Home Away From Home
Chapter One: Spoiled Plans
"And the equivalent ratio to three-hundred and thirty-four is……" I yawned, eyes drooping from
boredom and sleepiness. My face was in my hand, which was being propped up by my elbow.
Suddenly something hit me in the side of the face snapping me to attention.
I looked down on the desk where a triangular folded up piece of paper lay. I looked around the
classroom to see if it was one of the basketball guys playing a joke on me. Nope. Everyone was
falling asleep…… Unless it came from behind me. Making sure Mr. Kuragura was facing the
white board I turned my head around slowly. Two seats behind me and three seats to my right sat
Motimaya Daisuke scribbling madly in his binder and I was pretty sure it wasn't math notes.
Sure enough a few seconds later he quietly tore a piece of paper out of his binder and crumpled it
up into a ball. Pretending to stretch, he delicately let the crumpled piece of paper roll off the back
of his hand and onto the desk of Yagami Hikari. She picked it up just as Mr. Kuragura called on me.
"Takaishi," He said as I turned quickly around and stood up. "If I gave you forty pears and told
you to divide them by five and then add five, what would you get?"
"Um, thirteen?" I guessed.
"And Notori……" I sat back down and zoned him out again before picking up the triangular
paper that I guessed Davis threw at me.
I unfolded it carefully, looking up every few seconds to make sure Mr. Kuragura wasn't
watching. For the amount of folds it took to prepare the note it sure had nothing much to say.
[ T.K.,
It's Davis. I was wondering if you, Kari, and Ken wanted to hang out after school today. Maybe
go play soccer and hit the pizza place. I dunno, I just know I can't stand the sight of my bedroom
walls any more, so let's do /something/! ]
I crumpled up the paper and turned my head around to hopefully meet Kari or Davis's eyes to
show my approval. As if instinctively Davis's head popped up from his binder and he met my
gaze with a grin. I smiled and nodded my head holding up the piece of now crumpled up paper so
he knew what I was talking about. He gave me the thumbs up and I saw Kari give the 'a-okay'
sign. I turned back around in my seat and tried to stay awake for the remainder of class.
A painful forty-five minutes later the bell sounded signaling the end of school. Everyone jumped out of their seats and raced for the door. I stood up with a yawn and put my belonging back into my backpack.
"So guys, what ya wanna do?" Davis asked Kari and I (being the only ones left in the classroom minus Mr. Kuragura).
"I dunno... Any ideas Kari?" I asked turning around to meet a pair of raspberry eyes. She looked thoughtful for a moment before suggesting,
"Why don't we ask Ken if he's free to hang out first. It wouldn't hurt to see if Miyako wanted to do something too."
"I left her out of the plan because she has that computer club she's in today." Davis replied swinging his backpack over his shoulder. "And Iori doesn't get out of school till another hour."
"Well, I could do with some food, let's hit the pizza place." I suggested.
"Not a bad idea. I could get some for Tai that way he won't have to endure more of mom's meatloaf." Kari laughed.
"Isn't she taking cooking classes now though?" Davis asked her as the three of us left the classroom. "Shouldn't she be improving?" Kari shook her head and sighed,
"Nope, I think the worse has yet to come."
"Well it's just as well, the only thing my mom can cook is lumpy oatmeal... As long as it's microwave able."
"Well at least Matt can cook." Davis said to me as we rounded the corner to exit the building.
"Yeah, but I get his cooking on the weekends and occasional weekdays."
"Oh yeah..." Davis replied. "We usually just call for take-out, I don't think any of the Motomiya's knows how to cook." He laughed.
"Tai and I get stuck eating some weird recipe mom's whipped up. We have an incredible immune system from it though." I smiled at Kari's reply.
"I think you were introduced to her cooking at too young of an age then 'cause you used to get sick all the time."
"Yeah, that was the weird thing between Tai and me, he never got sick when he was kid..."
"Well everyone's different. Just look at me and Jun!" Davis interjected.
"Different? Yeah right!" I laughed.
"Aw come on guy's, we are not like each other!" Davis pleaded defensively.
"We're only teasing Davis, at least you don't run around chasing..." Kari trailed off. "Well, you don't anymore at least." Davis sighed and put his hands behind his head like he does when he's embarrassed or nervous.
Upon exiting the building we ran into Ichijoji Ken. He was leaning against the brick wall with his arms crossed across his chest. When the glass door opened and the three of us came bounding out he turned his head and smiled.
"Hey."
"Hi." The three of us replied happily.
"I got your note." Ken directed at Davis.
"Great! I was worried it would've gotten lost with all the exchanging going on." Davis smiled.
"What do you mean 'with all the exchanging'?" Kari asked.
"Well during the break before math I gave my note to some kid in the hall and told them to make sure it got to Ken somehow. They went on and on about who they could give it to, to make sure Ken got it." Davis rolled his eyes, "Another admirer of the famous Ken Ichijoji."
"Anyhow," I started, "Can you come hang out with us for awhile? I know you're pretty busy still unpacking and all."
"Yeah, but there isn't much left to unpack or go get from our old apartment. I'm sure my parents can manage without me for a day." Ken replied. "So where are we going?"
"To the pizza place." Kari answered. "Then maybe a game of soccer."
"When did we all agree to play soccer?" I asked her.
"We didn't." She laughed.
"You just don't wanna play 'cause you're not as good as we are." Davis smiled.
"Thanks Davis." I replied sarcastically. "You don't have to be so blunt about it."
"Well you play basketball better then any of us." Kari soothed. I smiled. "Let's get over to the pizza place before all the booths are taken up. I hate sitting at the counter."
The four of us made our way down the street to the main hangout after school. The pizza place, as it came to be known, was a small corner restaurant next door to a popular comic book store. A little further down from the populated shops was the central park, our second hangout. It was in the center of the city, easy for any of us to access from out houses, which is why we usually met there on our day's off.
I was walking next to Kari, who was busy talking to Daisuke and Ken. She brushed a stranded piece of her mahogany brown hair behind her ear and laughed, raspberry eyes twinkling in happiness. I smiled. How it was I came to develop feeling for Yagami Hikari was beyond my comprehension, it was just there one day. I looked over at Davis who backed out of the conversation he was having with Kari and Ken. He seemed lost in thought, so lost in thought that he didn't even reply when Kari asked him a question.
"Daisuke?" She tapped him on the shoulder. "You alright?"
"Huh?" He blinked. "Oh... Yeah, I'm fine." I saw Ken raise an eyebrow at him, but he said nothing.
"Hey, we're in luck! It's not too crowded!" I exclaimed opening the glass door, making the chimes sing.
"Why don't you and Kari go get a booth? Me and Takeru will order the food and drinks." Davis said to Ken. Kari nodded with a smile and headed over to a booth near the windows. She liked to watch the passerby. Ken looked at Davis for a moment before disregarding whatever was on his mind and following Kari.
"Well, what are we getting?" I asked him as the two of us walked towards the counter where a bored looking collage student stood, chewing a piece of bubble gum.
"The usual I guess." He responded somewhat distantly. I looked at him a little worried. This wasn't how he usually acted... He seemed out of it, lost in his own puddle of thoughts. Usually when we got here after school he claimed to be famished, acted lively, and challenged Ken and I to a game of pinball.
"Hey Davis, what's wrong?" I asked concerned.
"Hmm? Oh, I just got something on my mind that's all." He replied to me before ordering a large pizza with extra cheese and a pitcher of lemonade.
"Anything you want to talk about?" I asked.
"...Actually, yeah. But not here." He looked over his shoulder at where Ken and Kari had taken a seat. They were chatting contently, awaiting our food. "Let's take a walk to the Comic book store. I'll tell you on the way there." I gave him a quizzical look, but agreed.
"Ken!" Davis shouted over the noise of other people's chatter. Ken looked over to us and Davis pointed his thumb at himself and me and then to the door. Ken nodded before turning back around and restarted his conversation with Kari.
The pizza place was starting to get busy and Davis and I had to struggle to make it to the door to the outside. We walked a few feet before I asked what he wanted to talk about.
"Kari." My chest tensed. Kari had always been a subject that Davis and I would ignore when together. She was the one who got us to become friends, but she was also the cause of us being rivals at the same time.
"What about her?" I asked trying to act casually. Daisuke was looking at the ground as we continued our very short stroll to the comic book store. He stopped and leaned against the wall of the store, still averting my eyes.
I stood in front of him, curious, but worried. Normally I'd change the subject or he would change the subject if she came up, unless we were with her. It was like an unwritten rule between us because we didn't want to break the friendship that we worked hard to gain within the last few years. So it was peculiar that he would bring her up.
"Well, in a way it's not really about /her/. It's about you /and/ her." He said finally making eye contact with me. Now it was my turn to move my eyes to anything but Motomiya Daisuke. I was now in an uncomfortable condition, but there was no use in prolonging the conversation no more then what was necessary.
"What about us?" I asked making eye contact with him again.
"I know you like her... And I think that she likes you too. It was kind of bound to happen, maybe you guys really are 'destined' to be together."
"Davis, those are just stupid-" I tried to interrupt.
"And that's /okay/. In truth, I still like Hikari, but I value her friendship more. It's been a crush I've been falling in and out of lately and I just thought maybe it was time to give up on her. It's obvious she likes me only as a friend and I'm okay with that." He was trying to sound convincing, and I was forcing myself to be convinced. If Daisuke said he was okay with it then he was okay with it, right?
"I-I think you should tell Hikari how you feel because I think she feels the same way about you..." I was at a loss for words. Happiness rippled through my body, but at the same time I felt that it would be betraying one of my best friends. Just then Davis broke into a smile, a genuine one, not a grimace. /That/ made me happy and caused me to grin back.
I didn't know exactly what to say, just grin like a stupid idiot all the (short) way back to the now out-of-the-door-crowded pizza place. We pushed ourselves through the mob of people and back to our booth. The pizza was already on the table with a few slices gone and the Lemonade pitcher a little more then half full, but I was surprised to see my brother sitting there with a stoic face.
"Matt?" He looked up at me.
"Oh hey guys, we were wondering where you went." Kari said before taking a sip of her lemonade just as Ken said,
"Yamato's been looking for you." Matt stood up and thanked Ken and Kari for the drink before turning to me.
"T.K, we have to go home."
"Now? Why?" I asked a little confused.
"Something important has come up." I stared at him confused and pleading. He remained stoic, but seemed disgruntled. I sighed defeated.
"Will you guys excuse me for today? It seems something has come up." I bowed as an apology and the two of us left the pizza place leaving my friends to only wonder... Myself included.
To be continued...