Karen: As much as I hate to admit it, I lied to my readers in the last part.
Mimi: You lied? Shame on you!
Karen: I know. I know. I said this part was going to be Round One of the Challenge. However, I got so many requests for more Taichi and Yamato mischief in my reviews, and this seemed like such a good place to put them into the piece.
Taichi: How many requests? *.*
Yamato: And how many of them were from Motomiya Jun? O.o,,,
Jun: Hiiiiiiiiiii, Yama-chan. You called?
::Yamato leaps into Karen's arms::
Yamato: You're the author. Give her a deadly plague. Set vampire Tokomon on her. Backspace her. I'm begging you. Onegai shimasu. O.O
Karen: Let me think . . . "Once upon a time, there was a girl called Jun . . ."
Yamato: Hurry up!
Karen: Hey, exposition is important. Don't rush me. "Once upon a time, there was a girl called Jun. She used to love Yamato, but she fell passionately in love with Hida Iori.."
Mimi: And she got 95 reviews for this story with that quality writing? Sheesh.
Iori: Ohayo.
::Jun glomps Iori::
Jun: Iori-chan! Aishiteru!
Iori: Eep.
Karen: "And they all lived happily ever after."
Mimi: 95 reviews?
::Karen smiles sweetly.::
Karen: "There once was a girl called Mimi, who fell passionately in love with a Numemon . . ."
EDUCATING MR MOTOMIYA
PART 11
"Where is Dad?" Yamato asked Natsuko, glancing around the audiotorium to see if he could spot his father. In the gloom of the audience seating, it was hard to see more than a few metres in any direction. He thought he could make out his friends, though. They were all sitting together in a row a little way to his left. Koushirou had his arm around the back of Sora's chair, and her hand rested lightly on his thigh. Yamato sighed. It was amazing how fate threw you curveballs at times. He had never thought of Koushirou as a rival for Sora's heart, until the two had become a couple. Beside them, Jyou looked haggard, as if he had been through some great ordeal recently. He sweatdropped when he saw Miyako. Her T-Shirt had a picture of Ken on it, beneath which was written "All Mine!!!" in large, scarlet letters. Iori was slowly inching away from her and from the "GO TAMACHI!" banner she was holding out to him. Of his father, however, there was no sign.
"I think he went to say good luck to Takeru, dear," Natsuko replied, digging in her handbag and extracting a pen and notepad. She handed them to Yamato to hold, before removing her dictophone from her pocket, "He'll probably be back any moment."
"Hiiiiiii, Yama-chan," a high-pitched voice said from behind him. Yamato froze in horror, his hand squeezing convulsively around his mother's notebook. It couldn't be her, could it? He had seen her sitting with her parents, hadn't he? Besides, he could usually hear her squealing his name from kilometres away, but what if she had decided a sneak attack was the only way she would get close to him? He would never be safe again. He would have to check underneath his bed and behind his door every night. Heart somewhere beneath his seat, he turned slowly around to see Taichi grinning wickedly at him.
"Don't ever do that again," Yamato breathed in relief, "I thought you were . . . her."
"That was kind of the point. It took me weeks to perfect my Jun," Taichi said, climbing over the back of the chair and sprawling next to him, "You should have seen your face, though! A Kodak moment, if there ever was one!"
"Dad's sitting there," Yamato remarked pointedly.
"How's he going to do that?" Taichi asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
"I don't know," he replied sarcastically, "Lean backwards, stick his legs out in front of him and sit."
"No, you idiot," Taichi punched his arm, "I mean, he's presenting the show tonight. Look on the stage."
Frowning, Yamato turned from Taichi to look at the stage. An obviously anxious Mr Ishida was walking slowly across the set towards the podium. His forehead glistened with sweat in the sodium lights. In his wake was a chubby woman, menacingly brandishing an enormous powderpuff. Looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, he stared out at the audience. He was closely followed by Takeru, Hikari and Daisuke, who all took their places at the left bank of seats and buzzers. Ken and his two teammates filed in to the right. Apart from the Chosen Child, Tamachi's quiz team consisted of a tiny, pale girl with ink-black hair and cat-green eyes and a grinning boy with a mass of red hair and shockingly blue eyes. As the show's signature jingle began, spotlights started to play across the stage, before converging on Mr Ishida.
"W-welcome to the B-brainbuster Challenge," his father's voice firmed as he seemed to gain confidence, "I am Ishida Masaharu, one of the journalists at TTN and a twice-recipient of the Tokyo award for excellence in the press. Tonight, however, it is my pleasure and privilege to introduce some of the bright, young minds of tomorrow to you. They are the newsmakers of the future. "
"And then there's Daisuke," Yamato whispered behind a cupped hand. Taichi choked down his laughter.
On cue, the lights swung from his father to Odaiba's bank of seats.
"From Odaiba, we have Yagami Hikari, Motomiya Daisuke and Ishi . . . uh . . . Takaishi Takeru."
As each of their names were mentioned, they smiled and flashed a bingo sign at the camera. It was the sort of cutesy stunt that the producers had probably told them to do. The costumes had to be their idea as well, he thought with a twinge of embarrassment for his younger brother's sake. They were all wearing the sort of uniforms that were only used for school dramas on TV. Daisuke had somehow managed to cling to his goggles, however. Yamato squinted as the sodium lights flashed blindingly off of them.
There was no doubt about it - they were going to be teased for weeks when they got back to school. Heck, he was going to get months worth of jibes out of it.
Taichi had obviously had the same thought, as he nudged Yamato in his ribs and whispered, "How many times an hour are you going bring up those clothes to your younger sib? I was thinking five, but it just doesn't seem enough."
"That's why I'm going to convince dad to put a picture of Takeru in that on the Ishida New Year's Card this year," he muttered back to him.
"Boys," Natsuko cautioned in a low voice, tapping Yamato on the hand with her pen, "Hush. They're introducing Tamachi and you're being rude."
Yamato settled back into his seat, folding his arms across his chest. The spotlights had swung to the right side of the stage, and the other team was blinking into them. They were dressed in identical uniforms to Odaiba's team, but theirs were green and brown instead of blue and grey. If it were possible, he thought with some satisfaction, they were even uglier than Odaiba's.
"From Tamachi, we have Ichijouji Ken, Hayashi Sakaraka and Yamada Keisuke."
When Ken's name was announced, most of the girls in the audience let out a piercing scream. Somehow, however, Miyako's voice managed to rise above them all: "HE'S ALL MINE!!!" On the stage, the boy genius flashed a slightly sickly smile HEin her direction and nervously adjusted his tie. Yamato and Taichi exchanged glances, then burst out in helpless laughter. So far, this game-show was proving funnier than any comedy.
"As you've met our contestants, it's time to explain how the game works," Mr Ishida continued when the cheers had died down around him, "The Brainbuster Challenge is divided into three parts. In the first, the teams take turns to answer random questions and get 10 points for each right answer. The second consists of the teams answering six questions from six different categories. The first team to get right answers in all six categories wins the round and 100 points. The last is the flash quiz where teams race to be the first to answer a question correctly. Questions in this section are worth 20 points each. Now that we're all clear on the rules, let's play the BRAINBUSTER CHALLENGE!"
Next time: I swear on the Sacred Harmonica of Ishida Yamato that the quiz will begin! May I be forced to listen to Taichi and Jyou sing if I do not! ^.^