nails.
"Thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done without you," Sora responded sarcastically, yet playfully.
"Too bad you couldn't throw it at night," Taichi said.
"You know I would have if I had only invited Junior High and High school kids, but we had some Elementary ones here too."
"Those are just minor details," Taichi smirked. "Speaking of kids, where is Hikari?"
"I saw her talking with some guys, but she left them and went along with Daisuke," Miyako told him.
"I don't like all of these guys hanging around my sister!"
"You have to face facts, Taichi," Sora smiled at him gently. "Your baby sister is growing up. She is going to be in Junior High after this term is up."
"I still don't like it," he muttered with his arms crossed. He decided to calm down a bit and to worry about Hikari later. "So, um, Sora, want me to walk you home or something?"
"No thanks," the girl said while picking up some papers. "I'm going to hang around here a little while longer."
"Okay," Taichi said, quite dissapointed. "Well, I better get going and just to let you know, I am planning on throwing a big graduation party next weekend. At night!"
"If you are worried about Hikari-chan with boys hanging around her at a day party, what makes you think that it would be any better at night?" Sora laughed.
"You make a very good point." He thinks for a moment. "I know, no children allowed!"
"Like that's going to work!" Sora said while sitting her hand on her hip. "They would still find a way to come to the party, unless your mother says Hikari-chan can't."
"You like to ruin my fun, don't you?" Taichi asked with a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, I find it quite fun," Sora playfully smiled.
Taichi stuck his tongue out at Sora, who laughed at how playful he was acting.
"Well, I'm out of here. I might as well get home and find something to do with my evening since this party was thrown so early in the day," he said while heading towardst he door. "Hey, I know! Since Mimi never showed up, why don't we get her and go out to a nice teen hangout."
"I don't know..." Miyako started.
"Aww, c'mon! It'll give us something to do. I have hours left until my curfew."
"It doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Sora said.
"And if Miyako and the others can't make it, we can go, Sora," he said a bit nervously.
"I guess so," Sora shrugged. "I'll give you a call later and let you know what's up."
"Okay. See you all later."
"Strange about Mimi-oneesama," Miyako said after Taichi left. "Do you think their trip to Hikarigaoka took them longer than they anticipated?"
"It must have. Mimi-chan never misses a party."
"Yeah, I know and this was one of the best ones. There was a really good turnout."
"Yeah, but I still wish she would have come."
"Yeah, I know. Yamato-san was asking about her a lot I noticed. He kept asking if anyone had seen her every chance he got."
"Hey, why don't we go over to her place and see how she's doing?"
"Good idea and while we are there, we can tell her about the invite of Taichi-san," Miyako added. "We can also tell her all about the party and I can finally find out what's wrong with Izumi-senpai!"
Sora laughed at Miyako's nosiness.
"Hey, I want to know!" Miyako said.
"No kidding!"
With that, the two girls walked off, about to catch a ride to Mimi's place, but was distracted. When they walked outside, they found Taichi standing with Yamato, Ken, and an exasperated Takeru. The four had been talking.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Miyako asked. "I thought Sora-san and me were the only ones still around."
"Takaishi was looking for Hikari-san and we were trying to figure out where she could have gone," Ken explained.
"Why?" Sora asked.
"She left with Daisuke-kun and she didn't even tell me!"
"Aren't you guys over reacting?" Miyako asked. "What is wrong with her leaving with Daisuke?"
"I don't know!" Takeru replied in an exasperated manner. "I mean, we all came together, we should all leave together!"
"I guess he is upset because she didn't let him know that she was leaving with Motomiya," Ken said.
"Maybe they wanted to be alone," Miyako joked.
"C'mon, Miyako-san! This is not funny!" Takeru said.
"Sorry...sheesh!" the girl apologized.
"Did you four geniuses try looking at home for them?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, they left hours ago," Miyako recalled. "They left round about the same time Ken-kun and I saw Iori leave."
"That's what I told him," Ken said.
"They probably got bored and left, like Iori-kun and his friends did," Sora said.
"Oh yeah, didn't think of that," Takeru said with a nervous laugh.
"I'm surprised at you for not thinking of that first!" Sora scolded.
"C'mon," Miyako urged. "We better hurry up if we want to get over to the Nishimura's."
"Any idea why she didn't show up?" Yamato asked.
"Yeah, a little," Miyako said. "She had to go out of town today."
"I guess she didn't make it back in time," Sora said.
"Yeah, if Mimi-oneesama misses a party, she has to have a good reason!"
With that, Sora and Miyako left the four boys to go over to Mimi's house...
****
Earlier that day at the party...
"Takeru-kun, where are you running off to?" Hikari asked.
"I was just going to go over some plays with a couple of the guys," Takeru explained. "I promised them that I would. You do not mind, do you?"
"I was hoping that you could hang around here with me for a while."
"We have been here together since we walked in the door," Takeru smiled.
"That is true. Go on ahead."
With that, Takeru left to go meet up with the basketball buddies that he had promised to meet at the party.
"I shouldn't be upset," Hikari said to herself. "They are his friends, afterall, but he promised to hang out with me too. He is always so concerned about the team just because he is the star player and team captain." She smiled a bit, but sighed. "Well, he is kindhearted and a promise is a promise."
A bunch of boys approached Hikari since Takeru had left. People had always just assumed that he and Hikari were an item since they were such good friends. The boys were hitting on her pretty much. Hikari didn't like all of the attention and she was starting to get a terrible headache since she was so annoyed with the boys as of the moment.
She went and found herself a place to sit. She found Iori there as well with a friend of his. A girl about his age with messy, yet pretty hair and a few other kids his age talking.
"Hikari-san..."
"Hi, Iori-kun," Hikari greeted.
"Who is that?" the girl with the messy, pretty hair asked.
"Eiji-san, Ikue-san, Shiko-san, Murai-san, Narumi-san, this is Yagami Hikari. She is an upperclassman and she is about to graduate to Odaiba Junior High."
"Cool!" the five said.
"Is something wrong, Hikari-san?" Iori asked.
"No, not really. I'm just a bit tired."
"There really isn't much to do," Iori complained. "I probably won't be here much longer myself."
"Yeah," Iori's friend Narumi said. "We're going to be leaving pretty soon and I don't mind leaving. We can head on back to my place! We can watch movies and stuff."
"Cool!" the others said, minus the girl with the messy, pretty hair.
The skinny, energetic girl beside Iori stood up.
"No way!" the girl named Eiji protested. "We can go out in the woods to our secret clubhouse! I am in the mood for climbing anyway."
A dark haired, chubby boy spoke up next agreeing with Eiji.
"Yeah and then we can go hiking!" Shiko added.
Another boy spoke up also agreeing with the two. He was a slim, black haired boy and a bit tall. His name was Murai.
"And we can go fishing in the creek nearby!" Murai added.
"And go swimming!" Eiji said.
A petite-sized girl with long, wavy red hair spoke up next. She was very plain and ordinary looking just like Eiji, the only difference being the hair colors. Eiji looked plain in every way, her messy, yet pretty aqua-colored hair included. Instead of wearing it straight down like most of the girls in her class, she had her hair tied back into a single, semi messy ponytail.
"Yeah, that does sound like fun!" Ikue agreed. "This is the perfect day to go hiking and swimming."
The other girl that had suggested they go to her home shook her head with her long, beautiful brown hair flowing down her back which matched her clear, brown eyes.
"No way!" Narumi objected. "Eiji, you are such a tomboy! I do not want to mess up my beautiful dress and what about my hair? If I go swimming, it will become a total mess! Doing those things are so unlady like."
"Aww, Narumi, lighten up!" Murai said. "We want to go to our clubhouse and have fun!"
"Yeah, this party is cool and all, but I'm getting bored hanging around with all these older kids," Shiko said.
"Ever since you spent the summer with your older sister you've been acting all prissy like," Ikue complained.
"And boring!" Murai added on.
"What have they done to you!" Eiji asked in alarm. "You are turning into a model like her!"
"Hey, I just feel that it is time for us to grow up and start acting like young men and young women!"
"But we are children!" Eiji argued. "We are supposed to have fun and play!"
"Yeah, we are still ten years old," Shiko pointed out.
"Hey, Iori hasn't said anything," Murai said. "What do you think we should do?"
"Well, um, I'm not so sure," Iori said bashfully.
"C'mon, Iori-kun!" Eiji urged. "We know you like to swim and hike!"
"It does sound like a lot of fun and we haven't used our old clubhouse since our last holiday, but it was still too cold to swim then."
"All in favor of going swimming and hiking, raise your hands!" Eiji said.
Everyone, minus Narumi, raised their hands.
"All opposed of going and would rather sit around the house and watch television and boring movies, raise your hand."
Narumi raised her hand stubbornly.
"Okay Narumi, it's five to one!" Eiji said. "We win! So, are you coming with us, or are you going to go home and watch movies on such a beautiful day?"
"Okay, okay, I'll go, but I'm not going to promise you that I will have any fun!"
"Okay everyone, go and get all of your things, fishing poles, swimsuits, whatever and bring them to our secret spot!" Eiji instructed.
"Hey, why don't we just camp out!" Ikue suggested.
"You know we can't because it is a school night," Iori reminded her.
"How about next weekend we camp out?" Shiko asked.
"Yeah!" Eiji cheered. "I love camping!"
Narumi frowned. She hated doing "boyish" type things, well ever since last summer anyway.
"I bet Narumi wouldn't want to come, her being an 'adult,'" Eiji said while giving Narumi a look.
"I, of course, will come! I may be a sophisticated young lady, but I can handle one camping trip."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," Eiji said, ignoring her. "Let's go guys! We still have the rest of the day!"
Hikari got up from the table and left them in discussion. The same boys followed her that always found her cute. She was tempted to go and tell her brother about these boys, but she saw that he was busy having his own fun and decided against it. She really wished that Takeru was still with her, but he was still busy with his own friends.
She decided to do the one thing she could do...be rude and tell them that she wasn't interested. She knew that the normality was to just ignore those that bothered you in some way to show that you aren't interested, but she couldn't take it.
"Please, leave me alone," the girl said as nice as can be. "I am really not in the mood to dance or anything."
"Aww, c'mon Hikari, just one dance!" one of the boys said. "You are way too beautiful to hang around and not dance."
"Please, I really do not want to!"
Before either of the boys could respond, they heard someone say, "Didn't you hear her, she doesn't want to be bothered."
"Motomiya," one of the boys said.
"The one and only!" he smiled. "Now why don't you all just leave her alone..."
"Sorry," the second boy said. "We just hate to see you hanging around doing nothing."
"Believe me, I do not mind," Hikari said.
The boys walked off.
"Thank you! I thought they would never leave me alone. I know they mean well, but I am just not in the mood to party right now."
"Yeah, some people just don't get it."
"Like you," Hikari joked with a giggle.
"Hey, I was just a kid back then," he said with a nervous smile, turning a bit red.
Hikari left Daisuke and went back to sit down. She felt annoyed and a bit stressed. She saw Daisuke walk off with some other girls and boys from their class, talking with them, laughing, and having fun. One thing she noticed about Daisuke was that he could always find a way to have fun and make people around him happy.
Hikari then saw Takeru laughing and having a good time with his basketball buddies. For some odd reason, it made her upset. It had been a long time since Takeru had carried on like that with her. Their conversations were always quite serious, not at all playful. Takeru was a nice boy and a great friend, but he wasn't as playful around her like he was with other people. It was nice that Takeru was so serious and mature, but it isn't good to be that way all of the time. She couldn't even recall a time where Takeru had even made her laugh, not recently anyway.
The two were a lot alike and at times she found herself getting a bit bored with Takeru because of their many similarities, but she was still a bit drawn to him. She did have a slight crush on him afterall. Unlike Daisuke, Takeru wasn't so persistent with trying to get with her, but like Daisuke had said earlier, he was just a kid back then. Daisuke didn't really act like that anymore, but he was still his same playful, hyper self and his crush on Hikari was still pretty much an obvious thing noticed by others.
The girl then got up. She was fed up with this party. She was starting to grow bored with it, especially since most of her female friends were off with other guys and her guy friends were busy talking with other people and her DD friends were off doing their thing.
"I don't feel so well," the girl said to herself while holding her head.
The girl was going to go and get Takeru, but someone else caught her eye.
"Daisuke-kun..." she uttered weakly.
He was dancing with a girl from their class that was a pretty good friend of his. The song Yamato's band was playing was a fast one, so of course Daisuke would be on the floor dancing. You would never catch him dancing to a slow song. "Too boring" he would say.
A couple of other guys showed up and started talking with him and the girl. They were all good buddies of his and Hikari recognized all of them. They were all in the same class as them. Hikari walked up to the group and smiled weakly to them.
"Hi," everyone greeted her.
She said "hi" plainly back.
The short dark-haired girl Daisuke had been dancing with noticed Hikari's somber look. Her name was Romi.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I am fine."
Another girl that they all knew quite well spoke up, looking around. She had her hair all fancy like, mainly because she knew High Schoolers were going to be at the party and she wanted to show off for them of course, which was no surprise to Hikari since this girl was always like that. Her name was Tara.
"Hey, where is Takeru-kun?!?" she asked.
Another girl walked up to the group after hearing Takeru's name. This girl was well known in their class and it was very obvious that this girl had a thing for Takeru, just like the majority of the girls of their class. Her name was Shige.
"Ooh! I am going to see if he can dance with me!"
That girl ran off in search of Takeru. Hikari just rolled her eyes a bit and held her head.
"Hikari-chan?" Daisuke asked while looking over at her.
"I have a bit of headache," she told him. "I think I should go home."
"I could walk you home if you would like."
"That's okay..."
"Nah, I don't mind," Daisuke said, getting a determined look on his face. "Let's go."
Hikari didn't argue and accepted the young soccer player's offer.
"Hey, do you want to go get Takeru?"
"No, that's okay. He's busy right now..."
"Hey, Motomiya, are you still on for that game this evening?" a boy called to him.
"I'll let you know later, okay?"
"Okay, cya."
The two walked out, a little while after Iori and his group left.
"Thank you for walking me home, Daisuke-kun."
"No problem."
"But what about your friends?"
"Don't worry about them. You said you weren't feeling well, so I decided to walk you home."
"Arigatou," the girl smiled weakly.
During the walk, Daisuke kept cracking and making jokes, which made Hikari smile and laugh, forgetting all about her headache.
"Thank you for cheering me up."
"No problemo!" he winked.
"I feel much better now."
"Glad to hear it," Daisuke said while stuffing his hands into his pocket during their walk.
It was a really nice day and the slow walk seemed to bore Daisuke, to Hikari anyway. She knew that he would rather be at the party than walking her home.
"I'm sorry," the girl apologized.
"What for?" he asked in surprise.
"For ruining your fun at the party. I hate to be a burden on anyone"
"You didn't ruin it and you aren't a burden. I don't mind the walk."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive!" he smiled.
"He sure has matured since we were younger. I can't put my finger on why I think so, but he has. It's like he's matured, yet he's still playful and outgoing and optimistic," Hikari said to herself. "Instead of going straight home, why don't we go out someplace instead?"
"Like where?"
"I dunno, a movie, or the arcade, or something like that."
"Sure! I don't mind! Glad I have some extra cash on me," he said with a big smile. "There is this new arcade game that just came out that I am just dying to try out!!"
Hikari wasn't the type to play video games, but she knew that Daisuke was, which is why she mentioned it.
"Let's go!"
The two walked towards the Odaiba Cinaplex to catch a movie and then
go to the arcade later since it was nearby...
****
The Nishimura home...
"I hope we didn't waste our time coming over here," Sora said.
"Yeah, I hope she's back," Miyako said, ringing the doorbell.
The two heard a young voice asking, "Who is it?"
"It is Sora-san and I."
The doorknob turned and there stood Isako.
"Miya-chan, Sora-chan!" the girl exclaimed, hugging the both of them.
"Hi there, Isako-chan," Sora greeted. "Is Mimi-chan home?"
An older woman came to the door before Isako could respond. It was Isako's mother.
"Konban wa, Nishimura-san," both girls greeted.
"Hi girls, c'mon in," she told them.
Sora shut the door behind her, asking, "Is Mimi-chan around?"
"Yeah, but she has locked herself in her room," Sué said sadly. "She seems very depressed."
"Depressed?!?" the two asked.
"Neechan is sad about something."
"Uh-oh, something must have happened with Izumi-senpai."
The reddish, blonde-haired girl nodded in agreement.
"I don't know what to do with her. We came home and found her that way," Sué said, still a bit upset over the situation. "When we first got here, she was in the bath and seemed to stay there for a long time. I kept asking her what was wrong, but she insisted that it was nothing, but I know she is lying. I could tell by her voice that she was trying not to cry."
"This is serious," Sora said, a bit worried. "Mimi-chan isn't the type to get really upset over something unless death is involved."
"I'm going to give her mother a call to see if she have any suggestions. She is her mother afterall and she would know how to handle Mimi better than me or Kichibei would." Sué turned towards her daughter, who was pretty quiet as of the moment since she couldn't really contribute to their conversation. "Isako, go tell Mimi that her friends are here."
"Okay."
"Maybe you two can cheer her up since you seem to be close friends of hers."
"I hope she's okay."
"I just hope we can cheer her up from whatever it is that's making her sad," Sora said.
"I sure hope so," Sué said. "A few of her other friends called here earlier looking for her, but Mimi refused to talk to them."
"Probably because she missed my party today. It isn't like her to miss a party."
"Yeah, she's always the life of it!"
****
The girl ran off to Mimi's room and knocked on the door.
"Neechan, Sora-chan and Miya-chan are here!"
The tanned haired girl sat up and rubbed her eyes which were obviously filled with tears. She didn't feel like talking to anyone as of the moment.
"Um, Isako-chan, I am not feeling too well."
The girl kept begging Mimi to come out, but the response was the same.
She didn't feel like being bothered. The girl frowned and left to go and
tell the others her news...
****
"Is she going to come down?" her mother asked.
Isako shook her head.
"First Kou-chan is sad, now Mimi-chan is sad."
"Isako, go on with your father and have him fix you something to eat. I'm going to call my brother and see if Satoe is around to give me some advice on her daughter."
"We better get going ourselves," Sora said.
"Yeah, we'll catch you later."
With that, the two girls left the big house.
"How can one trip mess her up like that?" Miyako asked.
"I don't know, but I say we go pay Koushirou-kun a visit. He should know what's going on."
"Definitely!"
When the two got to the Izumi home, they saw a Police motorcycle parked in front of the apartment complex. The two didn't think anything of it and figured that someone had called a cop for something trivial, like a lost puppy.
They were surprised to find a young female cop on her way out of the Izumi's apartment when they were just about to knock on the door. The woman smiled at them and left.
"Remember, anonymous!" Koushirou shouted to the cop. "Keep us anonymous! Make sure they remember that!"
The lady nodded and left. Both Sora and Miyako gave Koushirou a questioning look.
"Yes, that was a cop," Koushirou told the two irritably.
"No kidding," Sora muttered sarcastically.
"They finally caught you!" Miyako joked. "They finally caught you hacking into secret government files!"
Both girls laughed, but Koushirou didn't find anything they said funny at all. Miyako knew that whenever she joked about that, Koushirou would just laugh along. He never denied it, which always made her a tad bit suspicious of him, but she always dismissed it. She was expecting him to say something like, "Not so loud, they may hear you!"
"Oh-kay," Miyako said slowly, stopping her laughing abruptly and feeling a bit uneasy.
"Hey, where are your parents?" Sora asked as she entered the Izumi apartment.
"Out," Koushirou said, growing slightly annoyed. "Is there something you need?"
"Hey, don't get all cranky," Miyako said, walking in behind Sora. "We are here because of Mimi-oneesama, and while we're at it, we want to know what the deal with the cop was!"
"What is going on with the cop is none of your business, and if you want to know what is wrong with Mimi-san, ask her."
"We just came from over there and she is a wreck!" Sora explained. "What did you do to her!"
"Nothing!" the boy nearly shouted at them from the accusation. "I didn't do a damn thing to her!"
"Why are you acting so mean to us?" Miyako asked, surprised with the way Koushirou was acting. "We're just concerned about her and she won't even talk to us!"
"Then don't expect anything more from me!" he snapped at her.
The boy sat down and frowned.
"I'm sorry, you two. I'm just a bit edgy right now."
The two sat down across from Koushirou.
"How come?" Sora asked.
"I can't say, I'm sorry," he said quietly. "If Mimi-san does not wish to discuss it, then I really shouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to her."
"Did something happen in Hikarigaoka?"
Koushirou gave Sora a look and asked her, "How did you know about Hikarigaoka?"
"Mimi-oneesama told us that she was going with you today, but didn't really tell us much more other than that."
"So, did something bad happen in Hikarigaoka?" Sora asked again.
"No, something almost happened here in Odaiba when we got back," he told them. "What if I would not have made it in time?" he muttered to himself in worry.
The two girls had looks of confusion on their faces. They didn't understand what he was talking about, which made the two girls even more curious as to what had happened. Before they could ask anything else, Mr. & Mrs. Izumi walked in.
"Hi, welcome back," Koushirou said as if nothing was wrong.
"Hi there son," Mr. Izumi greeted. "Hi there Miyako, Sora."
"Good evening Mr. & Mrs. Izumi," both girls greeted back.
"How was your study date at Taichi's?" Mrs. Izumi asked while hanging her jacket up in the hall closet.
"Study date at Taichi's?" Sora asked herelf. "What is she talking about?"
Koushirou noticed the looks that both Sora and Miyako had and felt that it would've been wise to get them out before they got him into trouble.
"Um, we studied a lot, yes we did!" Koushirou said nervously. "I'm sure that I will ace whatever exam that my instructors throw at me!"
"I am sure all of that studying you all did worked up an appetite. Would you like some of the homemade cookies I baked last night?" Mrs. Izumi offered.
Before the two girls could make a peep, Koushirou spoke up.
"Aww, mom, we're all tired from studying and what we need is rest." He then turned to both Sora and Miyako. "Well, you two better get going. It's getting late and it is a school night afterall."
The two got the hint and left. Koushirou gave them an apologetic look and mouthed out "gomen nasai" before he shut the door.
"He's hiding something," Sora said.
"Why did he lie and say he was at the Yagami's all day if he was really in Hikarigaoka?"
"Good question. My assumption is that maybe he didn't want his folks to know that he was going to spend the day in Hikarigaoka, but that doesn't make sense since the Nishimuras knew about Mimi-chan going to Hikarigaoka today."
"Maybe the Izumis don't like their only son to go traveling to other cities all by his wittle self," Miyako joked.
"Quit teasing," Sora laughed, finding the concept amusing. "Maybe we should just go home. Maybe one of us can get Mimi-chan to talk tomorrow in school."
"Yeah, maybe you're right, but I still don't like what's going on."
"I don't like it any better than you do, but there isn't much more we can do. Something obviously happened with Mimi-chan and Koushirou-kun is covering for her since she didn't mention it herself."
"I hate secrets!" Miyako complained. "I consider both Mimi-oneesama and Izumi-senpai to be my best friends; my mentors and here they are keeping a big secret away from me!"
"We could try to figure this out on our own."
"So far, all we know is that whatever happened, happened when they got back here to Odaiba."
"That sure tells us a lot," Sora muttered sarcastically.
"We are at a dead end already and we just started!"
"It would help if we knew why Koushirou-kun went to Hikarigaoaka in the first place. That could clue us in as to what all of this is about."
"The only way to find that out is if we ask him and I have this feeling that he wouldn't tell us. Oneesama didn't even know why."
"I guess it's back to our original plan."
"Try to get it out of her tomorrow," Miyako sighed.
The two girls took off for home seeing as how there wasn't much else
they could do in reference to finding out what had happened with Mimi and
Koushirou...
****
Back in the Izumi home...
"You didn't have to rush them off so fast," Mr. Izumi said after Koushirou shut the front door.
"It's okay," he said. "They were just leaving anyway."
The two shrugged as they watched Koushirou go to his room and shut the door. He sat down on the bed, holding his head in his hands, sighing.
"She is worse off than I thought! God, why do I feel this need to go over and help her? What good is that going to do, though? She obviously doesn't want any help. I really need to talk to Mimi-san about what happened today. It's really starting to bother me now, more than what it did earlier. Sure it bothered me, but it's like reality is starting to set in more now. For some reason, I am starting to feel guilty over what happened."
The boy lifted his head and punched the pillow on his bed in anger.
"I should have never gone there to begin with!" he frowned as he punched the pillow harder to release his anger and sadness. "Why do people like that exist!?! Why do filthy, disgusting bastards like that creep exist in this world? Why..."
