Day 3 - Mentor: The Love Guru

Taichi walked down the hall on Tsukishima High School with a frown on his face. The halls were basically filled with heart shaped chocolate wrapped in red and pink papers with love notes. He absolutely hated Valentine's Day.
"What's wrong?" Yamato asked without taking his eyes away from his light blue locker when Taichi stopped beside him and sighed very heavily.
"I wish this day would never exist." He complained with annoyance. "Look at these halls. Literally everyone got chocolate and love confessions."
"I see what's going on now." The blonde opened his locker and a heart shaped red box full of decorated chocolate fell on the floor. Both boys stared down at it and Yamato bent down to pick it up the following second.
"You have a secret admirer too?" Taichi asked surprised while he watched his best friend put the box back into his locker.
"Do you really think a random girl would have the combination to open my locker?" Yamato looked at him. "That's from Sora. We still keep the tradition of gifting each other chocolate on Valentine's and White Day."
"Damn, you sure gift each other a lot throughout the year."
"Yeah, that's what couples do on special dates." He took a book out of his locker and closed it. "I don't think we exchange presents that much, to be honest. I'm sure other couples do it way more than us."
"Whatever." Taichi said angrily and pouted. "I hate Valentine's Day."
"Is it because you didn't get any chocolate again?"
"Being in the soccer team was supposed to help me be popular in school, like the boys from the football team." He glared at a bunch of strong and large boys wearing white pants and red shirts and helmets while he and Yamato made their way to their own classrooms.
"Have you ever thought that maybe this cranky façade of yours you have on right now probably scares girls away?"
"No." Taichi instinctively changed the look on his face. "Do you think it can prejudice me?"
"Absolutely. Girls don't approach guys who are like this all the time."
"You were like this a lot and Sora fell in love with you."
"I wasn't like this a lot." Yamato rolled his eyes. "Besides, Sora was already a close friend of mine when we started having feelings for each other. She saw me through that façade."
"Right. So, anyway." The brunette smiled at a girl who he found attractive while he went upstairs with Yamato, but she simply looked down at him and made an ugly face on her way downstairs. "Did you see this?"
"Yes, I did." Yamato replied thoughtful. "Your situation is very serious, but I think it can be changed."
"You do?" Taichi tugged on Yamato's light blue suit sleeve. "What is it? I'll do anything to make my situation better, please!"
"I didn't know you were this desperate to find a girlfriend." Yamato was taken aback with his best friend's sudden outburst.
"I just want to go on dates sometimes. I'm not looking for anything serious, though."
"These thoughts won't help you with this, Taichi. If you don't take a girl seriously, you'll be in the same place you are at this moment. Most of them are looking for a steady and lasting relationship."
"Was it like that between you and Sora?" The brunette questioned with curiosity.
"I don't think we were exactly looking for a relationship at that moment. It just… happened. But if you are referring to whether I was taking her seriously, my answer is one hundred percent yes. I took her very seriously back then and have been doing it ever since. It was never something temporary for me. I knew I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life and I'm sure she still shares the same opinion." Yamato looked straight into Taichi's eyes. "This is your first lesson about love. Are you ready for the others? Do you want to continue?"
"Yes and yes." His answer was as firm as possible. Determination burning in his brown eyes and Yamato had no doubt none of the Chosen Children would bear the Crest of Courage like him.
"Alright. But for the second lesson, I'm going to ask for another person's help. Actually, he's the one who will be teaching you from now on."
"What? Why don't you keep teaching me about this?"
"Because he's better suit for this task than me. I never really meant to be popular with girls and, truth be told, the only experience I have with dating girls is with Sora. Speaking of her, we're going on a date tonight and I don't want to be late. I'll text him and he should be waiting for you outside school after class. Good luck."
"Wait, Yamato!" Taichi was desperate. "Can you at least tell me who is going to be my love mentor now?"
"He likes calling himself the Love Guru. That's all I can say." Yamato yelled over his shoulder. "I'm late for class."

.

Taichi walked out of school later that day slowly. He couldn't stop thinking about what he had talked about to Yamato and how strong he felt about Sora and their relationship. He had to admit he felt slightly jealous of them. But most of all, he was dead curious to know who that so-called Love Guru was.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Taichi exclaimed in shock when he crossed the gate and turned around on the sidewalk.
"Hello, Taichi." Takeru pushed himself out of the wall he was leaned against and walked to him.
"Takeru? I wasn't expecting to see you here. Are you waiting for Yamato?"
"No, I was actually told you need some help. With love stuff and girls."
"Wait, what? How do you even know I'm having… You're the Love Guru?!" He couldn't hold his laughter. "This has to be some kind of joke."
"It's not. I'm actually the Love Guru."
"Who the hell gave you this title?"
"I did. Since I've been giving a lot of love advices to my friends and their friends, I thought it would be an appropriate title."
"I'm not going to receive lessons from a thirteen year old boy."
"Alright, fine. Then you'll be single for the rest of your life."
"Don't jinx me, Takeru."
"I'm not jinxing you. You're doing that yourself. But if you don't want a girlfriend, that's up to you. Just deal with the consequences later." The blonde shrugged and started to walk away.
"I'm going to kill Yamato for this." Taichi mumbled under his breath and sighed deeply. He hoped with everything he had he wouldn't regret doing this. "Wait!"
"So you changed your mind then?" Takeru asked over his shoulders.
"I can't believe I'm actually going for this." He whispered to himself. "Yes, I changed my mind."
"Great!" The blonde pressed his hands together excitedly. "Then we have no time to waste. Your course to find a girlfriend starts now."

.

Taichi stared at Takeru's bed with widened eyes as the blonde emptied a bag full of chocolate all over it.
"Is that serious? Did you actually receive all of this today?" He asked in shock.
"That's right." Takeru replied with a grin. "During lunch, there was even a group of girls who got together to give me chocolate."
"Wow, popularity really is in the DNA."
"Daisuke was so jealous because he didn't get any again this year."
"I don't blame him." Taichi lifted his gaze when Takeru walked to the side of his bed. "So, what are you going to do with this amount of chocolate?"
"Eat of course." He looked at the brunette, who had his eyebrows raised, and then laughed. "No, I'm just kidding, I will give half of it to my friends. I hope it will make those who didn't get anything feel better about it."
"That's a cool thing to do. Can I have one?"
"Sure. Pick your favorite."
"Thanks." Taichi grabbed one of the many red heart-shaped boxes scattered all over Takeru's bed. "So, how exactly is this going to work? The lessons, I mean."
"Well, as you probably can tell already, Valentine's Day is more than halfway through so no chocolates for you this year. From a girl, obviously."
"Thought so. I should have thought about it sooner."
"That's no problem, though. Next Valentine's Day you'll be receiving a lot of chocolate boxes. Or not, if you already have a girlfriend by then." Takeru looked at Taichi, who simply nodded affirmatively. "It depends on what you want to happen. Would you rather being popular and getting many chocolate for Valentine's or a girlfriend?"
Taichi went silent for a while as he thought about what he truly wanted with that. He was sure he wanted to be more popular, but then his conversation with Yamato made him consider finding a girlfriend and have a relationship with her.
"I thought soccer would be enough to make me popular with girls, you know? Like basketball did with you and music with Yamato."
"Well, these things help a lot, but they aren't everything. If you don't seem friendly and sociable, you can be an athlete or a musician and nothing will change."
"Okay, I suppose that makes sense. But I'm friendly and sociable, right?"
"You are, but you can be more."
Taichi then remembered his expression throughout the day and how bad he felt when that girl on the stairs looked down on him.
"Today I smiled at a girl at school and she had a complete disgusted face and looked me up and down with a frown."
"I see. And how did you feel about it?"
"Honestly? I felt awful. But I don't hold anything against her because I wasn't exactly with the most pleasant expression back then."
"Hmmm. It's really good that you are able to analyze the situation on your own now that it happened. The next step is to realize what you can do differently next time. Do you like this girl?"
"Well, I think she's cute. I would that date her. So I suppose it's a yes? I don't know."
"So you want her to be your girlfriend, right?"
"Girlfriend is a pretty serious word at this moment. But if things lead to that, why not?" Taichi looked up at Takeru. "But it doesn't matter, she has no interest in me whatsoever, so…"
"That can be easily changed. The real question here is what do you want?"
"I want a girlfriend."
"Alright, great. So step 2 is: don't be overly impulsive. It's okay to be impulsive, if you know how to control it. You saved us many times that way, so the key here is learning to balance it."
"Okay, balance it. Got it."
"Girls like being praised, not all the time though. And they also want to be taken for granted, which I'm sure Yamato has told you already."
"Yes, he did."
"And last, but not least. They love you are act cute towards someone or something else, especially babies and animals."
"Yeah, I'm vaguely aware of that."
"So here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna rescue your friend's cat who got stuck on a tree."
"I'm sorry, what?" Taichi couldn't help but laugh. "How will I know there will be a friend's cat on a tree?"
"It's all a plan, Taichi." Takeru rolled his eyes.
"Doesn't that go against your lessons, though? I mean, I would be lying and the whole scene would be made up."
"Well, you should always be honest with her. But not brutally honest. It's all about the way you say it."
"Alright. By the way, I had no idea you tell white lies."
"I don't. But that's not the point here. Focus, Taichi."
"Sorry."
"That's alright. So, I'm going to call a friend and ask her to help you. I'm sure she will gladly, though. She loves bringing people together."
"Isn't this friend of yours by any chance… Mimi?"
"No, you don't know her. She's from my school."
"No offense, Takeru, but I don't think that girl I mentioned to you before will believe if I rescue the cat of a thirteen year old girl."
"You have a point." Takeru placed his index finger under his chin and looked up at the ceiling, thinking.
"I guess I should just accept the idea of not getting chocolate again next year."
"No, wait. I have a plan B that will definitely work."
"Which is?"
"It's a secret plan, I can't tell you this one. But it always works, trust me."
"Somehow, I'm insecure with this."
"Don't be, everything will turn out for the best. This girl will finally notice you and then you will be able to ask her out."
"Okay."
"Oh and by the way, I forgot something very important. Don't be too straightforward when you do, or the outcome will be negative."
"I'll make sure I remember that."
"Good. Well, you are dismissed now."
"Thank you so much, Takeru."
"You're welcome." Takeru smiled. "I hope everything works out for you too."
"Me too."

.

Taichi walked to school that morning still thinking about everything that happened the day before. He spotted Sora and Yamato sitting on a bench watching a group of students play soccer before class and Mimi about to join them when one of the boys accidentally kicked the ball in her direction.
"Mimi, watch out!" He ran towards her and stood in front of her, so the ball hit his chest instead.
The situation almost made her fall down and Sora quickly ran to help her.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Sora." Mimi stood up again with a smile on her face. "Just wait and see."
"What's going on here? See what?"
"Just see it and tell me what happened later." The brunette subtly made a thumb up gesture behind her back. "I have to go."
"What? Mimi, come back here."
"Hey." Taichi said as he threw the ball back to the boy. "You should be more careful."
"I'm sorry."
"That's alright." He turned to check on Mimi. "Where's she?"
"She said she had to go. She sounded very strange."

.

Yamato stopped beside Taichi in the locker area of their school and stared at him. "What was that about?"
"I was just saving Mimi." Taichi shrugged. "I thought that was obvious."
"For a moment it seemed…" The blonde bent down and grabbed a paper that had fallen on the floor. "You dropped this."
"Someone tried to put this on my locker, but I have no idea who it was. It must be some kind of joke though."
"Why don't you unfold it and see for yourself?"
"Alright." Taichi unfolded the paper and his eyes widened in shock. "It really is a joke."
"What is it?"
"Read it yourself."
Yamato grabbed the paper again and immediately looked down at it. "'Thank you for saving my cousin'. Looks like you have a secret admirer."
"Don't be delusional, Yamato. It doesn't even make sense, who is this cousin I saved? I don't…" He stared at the blonde, who was eagerly waiting for him to continue. "Mimi."
"That's right."
"It still doesn't make any sense. I didn't know her cousin was even from our school. And how did she even… Mimi was the one who tried to put this paper on my locker." Taichi looked up at Yamato with an inquisitive look. "Do you know anything about this?"
"No." Yamato replied fast and looked over his friend's shoulder. "Ah, Sora is calling me, so I'll see you later."
The brunette motioned to turn around to call his friend out when something caught his attention on the way. Or better what, someone. The girl who he had smiled to the day before was walking to him and smiling on his direction.
"You saved my cousin. Thank you so much."
"You're Mimi's cousin."
"You must be Taichi, right?"
Taichi was so shocked and nervous that he couldn't think straight and act properly. Instead, he simply nodded and tried to say something that came out altogether and even he couldn't understand it.
The girl couldn't help but giggle a little. "You're cute. I'll see you around, Taichi."
He followed her with his eyes until she was very away and then he returned his attention back to the paper on his grasp. He didn't know what Takeru had done, but Taichi surely was going to thank him later.