How to Succeed in Love Without Really Trying
It was now Tuesday morning, and as much as I wish I could've woken up that morning and convinced myself that the events of the previous day were nothing but a weird dream, I could still vividly remember kissing Hikari, Sora, Mimi and Miyako. After I got done daydreaming about each of them, I smacked myself in the head. Physically this time, like I said I never stopped mentally smacking myself. I started to contemplate if it wouldn't just be easier to shoot myself and get it over with, considering that there was no way I wasn't going to be made to suffer for what all had happened.
I went about my morning routine as usual, and after I was dressed I pulled out photos I had of each of the girls and set one of each out on my desk. I looked over all four of them for a few minutes. Then I banged my head on my desk for a few minutes. I alternated between these two activities until I finally decided that bludgeoning myself wasn't going to give me any answers any faster.
"Okay, I've got to follow Iori's advice." I told myself. "If I can't just pick someone outright, I'll have to do it by process of elimination."
I looked over the pictured pensively for several minutes, before I came to my first conclusion.
"I'm sorry, but for as much as I like you I don't think I can get past seeing you as my brother's girl Sora-san." I said, picking up Sora's picture. "And also not when I know there's someone else who deserves you far more than I do."
That was one down. Unfortunately, that was the only easy one for me to figure out. Miyako, Mimi and Hikari remained, and each of them appealed to me in different ways. Finally, I reached over and picked up another picture after about ten minutes of deliberation.
"We have lots of fun together, but I don't know if we could ever be really serious together Miyako-san." I said, looking at her photo. "But I do think I know someone who you could be serious with."
And then there were two. But what a two to have to choose between! The two girls that I've had crushes on: Mimi and Hikari. I remember I sat there staring at both of their pictures for a good half hour, trying to figure out my feelings. Finally, I took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, closing my eyes.
"Forgive me, but...if you hadn't moved away, Mimi-san, I probably wouldn't even be making this decision. You're a wonderful girl, but I just don't think it would work." I said, setting Mimi's photo aside.
And that was it, at least in my mind. It boiled down to the conclusion I probably could have predicted had I taken a few minutes to think about it. At that point in time, if I had to choose between the four of them, Hikari was the girl for me.
Two questions remained. First, who could I possibly try and hook Mimi up with? To my knowledge, none of the other guys I knew professed any kind of interest in her. I thought for a moment about my brother Yamato, but the last thing he'd want was to try and get hooked up again at the moment. I decided to give it some time and see if I couldn't figure something else out.
The second question was the real stumper: how to set everything up for each of the girls and the respective guys I had in mind. Just getting them together wouldn't be enough. I had to try and draw out some hidden feelings that I thought existed. I just hoped that I was right about my suspicions.
All of that notwithstanding, there was one last peril, and that was discovery. I had to keep my actions covert from the girls and everyone else except Iori. If anyone became suspicious of what was going on, it would be all over. I had until Saturday to get everything set, since Saturday was when Hikari and I were set to have our date. So if I spent all day Tuesday planning, that meant I would have to take care of one girl a day to get everything set up.
After setting my mind to what all needed to be done, I rolled my head back and sighed heavily. Suddenly, shooting myself was starting to seem like a less and less painful option.
_ _ _ _ _
I just hung around home the rest of the morning, waiting for it to be a decent time to call around to everybody. The last thing I wanted was to wander out on my own and chance running into any of the girls again. A few times I almost convinced myself that I needed to go over my choices again, but I knew better than to second-guess myself. It was the first rational thought I'd had in the past twenty-four hours.
I decided to reminisce a bit about times gone past for the rest of the morning. I pulled out a couple of my old journals and a shoebox full of photos from under my bed and started looking over everything. I luckily had everything in chronological order dating back to when I was 8, so it was an easy trip down memory lane. And yes, I am that obsessively organized. You should see my underwear and sock drawer.
Looking back over those old photos made me realize just how much my friends and I had changed over the years. We really did all grow up together. Remembering how close we all became brought out a sigh from me, as I began to feel a bit melancholy. For as much as we'd grown up together, we had in recent years begun to grow apart.
As I continued to look through my photos, I figured it all probably started when my brother split up with Sora. That one act seemed to polarize a few of us into two sides: those who understood Niisan's decision, and those who sided with Sora in decidedly not understanding. Some of us, myself included, tried to keep out of the whole mess, but as I stated before, being the person I am I couldn't sit on the sidelines very long. I guess that must've been what was the catalyst for the whole mess I was in, because all of the other girls had sided with Sora almost by default.
I never thought just being a nice guy was enough to endear myself that much to any of the girls. I guess I'm as jaded as a lot of guys my age are regarding girls and what they see in the guys they date. Some go for the jocks, some go for the smooth talkers, and some go for the rebels. Of course, no one goes for the smart guys, or the mature guys, or guys like me who just try to be a good person. The reasoning is still beyond me.
Then again, why am I trying to assume girls are logical? I remember tagging along with Niisan one time he went shopping with Sora. We sat in that department store for three hours while she hunted about, gathered up clothes, tried them on, put things back, hunted about some more...lather, rinse, repeat. You get the point. Finally, she came up to us after finishing, carrying a bag with a few pairs of socks in it. Socks! She'd tried on at least a third of everything in the store, and she ends up buying socks! To say we were speechless is only the tip of the iceberg that represented what we felt.
But I digress. I set aside the photos for a moment and flipped through one of my journals, looking over my thoughts from days gone by. I decided to avoid reading anything from the past year or two, as I had been rather angst-filled at the time and I had no desire to revisit those feelings at the moment. As I looked through my writings, I came across my entry from when Mimi left for America and decided to read it over again.
~/o June 23
Mimi-san has gone to America with her family, and I feel pretty sad about it. She's always been such a good friend to me, and she listens to me no matter what. I miss her already, but I promised her I'd be strong. Koushirou-san told her not to worry, that he'd make sure I stayed out of trouble for her, and Mimi-san seemed to smile at that. But as I think about it now, Koushirou-san was pretty sad to see her go as well. I guess they were pretty good friends, too. o/~
A light suddenly went on in my head and I quickly grabbed my journal from a year ago, searching like mad for my entry for when Mimi returned. I found it after several minutes of searching and read it carefully, to see if I remembered it as I had written it.
~/o May 16
Mimi-san is returning to Japan today. I don't have much time before I have to meet Koushirou-san to go to Narita Airport to meet her. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again, as is Koushirou-san. We've both kept in touch with her over the Internet since she left, though I get the sneaking suspicion that Koushirou-san feels something a little more for Mimi-san than he lets on.
Addendum: Back home again. It was quite a reunion with everyone there. Koushirou- san had bought a bouquet of flowers to give to Mimi-san when she got off the plane, but when the others showed up he quickly asked if I could give her the flowers instead. At the time I thought it was a weird request, but I agreed to it. Mimi-san seemed to really like the flowers, and she gave me a big hug after I presented them to her. I hope Koushirou-san wasn't too jealous. o/~
I tossed my journal down and looked through my photos for group shots with Mimi in them, and my suspicions were confirmed. In every picture, Koushirou was at least close by to Mimi. In a couple, she had her hand on his shoulder, leaning on him a little. And I swear in one photo taken before she left Japan, they were holding hands. There was obviously something unspoken between the two of them, and that was all I needed to go on. I had another piece of the puzzle figured out.
I put all of my photos and everything back in order and slid everything back under my bed. I then grabbed my address book and the cordless phone and decided to start making the phone calls I had promised to each of the girls. It was time to set the plan in motion.
I called Sora first, and told her I wanted to meet her for lunch the next day at the Yamadera Café. She liked the idea right away, and agreed to it wholeheartedly. One down.
Next I called Miyako and posed the idea of a day at the Odaiba Library where we could be alone and talk, maybe get some lunch, and enjoy each other's company. Miyako sputtered and stammered a bit at first, but eventually agreed to it and we set it up for Thursday. Two down.
Mimi was next, but I had to give some thought as to where to set things up. Inspiration struck, and when I called her I told her we should meet for a stroll in the park Friday evening and maybe watch the sun set. That hit right home with her, and that one was set up. Three down.
With everything in order for the other dates, I called the Yagami home and by a stroke of luck got Hikari on the phone first.
"Yagami home, Hikari speaking."
"Kari, it's TK! I promised I'd call."
"Ever punctual you are." She laughed a bit into the phone. "Any idea what movie you want to see yet?"
"Hmm...have you seen Spiderman yet?"
"No, but I've certainly been meaning to! That sounds perfect!"
"Great! I'll stop by to pick you up around 1:00 on Saturday, okay?"
"I'll be eagerly awaiting your arrival."
"Alright, then. Before I hang up, is Taichi-san around?"
"Niisan? Do you need to talk to him?"
"Kinda."
"Hang on."
I heard some shouting in the background and held the phone away from my ear for a moment. The Yagamis weren't known for their subtlety, and try as she might Hikari was no exception to that rule. Finally, I heard Hikari hand the phone over to her brother after another exchange of words between the two of them.
"What's up, TK?" he asked.
"Do you have some free time today, Taichi-san? I need to meet with you in person."
"I've got nothing going on, I guess. Though I was going to..."
"It's about Sora-san" I interrupted him with that statement, knowing I would get the reaction that followed out of him.
"When and where do you want to meet?"
_ _ _ _ _
A quick description of Yagami Taichi for you: he's 19 years old, a few inches taller than me, very athletic, and is in possession of the thickest head of hair you've ever seen. I've had side bets running for a couple of years now with Yamato-niisan, Iori and Daisuke as to what might be living in the forest of hair that grows atop Taichi's head. Koushirou even stated a theory he had once that Taichi's hair had a mind all its own, hence why it seemed to defy gravity itself at times. Of course none of this was said to Taichi's face. My brother learned not to comment about his best friend's hair while in his presence the hard way.
Taichi must've sprinted over to my place, because he was fairly out of breath when I let him inside. He leaned back against the door, not leaving the genkan as he gulped down some air.
"What kept you?" I joked, chuckling at him.
"Hey, if I coulda flown straight over here I would've!" he replied after he caught some of his breath. "So what's up with Sora?"
"First let me ask you, do you still like her?"
"No, TK. I don't like her." He said, his tone just oozing with sarcasm. "I just worship the very ground she walks on because I'm trying to make Yamato jealous so he'll admit his undying, true love for me."
"Gee, I never knew. I'll call Niisan and let him know, then." I told him as I hit the speed dial for my brother's cell phone. I think Taichi broke a land speed record, because I swear he was instantly over by me, grabbing the phone and switching it off. I swear, if there is a guy alive in this world who is more defensive of his heterosexuality than Taichi, I have yet to meet him.
"Seriously not funny, TK." He said, now somewhat perturbed.
"Hey, you kinda walked into that one." I told him with a smirk. "But you do still care about her, right?"
"TK...what else can I say?" he asked rhetorically. He leaned against my couch as he looked down a little. "Every day I wake up I fall in love with Sora all over again, only a little more so. I just haven't done anything about it because.well, you know why."
"Taichi-san, you can't tell me you're still keeping to that promise!"
Back when Yamato and Sora started dating, there was a lot of conflict between Niisan and Taichi. Finally, the two of them had a long talk one night, and Taichi made a promise to Yamato that he wouldn't try to push his relationship with Sora any further than just being her friend. After Niisan and Sora broke up, I remember him saying that if he couldn't be with Sora he hoped she'd get together with Taichi. Of course, he hasn't spoken with anyone except me since the breakup, so Taichi still holds to that promise. You can call Taichi thickheaded, oafish, foolish, and irrational and a lot of other things, but he is a fiercely loyal friend, and that's a quality a lot of people are lacking anymore.
"A promise is a promise, TK! And the one I made to Yamato I intend to keep, no matter what."
"Niisan would not expect you to keep it now! Not after everything that's happened!"
"And what if he decides to give up on music and come back? I...I won't take that kind of chance with my friendship with him or Sora. Even if it means I have to suffer in silence."
Loyalty set aside, though, he really can be rather irrational, can't he?
"So you wanted to talk to me about Sora, right?" he then asked.
And rather thickheaded for that matter, isn't he? I decided the direct approach was the only way to go here, so I just came out with it.
"Taichi-san, promises set aside, you're in love with Sora and I have a good reason to believe she secretly feels the same about you."
"How do you know?" he asked, a tone of hopelessness in his voice.
"I've spent more time talking to her than anyone recently, Taichi-san. We do a lot of reminiscing together, and a lot of the memories she holds most dear involve you. I've never brought the topic of how she feels about you up with her because she was still recovering from the breakup with Niisan, but I think she's ready to pick up and move on again. I know she doesn't want to do it alone, though. She wants someone to be there with her, and you're that person!"
"Won't I just be getting her on the rebound, though?"
"For crying out loud, it's been almost a year since they broke up! People mourn the dead for just as long before they move on! They just broke up is all!"
Pardon the fact that I had gotten so excited, but at this point Taichi really was acting dumb in my opinion. Finally, it seemed like the clue-by- four that I had been trying to bash him over the head with finally hit something other than hair.
"Well, maybe I should talk to her. I haven't seen her since last year after all." He said.
"I can help you go one better." I told him. "I was set to meet her for lunch tomorrow at the Yamadera Café, but you could just as easily take my place there."
"You sure about that? Won't she wonder if you're going to show up or something?"
"Already got a plan for that, so leave it to me. Face-to-face is a much better way to talk about such things, too, Taichi-san."
"If you say so. Okay, I'll give it a try. But if nothing happens, I'm not pursuing this any further!"
"You won't be sorry, Taichi-san. I can practically guarantee that much. Just one favor I ask."
"What's that?"
"Don't tell anyone that I set you guys up like this. I don't want the credit for something like this. The last thing I want is you guys thinking you owe me or some junk like that."
"Uh, okay. Whatever you say, TK."
With everything set, Taichi headed back out and I celebrated a little once he was gone. Phase 1 of my plan was all set, and no one was any the wiser so far. Maybe I wouldn't have to shoot myself after all!
It was now Tuesday morning, and as much as I wish I could've woken up that morning and convinced myself that the events of the previous day were nothing but a weird dream, I could still vividly remember kissing Hikari, Sora, Mimi and Miyako. After I got done daydreaming about each of them, I smacked myself in the head. Physically this time, like I said I never stopped mentally smacking myself. I started to contemplate if it wouldn't just be easier to shoot myself and get it over with, considering that there was no way I wasn't going to be made to suffer for what all had happened.
I went about my morning routine as usual, and after I was dressed I pulled out photos I had of each of the girls and set one of each out on my desk. I looked over all four of them for a few minutes. Then I banged my head on my desk for a few minutes. I alternated between these two activities until I finally decided that bludgeoning myself wasn't going to give me any answers any faster.
"Okay, I've got to follow Iori's advice." I told myself. "If I can't just pick someone outright, I'll have to do it by process of elimination."
I looked over the pictured pensively for several minutes, before I came to my first conclusion.
"I'm sorry, but for as much as I like you I don't think I can get past seeing you as my brother's girl Sora-san." I said, picking up Sora's picture. "And also not when I know there's someone else who deserves you far more than I do."
That was one down. Unfortunately, that was the only easy one for me to figure out. Miyako, Mimi and Hikari remained, and each of them appealed to me in different ways. Finally, I reached over and picked up another picture after about ten minutes of deliberation.
"We have lots of fun together, but I don't know if we could ever be really serious together Miyako-san." I said, looking at her photo. "But I do think I know someone who you could be serious with."
And then there were two. But what a two to have to choose between! The two girls that I've had crushes on: Mimi and Hikari. I remember I sat there staring at both of their pictures for a good half hour, trying to figure out my feelings. Finally, I took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, closing my eyes.
"Forgive me, but...if you hadn't moved away, Mimi-san, I probably wouldn't even be making this decision. You're a wonderful girl, but I just don't think it would work." I said, setting Mimi's photo aside.
And that was it, at least in my mind. It boiled down to the conclusion I probably could have predicted had I taken a few minutes to think about it. At that point in time, if I had to choose between the four of them, Hikari was the girl for me.
Two questions remained. First, who could I possibly try and hook Mimi up with? To my knowledge, none of the other guys I knew professed any kind of interest in her. I thought for a moment about my brother Yamato, but the last thing he'd want was to try and get hooked up again at the moment. I decided to give it some time and see if I couldn't figure something else out.
The second question was the real stumper: how to set everything up for each of the girls and the respective guys I had in mind. Just getting them together wouldn't be enough. I had to try and draw out some hidden feelings that I thought existed. I just hoped that I was right about my suspicions.
All of that notwithstanding, there was one last peril, and that was discovery. I had to keep my actions covert from the girls and everyone else except Iori. If anyone became suspicious of what was going on, it would be all over. I had until Saturday to get everything set, since Saturday was when Hikari and I were set to have our date. So if I spent all day Tuesday planning, that meant I would have to take care of one girl a day to get everything set up.
After setting my mind to what all needed to be done, I rolled my head back and sighed heavily. Suddenly, shooting myself was starting to seem like a less and less painful option.
_ _ _ _ _
I just hung around home the rest of the morning, waiting for it to be a decent time to call around to everybody. The last thing I wanted was to wander out on my own and chance running into any of the girls again. A few times I almost convinced myself that I needed to go over my choices again, but I knew better than to second-guess myself. It was the first rational thought I'd had in the past twenty-four hours.
I decided to reminisce a bit about times gone past for the rest of the morning. I pulled out a couple of my old journals and a shoebox full of photos from under my bed and started looking over everything. I luckily had everything in chronological order dating back to when I was 8, so it was an easy trip down memory lane. And yes, I am that obsessively organized. You should see my underwear and sock drawer.
Looking back over those old photos made me realize just how much my friends and I had changed over the years. We really did all grow up together. Remembering how close we all became brought out a sigh from me, as I began to feel a bit melancholy. For as much as we'd grown up together, we had in recent years begun to grow apart.
As I continued to look through my photos, I figured it all probably started when my brother split up with Sora. That one act seemed to polarize a few of us into two sides: those who understood Niisan's decision, and those who sided with Sora in decidedly not understanding. Some of us, myself included, tried to keep out of the whole mess, but as I stated before, being the person I am I couldn't sit on the sidelines very long. I guess that must've been what was the catalyst for the whole mess I was in, because all of the other girls had sided with Sora almost by default.
I never thought just being a nice guy was enough to endear myself that much to any of the girls. I guess I'm as jaded as a lot of guys my age are regarding girls and what they see in the guys they date. Some go for the jocks, some go for the smooth talkers, and some go for the rebels. Of course, no one goes for the smart guys, or the mature guys, or guys like me who just try to be a good person. The reasoning is still beyond me.
Then again, why am I trying to assume girls are logical? I remember tagging along with Niisan one time he went shopping with Sora. We sat in that department store for three hours while she hunted about, gathered up clothes, tried them on, put things back, hunted about some more...lather, rinse, repeat. You get the point. Finally, she came up to us after finishing, carrying a bag with a few pairs of socks in it. Socks! She'd tried on at least a third of everything in the store, and she ends up buying socks! To say we were speechless is only the tip of the iceberg that represented what we felt.
But I digress. I set aside the photos for a moment and flipped through one of my journals, looking over my thoughts from days gone by. I decided to avoid reading anything from the past year or two, as I had been rather angst-filled at the time and I had no desire to revisit those feelings at the moment. As I looked through my writings, I came across my entry from when Mimi left for America and decided to read it over again.
~/o June 23
Mimi-san has gone to America with her family, and I feel pretty sad about it. She's always been such a good friend to me, and she listens to me no matter what. I miss her already, but I promised her I'd be strong. Koushirou-san told her not to worry, that he'd make sure I stayed out of trouble for her, and Mimi-san seemed to smile at that. But as I think about it now, Koushirou-san was pretty sad to see her go as well. I guess they were pretty good friends, too. o/~
A light suddenly went on in my head and I quickly grabbed my journal from a year ago, searching like mad for my entry for when Mimi returned. I found it after several minutes of searching and read it carefully, to see if I remembered it as I had written it.
~/o May 16
Mimi-san is returning to Japan today. I don't have much time before I have to meet Koushirou-san to go to Narita Airport to meet her. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again, as is Koushirou-san. We've both kept in touch with her over the Internet since she left, though I get the sneaking suspicion that Koushirou-san feels something a little more for Mimi-san than he lets on.
Addendum: Back home again. It was quite a reunion with everyone there. Koushirou- san had bought a bouquet of flowers to give to Mimi-san when she got off the plane, but when the others showed up he quickly asked if I could give her the flowers instead. At the time I thought it was a weird request, but I agreed to it. Mimi-san seemed to really like the flowers, and she gave me a big hug after I presented them to her. I hope Koushirou-san wasn't too jealous. o/~
I tossed my journal down and looked through my photos for group shots with Mimi in them, and my suspicions were confirmed. In every picture, Koushirou was at least close by to Mimi. In a couple, she had her hand on his shoulder, leaning on him a little. And I swear in one photo taken before she left Japan, they were holding hands. There was obviously something unspoken between the two of them, and that was all I needed to go on. I had another piece of the puzzle figured out.
I put all of my photos and everything back in order and slid everything back under my bed. I then grabbed my address book and the cordless phone and decided to start making the phone calls I had promised to each of the girls. It was time to set the plan in motion.
I called Sora first, and told her I wanted to meet her for lunch the next day at the Yamadera Café. She liked the idea right away, and agreed to it wholeheartedly. One down.
Next I called Miyako and posed the idea of a day at the Odaiba Library where we could be alone and talk, maybe get some lunch, and enjoy each other's company. Miyako sputtered and stammered a bit at first, but eventually agreed to it and we set it up for Thursday. Two down.
Mimi was next, but I had to give some thought as to where to set things up. Inspiration struck, and when I called her I told her we should meet for a stroll in the park Friday evening and maybe watch the sun set. That hit right home with her, and that one was set up. Three down.
With everything in order for the other dates, I called the Yagami home and by a stroke of luck got Hikari on the phone first.
"Yagami home, Hikari speaking."
"Kari, it's TK! I promised I'd call."
"Ever punctual you are." She laughed a bit into the phone. "Any idea what movie you want to see yet?"
"Hmm...have you seen Spiderman yet?"
"No, but I've certainly been meaning to! That sounds perfect!"
"Great! I'll stop by to pick you up around 1:00 on Saturday, okay?"
"I'll be eagerly awaiting your arrival."
"Alright, then. Before I hang up, is Taichi-san around?"
"Niisan? Do you need to talk to him?"
"Kinda."
"Hang on."
I heard some shouting in the background and held the phone away from my ear for a moment. The Yagamis weren't known for their subtlety, and try as she might Hikari was no exception to that rule. Finally, I heard Hikari hand the phone over to her brother after another exchange of words between the two of them.
"What's up, TK?" he asked.
"Do you have some free time today, Taichi-san? I need to meet with you in person."
"I've got nothing going on, I guess. Though I was going to..."
"It's about Sora-san" I interrupted him with that statement, knowing I would get the reaction that followed out of him.
"When and where do you want to meet?"
_ _ _ _ _
A quick description of Yagami Taichi for you: he's 19 years old, a few inches taller than me, very athletic, and is in possession of the thickest head of hair you've ever seen. I've had side bets running for a couple of years now with Yamato-niisan, Iori and Daisuke as to what might be living in the forest of hair that grows atop Taichi's head. Koushirou even stated a theory he had once that Taichi's hair had a mind all its own, hence why it seemed to defy gravity itself at times. Of course none of this was said to Taichi's face. My brother learned not to comment about his best friend's hair while in his presence the hard way.
Taichi must've sprinted over to my place, because he was fairly out of breath when I let him inside. He leaned back against the door, not leaving the genkan as he gulped down some air.
"What kept you?" I joked, chuckling at him.
"Hey, if I coulda flown straight over here I would've!" he replied after he caught some of his breath. "So what's up with Sora?"
"First let me ask you, do you still like her?"
"No, TK. I don't like her." He said, his tone just oozing with sarcasm. "I just worship the very ground she walks on because I'm trying to make Yamato jealous so he'll admit his undying, true love for me."
"Gee, I never knew. I'll call Niisan and let him know, then." I told him as I hit the speed dial for my brother's cell phone. I think Taichi broke a land speed record, because I swear he was instantly over by me, grabbing the phone and switching it off. I swear, if there is a guy alive in this world who is more defensive of his heterosexuality than Taichi, I have yet to meet him.
"Seriously not funny, TK." He said, now somewhat perturbed.
"Hey, you kinda walked into that one." I told him with a smirk. "But you do still care about her, right?"
"TK...what else can I say?" he asked rhetorically. He leaned against my couch as he looked down a little. "Every day I wake up I fall in love with Sora all over again, only a little more so. I just haven't done anything about it because.well, you know why."
"Taichi-san, you can't tell me you're still keeping to that promise!"
Back when Yamato and Sora started dating, there was a lot of conflict between Niisan and Taichi. Finally, the two of them had a long talk one night, and Taichi made a promise to Yamato that he wouldn't try to push his relationship with Sora any further than just being her friend. After Niisan and Sora broke up, I remember him saying that if he couldn't be with Sora he hoped she'd get together with Taichi. Of course, he hasn't spoken with anyone except me since the breakup, so Taichi still holds to that promise. You can call Taichi thickheaded, oafish, foolish, and irrational and a lot of other things, but he is a fiercely loyal friend, and that's a quality a lot of people are lacking anymore.
"A promise is a promise, TK! And the one I made to Yamato I intend to keep, no matter what."
"Niisan would not expect you to keep it now! Not after everything that's happened!"
"And what if he decides to give up on music and come back? I...I won't take that kind of chance with my friendship with him or Sora. Even if it means I have to suffer in silence."
Loyalty set aside, though, he really can be rather irrational, can't he?
"So you wanted to talk to me about Sora, right?" he then asked.
And rather thickheaded for that matter, isn't he? I decided the direct approach was the only way to go here, so I just came out with it.
"Taichi-san, promises set aside, you're in love with Sora and I have a good reason to believe she secretly feels the same about you."
"How do you know?" he asked, a tone of hopelessness in his voice.
"I've spent more time talking to her than anyone recently, Taichi-san. We do a lot of reminiscing together, and a lot of the memories she holds most dear involve you. I've never brought the topic of how she feels about you up with her because she was still recovering from the breakup with Niisan, but I think she's ready to pick up and move on again. I know she doesn't want to do it alone, though. She wants someone to be there with her, and you're that person!"
"Won't I just be getting her on the rebound, though?"
"For crying out loud, it's been almost a year since they broke up! People mourn the dead for just as long before they move on! They just broke up is all!"
Pardon the fact that I had gotten so excited, but at this point Taichi really was acting dumb in my opinion. Finally, it seemed like the clue-by- four that I had been trying to bash him over the head with finally hit something other than hair.
"Well, maybe I should talk to her. I haven't seen her since last year after all." He said.
"I can help you go one better." I told him. "I was set to meet her for lunch tomorrow at the Yamadera Café, but you could just as easily take my place there."
"You sure about that? Won't she wonder if you're going to show up or something?"
"Already got a plan for that, so leave it to me. Face-to-face is a much better way to talk about such things, too, Taichi-san."
"If you say so. Okay, I'll give it a try. But if nothing happens, I'm not pursuing this any further!"
"You won't be sorry, Taichi-san. I can practically guarantee that much. Just one favor I ask."
"What's that?"
"Don't tell anyone that I set you guys up like this. I don't want the credit for something like this. The last thing I want is you guys thinking you owe me or some junk like that."
"Uh, okay. Whatever you say, TK."
With everything set, Taichi headed back out and I celebrated a little once he was gone. Phase 1 of my plan was all set, and no one was any the wiser so far. Maybe I wouldn't have to shoot myself after all!