The ending was cute. Koushirou had fallen asleep and Mimi was playfully stacking books on his head for one part of it. lol It would have been nice to see Mimi interact with the other Chosens other than Koushirou, Hikari, and Takeru. Okay, she didn't really talk with Hikari and Takeru much either.
My favorite part was the little stuff dealing with Jou trying to get transportation for Ken and Daisuke. I wonder if he got that girl's phone number after he chased her down for her bike. lol
Let's see, Hikari was with Takeru battling Diablomon on the net along with Taichi and Yamato, Iori was with Miyako, Ken was with Daisuke, Jou was by himself, Sora was out of town and was trying to get back to Odaiba, and Mimi was on her way to Odaiba on the plane from America. She showed up and stayed with Koushirou, Hikari and Takeru comes back later and stays with Koushirou and Mimi, Sora meets up with Taichi and Yamato, and Jou meets up with Daisuke and Ken.
Oh, I apologize for the length of
this part. I notice that whenever I mention something about school
and the other students in school, the part ends up a tad bit lengthy.
Hope you guys don't mind a bit of reading. Never mind all of that
though. Back to the fic. I do not own anything dealing with
Digimon, period.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
It was the next day and everyone was in school. Sora had called Taichi the previous night and let him know that going out was off her list of things to do. Right now, everyone was already in class and half the day had already gone by. It was almost time for Koushirou's lunch break.
Their teacher dismissed them and everyone went off to lunch. Koushirou personally wasn't in the mood to eat and went to the computer lab. He was still depressed over what had happened to Mimi the previous day. He felt responsible, pretty much. He just felt that his lack of paying attention to Mimi was the cause of her almost being attacked. He was so concerned about himself and a "stupid school building" to notice what was going on.
"How could I have missed all of the signs!" Koushirou asked himself. "That old guy was hitting on her the entire time we were there and it was obvious that he was way too old for her!"
Koushirou noticed that Mimi wasn't
as outgoing as she had been before the trip. She was very quiet during
their classes, he had noticed. Not one of their teachers had to tell
Mimi to quiet down for talking too much. That right there proved
to him that Mimi was still upset.
****
Back in the cafeteria...
"Oh, and this one is the funniest!" Yuko said while pointing to a photo. "Look at his hair! Yuuji-kun looked hilarious and he was literally going to stand on his head and play the autoharp for you!"
"How, we don't know!" Ayame said.
Chinatsu and Ayame laughed at the photos, expecting Mimi to laugh along with them, but she didn't even crack a smile.
"Mimi-chan?" Ayame asked in concern.
"Oh, I am sorry," she apologized. She then forced on a smile and looked at the photo. "My, Yuuji-kun looks quite funny."
The three girls figured that something was wrong with Mimi. All three of them had tried calling Mimi the previous night, but her aunt had told each one of them that Mimi wasn't in the mood to talk.
"What's wrong, Mimi-chan?" Chinatsu asked. "You never told us about your trip to Hikarigaoka with Izumi yesterday."
When the girls had visited Mimi with Miyako and Hikari, she told them that she was going to Hikarigaoka with Koushirou for their history project.
"It was fine," the girl responded somberly, as if her mind was elsewhere. "It is a beautiful city."
The girls shrugged and turned away from her for a moment to discuss Mimi's current state.
"So, what do you think?" Chinatsu asked.
"I don't know, but it's not like her to act like this."
"I know, I know!" Yuko said. "She told Izumi that she was madly in love with him, but he didn't return her feelings and he literally sees her as a friend--we all know that Izumi has no interest in girls what-so-ever and only likes computers--and now whenever she goes to Hikarigaoka or thinks of Hikarigaoka, she will only feel heartache and pain."
The other two girls gave her a look.
"Sorry for being a hopeless romantic," Yuko smiled.
"Hopeless is right," Ayame muttered.
"What are you three doing?"
"Nothing," Yuko said, turning her attention back to Mimi.
"We were just planning on what we are going to do our last day of school and what to do for our Spring Break," Ayame said.
"Other than our having to go to the Senior Graduation during school that day," Chinatsu added on.
"This is our last week as eighth graders!" Yuko cheered. "Aren't you excited?"
"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" Mimi asked unenthusiastically.
"I don't know, maybe it's because you haven't had a decent smile all day!" Yuko pointed out. "What did Izumi do to you to cause you to miss the party yesterday and to upset you so much?"
"He didn't do anything!" Mimi told her friend, upset at the accusation. "He is a great friend!" she said as she stood up.
The girl then left and went to the restroom to try and calm herself, leaving her friends with bewildered looks upon their faces.
"I wonder what is with her," Chinatsu said.
"Izumi must have done something and she's just covering for him," Yuko said.
"Come on, Mimi-chan is a good judge of character and Izumi is a decent person," Ayame said.
"Who knows how he is when one is alone with him! He may have lots of faults that no one else knows of or he may actually be some kind of an animal!"
The other two looked at Yuko and shook their heads.
"Okay, like I said, I like a good scandal every once in a while."
The three continued their conversation
about Koushirou and Mimi's trip,
not realizing that their conversation was being listened to...
****
In the computer lab, Koushirou was
on the computer, looking for some information...
"Since going back to Odaiba Univeersity is out, unless I go by myself, I'll just check out their webpage. I wouldn't want to put Mimi-chan through the trauma of actually going back," he said to himself as he typed out the webpage address. When the page loaded, he shouted out, "Prodigious! That didn't take long at all..."
Right at that moment, Koushirou heard four angered voices.
"Hold it, Izumi!" the first voice said.
"I knew we would find him here," the second responded.
"We want some answers," the third person demanded.
"And we want them now!"
Koushirou got up, startled, and saw four angry looking boys staring at him.
"Takamatsu-san, Ueda-san, Tomokazu-san, Hashimoto-san?"
"What did you do to Mimi-chan!" Misao ordered.
"We know that you're the reason she missed Takenouchi's party yesterday and she was all happy this past Saturday before the party according to...um, our three sources we so happened to overhear at lunch."
Seki rolled his eyes at his cousin for the statement he had made.
"Way to go Einstein for giving out too much information!" Seki told him. "Those three would kill us if they knew we were eavesdropping!"
"If you do not tell us what you did to poor Mimi-chan, who hasn't smiled once today, we will find a way to get it out of you!" Ukyo threatened.
The other three boys nodded in agreement. They really hated to see Mimi get upset over anything and always try to find the source of the problem to try and fix it, but it had never come up before since it was rare that Mimi was ever really upset about anything. She was always happy and outgoing whenever in school and around her friends.
"I don't know what you four are talking about!"
"Stop your lying!" Yuuji told him. "We know you did something to upset Mimi-chan yesterday!"
"She has been sad all day!" Ukyo added.
Koushirou stood his ground. He was growing rather annoyed with all four of them.
"I am not going to tell you four anything!"
"Don't make us beat a confession out of you!"
Koushirou was surprised at the threat that Misao had just given him. He didn't think of Misao as the violent type, the other three either.
"I told you that I didn't do anything to her! We were working on our school project yesterday, now if you will excuse me, I have more work to do if I want to get a decent passing grade!"
The boy sat back down on the computer until he felt his collar being pulled, forcing him to stand back up. The one to pull him back up was Misao who was a tad bit bigger than he was.
"You don't work until you tell us what you did to Mimi-chan!"
"No!" Koushirou shouted at Misao. "I said I didn't do anything to her for the millionth time!"
Misao pulled his free hand back and bawled it up into a fist.
"I'm sorry to have to do this, Izumi, but we gave you lots of chances to cooperate and you just ran out of them."
Yuuji, Seki, and Ukyo were surprised. They didn't really expect Misao to try and hit Koushirou. They figured that he was bluffing, like they were.
"Um, Misao, I don't think that you should..."
"Quiet, Ukyo!" Misao said, putting his full attention back on Koushirou. "I am getting a confession out of you whether you want to give us one or not!"
Koushirou closed his eyes, awaiting the punch until they heard a voice shout out, "Stop!" Misao stopped his punch in mid air and turned to see who it was that had yelled to stop, hoping that it wasn't a teacher or even worse, their principal. The other three boys looked back as well and Koushirou opened his eyes to see a very angered looking Mimi with her hands on her hips.
"How dare you! What are you four doing!?!"
Misao quickly released Koushirou's collar and laughed nervously. By him releasing Koushirou's collar, it made him fall to the floor, but he picked himself up rather quickly.
"I'm waiting!" the girl demanded while tapping her foot angrily.
"We were just having ourselves a little fun," Misao said with a nervous laugh.
"It didn't look that way to me! I heard you threatening him before I came in here! How dare you four invade my personal life!"
"Mimi-chan, please!" Seki begged. "Don't be mad at us! It was all Misao's idea!"
"Yeah," Ukyo added, defending himself. "We just went along with him!"
"We didn't even know he was really going to hit Izumi! We just thought he was bluffing! We were! We just wanted to scare the information out of him!"
"When are you going to learn how to shutup!" Seki asked Yuuji in annoyance.
"Oops," he said with a nervous laugh.
"Who said I was going to really hit him! I don't fight! I was just going to scare him!"
"You four, just go, will you? Please?"
The four boys frowned, realizing that they had made a mistake threatening Koushirou, even if they were all empty threats. They left, so Mimi and Koushirou thought. They were listening through the door.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Koushirou said while brushing himself off. He then looked over at Mimi. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I was looking for you. I was wondering when we could go back to Odaiba University and Tokyo U. We are running out of time."
"You actually want to go after...after what happened yesterday?"
The girl nodded.
"Nothing happened," the girl said with no emotion.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, really," she told him. She then gave herself a bit of a pep talk. "I have to be strong for Koushirou and have to get over this. Nothing happened and that's all that matters. I can't walk around sad all day long! The man is behind bars and he will not be attacking or killing any other girls."
Even though Mimi said that she was okay, Koushirou didn't really believe her.
"Mimi-san, you really don't have to go if you do not want to and under the circumstances, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't."
"I am going and that is final; whether you want me to or not!" Mimi said in annoyance. "I do not have to worry and I want to go..."
"But the quickest way there is by taxi from here."
"So, nothing wrong with taking a taxi cab," Mimi said, trying her best to act as if nothing were bothering her. "No sir," she said, her voice starting to quiver, "there is nothing wrong with a taxi."
"Mimi-san?"
At this point, Mimi's eyes were starting to water.
"It is nice and quick and is cheaper than the bus and the subway sometimes, depending on where you have to go, but you do get where you have to go and you can trust the driver!"
After she said, "you can trust the driver," Mimi burst into tears and sat down in one of the computer lab chairs. The four boys didn't know what to think. It was obvious that it wasn't Koushirou that had made Mimi upset and they all felt bad for accusing Koushirou. Meanwhile, back inside the classroom, Koushirou was trying his best to calm Mimi down.
"It could happen to anyone!" she cried. "Why!"
"I don't know, but we don't have
to worry about that anymore."
****
Outside the door...
"Worry about what?" Seki wondered.
"Mimi-chan is crying," Misao said in alarm.
"But it isn't Izumi's fault," Yuuji
muttered.
****
"I am not strong!" Mimi said,
still crying. "I'm trying to be strong for you and go back, but I
can't! I had nightmares all last night about what could have
happened to me and what would have if you hadn't shown up!
I just couldn't sleep because of what happened! I felt dirty after
I got home yesterday too! I still do in fact! I bathed
and I bathed, but I still can't get that disgusting feeling to go
away! I want to go with you, but I still feel bad because of what
happened yesterday!"
"Mimi-san, you are one of the strongest people I know. You are still willing to go even after what happened. I am afraid that I don't understand how you feel completely and you know that I can't because it did not happen to me, but I have been feeling pretty lousy all day too!"
"Why?"
"Because it was my fault!"
"What?"
"If I hadn't been so wrapped up in
myself over this stupid project and my selfishness in reference
to my parents, it would have never happened!"
****
"What would have never happened?"
Ukyo asked.
"I wish they would say more," Seki complained.
Misao got tired of listening and
decided to look in the room through the crack of the sliding door.
When they left, they didn't close it all the way. The other three
decided to do the same thing, but remained quiet. They didn't want
Mimi to get crosser than what she already was with them.
****
"It wasn't your fault," the girl
said while wiping away her tears. "It was mine!"
"No, this is nowhere near your fault! You should not blame yourself for what happened! You are the last person that is at fault! I can't believe that you would actually say something like that!"
"But you kept trying to get me to go to the party or to not come along with you, but I did anyway because of my stubborness!"
"Mimi-san...don't. It wasn't your fault and I refuse to let you believe that it was!"
The girl frowned, but realized that her redheaded companion was right.
"Why don't we agree that it was nobody's fault."
"Yeah, I can live with that. It really wasn't when you think about it. Just...bad timing I guess. Neither one of us needs to be beating ourselves up over this."
"But you had good timing."
"You know what I mean..."
She nodded.
"Yeah, I guess it was meant to happen, but," she frowned, "it just bothers me that stuff like that happens, not just here but all over the world I am sure."
Koushirou stood there and nodded in agreement.
"It bothers me too. It should not be allowed. I still wonder what makes people like that..."
Mimi cried again, but wasn't wailing like she was earlier. She was just shedding tears.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know," she said while wiping her tears. "I just feel better talking about this now and crying is my way of letting it out. I wasn't even planning on coming to school today since I was so depressed, but I came anyway since we are having our exams."
The girl stood up and walked over
to Koushirou and gave him a big
hug. Koushirou nervously
and awkwardly hugged her back.
****
"NANI!?!" the four boys gasped in
thought.
****
Mimi then kissed him on the cheek.
Koushirou
felt himself going red, incredibly red. He had never received
a kiss from a girl before, other than his mother but that didn't count,
and he surely wasn't expecting to get one from Mimi. The four
boys were mortified by the sight and didn't know what to say or do.
They just stood there, staring through the crack of the door, unable to
move due to the shock.
"Um...wh-what was that for?" Koushirou asked nervously, still hugging on Mimi.
"For being a great friend and for yesterday."
The two stayed embraced like that
for a while in silence with Mimi hugging the boy tighter.
****
The four boys finally walked off,
still in a bit of shock from Mimi's actions.
"She...she..."
"Don't say it, Misao! Do not say something so...disturbing!" Yuuji shuddered.
"I've lost her," Seki frowned.
"You never had her!"
"Oh yeah!" Seki snapped at Ukyo. "You never did either!"
"Wait, maybe there is still hope!"
"Yeah," Seki chimed in, agreeing with Misao. "It was a friendship kiss and hug, not a romantic one!"
"That's a relief," Yuuji said while wiping his brow.
The four boys would've continued on if they weren't stopped.
"Ishidzuka-sensei!" Yuuji and Seki said together.
"Hi there, boys. Trying to get to class early I see," the man said, staring down at his watch. "You still have a couple of minutes left until your lunch break is over and until my History class starts."
"Yeah, we were on our way there," Yuuji told him.
"Yes, it is very intriguing, your history lessons," Seki added on, sucking up pretty much.
Ukyo and Misao didn't have Ishidzuka for any of their courses, so they didn't have to worry about him and let Yuuji and Seki do all of the talking.
"I'm glad to hear that. I will be right back, I have to get these papers copied off for class...part 1 of your four part exam. I really shouldn't be such a procrastinator. I waited til the last minute to copy these papers off. I should have known that I wouldn't have enough for your class. Too bad the copier in the Teacher's lounge is down, looks like I will have to use the student one."
With that the teacher walked off.
"I'm glad he didn't ask any questions," Yuuji said, feeling relieved.
"Me too," Seki agreed.
"Too bad we actually have a copier," Yuuji complained.
"I know what you mean, cuz. I wouldn't mind getting out of that exam!"
"I hate this new curriculum," Ukyo complained. "What goof decided to make us take exams during this time of the year anyway!"
The other three boys shrugged.
"Hey, the bell is going to ring!" Misao warned. "We better hurry on to class!"
"Yeah, he's right," Seki said. He then thought for a moment. "Oh no!"
"What?" the other three asked.
"Mimi-chan!"
"What about her?" Yuuji asked, looking as if he were about to cry from what he was about to say next. "She's with Izumi!"
"Ishidzuka-sensei said that the Teacher's copier was broken! The student copier is in the Student Computer lab that the Computer Club uses! Mimi-chan is going to get in trouble if Ishidzuka-sensei finds her in there with Izumi hugging and stuff! They could end up suspended for doing such a thing!"
"What can we do?" Misao asked.
"Nothing," Ukyo said while pointing down the hall. "He's already there."
"Uh-oh," both Seki and Yuuji said in unison.
Ishidzuka opened the door of the lab to find both Koushirou and Mimi on the computer. The boys had snuck behind him to see what was going to happen, but to their surprise, they weren't hugging or anything.
"Ah, Tachikawa, Izumi," the man greeted. "It is nice to see you looking up colleges. It's never too early I always say."
He saw that Koushirou had Odaiba University's webpage up. Mimi and Koushirou broke their embrace a short time after the shocked four left, but stood there in silence for a while. When they heard someone coming towards the lab, they acted as if they had been working the entire time.
"Konnichiwa, Ishidzuka-sensei," the two greeted back nervously.
He went over the copier to start running copies off for their exam. A few moments later, the bell rang.
"You two better get back to class. I don't want to have to mark you two tardy."
"Yes sir," the two obeyed.
"Mr. Izumi, is something wrong?"
"Wrong, sir?"
"Your face is all red." He then laughed. "I hope you aren't getting a fever before my exam."
"I am fine sir!" the boy said quickly. "I can't wait to take it!"
"Well, you two better hurry on. I just hope that I'm not late myself."
The two didn't question him and hurried along. Since their talk, Mimi was more calm and collected. Crying really did help her release all of the stress she was holding in, and she was glad that she had talked with Koushirou. She could tell from yesterday that he wanted to try and help her out in some way and he had by just listening to her and putting up with her crying today.
While walking down the hall, Mimi was surprised at herself. She had hugged and kissed Koushirou. She was still trying to figure out why she had, though. She had never even given Michael a kiss and she considered him a very close friend, and crush, before moving back to Odaiba.
Koushirou was just as surprised at Mimi's actions as Mimi was. He was wondering why Mimi had kissed him. He was just some computer nerd who had been living a lie his entire life. It just didn't "compute" to him as he walked down the hall, trying to rid himself of his obvious, deep blush.
When the two finally reached class, they sat down and took their seats. Yuuji glared jealously at Koushirou as he took his seat while Seki was in deep thought over the entire situation with Mimi and Koushirou. When Mimi sat down in her usual seat next to Ayame and Yuko, they noticed that Mimi looked a bit happier--even though Mimi was pretty much hiding the fact she was still upset but only doing a better job of it so far--and both were glad of this. When they got the chance, they both started to show their photos of the four boys from the party. Mimi laughed like her usual self and called all of them "cute."
After school was over, Mimi told Koushirou to wait for her while she put her school things away. While there, she ran right into the sleuthing duo, Miyako and Sora.
"Okay, spill it," Miyako told Mimi. "What was wrong with you yesterday?"
"Huh?"
"You were all depressed yesterday, why?" Sora asked a little less hysterically than Miyako.
"Oh, that..."
The girl lowered her head. She really didn't want to get back into it. She had finally gotten out of that depressed mood of hers, somewhat, and she didn't really want to go back to it.
"We are your friends, Mimi-chan," Sora said sitting down next to her. "We were just worried about you."
"Yeah," Miyako said, sitting on the other side of Mimi. "You were all happy before you took that trip, and then you surprise us by coming back depressed."
"I really don't want to get into that right now," she said while standing up, putting her school books away. "It would just make me sad again."
"Mimi-oneesama, c'mon!" Miyako said, throwing her hands up into the air. "You didn't even tell us what was bothering Izumi-senpai or why he had to go to Hikarigaoka in the first place! I am growing very concerned for the both of you!" She then muttered, "I'm starting to get grey hairs here from worrying so much!"
Sora and Mimi laughed at Miyako's statement.
"Okay, maybe I'm not getting grey hairs, but I am worried about the both of you."
"I will tell you about Koushirou later. I have to meet up with him now."
The two had looks on their faces meaning, "Please tell us what's going on before we crack!" The look was more obvious with Miyako than it was with Sora, though.
"I know, just watch the evening news or read over this morning's paper. It should be in there as to what happened. I really don't want to discuss it...not right now anyway. I am going to tell you myself, but not now."
"Okay, if you insist," Sora said. "We will look at the news and the paper."
"Thank you for understanding and I feel that you will after reading it," Mimi said while hugging Sora. "I am sure that it will be a main or feature story. I could really use a talk, though. Call me, both of you, tonight at about 8:00 or either come over, your choice..."
"Okay," the two said.
Mimi hurriedly changed out of her school shoes and put them into her locker.
"Well, I have to get going now. Ja!"
The girl hurried out of the locker room and bumped into both Taichi and Yamato.
"The invisible girl has appeared," Taichi laughed.
"Invisible girl?"
"We were all worried about you yesterday since you didn't show up for the party," Taichi told her.
"Yeah, I was hoping that you would show."
"Um, something came up," she said with a frown, not wanting to talk about her unfortunate encounter. "Has either one of you seen Koushirou-kun?"
"Not lately," Yamato said.
"Oh, never mind. I see him." The girl then ran off. "Bye guys!"
The girl ran off to join Koushirou
who had been waiting around for her before Taichi could get his real question
out, if she had seen Sora. Mimi and Koushirou were going to give
Odaiba University another try, regardless of all of the uneasiness they
were currently feeling amongst one another. It was a combination
of feeling awkward from the kiss and hug and the other part was because
of what had happened that previous day...
****
Back to Sora and Miyako...
"Come on!" Miyako urged. "Let's go to the library and check out this morning's paper."
Sora nodded and followed Miyako out. They both ran into Taichi and Yamato.
"Hey guys," Miyako greeted.
"Good, we found you!" Taichi said.
"Found us?" Sora asked.
"I was looking for you," Taichi told her. "You rushed right off after class."
"We were going to talk to Mimi-chan about yesterday."
"What's wrong with her anyway?" Yamato asked.
"We don't know. Something happened to her yesterday. When we went to visit her, she was terribly depressed. She was with Izumi-senpai all day yesterday."
"No wonder Mimi was so depressed," Taichi joked.
"Taichi!" the girl sweat dropped.
"Just kidding, Sora."
"So, she was with Koushirou all day yesterday," Yamato repeated, taking in the information.
"I guess that explains why he didn't show up for the party, but I was already expecting him not to show up," Taichi said.
"They were working on their school project that is due by the end of this week," Sora explained.
"Come on Sora-san! She said she didn't want to tell us what happend and to just look it up in the paper. I want to know what happened to her yesterday!"
"Right!" Sora nodded. "Bye guys!"
"Wait, I thought you said she was with Koushirou and working on a school assignment."
The two girls ran off towards the school's library, not even hearing Yamato's statement. After they left, Taichi kicked the floor in annoyance.
"Why didn't you ask her?" Yamato asked.
"She's obviously too busy."
"You have to ask her sooner or later before somebody else does."
"Like who?"
"Um, I don't know," the boy started nervously. "Me for instance?"
"Yeah right!" the boy laughed. "You're still trying to ask Mimi. You had the perfect opportunity just now and you blew it!"
"She's been pretty busy herself."
"At least you won't have to worry about anyone else asking her since she's an underclassman, but then again, there are some in our year that has taken a liking to her..."
"Well, she's the only girl in this school besides Miyako and Sora that I actually don't mind hanging around. They don't treat me like a celebrity and they give me attention because they are my actual friends, not some crazed fan. Well, I guess Chizuru is okay too."
"Miyako's sister?"
"Yeah, she treats me like any other student, even though we aren't really good friends or anything, but I'm sure she has already been asked." He sighed. "Who knows, I may just offer to play the entire time and not worry about it at all."
"Good idea."
"Thank you for all of your support," Yamato sarcastically responded with a sweat drop.
"Glad to have helped," Taichi said, not really catching the sarcasm in Yamato's voice since he didn't really care. He then stuffed his hands into his pocket. "I better get home. I'll call her later and try to ask again."
"All right, catch ya later, but before you go, what happened with Hikari? You never told me."
"Nothing. She said that she wasn't feeling well, Daisuke offered to walk her home, and on the way, she started to feel better and decided to catch a movie and a bite to eat at a fast food place on the way home. I also think I remember Hikari mentioning something about going to the arcade too..."
"Why does that sound like a date to me?"
"Hikari is too young to date! I won't let her! Who knows what is going on through the minds of all of these crazed boys around here!"
"You are way too protective of your sister!"
"Well, what if muggers or murderers try to attack her when she is hanging out just because she's a pretty young girl!?! Huh? What then?!?"
"Okay, you are definitely over doing it. Why are you thinking like this all of a sudden? You never did before."
"This morning, my father was reading the paper and was talking about some guy attacking some girl yesterday and was about to...do stuff with her. I was just thinking, what if that happened to Hikari!"
"Only sickos do that and I doubt that Hikari would get into that kind of trouble. She is always around friends. If it isn't Takeru or Daisuke, it's her other friends from school. I wouldn't worry. I'm sure that guy is getting what he deserves for attacking that girl. Did they say what her name was? I hate just calling them, 'the girl' or 'the guy' and stuff."
"Anonymous and the person who saved her is also remaining anonymous."
"I wonder why..."
"Who knows, but I'm out of here.
Bye!" he called to Yamato, walking off. He then muttered to himself,
"I have to get up the nerve to ask her..."
****
"Feature story, feature story, feature
story..." Miyako muttered as she went through the paper.
"One thing I always hated about the paper, there are normally a lot of big stories."
Miyako started to laugh suddenly.
"Miyako-chan?"
"Oh, sorry. I was just reading the comics. I just can't resist them!"
"Miyako-chan!" Sora said while taking the paper away from her.
"Sorry."
"I am sure it would be in the front if this is a big story." She read the main headline title. "Attacker Finally Caught!"
"Attacker?"
"That's the most emphasized story on the page. Some guy was caught and apprehended yesterday over near Odaiba University."
"Hurray...a burglar," Miyako yawned.
"No, not a burglar," Sora said while reading a bit of the article. "Something much worse!"
"A bank robber!"
"No, seriously! This guy attacks young girls, defiles them, and then normally kills them, and apparently, there was a reward out on him!"
"Gross! Serves him right to be in jail! I hope he gets the chair!" Miyako thought for a moment. "But what does this have to do with Mimi-oneesama?"
"I don't know, but she said the main feature story."
"There must be another story that has something to do with her."
"Who knows" Sora shrugged as she started to read bits and pieces of the article out loud.
Attacker Finally Caught!
"He got there just in time," says Officer Tsuya, Lieutenant of the Odaiba Police Force. "We would not have gotten there in time if it weren't for this young man. He saw what was happening and attacked, saving the young girl's life. We do not advise one to go up to such a person, it is dangerous, but in this case, we are grateful that this boy did."
When asked about what he was thinking at the time of the assault, the boy responded, "I wasn't thinking. I just knew I had to help somehow. He was about to hurt her and who knows what else." The boy, who also wishes to remain anonymous, didn't care about the reward and actually turned it down seeing as how he was more concerned about his friend getting to safety...
The girl stopped reading and
gasped.
"Oh no..."
"Oneesama was the girl and..."
"...Koushirou-kun was the boy that saved her!" Sora finished up, trying her best not to cry. "He wanted to remain anonymous! That is why that cop was at his home yesterday! That must was this Lieutenant Tsuya person."
"Oh my gosh! She was attacked! But, how?! It was broad daylight!"
"According to this article, he doesn't care whether it's day or night. Once he sees a girl he likes or wants, he just attacks them and does unspeakable things to them!"
The girl shuddered at the thought.
"She could have been killed yesterday!"
"I now know what she meant by not wanting to say anything else," Sora said sadly while closing up the paper. "I'm sure that is depressing."
"Should we tell her aunt and uncle that's why she was all messed up yesterday?"
"No, let Mimi-chan do it. It isn't our place to."
"I guess you're right, but I hate people like that!" Miyako said while getting angry. "They are so lucky that I am not the person who is going to judge his trial! I would make him suffer and make sure he never attacks another girl again and if he does, he wouldn't be able to do anything with her!"
"I agree with you. I would rule unjustly and without a clear head too due to anger!" She shuddered. "I wonder how far he had gone with her before Koushirou-kun showed up..."
"You mean...you don't think..."
Sora nodded.
"I don't think so. If he had, I doubt she would have come to school today."
"Yeah, you're probably right. She probably would have been worse off, too, if he had. I just can't imagine something like that happening!"
"But why didn't she talk with us about this when we came over yesterday?"
"Maybe she was still in shock." Sora looked at the photo of Doppo Fumio being taken away to jail. "They are both going to have to go to trial for this and I have this strong feeling that Koushirou-kun is once again keeping this away from his parents."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he were. He has been keeping secrets from everyone lately. Look at that history project of his. As far as his parents are concerned, he is writing a paper on some famous historical figure and of course everything that happened yesterday. He was over at the Yagami's studying for upcoming examinations." The girl then smiled a bit. "Do you think that if Izumi-senpai were to run off and get married that he would tell his parents about that?"
"I should hope so," Sora laughed. "It would be very awkward if he were to show up with a girl and a family and they not know about it!"
"True."
"I guess we will just have to wait for Mimi-chan to fill us in on everything dealing with this guy. I wonder where they were going this afternoon. They should be studying."
"Maybe they already know the material, but that is a good question. C'mon, let's get going, the library is closing."
"Okay."
The two girls started to walk out of the library.
"Hey, don't you have to get ready for Friday night?" Miyako asked.
"But it's Monday and I have more important things to worry about, like the rest of my exams tomorrow. We get to finish them up early since we are seniors."
"I know, but you still should get ready for it!"
"I will worry about that Thursday when I don't have to worry about last minute studying."
The two girls walked out of the library
and headed home, glad to know Mimi's secret and why she had been feeling
so depressed when they went to see her...
****
A while after their last class let
out...
"Come on, let's go practice," Chinatsu urged.
"I don't feel like practicing today," Ayame yawned. "I'm all volley'd out."
"Yeah, we don't have any club meetings this week since we are spending it studying for exams and taking them!"
"I want to be one of the best senior players of the club!" Chinatsu told her two friends. "What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, just go practice by yourself," Yuko told her. "We're leaving."
The three girls were in the school gym with other students, it was after school. Ayame and Yuko had met her there.
"What I want to do is relax!" Ayame said while stretching.
"Hey, look," the girl said, coming up with an idea. "The boys are playing basketball."
"You know, we really should practice," Yuko said while staring at the boys play.
"Yuko-chan!" Ayame shouted, trying to get Yuko's attention.
"Aren't they cute!" the girl said with hearts in her eyes.
"I knew that would get her," Chinatsu snickered.
"You know, sitting around watching wouldn't hurt us," Ayame said, staring as Yuko was.
The two took a seat in the bleachers.
"So much for my idea," Chinatsu muttered as she sat down beside them. "They want to watch the boys play."
"Ooh, look at that boy over there!" Ayame pointed. "I hear he is the co-captain of the Boys' Soccer Club!"
"That position is going to be open pretty soon since he is a third year," Chinatsu explained. "The position of captain is going to be open as well. The captain is Yagami Taichi and he is graduating this year. It is also pretty cool how Taichi-senpai is also captain of the regular Soccer Club."
"Wow, it's the star Tennis player of the Boys' Tennis Club!" Yuko drooled.
"He is about to go out and practice!" Ayame exclaimed.
"We should probably go out to the courts as well," Yuko smiled dreamily.
"Here I am, wanting to improve my game like the others have been doing in our club, and you two want to sit around and drool over boys!" the girl said with her arms crossed with a look of annoyance. "We have more important things to discuss anyway!"
"Like what?" Yuko asked while keeping her eyes glued to the third year co-captain of the Soccer Club.
"Like Mimi-chan for instance. You two never told me what happened during class with her."
"She acted as if nothing had bothered her at all," Yuko told her. "She laughed at the photos and was smiling like she would normally."
"I don't know what she did, but she was totally happy when she came to history class with Izumi. It was like nothing was bothering her at all!"
"Izumi?"
"Yeah," Ayame nodded. "I guess she went to see him after she abruptly left lunch."
"So I guess whatever happened to her yesterday with him has been fixed," Chinatsu said, glad that Mimi was feeling better.
"I guess so, and I'm glad for that!" Ayame said. "I hate seeing Mimi-chan upset and depressed."
"Hey, what happened to her four admirers?" Yuko asked. "They weren't bugging us today wondering where she was during lunch."
"Yeah, you're right," Chinatsu recalled. "They almost always
eat lunch with us trying to weasel information out of us."
****
"We have to do something to get Mimi-chan to forgive us!"
"But how?"
"How about a present?"
"She doesn't seem like the present type to me..."
"That shows how much you know!"
****
"Well, what do you know, there goes our four goofs now," Yuko
laughed.
A few bleachers down, all four of Mimi's main admirers were discussing.
"They said something about forgiveness," Chinatsu noted. "I wonder what happened."
"There is a way to find out you know," Ayame smirked.
"Of course," Yuko said with a sneaky look. The girl cupped her right hand over her right ear. "This is the best way."
The other two did as Yuko and listened in on their conversation.
****
"I really feel bad that we upset Mimi-chan during lunch today," Yuuji
said.
"Misao, this is all your fault!" Ukyo argued.
"My fault?!? What do you mean it was all my fault!"
"Just like he said!" Seki scolded. "It is your fault that she is mad at us!"
"Yeah, you were acting too convincing!" Yuuji yelled at him.
"I though you were going to really do it," Ukyo said.
****
"I wonder what they are talking about," Yuko asked.
"I wonder what Misao did to upset Mimi-chan," Ayame said.
"It couldn't have been that bad if you said Mimi-chan came back
to class happy and smiling."
****
"Don't blame me because I have great acting skills," Misao responded
smugly. "Being in the Drama Club pays off."
Ukyo rolled his eyes at his friend.
"I am surprised at you three! How long have we known each other? You know I am not violent and that I am not a fighter! I was just bluffing!"
"Too bad Mimi-chan didn't see it that way," Seki muttered.
"Why don't we all just face the facts, we lost our chances with Mimi-chan to Izumi," Ukyo sighed.
"No, we have not given up yet!" Yuuji said, determined not to believe such a thing. "Do not be a quitter!"
"Oh come off it!" Ukyo argued. "Mimi-chan came into the computer
lab, defended Izumi, and asked us to leave! We find out that
whatever happened with them when they went on their trip out of town yesterday
wasn't
Izumi's fault! Just give it up! You heard what she said and
you saw what she did!"
****
"Ooh!" Yuko squealed. "I love good juicy gossip!"
****
"I agree with Ukyo, there isn't much we can do now," Seki said
slowly. "Like he said, you saw what she did with Izumi."
"I am no quitter!" Misao said. "I am going to get back in good with her again!"
"Me too!" Yuuji said.
"That's good and all, but let's face it, she has no interest in either
of us what-so-ever, other than friendship; especially after that
stunt we all pulled," Seki told them. "We should have never threatened
to beat him up, and Misao,
you should have never pretended to get
ready to punch him!"
****
"Aww man! There was almost a fight and I missed it!"
"Hold it Yuko-chan, that's not important," Chinatsu told her friend.
"They just pretty much said that they made empty threats. I want
to know what Mimi-chan did that has them all gloomy."
****
"You guys just watch!" Ukyo cautioned. "Next time this year,
Mimi-chan and Izumi will probably be an item. I can see them walking
down the hall, Izumi with his arm around her shoulder or either them walking
hand in hand."
"No!" Yuuji and Misao shouted out in fear.
"C'mon you two! Get real!" Seki told them. "She's already hugged and kissed him and they are just friends! If Izumi doesn't get a thing for her from that, he just isn't right!"
"Or else those rumors I have heard about him are true," Ukyo muttered.
"Can we hope those rumors are true?" Yuuji asked.
"Yeah, I'm all for it!"
Seki and Ukyo gave Misao and Yuuji an annoyed look and shook their heads.
****
"Ehh!?!" the three girls asked in surprise.
Yuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu fell over after hearing what Seki had just said and ended up falling down to where the four boys were.
"What do you three want?" Yuuji asked.
Yuko picked herself up quickly, grabbed Yuuji by his shirt, and started to shake him.
"Did you say that Mimi-chan and Izumi kissed!!!"
"You...are...choking...me!!" Yuuji gasped for air.
"Hey, stop eavesdropping in on our conversation," Misao told the girls.
"That's why we came to the gym since it is so noisy in here," Seki said.
"That is an invasion of privacy!" Ukyo argued. "How do you know what we are saying isn't confidential!?!"
"We could say the same thing about you four!" Chinatsu said, giving the four a look. "We overheard you and we admit we were eavesdropping, but how did you know that Mimi-chan was with Izumi all yesterday and was out of town? We never mentioned it to you or anyone else for that matter. Only a few of us knew that she was going to be out of town and what she was really up to because she told us and that did not include either of you!"
Yuuji, who was still rubbing his neck, trying his best to recover from being choked by Yuko, said, "Hey, we were not purposely eavesdropping! We were just listening when we weren't supposed to!"
Misao, Seki, and Ukyo face faulted.
"Baka!" Seki shouted to his cousin.
"So you were listening in on our conversation during lunch!" Ayame said angrily.
"And the reason we didn't see any of you rejects was because you were off threatening Izumi for the bad mood Mimi-chan was in!" Yuko added.
"Idiots!" Chinatsu yelled at the four. "See what happens when you jump to conclusions!"
"Well, you were thinking the same thing!" Misao argued back. "We heard you say that you thought Izumi had something to do with her mood too!"
"Come on everyone, we are all friends here," Yuko said, trying to calm everyone down. "I just want to know one thing, is it true what you said about Mimi-chan and Izumi in the computer lab? You were standing right there when it happened?!?"
"No, we were watching from the hall. They thought we left, but we were curious why Mimi-chan was so upset."
The three girls rolled their eyes. The three boys gave Yuuji a look.
"You definitely talk too much," Misao muttered.
"Anyway, she started to cry because of something that happened to her yesterday and apparently, Izumi was feeling bad for her all day and was blaming himself for whatever it was that happened too, but they came to a mutual agreement that it was neither one of their faults," Seki explained.
"She also mentioned something about wanting to go to Odaiba University and Tokyo U, but Izumi was hesitant to go because of whatever happened yesterday," Ukyo added on. "That is when she started to cry."
"It was upsetting hearing her cry, but she did calm down, saying that crying helped to get rid of her stress or something," Yuuji said.
"She then did the unspeakable after she cheered up!" Misao shuddered.
"She kissed Izumi!" both Misao and Yuuji cried.
"How did he react to it!" Yuko asked. "Do not leave out a single detail!"
"First she hugged him and then she kissed him on the cheek," Ukyo sighed. "He sounded a bit nervous."
"No wonder she was so happy when she got back to class today," Chinatsu said.
"It was a friendship kiss! Not a romantic one! It was just on the cheek!" Misao interjected.
"I wonder if it would be in America given the situation..."
"Shut up, will you Seki!" Yuuji told his cousin. "Stop telling lies! She did live in America for a couple of years and that's one of the customs there as far as I know!"
"Hey, don't blame me for you and Misao's stupidity! Ukyo and me are moving on, you are the ones after a girl who is obviously taken even if she does not realize it yet!"
"Unless those rumors about him are true!" Yuuji said again.
"I doubt it," Ayame said. "Just because he doesn't act interested in girls doesn't mean that he isn't!"
"Yeah, he's just immature when it comes to girls like you four are immature when it comes to brains!" Chinatsu said.
"Whoa! This news is totally gossipy!" Yuko said while rubbing her hands together. "Who do I tell first..."
"No one!" Chinatsu told her. "If Mimi-chan didn't tell you about what happened with Izumi, why would she want the entire school to know about it?"
"Yeah, try to keep your mouth shut, Yuko-chan!"
"Couldn't I tell Miyako-san at least?" Yuko asked.
"I guess you could, but don't come right out and say it," Ayame told her. "Hint at it. If she already knows, go ahead. If it is obvious that she doesn't, don't."
"Bingo!" the girl smiled.
"Aww, because of our talking, it is too late to practice!" Chinatsu complained. "I have to go home and study for the third part of Ishidzuka's history exam!"
"Wow, your class is already on part 3 of his exam?" Ayame asked in amazement.
"Yeah, he is giving us two parts a day so we can hurry and finish them," Chinatsu explained. "He has lots of confidence in us and is very positive that we will pass. I sure hope so. I would hate to come here after our Spring Break just to find out that I am still an eighth grader."
"That's not it!" Yuko said. "The reason your class is probably ahead of ours is because you are in the advanced classes, we are all in the basic ones."
"We have to study for part 2 of his exam," Seki said. "Hey, do you all want to study at my place?"
Yuko, who had been starting to admire Seki since he had pretty much come to his senses about Mimi, agreed for everyone. The surprising thing about her admiring Seki was that she had always had a slight thing for Yuuji, but she could never admit it.
"Yeah, it would not hurt to have a study group," Chinatsu said.
"I have to study for Konishi's math exam for tomorrow and my English language one for Hayashibara," Ukyo said.
"Hey, I didn't know that you had Konishi and Hayashibara like us," Ayame said.
"Yep, I sure do."
"Isn't Hayashibara's class hard!" Ayame said. "I am studying nonstop! English is a tough class! Mimi-chan is the only person I know of that is actually acing it without actually having to study!"
"She should be exempt from it since she lived in America for a few years," Seki laughed.
"No kidding!" Yuko said. "She's making the rest of us look bad!"
"Misao, Yuuji, are you guys coming with us?" Seki asked.
"Nah, I'm going home to try and think of a way to get Mimi-chan to like me again," Misao told him.
"I'm with him!"
"Suit yourself, but you do know that apologizing to both her and Izumi is on the top of the list, right?"
"Yeah," Misao muttered.
"You know, I have this feeling that Mimi-chan isn't mad at you four," Ayame said.
"Yeah, she saw our photos of you all and talked about how cute you all were," Yuko smiled.
"Wow! She called me cute!" Yuuji said in a star-struck manner.
"Nice, nice, but I'm still going to try to think of a way to get Mimi-chan to like me."
Seki and Ukyo sighed at the two and shook their heads.
The group exited the gym and headed on to Seki's place to study, minus Misao and Yuuji.
"Wait a minute, what photos of us?" Ukyo asked, after realizing what they had said.
The three girls didn't say a word, and giggled as they walked out of the big school...
