An Overdue Engagement

By Canis "Bad Habits" Black


"I should be happy," said a ginger haired woman as she rested her head on the table in front of her. Her voice sounding strained and not in any way happy. "Yamato asked me to marry him, and I should be happy about it."

"But you're not?" inquired another young woman, this one with violet hair and wearing a pair of large, round glasses.

"Of course she isn't Miyako," yet another voice responded. This one from a woman with brunette hair tied back in a bun. "Just look at her."

"I don't understand why though?" Miyako, the violet haired woman, inquired.

"I..." the ginger started speaking, "I never told you this, but my mom put me in an arranged marriage just before you and I went to the camp where we first entered the Digital World, Mimi."

"Really? Why didn't you ever say anything? Who was it with? What happened?" Mimi, the brunette, asked in rapid fire.

"My brother and she made it pretty clear she didn't want it from pretty early on," answered the fourth person at the table, another brunette though this one wore her hair loose and long as it hung down to the middle of her back.

"Wait what!" the ginger haired woman was now sitting up and staring at the other woman in shock, "I did what? Hikari, Taichi's the one that just dissolved the arrangement without a by your leave and never once said anything about it in all the years before. He never seemed to be interested in me like that either."

"Really? Don't you remember a certain incident where you spent a week not talking to him?," the now named Hikari responded with just a tiny bit of irritation in her voice, "Or how that ended with him apologizing for a fight you started and an agreement to just go back to how things were? Did you really not think about why he would get you a hairclip of all things? And then you started dating Yamato out of the blue? What was he supposed to think? Especially since you never talked to him about it either.

Oh, and you were also dating Yamato. Again. Why would he have any reason to think you even wanted to talk about it. As far as he was concerned you'd be dissolving it yourself once you had your birthday."

The ginger haired woman, Sora, looked stricken. The other woman had a point. While Taichi had never spoken to her about it, she hadn't spoken to him either. And worse while he'd always appeared disinterested...he'd never actually done anything to show he intended to break the arrangement. He'd never had a girlfriend, never once gone on a date with anyone. Not like her. While Yamato had flirted with her, she'd been the one to respond.

Putting herself in Taichi's shoes...even if Hikari was wrong about that argument from when she and Taichi were twelve (something she didn't think the other woman was), everything she'd done had practically screamed her intent to not follow through with the arrangement. If she'd been in Taichi's position...she would have done the same thing he did.

"I..." Sora started to say something but then stopped. She had no idea what to say. What to ask. How...

"Talk to him," Hikari's voice was softer this time. "He knows you chose Yamato. He doesn't bear a grudge over it, but he's not going to bring it up either. If this is bothering you that much? Talk to him. Clear the air so you can accept Yamato's proposal and move on with your life."

Sora looked around and saw support (if confused) from Mimi and Miyako both.

"Is he home right now Hikari?"

"Yes he should be home."

"Good," Sora got up and started to ready herself for a trip. "Oh there's an extra key hanging beside the door. When you go home lock up behind you and let me know who has the key and I'll get it from you tomorrow or the next day."

"Do you know where he lives?" asked Hikari.

Sora rattled off an address without hesitation, something that clearly surprised Hikari.

"Okay you do."

"Are you really going over there right now?" Miyako queried.

"This isn't something to be done over the phone, Miyako," Sora responded. "This is something best done face to face."

"You think this is why you and Taichi are so distant now, don't you?"

Sora turned her head to Mimi and gave her a wan smile.

"Yes, I do."

Stepping out of her apartment and closing the door behind her Sora started plotting her path. She and Taichi attended different colleges though thankfully they were both still in Tokyo. That didn't mean it would be a short trip given the size of the city and the fact that their schools were on opposite sides of the city. Sora didn't live as close to her school as Taichi did though so she wasn't crossing the entirety of the city, but it was close enough.

As she was reviewing her mental map of the subway lines she'd need to take and the various stops she'd need to leave each one another issue came to mind. Yamato. Her boyfriend.

With a grimace she took her phone out and sent a text. This was something that should be done face to face, but...she didn't have time to do it properly. She needed to fix things with her and Taichi as soon as possible and that meant she'd have to do this by phone. Hopefully she could actually talk to him instead of doing it by text message. Fortunately her phone rang a few moments after she sent her text.

"Hello, Yamato."

"Hello, Sora."

She paused briefly. His voice sounded resigned and a bit sad. But then...why shouldn't it. He probably knew what she was going to say when she asked him for more time. Still, she needed to say it.

"I'm sorry."

She waited for his response and while it felt like it took forever she was certain it wasn't even a full minute before he gathered himself.

"Don't be. I asked and you answered. I can't expect anything more than that. Though," his voice got a bit hesitant as he continued, "Can I ask who this mysterious man you've been arranged to marry is?"

"Oh," she muttered as she realized she'd never actually told him, "I'm sorry again Yamato. I didn't realize I hadn't told you but he dissolved the agreement as soon as he turned eighteen."

There was a long moment as he digested what he'd just learned.

"So who was it, if you don't mind telling me?"

...and chose to gloss over it.

"...Taichi."

"Oh."

She couldn't tell what he was thinking. Couldn't tell what he was feeling. He'd locked down on his vocal tells and suddenly she wondered if it was for the best that he'd asked now instead of in a few years when she could see herself saying yes. He never confronted her over anything...and she never confronted him. Their fights tended to be passive aggressive and never really resolved so much as...they let each other cool off and then just ignored things.

"Yes. I...I think it's why our friendship's become so...strained."

He was quiet for a long while this time. Long enough for her to arrive at the subway station and get a look at the departure and arrival times so she could properly plot her route and board the train she needed for the first leg. If it were anyone else she might have thought they forgot to hang up the phone, but Yamato didn't. Eventually, once the train had started to move, he spoke up again.

"Why now?"

"Mimi, Miyako, Hikari, and I were having a girl's night at my apartment when the subject came up and Hikari...well she said some things and I realized how badly Taichi and I had miscommunicated on the whole thing."

She heard him snort over the phone.

"Did you two ever even talk about it?"

She hung her head in shame.

"No, according to Hikari he'd been waiting for me to talk to him about it after his first attempt to do so blew up in his face...and I was waiting for him to bring the topic up to me."

Another snort and a mirthless chuckle.

"You're going to see him right now aren't you."

"I am. If I don't fix things with Taichi now I may never be able to."

Left unsaid was her worry that things had already passed the point where they could be fixed.

"I'm sure you two will be able to fix your friendship," he seemed to read her mind as he offered assurances.

"I hope so," she whispered though she was fairly certain he heard it. "Thank you for being so understanding."

"I'm just trying to be a good friend," he replied. "...we're over aren't we."

There was only one response she could give.

"I'm sorry."

There wasn't really anything to say after that and she was neither surprised nor hurt when he just hung up. Sad that things had ended up like they had, but not worried. Even before they'd started dating she'd gotten to know Yamato as a friend and understood that sometimes he just needed time alone to process things. She'd reach out to him in a week or two to make sure they could still be friends afterward, but for now she'd leave him be.

With her call finished it felt like no time at all until she was standing in front of Taichi's door. For a long moment she just stood there her fist raised to knock, but not moving to actually knock. It felt familiar, and then she remembered the last time she was in this position. She'd chickened out then, and nothing had ever seemed right since though she was only now coming to truly realize just how pivotal that one little event had been. The new realization drove her from her paralysis and the next thing she knew she wasn't just knocking on his door but pounding on it.

It was only for a few brief moments, the racket must have made him think something was wrong as he wrenched the door open only falter at seeing her there.

"What do you-," he started to say, a look of irritation on his face until he saw who it was, and then he trailed off for a moment, "...Sora?"

"Hi," she looked him over and realized she must have interrupted him showering as his hair and body were wet and he had a towel wrapped around his waist. Still she'd come here for a reason and she'd not leave until she'd done what she set out to do. "We need to talk."

"Can it wait until I'm dressed?" He seemed a bit irritated again, but not severely so.

"That depends; can I come in and wait while you finish up?"

His face twisted as a complicated mix of emotions seemed to have been invoked by her question, but it soon smoothed.

"I'm not sure that would be appropriate. Even setting aside that you're, you know, a girl, you have a boyfriend. Or is it a fiancé now?"

She was surprised that he knew about that for a moment then she remembered that Yamato went to the same school Taichi did and lived in the same area. The two probably spent time together and her ex-boyfriend might just have recruited Taichi to help look for the ring he'd proposed to her with.

That thought didn't sit well with her and for a moment she reconsidered her course of action. Thought about apologizing and going home. Except that sort of thing was why her personal life was the mess it was so she firmed her resolve and then she noticed something she hadn't before. Taichi looked upset. He was hiding it well, using his actual irritation at having been pulled from his shower as a cover but she could now see that it was more than that.

"I think we can set aside the fact that I'm a woman and you're a man. But no I don't have a fiancé or even a boyfriend. In fact that's part of what we need to talk about Taichi," she paused and assessed him once more and could see that she was going to have to be more direct. "The arranged marriage our parents set up between us, and how we both handled it really poorly."

"What's to talk about?" Tai's voice contained a hint of bitterness to it and while she wanted to flinch from it Sora also considered it something of a win that he wasn't trying to hide it anymore. "You didn't want it and it's not an issue anymore."

"Except it is," Sora rebutted. "It's driven a wedge between us and is ruining our friendship. I don't want to lose you Taichi, but if we don't talk about this I will."

She very deliberately didn't talk about his belief that she hadn't wanted the arrangement. Now was not the time to deal with that can of worms. Still it seemed her appeal was strong enough to convince him as he stepped aside and beckoned to her that she should enter.

She followed him into his apartment and sat down on the indicated couch as he grabbed some clothes and walked into the bathroom.

"So, I know you want to talk about...that," he said through the door, "But what did you mean about not having a boyfriend or a fiancé? What happened there?"

Sora grimaced and leaned back in her seat to stare at the ceiling. That settled whether or not Taichi knew Yamato was planning to propose. Which meant this talk just got a lot more awkward.

"He did propose, but...something just felt wrong so I asked him to let me think it over and then tonight I was complaining about the whole situation to the girls and I brought up the old arrangement. Hikari then did that thing where it feels like you're being read the riot act even though she's not being aggressive or angry or anything."

"I know the feeling," he said as he emerged from the bathroom pulling a shirt over his head while he headed towards the chair opposite her seat on the small couch she herself was sitting on.

"Of course you do," she snorted as she said it. "She's your sister."

"So what did she say that brought you all the way over here this late at night?"

"She brought up the argument we had when you gave me that hairclip back in elementary school after we got back from the Digital World."

Taichi looked at her stunned as if that was the last thing he had expected to hear.

"That? We resolved that ages ago."

"Actually we didn't," Sora responded with a sad smile, "We both thought we did, but if Hikari's right then what you intended with that message and what I took from it were two totally different things."

"If Hikari's right?" Taichi wondered aloud. "What exactly did she say?"

"That you were wanting to go back to being friends the way we were before our parents told as about the arranged marriage."

"She's not wrong, but you took it differently?"

"I did, I thought you just wanted to go back to before that fight," she sighed and looked down. "I was a coward and took the easy out."

Taichi straightened up from the slouch he'd been sitting in as he stared at her.

"Um...what? How do you figure? And how does this play into you breaking up with Yamato?"

"I was the one to start that fight, Taichi. And my stupid pride got in the way of me apologizing for it several times that week because it would mean admitting fault. So when your apology email showed up it offered me a way out without doing that and I took it. That's why I said I was a coward." Sora took a moment to breathe and arrange her thoughts before continuing. Taichi's motioning to continue was entirely unnecessary but amused her all the same. "As to how that plays into me breaking up with Yamato...that's a little more complicated and ties into why I actually started dating him in the first place."

On hearing that Tai's face briefly screwed up into a small grimace and then he abruptly stood up.

"I'm going to get a beer, do you want one?"

"I would like something to drink, but this late...I'll take a beer if I you don't mind me sleeping over."

"Are you sure? We know that you won't be making the walk of shame in the morning, but other people might not."

Sora smiled at that. The concern for her reputation was nice, and something that she'd missed. Yamato was deferential to her desires but he didn't understand the way Taichi did. Even if Taichi hadn't cared much about such things when they were children he'd still understood them in a way Yamato never seemed to regardless of how much she tried to explain.

"I'm okay with that. You're still my best friend and I honestly think our parents would be happy if those kinds of rumors reached them."

Taichi looked doubtful even as he returned with two bottles of beer, one of which he handed to her as he sat down.

"I'm not so sure about them being happy even if they were the ones to set up the arranged marriage they didn't really put up much protest when I decided to dissolve it."

This time it was Sora's turn to grimace and not because of the taste of the beer which honestly wasn't that good anyway.

"I mean looking back why would they? I was dating Yamato at the time."

"Yeah, you were. Kinda made the choice pretty easy for me," and judging by Taichi's face and the way he followed that statement up with rather large swig of his beer she may have made a misstep with the way she said that.

"Not quite what I was meaning to get at, but moving on. Do you remember when I started dressing more like the other girls in our grade and taking up more feminine pursuits?"

"I do," Tai seemed a bit confused at the change in direction but was also willing to go with it. "I thought you were just...indulging your mother or something like that."

"That was part of it," Sora affirmed. "But I was mostly doing it because...well because I wanted you to notice me. As a girl."

"But then I didn't seem to..." Tai seemed to have some idea of where she was going now but she wasn't going to bother with assumptions.

"Yes, and I got...a little depressed. I might have done something drastic but Yamato started flirting with me and as much as I hate to say it, it made me feel good about myself. He wasn't the one I'd wanted to notice me, but he was still an attractive and popular guy even if his band hadn't taken off yet," Sora paused and took a long pull from her beer and stared off into the distance as if she were looking into the past. "I flirted back because...well why not. Flirting didn't have to mean anything and I think on some level I hoped you'd get jealous and do...something."

"What do you mean by...drastic?" Tai sounded shaken in a way that usually only involved Hikari and fevers and for a moment Sora wondered why. And then she connected the dots and her eyes widened.

"Nothing like that! No, I had been thinking of doing something like stripping naked in front of you or shoving your head between my breasts, not killing myself!"

"Oh, sorry." Taichi looked and sounded abashed. Like he thought he'd offended her, but really...

"No Tai, I'm sorry. I've done a pretty bad job of choosing my words tonight." She looked at her bottle of beer. It was now empty and she wondered if she should ask for another or just continue on only to see Taichi get up and retrieve two more. Apparently he'd also finished his bottle as well. "Thank you. I really could've worded that better. But getting back on track.

I initially didn't have any intention of doing anything other than flirting back with Yamato. I had intended to follow through with the arrangement our mothers had made, but I also...I wanted you to look at me as a girl. Only the flirting got intense and you never seemed to react even when we were flirting right in front of you and then Yamato asked me out...I should have turned him down, but he was good looking, popular, and interested in me where you didn't seem to be. I asked for a couple of weeks and spent a while wrestling with it, and I was finally going to accept on Christmas Eve, but when I got there I started doubting my course again."

She paused, to take a drink from her new beer and just sat there for a bit letting him digest her words as she herself looked back on that day and mentally kicked herself a few times for being such a stupid teenager.

"...and then I ran into you and encouraged you." Tai ended up being the one to pick up the thread of conversation while Sora was stuck in her own head. His voice as he spoke was quiet and a little bitter as he realized the role he'd played in messing things up back then. Sora couldn't let that stand though.

"Don't blame yourself Tai. Even then I knew you were trying to be a good friend and encourage me to do what you believed I wanted. I just didn't see why it was so hard for you. I thought it was because it was because you didn't like talking about feelings. Not that you wanted to do exactly what I wanted you to."

"Still...," he didn't seem entirely convinced. "I screwed up."

"We both did Taichi," she said. "Again and again. When Yamato and I started dating I told him about the arranged marriage. I never named the other party, but I gave him the terms and the lines I wouldn't cross. He agreed to respect them though they're also why the two of us broke up the first time. Not so much because he wanted to go further but because there wasn't any real future for the relationship."

"Why," Tai paused and took a sip of his beer to give him time to formulate his question. "Why did you two get back together in High School then?"

Sora frowned and looked at her lap. That was really where things had truly gone wrong she was beginning to see. If she hadn't gotten back together with Yamato then...she was beginning to think that Taichi would have eventually talked to her if only because of the clock that had started the moment he turned eighteen and that would have ended next year when she turned twenty-one.

"I...don't know," and she didn't. "I felt so torn back then. Yamato wasn't my boyfriend but I still felt...beholden to his feelings towards me. Yet you were the one I wanted but you didn't seem interested in me like that and even seemed to be drifting away. And then Meiko showed up and Mimi started trying to set you two up and...it was just a mess and when Yamato did finally ask me out again...I couldn't find any reason to say no that didn't feel incredibly selfish."

They lapsed into silence, sipping on their beers, as Tai digested that. Sora herself was digesting things as well. She'd been shying away from this sort of examination of things. Probably because she knew she wouldn't like what she saw.

"That's...even if I don't have any personal experience that's not a good reason to date someone." Tai's tone wasn't judgmental, but actually seemed a touch sympathetic. "Maybe for following through with an arranged marriage, but to date someone..."

"I know," Sora once more studied her lap. "I...never really looked at it too closely, but even then I knew it was a bad reason to date somebody but...I was...I don't know. Worried? Scared? Demoralized? I'm not sure exactly what I was feeling like back then. Not exactly." She looked up this time meeting Taichi's eyes. "I just know that I said yes when he asked and that when you dissolved the arranged marriage without even saying something to me about it...it hurt."

"I'm sorry. I just...you were dating Yamato and I thought," Tai looked taken aback, but he still took in her words and responded.

"I know. I said it earlier, though not the way I intended. I was dating Yamato and looking back now I'd never given any indication that I wanted to follow through with the arrangement," she smiled sadly. "Not even to my parents."

Once again a silence descended on the two. They sipped slowly on their beers as they mulled over everything that had been said so far this night. Eventually though the silence was broken.

"So, what is it exactly that you want here Sora?" Tai asked. While she'd come in and said they needed to talk, something she'd been right about, she hadn't exactly said what she wanted and it seemed like she'd finished saying what she'd intended to say.

"What I want?" She mused aloud, "What I want is to get your side of things, and then, then I want to fix our friendship. As much as I hate to admit it we're a long way from being anything but friendly acquaintances right now." She made sure she had his attention before she continued. "I want my best friend back."

Tai stared at her blankly for a moment before a smile crept across his face.

"I want that too. So, where should I start?"

Sora didn't say anything as the question seemed to be directed at himself. She just waited patiently sipping on her beer until he gathered himself.

"I think the beginning would be best." He shifted in his seat, getting more comfortable before beginning to speak again, this time in earnest. "Back then I hadn't really given much thought to the future beyond the next soccer game or an upcoming movie I wanted to see, things like that. So while I kind of had this idea that I'd get married and have kids of my own someday I hadn't even thought of who it would be with. Then our parents told us about the arranged marriage and I was kind of stunned.

I do remember the details of the agreement since they wouldn't let either of us go until they were sure we both understood them fully, but other than that I mostly remember that you were kind of quiet. At the time I took that as you not having a problem with it even if you weren't super enthusiastic. I was more or less the same. It was only later after I'd had time to process and really thought about it in relation to what little thought I'd put into the future back then. I actually gave some thought to who I would marry and out of all the girls I knew the only one who I could see it with was you."

He paused and took a drink before continuing.

"Part of that I think was that I hadn't really started puberty yet. I didn't get why people like our old classmate Seto seemed so fascinated with the female form. I understand it a little more now, but I think I probably would've come to the same conclusion even if I had understood it then. So for about a week or two I thought I had it made. Then Grandfather came to visit."

"Your grandfather?" Sora inquired as she shifted around, pulling her feet up on to the couch and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"My mom's dad," Tai explained. "He and my grandmother were an arranged marriage though different circumstances. He was nineteen, almost twenty, and she was fifteen, almost sixteen, when their parents engaged them and the first few years of their marriage were somewhat rocky. Apparently he took things for granted early on, especially the engagement period and they'd both suffered for it. He wanted to give me some advice and encourage me to 'do it properly' as he put it."

"What did that mean?" Sora was genuinely curious though she had a bit of a sinking feeling. Like she was about to get the full context of what Hikari had said about that stupid fight from so many years ago.

Tai in turn grinned a bit ruefully and ran his hand through his hair before answering.

"He told me to treat it like you were my girlfriend. To give you gifts, take you on dates, all of that."

"So, the hair clip...," Sora closed her eyes in pain. She'd been such an idiot. Tai could be insensitive but he'd never been intentionally insulting once they became friends. She'd known that then, she shouldn't have let herself get that angry.

"Say, Sora, why did you get so upset?" And Tai of course wanted to know.

"I don't really know. It's been so long," Sora opened her eyes and gave Tai a sheepish grin. "I'm not even sure I knew why back then either."

"Oh," Tai's quiet response held all the same disappointment as his face. He'd obviously hoped for some solid reason, but Sora couldn't give him one. She was just as lost as he was even though she was the one who got so upset. "Well, anyway, we both know how that turned out so I backed off. Waited for you to approach me, but..."

"I never did," Sora whispered quietly.

"No, and then you started flirting with Yamato and I guess...that was when I started to lose hope though it didn't really die until I found you outside his tent looking like you were working up the nerve to confess to your crush," this time Tai's voice and face didn't match as his words were steady and calm betraying none of the remembered anguish that was displayed on his face.

"If you knew," Sora thought asking the question was a bad idea, but couldn't help herself either. "Would you have acted differently?"

"I'm not sure," Tai answered his face turning from anguished to thoughtful. "I didn't so we can't really know for sure, but if I had known that he'd already asked you out and you were there to give him your answer...I think I would have done things differently. Probably would have tried to do something like what I did when Takeru asked Hikari out after that whole mess when we were in eleventh grade."

"Wait, what?" Sora sat up a little straighter at that. She hadn't known that Takeru had ever actually asked Hikari out. Tai seemed to understand her quite well because he grinned and leaned forward.

"Yeah, you'd never think it, but he did ask her out. I think she spent a couple of days stressing herself out over it before she told me and I had no idea what to do so I just kinda winged it. Had her sit down and got her talking. Asked a few questions and somehow that was enough for her to sort her feelings out and decide what to do. I was surprised she turned him down, but maybe it was for the best. They're closer than ever now, even if they're just friends."

"That's good for them," and Sora meant it but, "Is there nothing else on your side of things?"

"Not really," Tai said leaning back in his chair again. "I pretty much gave up then. Even you two breaking up didn't really give me any hope that things would change since the two of you were still spending so much time together. When you guys got back together it looked to me less like you guys were trying again and more that you were just picking up where things left off so when I turned eighteen I just canceled the arrangement."

Sora believed him, but the way he wasn't quite meeting her eyes left her wondering if there was more to it. So she asked.

"Was that really all there was to it?" She hadn't meant to, but some of her hurt over not being consulted seemed to have slipped out so she continued on. "Was that really the only reason why you didn't talk to me first?"

Tai looked a little pained and she took it as proof that she'd been right, though she didn't really feel triumphant. She probably wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"I...guess I was also a little afraid," he studied his hands as he laced his fingers together in his lap. "The last time I brought it up to you it led to a fight where you didn't talk to me for a week and...we were drifting apart back then. Not as close as we used to be and I worried that if I brought it up that maybe it wouldn't be a week but a month. A year. Forever. I couldn't risk it so I just didn't."

It looked like Hikari had been right about where things had gone wrong, even if the picture the other woman had probably wasn't accurate. Still so much could have been avoided if Sora had just gotten over herself. But that was the past and she was facing the present so she did something she hadn't allowed herself to do in far too long. She got up and hugged her friend when he was hurting. Taichi was startled at first but he reciprocated and hugged her back and for a time the two just stood there embracing each other.

Eventually though they broke the hug and stepped back from each other.

"So are we good?" Tai asked her after several long moments of silence.

"I think we will be," Sora answered with a smile. "So, where am I sleeping?"

Tai chuckled and motioned for her to help as he moved to unfold the small couch she'd been sitting on into a small bed.


Author's Notes:

This wasn't originally written for Taiora week. It was just something I started writing on the Taiora Discord server and when it was done I was told it could fit for one of the original Day One prompts "Childhood Friends to Lovers." I still want to, and probably will, tackle my original idea for it, but I simply don't have the time to it now. And now have a tiny epilogue set a few months later.


"So Taichi, have you gotten me a birthday present yet?" Sora knew he hadn't and was only asking him to watch him squirm like a good best friend.

"No," he shifted uncomfortably, "You still haven't told me what you'd like and I kinda don't want to take a chance on accidentally offending you again."

"That's sweet Tai," she smiled, "But I'm not twelve anymore."

"I know that, but still…" he trailed off. "Can't I get some help?"

"Hmm…," she pondered what she would say. There were any of a dozen different things she could ask for that she knew he'd have no trouble getting and could probably still exercise a bit of discernment if she wasn't too particular in her suggestions, but there was something else she'd been wanting to bring up ever since she'd left her apartment to repair her friendship with him several months ago.

"Tai, you remember a few months ago when I came over and we finally talked about the arranged marriage?"

"Yeah," he seemed confused. "What of it?"

"There's one topic we never actually talked about relating to it," she found it easier to talk about it than she'd expected even just a few moments ago. "We never actually addressed whether either of us wanted it. Just what we thought the other wanted."

Sora resisted the urge to laugh as Tai's eyes widened and has mouth just kind of fell open. She could tell this was the last thing he'd expected her to bring up, but her twenty first birthday was less than a week away. Given the agreement would have given them until that day to dissolve the agreement with just one of them backing out, she was curious what might have happened if they'd just talked to each other sooner.

"I…," Tai found his voice after a few moments and a false start. "I'm not sure that's relevant? I mean the agreement was dissolved. It's not really relevant anymore?"

"Is it really not relevant?" Sora questioned. "I wanted it. Back when they first told us about it, I wanted it. When I accepted Yamato's request for a date I wanted it. Even after you dissolved it I wanted it."

Sora took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and took the plunge.

"I still want it now."

"Oh," Taichi's voice was faint. "I guess that means you want an engagement ring for your birthday?"

She opened her eyes and studied Taichi's face for a moment before letting a smile crawl across her own.

"Yes, I'd love that."