Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.

Chapter Four: Placing The Blame: Mimi's Story
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I never thought I'd be actually happy to write an exam but today I sure was. As long as I was in that classroom, I didn't have to be walking around the school like prey for Davis to hunt. He knew that I had a boyfriend, so why did he constantly bother me about going out with him? Hell, even if I didn't have a boyfriend, I still wouldn't date that kid.

"MIMI!" I heard someone scream from about fifty feet behind me. I didn't even need to turn around, I knew immediately who it was that was calling my name and I wanted more than anything to just dissolve.

To top it off, Joe and Izzy bolted away from me, running into the library. Those jerks…leaving me with him! I'll have to give them a piece of my mind when I get rid of Davis, I thought bitterly. I actually considered running after them, but by then the little twerp had come up right behind me.

"Mimi, you're back!" he yelled loudly, although he was right beside me. I winced, due to the proximity of his mouth to my ear and went temporarily deaf.

"Yes, yes I am. But I won't be here for long and my boyfriend's waiting for me in the library," I lied.

I knew just what to say to make him upset, and I didn't hesitate to use it. It was only Davis, right? His eyes went slightly cold at the mention of my boyfriend, and I couldn't help but smile inward.

"Oh, I see."

"Uh, yeah…well, it was nice talking to you." I turned away and rushed toward the library. Davis reached out and grabbed my arm, spinning me back around.

"Mimi, wait," he pleaded. The sudden movement on his part caused something to fall out of his jacket.

I looked down and saw a black ski mask lying on the floor. I looked back up at him, confused as to why he'd need a ski mask in June. I was about to tell him that skiing was so totally out this time of year, but I didn't get the chance to. He picked up the mask and ran away from me with lightning-speed pace. If it were any other person I would have thought more into it, but since it was Davis I was just glad to be free. I turned around, and skipped happily to the library, where I had a very colourful selection of words all lined up and ready for Joe and Izzy.

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Joe left for his exam, shaking with nervousness, at about 10:30. His exam hadn't actually started until 11:00.

"Aren't you going to be a little early?" I asked him.

"Yes, but I don't want to risk it. What if on my way to the classroom something catastrophic happening that would cause me to miss my exam?" Joe asked, dead serious.

"Oh please," I said as I rolled my eyes. "Nothing is going to happen to you, Joe. Today's going to be a fine day, you'll do fine on your exam and we'll all live happily ever after. The end." I didn't know it then, but I would come to eat my words in a matter of hours.

"Whatever. Good luck you two, I'm still going now," Joe said as he gathered up his books.

"Good luck," Izzy and I said in unison.

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At 11:10, Izzy and I left for our examination. We packed up our books and left the library.

"Do you want to take the long way to the classroom? Maybe it would help us calm down a bit before the exam," I suggested. I had always found that taking a long walk helped to calm me down whenever I was angry or nervous about something.

"Good idea, but we'll have to hurry. I'm not a pessimist like Joe, but I definitely don't want to cut it too close because we could very well be late," Izzy said. I nodded, and we left.

We walked down the hallway and saw a group of four boys huddled into a corner. I recognized Davis immediately and ducked out of sight. I never got to see who the other three boys were.

The lunch bell went off and tons of hungry high school students stampeded into the halls. Davis and his three friends slipped out of the crowd and disappeared from sight. I noticed a piece of paper on the floor where the group was previously standing. As we walked by, I bent down and picked it up.

"What is that?" Izzy asked. I didn't answer right away. My eyes scanned the paper, trying to take it all in.

It looked like a map of the school, both floors. I noticed that in the classroom nearest to the east exit there was an 'X' drawn with "12:00" under it. There was another 'X' on the west side of the school on the main floor, just at the end of the stairs.

There were two 'X's on the second floor, as well. There was one 'X' placed just on the top of the east stairwell and the fourth 'X' was placed in a classroom on the west. I had no idea what this all could have meant, but figured that these four boys had drawn up a plan to sneak out of their classes and meet up during third period, which started just a few minutes before 12:00.

"Just some stupid drawing," I answered after a moment.

I shrugged it off as Izzy and I hurried up the stairs to our exam room. When we got there, mostly everyone had arrived. We sat down at two desks side by side and chatted until the teacher came in.

"Good morning, class. You will have 90 minutes to complete this exam. As you know, you must stay in the room for a minimum of one hour, but after that you're free to leave. Please move your desks apart. If there are no questions, you may begin," the teacher told us as the clock struck 11:30am. No hands went up, so everyone began.

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I glanced up at the clock, wondering how much time was left for my exam. 11:59…I still had an hour left. I stared for a bit more and watched as the minute hand reached the big twelve. It was now 12:00.

I went back to my test.

BANG

I jumped up and my pencil flew out of my hands. I grinned sheepishly, thinking stupid me had just overreacted to a loud noise. Then, I glanced around the room and noticed that a few other students, mostly the girls, had also jumped at the noise.

BANG

Not only did more students jump this time as opposed to last, but there was a common feeling of worry bubbling up in everyone.

"Everyone, get under your desks," the teacher instructed quietly. Nobody listened; we were all frozen in fear waiting for the next shot. By now, everyone had figured out what the noise was: gun shots.

BANG

I could tell that I was starting to panic. That shot seemed a lot louder than the previous two had been. I grabbed my purse and jumped out of my seat, everyone staring at me.

"Well we can't just sit here waiting for them to come to us! We have to get out!" I shrieked as more and more kids stood up. Izzy stood up as well, and stood beside me. All at once, as if on cue, we tore out of the class and stepped into the hallway. Kids were already rushing past their classroom to the stairs.

I ran down the hallway, Izzy matching me stride for stride. We were on the east end of the second floor approaching the stairwell when we saw the shooter. There was one standing right in front of the stairs, taking people out left and right. Through some kind of crazy miracle, the shooter turned his back to me and allowed me to pass. I looked around, realizing Izzy wasn't with me anymore. I stopped dead in my tracks, trying to see over the people.

"Izzy? Izzy! Where are you?" I yelled. I got no response. I wasn't sure what I should do at that moment. Should I run, save myself, and just hope that Izzy did the same? Or should I keep looking for him, incase he's in trouble? I didn't really get time to decide because the students trying to get around me pushed me right out the door to the stairs.

I quickly rushed down them praying that Izzy was going to be safe, as well as the rest of my friends. I reached the main floor, and pushed open the door to the hallway. I saw a second shooter who coming out of a classroom. He pointed his gun toward the group of people that came rushing down from the stairs, specifically me. I looked into his eyes and gasped. Everything I had seen today, all the clues that I had missed and overlooked, flashed before my eyes.

I saw Davis and the ski mask that fell out of his jacket. I saw the four boys huddled in a corner as lunch started, no doubt preparing for the horrible acts they were about to commit. I could see the piece of paper: it was their drawing…their plans. It had been all planned out. How sick could people be? Who would even think about doing something like this, let alone actually do it? I could picture the piece of paper perfectly. The 'X's must have represented the shooters, which meant there were two more on the opposite side of the school. All these memories were coming about by the person whose eyes I was looking into.

Davis.

I stood there in shock, too scared to move, as Davis held his gun, still pointing it at me. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. He motioned with his gun to the empty classroom he had just come out of: he wanted me to go in, all alone. I had no choice but to obey him. I nodded, sure that I was about to die, and went into the classroom. He followed behind me and kicked the door shut. I stifled a scream as I saw two dead bodies huddled together in a corner, and a few more around the room. I turned around to face him, peering into his cold eyes. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to talk.

"Why?" I whispered, but he somehow managed to hear me over all the madness that was seeping in from the hall.

"Why? Why? I did it because I was tired of nobody ever noticing me. I'm a senior; I've gone to this damned school for four years. You'd think in that time that someone would have noticed me, but they didn't! I was just Davis, the pushover, the kid whose feelings didn't matter," he explained angrily.

"But people did notice you, and your feelings do matter!" I argued.

"No, they don't. Especially not to you, you little bitch," he screamed as he waved the gun at me again. "I tried so hard to get you to notice me, but you never gave me the time of day. So I finally reached my breaking point. You can only push and push and push for so long until I start to push back. And here it is, I'm pushing back."

"You didn't have to do this!" I screamed at him, not even caring anymore that he had a gun pointed at me.

"Oh, but I did. I wanted to go out with a bang, see. I wanted to do something great, so nobody could ever forget my name. Then I met these new friends of mine—you've seen them, they were the ones you hid from today right before lunch—and they were just like me: sad, alone, confused, but most of all, they were angry. We came up with this plan, to get back at everyone who ever made us feel like shit. And who better to seek revenge on then you, Mimi? You made my life a living hell, and you didn't even care. Hell, did you even notice?"

I looked away and shook my head. I had never realized what an impact I had on him and how terrible I had been. If I had been this bad to him, what about everyone else? Just because he was the only one to pull a gun on me didn't mean he was the only one who feel any resentment toward me. It didn't mean he was the only one whose life I made a living hell.

I was a terrible, terrible person. All those times that Davis had talked to me, I just ignored him. I just blew him off, like he didn't matter. All it would have taken was a minute of my time; maybe even just the occasional friendly smile in the hallway, and so much could have been different. So many lives wouldn't have been taken. It was all my fault.

This wasn't something I could erase, either. I could never go back in time and fix the past. What would I say to all the friends, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, husbands, wives, neighbours, co-workers and classmates, who had lost someone they loved because of me?

There was no excuse for my behaviour. I had been a tormentor all through high school, and I didn't even know it. No, that isn't true. I knew it: I just didn't care. Isn't that worse than being a straight-out bully?

I thought of all the classmates my friends and I would gossip about, and how much I had hurt them. They were all dead now…what would I say to them? How can you apologize to someone for making their lives hell…and then ending them? I pictured the faces of all the boys who had fawned over me, all the girls who idolized my friends and I.

I really had a great life at Odaiba High; I was the queen all of senior year…probably even before that, too. I was always one of the most popular girls in school. I hung out with the prettiest girls and dated the hottest guys. Though I wasn't exactly the brightest girl, I knew enough to get by. I was the envy of every girl in school, and no report card was going to change that. To everyone else, I had it all: I was gorgeous, tall, thin and popular. So what if I occasionally got a D?

I was a flirt, a tease, some might even say I was a slut, but it didn't matter to me. Nothing anyone ever said about me really got to me because I lived in my own little bubble, shielding me from reality. My bubble was made up of the highest caliber of high school living, because that was what I thought I deserved. I was like royalty at my school. If anyone said anything about me, my friends would simply conclude that they were 'nobody' and that their opinions didn't matter.

Nobodies…but they weren't nobodies. Every one of them was a 'somebody'. Just because they didn't think a certain way, or they went against the crowd, didn't mean what they thought didn't have any value. Some of the greatest thinkers of our time were a little off their rockers, but that didn't stop them from being brilliant.

Anything anyone says can have bearing, as long as someone is willing to listen. When I spoke, people listened. Did they listen when the 'nobodies' spoke? Did they listen, or did they just brush them off and continue on with their perfect little lives? Did they even notice they were there at all?

Was it worth making someone feel like dirt in order for you to feel better about yourself? I used to think it was all in good fun, but I sure didn't like the way I was feeling right now. And did it really matter that I used to go to Odaiba, or that I used to be totally popular? When those shots went off, it was everyone for themselves. People pushed past me to reach the exit just like they would push past a loser. Nobody cared that I was Mimi Tachikawa, they only cared about their own safety.

In high school, there's every category imaginable. You can be part of the geeks, the burnouts, the preps, or the jocks. You can be in a band, or you can be a foreign exchange student. Or, you can be the ruler of the school, the queen bee. No matter what label you're given in high school, it all goes out the window when you leave. The second you get that diploma all bets are off.

Life isn't about being the best for that moment in time; it's about trying your best and maybe even influencing a life positively. If you can change a life for the better, why not? Would my life have been morbid if I had just cared a little more? Not in the least.

Looks like my bubble just got popped.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked. Honestly, I didn't know if that would be a bad thing anymore. Davis shook his head.

"No, Mimi, I'm not going to kill you. In fact, you're one of the safe ones. You can walk out of here however you want, because nobody is going to take a shot at you. My friends know you and they wouldn't dare shoot you."

"Why not?" I couldn't figure out why I was being spared, out of everyone in this school. If anything, I deserved death the most out of us all.

"Because we have something better planned for you," Davis said with an eerie smile.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Please Mimi, if I really wanted you to be dead I would have shot you years ago," he said laughingly. "No, this plan is much better. All around you is death and destruction and if you have a soul at all, right about now you probably feel like it's your fault, am I right?" Davis asked. I nodded sadly.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"I thought you would. I knew under that tough exterior that you had some emotions. I always like you, Mimi. If only you hadn't had your head so far up your ass you would have known that…and maybe things could have been different. But it's too late for maybes…it's too late for a lot of things." He reached out with his free hand and brushed my face. I shivered and backed away.

"Don't touch me! You're sick, you know that?" I screamed at him, absolute hatred shining in my eyes. Davis remained unfazed.

"Temper, temper," he teased. "Anyway, back to my point. All around you, people are suffering. They've been through more than anyone can imagine. They've either been killed, wounded, or witnessed truly horrifying, bone-chilling acts. You're friends—the ones that live, that is—are never going to be the same. Every time they close their eyes, they're going to picture this day. Watching them self-destruct from the inside out will prove lethal for you soon enough. No matter how hard they try to forget, they never will. Neither will you, Mimi. The memories will haunt everyone for as long as they shall live, however long or short that may be. That's the best part: we won't kill you physically, you'll kill yourself mentally. You can run, but you can't hide."

I shut my eyes, trying to blink back my tears. Unfortunately, Davis was right. I threw my eyes open, not able to bear the images that flashed through my mind when they were closed.

"Why are you saying these horrible things to me?" I shrieked, staring straight into his cold eyes.

"You want to know why? I wanted to make sure that you'd never forget me, Mimi…and you won't. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to forget this."

And with that, Davis took his gun and pulled the trigger. I screamed as the bullet sped out of the gun and into the boy before me as he fell to the floor, dead.

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Shaking, I had managed to jump over his dead body and reach the door. I wondered if what he said was really true: If I walked out of there cool as a cucumber, would I still be spared? Not ready to test that theory, I ran out the doors as quick as my legs would carry me. If was pretty easy, since Davis was no longer guarding the east exit.

I reached outside and ran like the dickens. I didn't stop running until I saw a group of people standing in the front. All of them had escaped as well. I could see the crowd forming as more and more people ran out the doors. I didn't even look at the faces. I simply couldn't bear to see the immense pain I had caused them all. In fact, I didn't look up once; I just stared at my feet as I walked through the crowd. I didn't look for my friends, or anyone really. Honestly, I didn't look because I was afraid that I might not find them. I was afraid that I was the only one who had made it out. Could that be true? Could every single one of my friends have been killed in that school? Was it my fault?

"Mimi!" I didn't stop or even look up when I heard my name being called. "Mimi! Mimi, are you all right? Mimi!" I felt someone grab my arm and spin me around. I looked up, finally, and came face to face with Izzy.

I didn't say anything; I just collapsed into his arms, crying uncontrollably. He did his best to comfort me, but he didn't have much experience in a situation like this one and I understood.

"You guys, hey!" Joe screamed from behind us. Izzy glanced up and waved him over with a free hand.

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In time, I stopped crying. Eventually, we found the rest of our friends—minus Tai. I still hadn't said a word to anyone, just hugged them and fought back tears. I honestly didn't think I'd ever speak again. I was also fighting back the images in my head. I kept picturing Davis lying on the floor, a pool of blood around him. I could see him waving his gun at me, screaming about how everything was my fault. As far as I was concerned, he had been right.

When T.K. came back with the news about Tai, I almost fell apart. I felt horrible…maybe this all could have been avoided if I hadn't been such a bitch in high school. We all walked to Sora's car and realized that not everyone would fit into one vehicle. Matt drove Sora, Kari and T.K. in Sora's car, while Joe drove Izzy and I in his car.

Joe seemed to be in his own little world and I wondered if he was really fit to drive us, but I didn't really care enough to protest. I realized that I didn't seem to care about anything. It was like the world lost all meaning and nothing would ever be okay again. All I really wanted was to get to the hospital and find out that there was a mix-up and Tai wasn't really injured. But deep down, I knew that wouldn't happen and that was what scared me most of all.

"Hello? Mrs. Kamiya?" Izzy said into his cell phone on our way to the hospital. "Yes, this is Izzy Izumi, I'm one of Tai's friends." I could hear Mrs. Kamiya on the other end chatting about how nice it was to hear from him. My heart broke for her, and part of me wanted to grab the wheel and smash the car into a tree. "Look," Izzy said, "um…the reason I'm calling is to tell you that…" he trailed off. I sighed, realizing how hard it must be to have to tell a mother that her son might by dying as we speak.

I shut her eyes and saw tons of images that were burned into my mind. I could see Davis and his mask; Davis and his friends huddled in the corner of the hallway; Davis waving his gun in my face; Davis falling to the floor, dead. I could see the panic in my classmates' eyes as we fled from their examination room; the anger in Davis' eyes; the sadness in Kari's and the despair in Sora's. I could hear the fury in Davis' voice as he spoke; the nervousness in Izzy's as he talked to Tai's mom; the panic in Matt's as he instructed us to get in their car and drive to the hospital. All of it just swirled around in my head. The voices were getting louder; the gunshots were echoing in my head; the screams were terrifying and the images were haunting. I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Mrs. Kamiya," I screeched into the phone after ripping it from Izzy's grip, "this is Mimi."

"Oh, why hello dear," Mrs. Kamiya said warmly.

"Have you watched the TV at all today?"

"No, I haven't. Why do you ask?" Tai's mother asked, clueless.

"Turn on the news. And maybe you should be sitting down," I advised. I waited a moment as Mrs. Kamiya turned on the TV. I bit my lip, not sure how she would react to the news. I really wasn't sure what to say and how to act…I had never dealt with a hysterical mother before. Speaking of mothers, I should probably call mine…

"…Shootings at Odaiba High were reported around noon today. Though the shooters' identities remain unknown, it is being said that they may have been students at the school. The list of casualties is being withheld at this time…" I could hear the news reporter say on Mrs. Kamiya's end.

"Oh my God," she whisper. "Is it one of them? Mimi, did something happen to one of my children?" she screamed. I nodded, though she couldn't see me through the phone.

"It's Tai," I finally whispered. "He's at Odaiba Hospital…we're on our way there now."

"I'll be right there," Mrs. Kamiya said right before the line went dead. I hung up the cell phone and handed it back to Izzy. Leaning back in my seat and sinking in, tears rolled down my cheeks. Izzy stared at me in slight amazement and I knew why. That was the first time I had spoken since the attack.

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I know that I made Mimi out to be a total bitch and she probably wouldn't be like that in high school, but just go with it, okay?