Oh, notice how these parts are connected somewhat? For example, in the last part, Miyako was talking about eating down in the gym and not wanting to disappoint someone. In this part, you indirectly figure out what she's talking about, even though she isn't in it, and why she would go down to the school's gym to eat. You find out even more in the next. You also find out a little about the "gym" thing that Joya and Jen were talking about last part too.
Okay, I've probably said too much now. ^^; Now I must say this before
Toei comes around and finds this and then uses it as an excuse to sue me.
:-p I do not own any of these characters and/or places normally seen
on the show, in the manga, etc. Oh, and something else. Takeru, for this
part, refers to Yamato as "niisan." That is what he calls him for
season 2 in the original. Hikari calls Taichi, "oniichan."
Those are just two ways of saying brother.
****
Part 4: The Relaxing Dinner of Takeru and Hikari!
Takeru and Hikari were at a restaurant early that afternoon, before the stuff that happened with both Koushirou and Mimi. The two were celebrating their latest victory, passing their big math examination.
"I thought we were going to never finish that exam!" exclaimed Hikari happily.
Takeru walked up holding a tray with one strawberry ice cream soda, one ice-cold lemonade, one cola, one fruit punch, and four orders of curly fries. He then sat down across from Hikari at an outside booth with a big umbrella which blocked off the sun's rays.
"You said it!" Takeru agreed. "Junior High is a lot tougher than I thought. I hope Iori-kun spends his last couple of years in Elementary school wisely."
Takeru started to hand out the drinks he had been carrying on the tray.
"Here you go, a strawberry ice cream soda and a small order of curly fries for you and a small order of fries and a lemonade for me. Our pizza is going to be a while since it's an extra-extra large with everything on it, topped with a double order of triple cheese. I hope I got that order right."
"Well, we all agreed to a giant pizza with everything on it so we can have a lot leftover."
"Oh yeah," Takeru laughed.
"Thank you," Hikari smiled while accepting the food and drink from Takeru. "Junk food is definitely what we need after that big test we just suffered through. I'm just so glad all of the testing with the first years is over!!"
"Yeah, we could use the relaxation!" Takeru said while sipping his drink.
"You don't think we're over doing it, do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, that pizza has enough fat calories to turn someone real slim like your brother into a sumo!"
"No way!" Takeru assured her. "I never eat a lot of junk food, mom won't let me. Let's live a little. Besides, we won't have to worry too much."
"We don't?"
"Daisuke-kun eats a lot and will probably eat most of it!" Takeru laughed. He put the tray down with the rest of the food and drinks on it. "I guess I'll just set the other food and drinks aside."
Both Hikari and Takeru were now both 13 years old and were in their first year of Junior High, grade 7. They went to Odaiba Junior High, just like the other kids.
Just like when he was in elementary school, Odaiba Elementary and his last year at Kawada Elementary, Takeru was the star basketball player. The boy had grown a bit taller now, too. He was almost as big as his older brother, Yamato, the heart throb of Odaiba High to all of the girls. How Yamato managed to keep a girlfriend was beyond Takeru, seeing as how girls always tagged after him, but even back in elementary school, he always had trouble with girls chasing after him; Takeru was having that problem now.
Hikari was a cheerleader for their school and took rhythmic dance class, which was something she enjoyed pretty much. She was still nice as ever and still that cute petite size of hers. Hikari also still had that sixth sense of hers, which allowed her to sense things. It just wasn't as often as when she was younger.
"You know," Hikari started while eating a fry, "I wonder why Daisuke-kun isn't here yet. He promised that he would come with us. I hope nothing has happened to him. I'm actually starting to worry about him." The girl heaved out a long, sad sigh as she thought of the boy. 'He just hasn't been himself lately. Normally when I ask him to join me, he's the first one to run by my side. He also hasn't been speaking to me much lately. He doesn't even get jealous when boys ask me out after our home games. That's just not like him! I'm actually starting to miss the attention from him...'
"Ichijouji was supposed to be here by now too," Takeru said while downing some of his fries. "We all studied hard, but thanks to Ichijouji's idea of having a study group, I'm sure that that's the reason we all did okay on it. Ichijouji said he was coming after he spoke with his instructor about something and Daisuke-kun said that he had to get in some practice first and that he'll come around later and to just order without him."
"Practice what?"
Takeru shrugged. "I don't know, he didn't say."
"Well, I hope he gets here soon," Hikari said. "I really feel that something is wrong."
"I'm sure it's nothing," Takeru assured her with a smile. "You know how he is when he gets wrapped up in something."
"I guess," Hikari shrugged, not at all convinced that everything was okay. She then decided to get off the subject of Daisuke altogether. She still wasn't convinced that Daisuke was all right, but didn't feel like burdening Takeru with how she felt as of the moment. "Well, I think it's really cool that Ichijouji-kun goes to school with us now."
"Yeah, our type of school beats that school he used to go to any day!" Takeru whistled. "They expect too much out of you at those private schools."
"You know he only asked his parents to switch schools so that he'd be with us and Miyako-san!"
"Why do you say that?"
"I think he has a thing for her."
"You really think so?" Takeru asked. "When he first met her he didn't seem to."
Hikari nodded at Takeru.
"I don't know about now. They don't even talk to each other much anymore unless it's by phone or by e-mail. Since she's always busy with Koushirou-san doing computer club stuff and Ichijouji with his Soccer. I'm surprised he didn't join the Computer Club."
"I'm a bit surprised he didn't either. I thought he liked computers."
"I guess he didn't join because of all of the Soccer. The Soccer Coach works him and Daisuke-kun hard," Takeru said. "I bet he makes them work the hardest because those two are the best players this school has ever had since your brother and Sora-san started High School. Taichi-san broke tons of records and won tons of awards for this school and Sora-san was the best female Soccer player this school had ever seen, although she excelled more so in Tennis."
"Well, if Ichijouji-kun didn't have a thing for Miyako-san in the beginning, it's obvious that he does now," Hikari pointed out. "He always talks about her. I've noticed him doing that a lot lately; besides, she was the first girl to believe in him after he stopped being the Digimon Kaiser."
"Actually, it was Mimi-san..."
"You know what I mean, silly!" Hikari laughed.
"Yeah, I know," the boy smiled.
"You know something else I've notice lately?"
"What?"
"Oniichan."
"What about him?"
"He's been pretty edgy and short patient lately and I can't figure out why."
"It's probably just a guy thing that you wouldn't understand," Takeru told her, feeling a bit uneasy.
"You and your 'it's a guy thing!' I'm sure I'd understand if he told me," Hikari frowned. "I hate it when he snaps at me for no reason! He's been like this for a little over a week now!"
"Maybe his Soccer Coach at Odaiba High is really getting to him," Takeru said, hoping that Hikari would drop the subject.
The boy then thought about Taichi and what he was probably going through.
'I feel pretty sorry for him right now. I wish I would have never told him. He acts like he's the happiest person alive when he's out there playing Soccer, but off the field, he's terribly upset and I'm not supposed to tell anyone else about it.'
"I doubt it," Hikari replied unconvincingly. "He's had trouble with his coaches before and has never acted like this."
"Maybe you shouldn't say anything about it."
"Sounds like you're covering for him," Hikari said while giving Takeru a look of suspicion. "Do you know something that I don't?"
"Me, know something?" Takeru asked with a nervous laugh. "I don't know what on earth you're talking about."
"You do know what's wrong with my brother!" Hikari exclaimed, pointing a figure at the boy. "I can tell by that nervous look and laugh you get whenever you're trying to hide something! You may be an excellent basketball player, Takaishi, but you're a terrible liar."
"Um..."
"C'mon, spill it!"
"Okay, okay, you got me," Takeru confessed, realizing that lying wasn't going to help the situation any. "I do know what is wrong, but I'm not supposed to say anything about it."
"Why, because my brother said so?"
"No, because my brother said so."
"Your brother?" Hikari asked in confusion. "What does he have to do with my brother?"
"A lot," Takeru muttered.
"I don't get it, but you can tell me anyway. I promise I won't tell your brother or my brother that you told."
"I'm sorry, Hikari," Takeru sighed, "I can't betray my brother's trust again."
"Again?"
"I already messed up when I told Taichi-san."
The girl stared at Takeru, a perplexed look on her face, still trying to figure out what he was talking about. Takeru noticed the look and continued on.
"I didn't know at the time I wasn't supposed to, but I brought it up in conversation one day with your brother," Takeru explained. "Later on that day, I went to visit my dad. You know, court order. My father gets me for two weekends out of the month."
Hikari nodded.
"Anyway, my brother told me not to tell anyone about what was going on because he knows how upset Taichi-san would get if he found out. He also said that he isn't ready to let everyone know about it yet, especially Taichi-san, as well as the other person that's involved, whom of which I'm also not supposed to mention."
'What's with all of the secrets!?!'
"I didn't tell him I told your brother, but I promised not to tell anyone either," Takeru continued. "After that, I went and told your brother about what my brother had told me. About how he wasn't supposed to know, so he's going along with it and that's probably what's tearing him up because he wants my brother and the other person involved to go on and tell him. I think he feels betrayed in two ways."
Takeru finished what he had wanted to say and wouldn't allow himself to go any further. He didn't want to make his brother look bad.
'Taichi-san is feeling betrayed by a friend and by another friend that he's always confided in, always trusted, but now that one person is keeping a big secret from him. I hate keeping this secret from Hikari-chan. She has a right to know why her brother is so edgy, besides, this secret keeping is killing me to keep!'
"My brother feels betrayed in two ways?"
"Yeah, but I really shouldn't get into that either," Takeru told her. "I promised niisan. It's just a bond that we brothers have, Hikari. I'm sure you wouldn't understand it completely, though, since you and Taichi-san are brother and sister and not brother and brother."
"No fair," Hikari groaned, "I want to know what this big secret is that your brother is hiding."
"As obvious as he's been lately," Takeru muttered, "I'm sure it'll slip out one of these days. Besides, he can't keep this up too much longer."
Hikari shrugged and sat there for a while in total silence. Takeru noticed.
"What's the matter?" Takeru asked. "If it's about the secret, I already explained that I ca--"
"No, it's not that," Hikari interrupted with a sigh. "I was just thinking about Tailmon."
"Oh." Takeru stared up at the bright, clear blue sky. "Boy do I miss Patamon."
"Same here about Tailmon, only I'm somewhat worried."
"I wish there was some way we could see them all again. It's so hard to believe that it's been almost two whole years since we last saw them." Takeru then realized what Hikari had said. "Why are you worried?"
"I have this feeling that we are going to see them all again, only now I feel that something bad is going to happen."
"What happened to that positive feeling you had if we end up seeing them again," Takeru asked, "with no evil forces or troubles being the catch."
"I don't know," the girl said, a forlorn look about her face. "I just can't explain this feeling. I also have this feeling that when we do see our Digimon again, we are going to be different in some way."
"Different?"
"Yes, different," she nodded. "I don't know how, but we'll be somewhat different than what we are currently when we encounter them again."
"I'm starting to wonder about you," Takeru said while staring at her.
"What do you mean?"
"When we left our Digimon before, you just knew we were going to see them again," Takeru recalled. "Sure it was three years later, but you were right. If I'm remembering right, the first time we had to leave our Digimon, you weren't crying, nor did you look sad. You just looked like you felt bad for Mimi-san since Palmon disappeared on her. I guess you are strong emotion wise."
"That's because I sensed we would see them again so I had no reason to be sad or to cry."
"You have to be the most mysterious person I have ever met!!" Takeru complimented. "You are always sensing things and not being able to explain them."
"I don't know why I'm like this," Hikari apologized, her head hanging.
"Don't worry about it and don't apologize. That's just the way you are and what makes you special," Takeru told her. "Although, I am rather curious about that 'we'll see our Digimon again, only we'll be different' thing."
Hikari looked uneasy.
"Hey, don't worry," Takeru smiled at her. "I'm sure everything is fine in the Digital World. No gate has opened to allow us to go back and help them, so everything must be fine."
"There you go again, always being hopeful," Hikari said with a half-hearted smile. "No wonder you have the crest attribute of hope."
"Let's just finish this food up before it gets cold."
The two went back to eating their fries when their pizza was brought to them.
"We can't eat without the others."
"I say we make an exception!" Takeru playfully smiled. "We'll just leave them some."
Hikari sat there and refused to eat.
"I'm just so worried about Daisuke-kun."
"I've never seen you so worried over someone before," Takeru noted. "If you want, we'll wait for both him and Ichijouji."
"I just sense something has happened to him or is going to happen to him." A look of worry now covered face as she gave out a small gasp, sensing even more. "Ichijouji-kun too now that I think about it."
"I know, I could call the school and ask if he's still there and prove to you that they're fine, or I could just call Ichijouji."
"I would really appreciate that."
"I'm sure that Ichijouji has his cell with him."
The once feared Digimon Kaiser, aka Ichijouji Ken, went to school with Hikari and the others now. He looked pretty much the same, but he was a tad bit taller. He was a little taller than Takeru, but slightly shorter than both Yamato and Jou - Jou still towered over everyone. No one knows exactly why he switched from Tamachi Elementary to Odaiba Elementary when he had only one more year to go. It was said to be one of the best schools for one's child to attend and that it was an honor to even be accepted into to this school.
*Note: Okay, I made up the stuff a bout Tamachi Elementary being the best school in the district, blah, blah, blah. I'm just assuming it's a fancy pants school since it has the school uniforms and in Japan, most Public Elementary schools don't require them. Normally private Elementary Schools do and on occasion some Public, like in Ken's case, he goes to a public school but it requires school uniforms. Also, with the way Ken's parents are, well, were actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the school was known for their "smart students" or something along the lines of that.*
It wasn't quite like a private school, but with the expectations and standards you would've thought so. His switching from a school like that to a typical public school boggled the minds of some people. Some say that his time where he was "missing" had something to do with it, or that he was too dumb now and couldn't take all of the pressure. Hikari and the others figured that maybe he wanted to be with his friends, something he never really had before, but for whatever the reason, Ken was truly happy now.
Ken is also in grade 7 and 13 years old and was pretty much the star of their soccer team. The only other person that was an actual challenge to him was Daisuke. He made just as many goals as Ken. Out of the other boys and girls on the team, the coach worked both Ken and Daisuke the hardest by making them practice more. He was still smart, not as smart as he was when he was the Digimon Kaiser or as smart as his older deceased brother, Osamu, but he still made satisfactory to above average marks.
Takeru dialed a number on his cell phone. It rang for a moment. A voice on the other end then answered.
"Moshi-moshi. Ichijouji Ken here, what can I do for you?" the voice answered routinely.
"Takeru here."
"Hey Takaishi," Ken greeted. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just wondering when you and Daisuke-kun are going to get here. Hikari is getting pretty worried about you two."
"I'm still at school looking for Miyako-san to see if she wanted to come with me, but no one has seen neither her nor Izumi for that matter."
"Did you try the computer lab or the library," Takeru laughed. "Those are the two most obvious places to look!"
"Yeah, I tried them but she wasn't in either," Ken explained. "I checked almost all of them, except for the one in the West Wing since it's so far out of my way. I was thinking about checking there next."
"So besides your hunt, what else is up?"
"I just got out of my meeting with my Soccer Instructor," Ken said. "I just noticed the time and decided to just head on over, but I don't know what's wrong with Motomiya. I saw him heading towards the gym when I was on my way to talk with my coach. I'm right in front of the gym now and it sounds like he's still in there."
"What is he doing in there?"
"I have no idea. I guess he just lost track of the time."
"Well, how about we just bring the food there to celebrate?"
"Sure thing. I'm sure that it wouldn't hurt and if we need to heat anything or get ice for drinks we could just go to the kitchen that the Cooking Club uses. I'll go tell Daisuke about it right now."
"You know you guys owe me big time, right?"
"I know, I know...we were going to split the bill three-way since Hikari-san somehow managed to talk her way out of paying," the boy said with a sweat drop. "You pay for the entire thing and then we'll pay you when you get here."
"Okay, see you guys in about 15 minutes," Takeru told him.
"Okay."
*******
Takeru hanged up the phone as well as Ken.
'I wonder what's wrong with Daisuke. He's been in that gym an awfully long time.'
The boy then shrugged.
'Oh well, I might as well go in and talk to him.'
*******
"Well," Hikari asked eagerly.
"Change of plans," Takeru said while putting his phone away. "I'm paying and we're taking everything back to school."
"Huh? Back to school?"
"Ichijouji just got out of his conference and he said before he went, he thought he saw Daisuke-kun headed towards the gym."
"I wonder why he would go off to the gym?"
"Go fig, Daisuke-kun," Takeru answered plainly. "He's been acting strange lately anyway. He just hasn't been his usual overly confident cheery self."
Takeru noticed that Hikari, once again, had a sad look on her face.
"Hikari?"
The girl remained quiet for a brief moment and then looked at Takeru. The girl looked as if she could've started crying at any moment.
"Hikari, what's wrong?"
"Do you think that he...hates me?" the girl asked in a voice as low as a whisper.
"Hate you?"
"I think he hates me," Hikari nodded slowly.
"You're the last person he would hate!"
Takeru was wondering how Hikari could assume such a thing.
'That kid has the biggest crush on her! Too bad I have one on her too. I'm surprised she's never sensed it, my wanting to be more than just friends. I just don't have the guts or the nerve to ask her out, and I know that Daisuke-kun would get upset if I did. It would make him feel terrible. His crush is way bigger than my crush on her and he's had it longer too. He's also my friend and I hate to make friends upset or sad.'
"It's like he's been ignoring me lately."
"He's been practically ignoring everyone lately," Takeru said, trying to make the girl feel that she wasn't the only being treated differently. "Not just you, me too, and Ichijouji, and everyone else. Something is bothering him that he just doesn't want to talk about."
"Well, I intend on finding out!" Hikari said with determination like her brother. "I hate to see him so upset or any of my good friends for that matter upset over anything!"
"That's the spirit," Takeru smiled. "I'm sure he's just having problems with his parents or maybe he's annoyed at the fact that he's in his sister's shadow. She's always made perfect grades and as far as he's concerned thinks that she's the favourite out of both of them. Jun-san was the model student in school and maybe his parents are expecting too much of him, sort of like the situation with Ichijouji."
"That's right, Miyako-san told us of how his parents were seeing Ichijouji-kun as his older brother than as Ken. Ichijouji-kun seems to really trust Miyako-san to share something like that with her."
"I'm sure that's all that's wrong with him, but seems that he would've calmed down by now, though."
"Well, what are we waiting around here for, let's go!"
Takeru paid for the food and got Daisuke and Ken's fries put in a bag, and their drinks in a carrier.
"I just know those fries aren't going to taste too good when we get back to school," Hikari laughed. "They're going to be all cold and icky."
"Their loss, they should've come with us."
Hikari carried the drinks and fries and Takeru carried the pizza. They walked away from the restaurant and headed towards school.
"Wow, it's so nice out here," Takeru said while taking in a breath of fresh air. "It's supposed to be sunny and clear all week including this weekend. We should all hang out Saturday afternoon after school."
"Yeah, that's a great idea," Hikari agreed. She then looked up at the sky. "I think you were wrong about the weather, though."
The boy looked over at Hikari and asked, "Huh, what are you talking about?"
"Look up there," she said while pointing towards the sky.
"What the..."
"It looks like a storm is coming."
"Yeah, it does."
"We should hurry and find some shelter before it starts to rain," Hikari suggested.
The wind then started to rise. Other people were gathering around to see what was going on and staring at the now newly formed cloud that seemed to start forming into some type of a funnel.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Hikari said, growing a bit worried.
"IT LOOKS LIKE A TORNADO IS COMING!!!" a bystander shouted.
"WE DON'T GET TORNADOES HERE!!" another person said.
"They're right!" Takeru said, getting the same worried feeling as Hikari. "We don't get Tornadoes here!"
The wind level started to rise more and more as the strange funnel spun faster and faster. The funnel then went towards Takeru and Hikari.
"THAT THING IS COMING RIGHT TOWARDS US!!" Hikari shouted.
"RUN!!!"
Hikari turned and ran along with Takeru, but a big bright light flashed and blinded them, as if lightening had strcuk right in front of them.
"Where'd that light come from!!" Takeru asked while sheilding his eyes.
Before Hikari could respond, she felt herself being sucked up into the weird tornado looking thing. Takeru stared in shock as she yelled for help. He didn't know what to do. All of a sudden, the vortex came towards him but instead of running, he let it take him. He knew this wasn't a normal Tornado funnel nor did he care where he would end up, but he knew something was quite different about it...
"I can't let her down! I have to save her," Takeru said with determination. He then shouted, "I'm coming, Hikari! Just hang on!"
He then got pulled in and the tornado disappeared, people staring in shock, wondering what had just happened...