Sorry it took me such a while to get this up. Computer trouble again. Besides, I've been kind of busy too with school and work and all. I guess you all are wondering about the title. Well, the "hackers" of the Digimon group are a tad bit jealous. Well, as always, I do not own anything dealing with Digimon in general, now on with this fic.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
Part 17: The Jealous Hackers!

It was now Wednesday, March 17, 2004. Mimi was in better spirits as she headed towards her school. This was the last day of working on her and Koushirou's project that included actual traveling. Mimi didn't dislike working with Koushirou or anything, she would just rather do something else a bit more fun, like hanging out the way that they had without school work being involved.

On her way, she ran into Taichi who was walking slower than usual. To Mimi, he also didn't seem to be his normal outgoing self. Of course she, being the nice person that she is, decided to greet her older friend and to see what was wrong.

"Taichi-san!"

He turned to see who had called him.

"Oh, hey Mimi. What's up."

The boy waited for Mimi to catch up to him.

"Nothing much," she told him. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?" he asked with a forced smile, which Mimi didn't find all that convincing.

"Because you are forcing on that smile of yours!"

"Um, Mimi...do you have any idea what is going on with Sora?" Taichi asked, ignoring Mimi's statement.

"Going on with her?"

"Well, she seems really busy lately...like she's avoiding me or something."

"That's silly. She's not avoiding you. Why would you think that?"

"Because, like I said, it seems that whenever I want to talk to her or anything, she's too busy to," Taichi explained. "I can't even catch her at home. Like a couple of nights ago, I called and her mother said she was out."

"Oh, that was because she probably stayed over at my place."

"But why didn't she let me know it?" he asked. "Her mother could have told me that at least."

"Well, I don't think Sora-san is avoiding you. She, as well as everyone else, is very busy because of testing and you seniors getting ready for your graduation," she said with a smile. "I bet she didn't mean to ignore you," she assured him.

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Why do I have this feeling that there is more to this?"

"Probably because there is," he sighed. He then turned to face Mimi as they walked. "Do you know if Sora has a date for the upcoming dance yet?"

"You know, she's never talked about it with me. I don't know if she does or not. My guess is no, though, since she hasn't mentioned anything about it yet."

"Good, I just hope I'm not too late. I'm finally going to get the courage to do it!" The boy then posed as if he were super hero and spoke in a heroic like manner. "I am the crest bearer of courage, you know."

With that, the boy waved to Mimi and ran off. Mimi shrugged and walked on. She ran into her other friends who all greeted her good morning. She bumped into Sora when changing into her school shoes.

"Konnichiwa, Sora-san!"

"Mimi-chan, ohayou! What's up..."

"Nothing much. I'm just glad that this project that Koushirou and me are working on is almost finished. Today should be our last day having to go any place."

"That's good. After that, you can then go back to your normal schedule," Sora smiled. "Enjoying your last few days as an eighth grader!"

"That's going to be kind of hard with all of these tests we are taking. I still don't get it. I have this strange feeling that they aren't really all that special."

"What do you mean?"

"Normally when they give big exams, they cancel extra activities and we don't have regular school days, but we're getting them during our normal class periods."

"I never thought about it that way. You could be right."

"I hope I am, since I didn't study as much as I should have," the girl said with a nervous grin. "Hey, are you going to that dance this Friday? That senior one?"

"Yeah, I guess so. A few guys have asked me, but I sort of turned them down."

"How come?"

"Because the guy I actually want to ask me hasn't yet."

"Who do you want to ask you to the dance?"

"Well, a friend. I would feel more comfortable going with a close male friend than some of these other guys around here."

"You mean like, I don' t know, Yamato-san or Taichi-san?"

"Exactly!" the girl said, blushing slightly. "Someone like those two."

She wasn't being specific as to whom she wanted to ask her but Mimi had an idea. The two then headed to the girls' restroom to freshen up.

"So, how are things going with you and Koushirou-kun?" Sora asked as she looked herself over in the mirror.

"What do you mean?" Mimi asked as she started to comb her long hair. "Like I said, this project is almost over and I'm glad!"

"But you called me last night and told me about how he offered to take you out to dinner again."

"Oh that?" The girl leaned her back against the tile bathroom walls. "Well, I'm just curious as to why he's doing it."

"Go fig Koushirou-kun," the girl responded while messing with her short, shoulder-lengthened hair. "Who knows what is going on in that head of his. He could be doing it just to be nice."

"Yeah, but why? He has never been this nice before."

"Well, people do grow up, Mimi-chan," Sora said as she clipped in two very familiar looking hair pins. "Maybe he finally has in the sociality department."

"But he has always been a bit mature for his age."

After Sora finished with her hair, the two left the restroom and started to walk down the hall.

"But then again, maybe he has grown up like you said." She then muttered, "I still think that what happened has a lot to do with it..."

"He is one complex person, I don't think you should bother trying to figure him out." The girl then laughed. "He's like a walking mystery!"

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Ooh, it's almost time for homeroom. We better hurry up and get there."

"Okay," Mimi agreed. "I'll talk with you later, Sora-san. I hope you get the date that you want soon."

She hurried along to her homeroom and said hi to everyone like she would normally, Koushirou included, but he didn't say anything to her or greeted her back. She was surprised, but shrugged it off as their teacher entered the room.

The day continued on like it would normally, only Mimi decided to eat lunch with her other group of friends instead of hanging out in the computer lab with Koushirou. She was getting very bad vibes from him and decided to leave him alone for a while, but she was planning on talking with him eventually. Besides, she was feeling a little better about what happened Sunday and she didn't want her other friends to feel left out. Another reason was because she was a tad bit hungry today.

While with her friends, Mimi saw Miyako who ran over to sit with them instead of with her usual group of friends. She said hi to Mimi quickly, but went over to Yuko, who started to discuss something that was obviously private.

Yuko had called Miyako that previous night to see if she knew of "Mimi's secret." Miyako got the wrong idea, and thought she meant the other secret. She never came right and said it, but when Yuko asked her if she knew of Mimi's secret, she said that she did. Yuko then started to blab about the kiss, thinking that was what the secret was; her mishap at Odaiba University is what Miyako was thinking. Miyako then let Yuko know that, that wasn't the secret that she was referring to and was shocked to hear that Mimi had kissed Koushirou.

Miyako and Yuko eventually stopped talking amongst themselves and talked with the others at the table, including Seki, Yuuji, Ukyo, and Misao. After a while, Mimi got up and left and decided to head on to the computer lab. Their lunch break was going to be over eventually anyway.

A short while after Mimi left, Yuko and Miyako left. They were curious as to what Mimi had planned for Koushirou this day. Miyako told Yuko that both Mimi and Koushirou had gone out to dinner together, like a date and the two were slowly putting two and two together, even if they were wrong. The two were assuming that Mimi and Koushirou were secretly dating and was just using their project as an excuse to hang out alone together. Miyako was a little jealous over this, but didn't let it show. Neither Yuko nor Miyako had mentioned anything to Ayame, or Sora, or the other girls.

While walking down the hall, they spotted Mimi and she was definitely heading towards the Student Computer Lab. Miyako knew this place just as well as Koushirou. She too hanged out there a lot.

In the hall, Mimi walked into Yamato. She was standing right in front of the Computer Lab door. Yuko and Miyako were still keeping their distance, pretty much spying.
****
"Wow, it's Yamato-san of the Teen-Age Wolves! I wish I knew him personally!"

Miyako shushed Yuko so that they wouldn't be heard.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"Anyway, what's there to know about him? He's just like any other ordinary guy."
****
"Oh, Yamato-san, hi!" Mimi greeted

"Hey, Mimi!"
****
In the Computer Lab, Koushirou was sitting around doing absolutely nothing. He was wondering where Mimi was. He had to give her the depressing news about his being grounded. He was shocked when he came home, planning on apologizing, when his parents had that discussion with him about how he was being punished. He knew not to disobey them any more than he had though and accepted it, even if he was against it entirely.

He felt that it was unfair that they were punishing him for keeping secrets when they did so themselves, and his secrets from them wasn't as important or significant as the one they were keeping from him. He did feel that he deserved the punishment for the outburst he had had, that was wrong of him, but he really wished that for once that they would be honest with him.

He didn't get angry at them when they talked about punishing him, but he really did hate the fact that they had such bad timing when deciding to ground him.

Both of his parents were surprised at the way he had accepted his punishment. He was a lot calmer than when they had questioned his where-a-bouts earlier when he had blown up at them. As a matter of fact, when they asked Koushirou about his where-a-bouts once again, he refused to tell them in a calm, collected manner, making sure not to lose his temper. That's the main reason they went through with the punishiment because he had refused to tell them.

Koushirou still didn't know whether or not he wanted to go to Odaiba Elementary or not. He did promise to come straight home since that was a part of his punishment, as well as helping out with extra chores around the home, but he really wanted to know more about his biological mother.

He knew so much about his father, he felt he could write a small biography on him, whereas for his mother, he would barely be able to write a paragraph about her. All he knew of her was that she grew up without a family, that he, apparently, resembled her a lot, and that she loved children.

The boy started to read the article about his parents' deaths as he sat around, waiting for the lunch period to end...

"Tragic Crash Takes the Lives of Odaiba Teachers..." he started.

The boy sighed as he tried to read, but he just couldn't bring himself to and set the news article down. No matter how curious he was, he just couldn't bring himself to read beyond the title of the article. When he found it, the main thing that he was skimming for were their names. He saw that their names were in the first line and figured that, that was the article he was looking for.

He was about to read again, until he heard voices outside of the computer lab door.

"Mimi-san...Yamato-san?"
****
"I finally caught you. I've been looking around for you. I just came from the lunch room and your friends said that you were probably headed towards the computer lab..."

"Is something wrong?" Mimi asked in concern.

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong."

"That's good," she said as she started to think back to Sunday. "One crisis is enough."

"Crisis? What crisis?"

"Well, it's not really a crisis, just a personal thing, nothing for you to worry about," Mimi assured him. "So, what's wrong?"

"Well, I was just wondering..."
****
"Doesn't he have the most beautiful eyes and the most handsome face!" Yuko said with hearts in her eyes.

"Oh brother," Miyako muttered.
****
"...if you were doing anything this Friday night."

"This Friday night?"

The boy nodded.

"Yeah, if not, I was wondering if you would like to go to the Senior Dance."
****
"The dance?" Koushirou asked himself. "He is asking her to the dance?"
****
"The Senior Dance!" Miyako said in surprise.

"Lucky!" Yuko cried with streaked tears running down her face.
****
Mimi started to jump up and down excitedly at the actual idea of going to the Senior Dance.

"Wow, the Senior dance! I was just telling Shuu-san and Takenouchi-san how I can't wait to become a senior! I was even looking through a catalog a while ago for an outfit to wear for my own upcoming dances for this upcoming school year!"
****
"She would actually want to go to something like that?"

Koushirou smacked his forehead in stupidity.

"No duh! Mimi-san is the outgoing party person. Of course she would want to go!"
****
"Wait, if she accepts his invite then what will Izumi-senpai think?"

"Do you think we goofed assuming that the two were secretly dating?"

"I think so," Miyako said. She then sighed out in relief and muttered in audibly, "Thank goodness..."
****
"But wait, I can't go to the dance."
****
"Sounds good to me," Koushirou muttered.
****
"Ooo, so they really are an item, only a secret one!"

"How could they keep something like that from me?!" Miyako frowned to herself. "How could Izumi-senpai keep that away from me? How could Mimi-oneesama take him away like that!?! I thought she was my friend..."
****
"You can't? But why?"

"Because I'm not going to the tenth grade, I'm going to the ninth. I'm an underclassman. The dance is for seniors only."
****
Koushirou sighed out in relief after overhearing Mimi say that.
****
"I know, but I you'll be able to go if you go along with a senior as their date," Yamato explained.

"Really? Who would ask me?" she asked while looking around, expecting someone to show up and ask her. "Do you know someone?"

Yamato nearly face faulted with a look of surprise.

"What?" Mimi asked, noticing the expression of disbelief and amazement on his face.
****
Both Yuko and Miyako sweat dropped and asked, "She's kidding, right?"
****
"She isn't interested in him?" Koushirou asked in surprise. "I thought all the girls were," he muttered sarcastically.
****
Yamato picked himself up and said to Mimi, "I was wondering if you would like to go with me!"

"Wow! It would be so much fun going! It would be nice to know what to expect when I go to my own Senior Dance next year!" The girl then thought for a moment. "But Sora-san told me that you were going to play at the dance."

"That is if I don't find a date," Yamato informed her. "If I don't, I'll play the entire time."

"But why ask me?"
****
"Yeah, why here!?!" Koushirou asked in semi-jealous tone. "There are tons of other girls at this school!"
****
"There are lots of girls in this school that would love to go out with you to a school dance," Mimi smiled at him.
****
"I would, I would!" Yuko nearly shouted out.

"Shuuush!" Miyako hissed at the girl.

"What are you two doing?" a voice from behind the two asked, which caused both girls to nearly scream from being startled so.

The two girls turned to face a dark haired girl with shoulder-lengthed hair along with a somewhat skinny girl with long straight hair and freckles.

"Ayame-san, Chinatsu-san," Miyako said, identifying the two girls.

"What are you two doing?" Chinatsu asked again.

"Yeah, why did you two run off so fast?"

"Shh...be quiet," Yuko instructed.

The two girls shrugged and saw what they were doing.

"I don't believe you two!" Chinatsu scolded. "How could you spy on Mimi-chan!"

"You two are worse than Misao, Yuuji, Ukyo, and Seki put together!"

"We're just curious about something, now be quiet!" Yuko said again.

The two girls shrugged and quieted down.
****
"Yeah, I know, but all of those girls treat me as 'Yamato of the Teen-Age Wolves,' not as 'Ishida Yamato,' like you or Miyako, or even her sister, *Chizuru. I would've asked Sora, but she's already been asked."
****
"How did you guys become such good friends with him!" Yuko cried.

"That's what I would like to know," Ayame said.

"You and Mimi-chan are so lucky!" Chinatsu exclaimed. "You're date material for a celebrity!"

"Um, Summer Camp..." the younger girl said quickly.
****
"Oh, so you just want a good friend to go along with you."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."
****
"She's probably going to go. Mimi-san never turns down a party."

For some odd reason, that semi bothered him; Mimi going to a party with Yamato, every local teenage girl's dream guy.
****
"There is nothing wrong with that; I would love to go..."

"From your tone, you don't sound too convinced that you can make it."

"Well, it is short notice and I don't know if I have anything else to do..."

"Well, if you are busy Friday, I could try asking Chizuru, but I wouldn't be surprised if she already had a date," Yamato said, a bit dissapointed.
****
"She doesn't," Miyako muttered aloud.
****
"Hey, you never know, but I don't mind going with you. I'm glad that you consider me that close a friend to even consider asking me," she smiled.

"Well, I have known you for almost five years now so I decided to try."

"Okay, I'll go!"
****
"So much for our theory," Miyako told the other three. She then cheered to herself, glad that what they were thinking wasn't true.

"What theory?" Chinatsu asked.

"Mimi-chan and Izumi dating in secret."

The girls got up and walked off, discussing.

"You guys actually think Mimi-chan would date someone without telling us?" Ayame asked in surprise.

"I'm surprised at you two!"

"Well, Yuko-san told me that Mimi-oneesama kissed him!"

"And Miyako-san told me that for the past couple of nights, he had been taking Mimi-chan out to dinner!"

"Wait, you mean you didn't know about the kiss?" Ayame asked Miyako.

The girl shook her head.

"I thought she was talking about something else."

"What?" Yuko asked.

"Um, do you three know what happened to her on Sunday?"

The three shook their heads.

"Oh, I guess I better not say anything then. She'll tell you three eventually."

They didn't complain and accepted Miyako's decision.

"Well, at least we now know that it isn't true; her and Izumi dating, although it would be pretty interesting if they were," Chinatsu said.

"Who tells Misao and Yuuji that Mimi-chan is going out with Yamato-san?" Yuko asked.

"Izumi is no longer a threat to them now!" Chinatsu nearly laughed.

The girls laughed.

"Hey, I have to go! See you all later!"

With that, the girl waved and ran off, feeling a lot better knowing the truth. She left the three older girls who went back to the lunch room before they were seen by Mimi or Yamato.
****
"Thanks a lot, Mimi!"

"Sure, but if I find out Chizuru-san doesn't have a date, I'm going to hurt you!" Mimi smiled playfully at the taller, handsome blonde.

"She's pretty popular, that's why I think she probably already has a date." The boy looked at his watch, noticing the time. "Whoa, I have to get going. I'll talk to you later, okay."

"Okay, bye Yamato-san!"

After the boy walked off, Mimi thought about what had just happened. She was asked out to a senior class dance. She was terribly excited. She couldn't wait to tell Koushirou and the others about it.

She opened the computer lab door to find Koushirou lounging around pretty much.

"Koushirou-kun," she called excitedly as she opened the sliding door. "I'm so happy!"

The girl started to twirl around as if she were in a fantasy world.

"Yamato-san just asked me to go with him to the dance this Friday! Isn't that great!?!"

"Yeah, I guess so," he shrugged, not wanting to discuss it. "Well, we better finish our project. We have all of the information that we need."

"Wait, what about the dance? Aren't you happy for me?"

"Yes, I am," he responded nonchalantly. "Now, as I was saying, we really ought to get this presentation together. You said so yourself."

"I know, but couldn't we talk about fun stuff for a while first? This is the first time in days that I have been actually happy about something since I keep thinking back to Sunday..."

"Oh, sorry," the boy said with a forced smile, since he knew Mimi wanted him to be happy about her news. "I didn't mean to seem insensitive."

"Nah, that's okay." Mimi decided to take a seat in the computer lab chair beside him. "So, are we off to Odaiba Elementary this afternoon?"

"No, we have what we need."

"But what about your mother? I thought you wanted to find out more about her."

"Yeah, but I can't go, okay!"

"But why?"

"Because we have what we need!"

"No we don't!" Mimi argued, growing annoyed with Koushirou's attitude. "You need more information other than your mother died! You don't even know what grade she taught at Odaiba Elementary!"

"I said to forget it! I am not going to that school and no one is going to make me!" He then gave her a cross look. "Besides, you should hurry up and get ready for your little dance with Yamato-san."

"What is wrong with you?" Mimi asked, surprised at how harshly he was speaking with her and how rude and sarcastic he was acting.

"Nothing, okay!!"

With that, Mimi stood up. She had had enough of Koushirou's attitude.

"I just don't get you, Koushirou! First you're acting nice to me and now you are jumping down my throat for absolutely no reason at all!" She walked towards the door, about to leave, but she looked back first. "Sora-san was right, I shouldn't even bother trying to figure you out!"

With that, the girl tossed her hair, closed the sliding door, and walked off. Koushirou felt like dissappearing. He didn't mean to upset Mimi.

"Koushirou baka! Why did I do that? It's not her fault that I am grounded. Why couldn't I just tell her!?!"

Koushirou rested his head in the palms of his hands and gave out an exasperated sigh.

"Why have I been acting so dumb when it comes to her lately anyway?"

Not being able to answer his own question, the boy got up and left the computer lab, but when he walked out, he dropped his news article. What was really bothering him was the fact that Mimi had gotten asked out to a dance by the most handsome boy in school. He didn't understand why it bothered him, but for some odd reason it did. If it were a couple of years earlier, it probably wouldn't have, but now was different.

After Koushirou left, Mimi came back. She hated to leave anyone mad and was going to try and talk with Koushirou again to get an apology out of him.

"Koushirou, I---" the girl started as she opened the door.

She stopped talking when she saw that the room was empty. She sighed and figured that he had already headed back to class. The lunch period was almost over. On her way out, she stepped on a piece of paper. She picked it up and read over the title.

"*Mama-san to papa-san no Koushirou-kun...their deaths. This must be the article. I wonder why he left it..."

The girl shrugged and folded up the piece of paper and stuck it into her uniform pocket. When she got back to class, Koushirou didn't even look her way. He started to, but stopped. It was quite obvious that he wanted to apologize, but Mimi took this personally. She felt that she had done something that obviously bothered him. She was worrying about that so much, she didn't even mention that she was asked to the senior dance to Yuko and Ayame.

"Maybe he is upset because I didn't pay for anything," the the girl said in thought, trying her best to figure out why Koushirou was so cross. "No, that can't be it. He did offer to pay. I wonder what is wrong with him."

The girl sat through the remainder of her tests, thinking about what she could do to get Koushirou to lighten up. The only thing she could think of was to get the information on his mother herself. She knew how Koushirou really wanted to know about her and had made a semi big deal about it.

"If he doesn't go to Odaiba Elementary to find out about Misayoshi-san, then I will!" the girl said, her mind being made up. "I don't know why he doesn't want to go or why he can't, but I am! Besides, this project is a part of my grade too!"

After school ended, Mimi rushed off. She was going to Odaiba Elementary whether Koushirou wanted her to go or not...
*******************************************************************************************************************************************

Comments

Note 1: I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but Chizuru, Miyako's sister that is with Yamato, Sora, and Taichi age and grade wise, is in Yamato's class. The impression I got from 02, was that Taichi and Sora were in the same class, just like in previous years, but Yamato wasn't in their class. If I'm remembering right, he wasn't for 01 either.

Anyway, Chizuru is in Yamato's class. Momoe is good friends with Jun and they are the same age and are in the same class in High School. Their school is never mentioned, but the assumption is Odaiba High. The two like to go to concerts together and no people, not as a couple. The two are the best of friends and if you're wondering which is Momoe and which is Chizuru, I'll tell ya. Momoe is the one that Miyako resembles a lot...long hair and glasses. Chizuru has the really short hair and glasses.
***
Note 2: "Koushirou's mother and father" is what "Mama-san to papa-san no Koushirou-kun," translates too...supposedly if I did it right.