_A-okay!_
Everything was going perfectly at the Junior High of the Odaiba district of Tokyo, Japan. The teachers sighed; the students emptied their lockers quickly and exited the buildings at a trot that soon turned into a run while screaming their heads off. Girls re-applied their glittering makeup, nerds discussed their summer homework, boys talked about their new jobs and girlfriends while other kids met their Digimon Partners with open arms, happy that they'd be able to see them non stop for three glorious weeks. Three wonderful, marvelous weeks of summer vacation, through July to August of 2035.
Fourteen year old Tontoya Takuro's smiling face appeared as he slammed his locker door in the back of the empty classroom 8-C.
"Full grades, summer break, everything is going a-okay today!" He sang out.
He wasn't exactly sure what 'a-okay' really meant, but he had heard it in an American movie once in English class and found it to be a cool phrase.
"Yo! Taku-kun!" Shinmura Sho, Takuro's best friend since first grade, cried out from behind him.
Takuro whirled about and grinned. "Hey Sho, whaddya know?"
"Dude, I hate A.I. I can't believe Tomoe-sensei made us watch it in English with those stupid subtitles." Sho complained, shifting his backpack slung on one shoulder to the other. "Why do you use all those English phrases anyway?"
"Because I like to," Takuro replied, his good mood un-phased by his friend's complaints.
"But you don't even know what they mean!" Sho exclaimed.
"But I do!" Takuro paused before adding, "In a way."
"C'mon already, we'll miss her!" Another boy, named Tanchi Maki, poked his head in through the door at the opposite end of the classroom.
Sho gasped. "Dude, are you joking? She's out there?"
Takuro turned his attention to his backpack and the contents of his desk, smiling.
"Yeah!" Maki answered, equally excited.
"Really out there?"
"For the last time, yes! And we'll miss her if we don't hurry up!"
"Then let's go, man!"
Takuro zipped his backpack shut, having finished organizing the contents while Sho and Maki were talking.
"So. Sho, Maki, shall we depart from this evil place?" He asked, waiting for a reply.
When none came, he turned around and almost bumped into Maki's younger sister, Tanchi Aiko, who was smiling cheerfully at him.
"Maki-nii-chan and Sho-san 'departed from this evil place' already. Ishida's outside, you know." She informed him. "I expect you'll be running after her too, won't you?"
Takuro shook his head. "Nah. I'm not obsessed with her like Maki and Sho are. I don't like girls just for their looks."
He winked at Aiko as she blushed a deep salmon pink.
"I had better go..." She mumbled. "Psychemon's waiting for me and I have to baby sit some kid today, Ichijouji something."
Takuro blinked. "You mean Ichijouji Osamu's kid brother?"
Aiko nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's him. Hey, how d'ya know Osamu-san?"
"He's in my class."
"Oh..." Aiko's bright brown eyes seemed to suddenly grow brighter. "I guess I'll be seeing you."
"Yeah, I'll be seeing you. Have an a-okay vacation!"
Takuro slung his backpack over his shoulder, flashed a peace sign, and ran out of the classroom. "Ciao babe!"
Aiko flinched. "Love stinks," she muttered.
Takuro stood at the top of the steps leading to the school's building, looking to see if he could find his friends. He spotted a large group of boys around a small 'gaggle' of girls straight ahead of him, moving slowly towards the sidewalk and decided to start there.
"Hold on a minute." Ishida Yamato, known as 'Yami-chan' to her friends and family, interrupted one of her friends' long stories about some boyfriend she had way back when.
Yami turned around as about thirty boys dashed off, knocking two boys to the ground.
She kneeled down to look at them and asked, "Are you okay?"
The boys slowly raised their heads and looked up at her, staring. They then turned their heads and stared at each other.
"Did you hear that Sho?" One of them breathed.
"I did, dude..." The boy named Sho answered, barely audible. "She talked to us..."
Yami stood up and extended her hand to the two boys. "Here, let me help you up."
The boys eyes grew wide and they scrambled up immediately.
"Hey!" A voice cried out.
The boys bolted and ran off far into the distance.
"What was that all about?" One of Yami's friends voiced, timidly. "I'm used to the entourage, but not that..."
Yami shook her head. "I have no clue. Let's go then, shall we?"
She turned to leave, when she heard someone cry "Wait!"
"Don't tell me this is happening again..." Yami thought, becoming slightly annoyed.
The owner of the voice, who was a rather cute boy, Yami noticed, jogged up to the small group. "Sorry about that," he said, imitating an Australian accent and bowing. "They're a little girl obsessed."
One of Yami's friends, Izumi Momoko, snorted. "You know, I don't think your friends care that Yami-chan stopped to try to help them. But then again, I'm not surprised."
"Zip it, Momo." The new boy snapped, his accent gone.
"Try and make me, Tontoya-baka." Momoko glared at him.
Yami stepped in between them and yelled "Enough already!" She glared angrily at Momoko and Tontoya, continuing to yell. "I don't want my friends to fight!"
Tontoya turned towards Yami, and bowed as well as he could without dropping his backpack. "I apologize, Ishida-san. I didn't mean to upset you."
The rest of Yami's 'gang' breathed out. Apparently, they had been holding their breaths.
Momoko sighed. "I'm sorry as well, Yami-chan." She grinned slightly. "But you know me. I have a mercurial temperament and all that."
Yami grinned back. "Isn't that why we're friends?"
"I hate seeing good friends fight. I'm glad everything's a-okay for you two now, Ishida-san, Momo-er, Momoko-kun." Tontoya said seriously, causing some of Yami's other friends to giggle and Momoko to growl at him.
Yami smiled, puzzled. "What does 'a-okay' mean?" She asked.
Tontoya grinned widely. "I really don't know. But it's a cool word; wouldn't you say so Ishida-san?"
Yami's cheeks turned a bit pinker then usual. "I suppose so."
Momoko leaned over and whispered "Flirt" in Tontoya's ear, causing the boy to blush. Aloud, she asked "Well Yami-chan? Are we going to go soon; or talk all day?" Yami's other friends all voiced their agreement in loud voices, ranging from "Yeah!" "I don' wanna talk!" "What could ever be more BORING?" "I wanna go eat ice cream!" and "Ice cream? There goes your diet, girl!"
Yami sighed. "Why don't you all go ahead?" She suggested. "I want to say here and talk with Tontoya-kun some more."
Momoko raised an eyebrow. "Tontoya-kun? My, aren't we friendly," she said, causing Yami and Tontoya to turn bright red. She turned around and motioned for the other girls to follow her. "Well, I'll see you guys later, is that a-okay with you?"
"Mo...Mo...Momoko-chan!" Yami protested weakly.
Momoko simply winked and walked away.
As Takuro recovered himself, he noticed Ishida re-tying her hair tie nervously.
He looked at her and smiled.
"So, you're Ishida," he stated.
Ishida looked up, startled. "What? Yeah. That's me. Ishida Yamato."
Takuro blinked. "Isn't that the name of that astronaut who went to Mars?"
Ishida smiled slightly. "Maybe I should have been clearer. I'm Ishida Yamato-Emiyo, the junior high student. Ishida Yamato, the astronaut and former rock star, is my dad."
"Wow..." Takuro breathed. "You're awfully lucky! To have Ishida Yamato as your dad and all. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"One brother." Ishida pointed towards the school doors. "He's 11, and he got in trouble again so has to be in detention today. He'll probably be out soon. I might as well wait for him."
She frowned briefly, and then smiled at Takuro.
"How about you? Any siblings?" She asked.
Takuro shook his head. "Nope. One father, mother died."
He looked away towards the street. "My dad works late, so I usually walk home with my friends, Sho and Maki. I believe you met them earlier... However, they seem to have run off."
His eyes narrowed as he looked up towards the top of a tree in front of the school, seeing two very familiar figures waving sheepishly at him.
He turned back towards Ishida and smiled. "But I'm a-okay with that now."
Takuro glared out of the corner of his eye at the tree as he finished talking.
Ishida sweatdropped slightly. "So, do you have a favourite...singer? Or movie, or a hobby?"
Takuro grinned widely. "I like American movies, American singers...anything American or in English, really." He hummed a tune and sang, "How about you?"
Ishida laughed. "You could say I'm a bit of a girly-girl: makeup, clothing, and stuff like that. I guess I get that from my mom, 'cause of her job. But I like horror movies, the book Dracula, and listening to my dad's old CDs."
"I've never read Dracula, but I want to, and horror movies are my favourite 'genre' of any movie. But science fiction's a-okay too." Takuro replied eagerly. "What's your mom's job?"
"Science fiction is my brother's field, that and humor. But then again, he's such a goofy kid that he could find humor in anything. Not to mention trouble." Ishida giggled. "My mom's a fashion designer. Takenouchi Designs, you know it?"
"Do I ever! My friend's little sister is always talking about the latest Takenouchi fashions, not to mention that big-no, make that huge-poster next to the radio tower!"
"Yeah, it's been getting a lot of publicity lately..." Ishida sighed. "My mom's been really busy now, and my dad's off training for his next space trip. So I've been trying to take care of stuff around the house. Yokomon and I are having a lot of trouble with my brother...he just can't stay out of trouble..."
Takuro nodded. "My cousins always give me trouble when they visit. So, you have a Digimon partner?"
Ishida smiled, her eyes becoming hazy. "Yeah. We've been together since I was really little. I got lost in the Digital World when I was visiting it with my parents, and I found a small baby Digimon crying. I picked it up and there was a Digivice under it. Next thing I knew, it evolved to Yokomon and my parents found me, and I took Yoko home with me."
Takuro sighed. "That's so sweet..."
He looked down at the ground and added "I wish I had a Digimon. I went on a field trip to the Digital World in fourth grade, and some kid found their Digimon there. But I haven't been there since then. But I suppose I'm a-okay with that too."
He looked over at Ishida and sweatdropped, seeing her looking up at the clouds with starry eyes and a smile.
"Yami-chan! Onee-chan! Yaaaaaami-chaaaaaaan!" A voice yelled loudly, jerking Ishida out of her dreams.
She and Takuro both looked up towards the school doors at saw a boy running at full speed towards them, still yelling "Yami-chan! Onee-chan!"
Takuro leaned towards Ishida, whispering "Is that your brother, Ishida-san?"
Ishida nodded, her face downcast.
Finally, the boy, smiling, skidded to a stop a few feet before he would crash into a trash basket. He sat down, hard, on the concrete sidewalk and wheezed "...thanks...for waiting...for me onee-chan..."
Ishida frowned. "Iku. What happened?"
"Are you a-okay, kid?" Takuro asked.
Iku nodded. "Yeah, thanks for asking. If a-okay means fine, that is..." He motioned towards his backpack and said "But they may not be."
Ishida quickly pounced on his backpack and yanked the zipper open, revealing two orange and pink things. She quickly scooped them out and placed them down on the sidewalk, revealing the 'things' to actually be two small Digimon
She glared at Iku. "Why is Yoko in your backpack, Iku? Does this have something to do with why you were in detention today?"
Takuro poked the two Digimon. "Whatever he did, they're out cold. I'd say from shock."
"IKU!" Ishida yelled furiously. "What did you do to Yoko and Tsunomon?!"
Iku frowned. "I'm getting to that! Leo - you know, that American kid in my class - and I wanted to play a prank on Tsuyoshi-senshi. You know how horrible he always is to us, Yami-chan! Just because we have Digimon..."
"Go on," Ishida answered coldly.
"So, we just...put Yokomon and Tsu (they were sleeping) into his desk during lunch, when Tsuyoshi-sensei dragged Rei-kun - Motomiya, that French guy - off to the nurse 'cause he was sneezing and coughing and it turns out he got the flu..." Iku burst out laughing.
"I'm interested in all this," said Takuro, sitting down Indian-style on the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding an accident involving the sqooshing of two Digimon.
Iku's laughing became quieter, and he finally calmed down enough to speak. "Well...when he came back to start class, and opened up the top of his desk, he found two very sleepy and annoyed Digimon. Cue instant bubble attack."
Ishida snorted. "You know, Dad's going to be really mad at you."
"But it was hilarious! Yami-chan, you should have seen Tsuyoshi-sensei's face! A pure purple-red-pink face, fishy eyes, with lots of sputters!" Iku giggled. "It was really worth it. However, Leo got bailed out by his mom before detention was done, which I think wasn't really fair, but it was still the greatest prank we've pulled so far this year."
"Hmm. It sounds pretty a-okay to me," Takuro stated, musing. "But it's a pity you got detention for something that silly."
Ishida stared at him in horror. "What?"
"Dude!" Iku crowed.
"My friends and I - sometimes - have done a lot worse. But I suppose that the teachers were only lenient with us because without us, they lose a tremendous part of the overall intelligence of class 8-C." Takuro grinned widely.
Ishida blushed. "You're joking, Tontoya-kun."
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," he replied.
Iku elbowed his sister. "Onee-chan, did you just add another victim to your following?" He stood on his tiptoes to whisper in her ear, "Or are you in love with this guy?"
Ishida pushed him away while muttering "Creep" and quickly bowed towards Takuro. "We have to go home now. It was nice speaking to you Tontoya-kun."
"Call me Takuro."
"Alright, Takuro-kun. You can call me Yami. I hope you have a good vacation. I'll see you around sometime!" Yami quickly scooped up Yokomon and Tsunomon in one arm and grabbed Iku with the other.
Iku waved as best he could. "See you later!"
As they quickly disappeared between two apartment buildings, Sho and Maki dashed up to Takuro.
"Did that really happen, dude?" Sho asked in amazement.
"Ishida talked to you!" Maki cried.
"Well..." Takuro smiled. "Yami-san is nice."
'Full grades, summer break, talked to Ishida...everything is really going a-okay today!' Takuro thought happily. 'Life's not half bad.'
He walked home, smiling, with Sho and Maki.
Notes: Lina-chan at the Sorato Oekaki BBS at Project Sorato drew a really cool piccy a while back with Yamato-chan and Sora-chan's daughter looking puzzled and some boys drooling. It may sounds weird, but it was so kawaii~! (insert insane Sorato fangirl squealing here) So this story is for Lina-chan, from Hika de Devi! Finish your comics soon, okays?
This is the first time I've used original characters along with established (sort of) characters...I think it turned out a-okay, don't you? ;)