It was a beautiful morning in Odaiba. A blue sky stood above the city, making a strong contrast with the dark, leaveless trees that used to grace many avenues in the city during all the previous months. As the sun rose, many homes started to give silence place for waking up children, teenagers and adults, and the traffic started to flow through all the streets around the city. For many, this day could be just one more sad winter day, filled with cold and dismay.
Mimi opened her room's window, staring at the cold landscape outside her building. As much as she hated this weather, today could never be a bad day. Noticing the blue sky above her, she filled her heart with hope that at least it would be a bright day. The night before she put all of her pink notebooks, case, books, makeup and lipstick inside her red Gucci purse and prepared what would be her new uniform, green and well ironed. In the next morning she should just worry about her hair, that should be as perfect as she dreamed of. She dried her light brown hair carefully, allowing it to be straight but with light curls at the tip. The only thing left now is a light essence, a problem that could easily be solved by her Calvin Klein Eternity.
Her mother entered her room, wondering why was her daughter late for breakfast. "Honey, you're going to be late! Your father is waiting for us to have breakfast with him." She examined the girl's look, who was just finishing her lipstick.
"So mom, how do I look?" The young teen gave her mother a questioning look, giving a quick round so she could rate it well.
"Oh my god, you're so pretty! My baby is going to be the most beautiful girl in her school!" The woman started to be emotional about her daughter's look, letting a tear slide off her left eye. Feeling better than never, Mimi left her room to sit with their parents and have a quick breakfast. She barely started to eat when her doorbell rang, interrupted by a very moody Taichi entering her hall as her mother opened the door.
"Good morning, Taichi! How is your mother?" Mimi's mother asked, as he silently observed her friend pick her things, as she gave him an angry stare.
"She's great! Also, she asked me to ask you your phone numb-" The boy was suddenly grabbed by his arm, being dragged outside the apartment. "What the hell was that for?" Taichi asked, letting his morning mood take him again, giving the girl a very annoyed stare.
"That's for your kindness to my family!" The girl winked at him smiling, still holding his arm against his will. "How are your injuries by the way?" She asked the annoyed boy.
"It's fine. Ready for more, actually." He started smiling. The feeling of showing himself as a strong guy made him feel awesome.
Taichi and Mimi walked together to meet Koushiro two blocks away from school. In the meantime the girl asked Taichi many questions about the social life in Odaiba High.
"So, now that I've heard about all the top boys in school, I want to know everything about my rivals too." With his still waking up expression, he gave his friend a confused look, wondering what was she talking about. "Don't be silly. Girls!" Mimi has this amazing ability of understanding people's thoughts, what worked pretty well on Taichi's obvious expressions.
"Oh, you mean the most popular ones, I guess." It was hard for the young boy to think that fast in the morning, mainly when it was cold enough to keep him in bed for at least four more hours. His thoughts started traveling around school, electing the girls he thought would be worth mentioning while his friend kept staring at him impatiently.
"If you keep staring at me like this, you will end up tripping on something." He answered her, giving him more time to think.
"Don't fool me, Taichi!" Mimi started to get really impatient to Taichi's slowness.
"Fine. There's this girl from our age that plays amazing Piano, I guess her name is Yuki. I just know her from the halls, and I can tell you she is a heart thief." Although Taichi was a pretty known guy in school and there were many girls after him, he didn't care much about girls that didn't chase him. That's probably why Sora thought of him as an egocentric, selfish human being.
"Oh, C'mon! Just Yuki? Give me at least three more names!" Mimi was finally starting to have some fun wondering how pretty and awesome were those girls she was about to meet.
"Hum... There's a senior girl, very hot by the way, but I forgot her name. She's president of the Theater's Club, you might get to know her sooner or later." Mimi's alive eyes gave him a very curious look. So there's a really pretty girl that also happens to be interested in the same things as her.
"And there are two girls from Tennis Club too." He gave Mimi a soft smile, and kept walking in silence.
"Oh! And one of those happens to be our friend?" She asked him, giving him her I knew itlook, smiling.
"Actually, I don't think you know any of them. One is older than us, her name is Shina and she's dating one of my great friends from the soccer team." He gave him his goofy, warm smile, the same he used to carry when he wanted to make a girl breathless.
"Stop looking at me like this. That doesn't work on me." She answered him with a pretending to be mad tone, easy for him to notice that she was just playing with him. "Tell me about the other one, now!"
"Her name is Mai. Sora knows her well, you can ask anything else to her." He told her quickly, noticing Koushiro standing a few steps ahead of them. He decided not to give her any further information, leaving her behind grumbling something he didn't pay attention to. Finally arriving where the smart boy was waiting for them, they kept walking the remaining blocks to school talking about their later plans to get into the digital world.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not joining you today. I'm making Sora spend the entire afternoon walking me around, so I can finally know the gods Taichi told me about earlier, and the many clubs I can join, and -"
"Bla bla bla bla bla, spare me Mimi. Gods? I'm many things, but not gay" He started fooling with her again, receiving a strong punch in his left arm in return.
"Ouch! You're so insensible! My shoulder is hurt, don't you remember it?" He gave him a sad puppy look, making her feel bad about what she just did.
"I'm sorry! I really am! Did I hurt you?" She started to be concerned about the punch. She didn't help hitting him, he was fooling her since they met earlier. Keeping his poor sad puppy look, he denied any possibility of getting hurt, making her and Koushiro burst into laughter at him. "You're hopeless, Taichi!" She told him, as they entered the school hall.
The cold morning flew fast until noon, when all the older digidestined were supposed to have lunch together and welcome Mimi in school. Although she's been in Japan for a week, today was her first day in school, since the whole past week she spent helping their parents setting things in their new home, and on her free time she traveled to the digital world.
Gradually the members of the group started to show up in their meeting point, one big wooden table in the middle of the school's garden. It was freezing outside, turning the whole yard empty and giving the group privacy to talk about anything they wanted without interruption. The first one to arrive was Yamato, who skipped his last class to receive a call from a member of his band. He was sitting there, looking at nowhere with his charm and creating an image that could easily turn into a picture for magazines. As he appreciated the winter landscape that pleased him so much, Koushiro showed up, quietly sitting in front of him.
"I guess we're early." The blond said, looking around to notice no one but them were standing in the yard. He enjoyed being alone, but waiting for late people usually bothered him.
"They'll be here anytime soon. I just saw Taichi flirting with some random girls outside his class." He smiled gently, trying to keep a conversation with his friend. Koushiro was the one of them who was working hard the most, by monitoring everything that happens in the digital world with Iori's help, traveling there when he could and studying. He carried a very tired expression, but still tried to hold a smile in his face.
A quick chat that just started between Yamato and Koushiro was broken by Mimi's voice, calling them from far away. The boys noticed she was already with some new friends as she said goodbye to two girls who apparently were not interested in standing in the cold to have lunch. The two boys couldn't help but stare at her, observing how mature and beautiful she had become.
"Where are all the others? I thought we were supposed to meet each other here!" She asked the two boys, her happy smile fading away, quickly being replaced by a lightly pissed of expression.
"Well, Taichi is coming soon I guess." Yamato told the girl, carrying his serious tone as he looked at her and then looking away again.
"And where is Sora? She told me she'd be here!" Even though it was a simple lunch, for Mimi it meant a lot. She really missed her friends and having a reunion on her first day was all she needed to start fitting in. Her sad expression told the boys they needed to do something immediately.
"She told me something about a quick stop by the Tennis Club." Yamato again answered the girl, giving her a soft glance so she could calm down and join them.
"Now I remember it. The Tennis High League starts next week, right?" Koushiro said while opening his notebook and starting to focus on something else but their quick chat.
"So, Yamato-san. When is your next show coming up?" It was a long time Mimi and Yamato didn't talk to each other directly. Since their adventure in the digital world, their conversations were restricted to e-mails and small texts on their birthdays or important dates, what made them feel like strangers to each other. She just felt the need to start a conversation, breaking the awkwardness between them.
"It's ahm... It's twelve days from now, next Friday in an old hangar downtown." He actually felt nice she broke the silence, answering her with a soft smile. They barely started talking as Taichi showed up, holding a small heart-shaped box.
"Hey handsome! What's this for?" Mimi couldn't lose the opportunity to make fun of him. With one of her hands on her chest and keeping her mouth open in fake surprise, she made Yamato smile in silence.
"It's for you, Mimi-san. I can't hold myself anymore, I must give you my heart." Taichi started to get involved with Mimi's joke, making her blush and then punch him on his right arm.
"Ouch! At least you did it to the healthy arm this time." He gave her a smile, making all of them laugh. "I got this thing from a girl in your class. Short, dark hair, dark eyes, beautiful legs, her name is Mino. Do you already know her?" Mimi started to flash back into her memories, trying to remember a girl according to Taichi's description.
"Is she the one you're dating, prince charming?" She started again to play with him, what he actually really enjoyed.
"I'm not dating anyone. My heart is yours." He replied, once again fake flirting with her, this time annoying her by not answering her questions. They kept on joking and making Yamato laugh at them, while Koushiro worked seriously on something on his computer.
A couple of minutes later, the auburn member of the group approached the table silently, wearing her traditional green uniform. With a lovely smile on her face, she slowly sat by Yamato's side, caressing his hand softly. Observing the noisy Mimi and Taichi's scene, she started.
"What are they arguing about?" For someone who has just arrived, it seemed like it was a fight, for her surprise.
"We're not arguing. Taichi is keeping from me who's the owner of his heart." Mimi suddenly dropped a prank towards the boy, giving her friend an answer. Sora immediately looked at the boy, who blushed to Mimi's answer.
"Her name is Mai." Feeling uncomfortable with the situation, Yamato answered the young girl that was now sitting by Koushiro's side, as Taichi took a sit right beside her. She gave him an ironic surprised stare, keeping her mouth open, making the scene too comic to keep Yamato serious.
"No way! Mai from Tennis Club? Mai, my rival?" Her reaction even made Taichi laugh. She gave Sora a quick look, noticing she was not enjoying the conversation too much, just keeping her glare distant to observe the landscape around them. "Ok guys, time to drop the drama. Let's have lunch." Mimi noticed her friend's eyes come back from the winter landscape to join them and gave Sora a light smile.
The group had a nice time on their lunch pause, talking about their plans for the digital world, some of Mimi's life memories in the US, Taichi's life as a team captain, Sora as one of the best Tennis players in school, Yamato's band and Koushiro's life. Anyone who walked nearby to their table coud hear many laughter. Taichi and Yamato had a free afternoon, joining Koushiro at the computer's room in Odaiba Gym, where they would meet their younger friends. As for Sora and Mimi, the auburn had the entire afternoon planned for showing and telling everything to her friend.
The two girls started with a tour all around the corridors of Odaiba High, where the new girl met every club and class in school. They kept chatting all along, talking about the most popular boys from junior to senior year, the cutest ones and the most known scandals between them.
"I already told you Mims, I don't follow every gossip around school" Sora told her friend when she, for the third time, asked about the gossip involving the popular ones in school. They arrived into the school's coffee shop, taking a quick break from the tour around the building.
"So you know nothing about any of those girls who are supposed to be my rivals, huh?" Mimi asked Sor again, trying to force her to talk. For the younger girl, it was unacceptable that someone didn't know or talk anything about anyone in school. The auburn girl made a quick gesture in denial, already impatient about that kind of talk.
"What about you? You're dating one of the most popular boys we know, right?" Mimi gave her a playful smile, making Sora to blush a little, immediately staring the cup of coffee in front of her. She always prefered to avoid her love life as a subject of conversation, and her relationship with Yamato was no different.
"Oh, c'mon! We're friends since ever! I know that you don't like talking about this with others, and that's why I didn't bother you so much on Valentine's Day, but you're my best friend!" The younger girl pressed the auburn one. Although everyone knew she was dating the blond boy, she rarely called him her boyfriend, being too stubborn do admit it in words in front of all her friends.
"You know that already" She answered, blushing, still staring at her coffee, feeling bad about what her friend just said to her.
"Everyone knows! But, how, why, details! Sora Takenouchi, start talking now!"
"What do you mean? It's just like you and Michael, we're going out and that's it..." Sometimes Mimi could be really bossy. The auburn answered, trying to sound as distant as she could so the subject could vanish in the middle of other to come.
"First of all, me and Michael are trying to make this distance thing work, and it's so not cool! I'm planning on visiting him in the summer, but you know? Sometimes I feel like I don't miss him the way I should." As the younger girl started talking about her own relationship Sora felt relieved, although interested on listening to her friend's experience.
"You know, I like him, but I don't know... Maybe I could find someone better to get involved here, I guess." Mimi finished.
"You mean cheating on him?" Sora couldn't help but ask her friend. Maybe in America to be with more than one person at the same time was cool, but for her it sounded absurd.
"No, of course not! Anyway, we're giving this distance thing a try. Let's see how it works!" Mimi carried a worried look. It is not easy for her to be in a relationship in which she could only see her boyfriend two times a year or so. Furthermore, they were only starting to get involved, what made her believe it might not last long. Deciding she should no longer talk about it so it wouldn't bother her anymore, she started once again.
"But enough about me. Yamato talk now!" She blinked playfully at her friend, who blushed and turned her face to look away.
"I thought you've forgotten about it already." Sora tried to avoid the conversation again.
"I'm not giving up." The younger girl smiled.
"Fine. What do you want to know exactly?" Sora gave up, feeling her chest getting heavier as she let her friend ask whatever she wanted to know.
"First, how? I mean, it was so unpredictable!" The auburn girl gave her friend a lightly annoyed stare, wondering if she meant her and Yamato are not great for each other. But she knew her friend well, she knew she would never say that, even when she wanted to. Mimi gave her a curious look, waiting for her to answer.
"It started by the end of November. We started talking often on the internet, most of the time when I lost my sleep in the middle of the night and he was still awake after his band's shows." She started. She never told it to anyone, even to Biyomon. Her friend seemed to be very interested in her talking, giving her a look so she continued.
"At first it was only small talk, like things about the digital world, worries about Takeru and the younger ones and other stuff like that. But after that, we started talking about the way we thought about life, what we wanted to be and how we wanted to see the world. We found out we're very alike and that approached us." In a way, Sora was starting to feel more comfortable with the conversation. It was not that bad to open herself to a friend at all.
"For me, it's just a friend thing until then. What happened next?" Mimi talked, trying to keep her friend talking.
"Yes, we were just friends. But around a week before Christmas Eve, he asked me out for a cup of coffee."
"What? I thought you started going out after Christmas!" Mimi was surprised about her friend's relationship history.
"But it was after that." She was really feeling comfortable talking about it now. "Wait, how do you know that?" That was a serious question. The only people who actually knew that were herself, Yamato and -
"Taichi told me!" Mimi answered smiling.
"And why on God's earth would Taichi talk about this with you?" Sora started to feel annoyed once more. Lately her friend's acts were really bothering her. She thought him as an immature guy, always upsetting her with his jerk way of living, but now he was talking about her love life? That's very intimate and she would definitely not let it be.
"Why are you so mad? I almost killed him to tell me what was going on between you and Yamato and he gave up, telling me what he knew. And basically all he knew is resumed on Yamato's concert at Christmas Eve." As Mimi tried to calm down her pissed off friend, Sora started to relax again. She had just misjudged her friend, and felt bad about it.
"Keep on talking! So, he asked you out?" Mimi brought back the conversation.
"Yes, he did. But at first, I refused it."
"Why?" The younger girl interrupted the auburn one, curious.
"I honestly never thought about him as anything more than just a friend." As the words came out of her friend's mouth, Mimi started to feel confused.
"And what could possibly change your mind in just one week?" She was definitely not following her friend's logic. She could understand if she was someone different than the girl she used to know. Sora is not the kind of girl that out of the blue falls for a boy and go after him.
"I..." Mimi's question got her friend off her guard. She didn't know exactly what to answer, and for sure didn't want to lie to her. "I don't know, I just wanted to give it a try." She answered quickly, trying to not show how embarrassed she felt about saying those words. Her friend raised her eyebrow with a curious look, still feeling that she was not following it.
"And then you went after him on Christmas Eve and you guys started going out?" Mimi tried to connect every information she had so she could fall back on tracks of the conversation.
"That's pretty much it." Sora started to relax once more. It was hard for her to organize her thoughts like that, and somehow it made her really bad about herself.
"And now you're in love with him." The younger girl gave her friend a soft smile, trying to chill her a little. But for her surprise, her words appeared to surprise her.
"I'm in what?" Sora lost it. As her surprised friend started to laugh at her reaction, her thoughts over what happened in Valentine's Day again hit her mind.
"Are you not?" Mimi, trying to hold back a laugh, asked her friend.
"I'm confused, Mimi." The girl stared at her now empty cup of coffee, letting a sad expression form on her face.
"You can relax, Sora! Everything you say here dies with me!" Mimi softly tried to calm the girl down, so she could open herself.
"You know, he told me the three words already, but I didn't say it back, and..." Sora kept her eyes on her empty cup, avoiding her friends.
"And...?"
"And I don't think I should. I mean, don't think a can do it." Mimi gave her friend a worried and confused stare.
"Do you mean you want it, but you're too shy to say it?" She couldn't help but ask.
"No. I mean that... That I don't feel it, I guess." Mimi opened showed a soft smile, letting her hands touch Sora's shoulder so she could face her in the eyes. As the auburn raised her face to face her, she started.
"And it's okay." She smiled. "You don't have to feel it back now. You're together for such a short time, it's normal to feel that way."
"But don't you think I'm being selfish in a way? I mean, I'm not on same page as he is. I feel like I'm using him or something like it." Sora's confusion clearly allowed Mimi to be more confused than before. The girl's heart was so messed up it was almost impossible to understand her. She gave her lost friend a smile, trying to get her comfortable to talk.
"I don't get it. Using him? You're trying to like him the way he likes you, and that's not using! You're actually trying to be a nice girlfriend." Mimi tried her best not to upset her friend, being as kind as possible to her.
"That's not it. I'm really trying, and I like him in a way, but... Ach, whatever." Sora was feeling too bad admitting what she just did. She didn't want to give any words more about her feelings, what reminded her how bad she was being with her boyfriend.
"It's not bad to open yourself, you know? Maybe it's good for you to organize all this messed thoughts of yours! You have to face it once in a while, you know?" Mimi once more tried to pull her friend in the conversation, so she could at least understand a little bit of her messed up heart. The auburn faced her with sad eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Ok. But please, pretend that you never heard what you're about to hear, ok?" She was about to open herself for real with her friend, feeling her stomach filled with what could be coal in fire. Mimi blinked quickly, giving her a serious look while nodding.
"Mimi, I got involved with him because I thought he is a really nice guy, in which he is. I thought I could like him the way I wanted to, but I'm not feeling it, you know? Deep down inside, I just like him as a friend." Mimi didn't change her serious expression, although her friend's words sounded clearer and started to make sense. There was just one thing that didn't make sense at all, and now she could form it on her mind so she could ask the auburn girl. She cleared her throat, and tried to say it as light as she could.
"Sora-chan... Remember when I sounded like I never thought about you going out with Yamato?" She tried to smile with her eyes, so Sora wouldn't feel bad about what she was about to say. The auburn girl nodded.
"Well, there's one thing that doesn't match in this entire story. Please, don't feel bad about me getting so deep into your feelings, ok?" With her friend's words, Sora started to get curious, wondering what could possibly make Mimi say that. She nodded once again.
"I never thought about you giving a boy you don't like a shot so you could fall for him. It's just not like you. You're so independent, self confident and strong. For real, what happened?" Mimi observed her, waiting for any kind of reaction that could indicate she could have hurt her friend's feelings. To her surprise, Sora appeared to be cool with the question, giving her a small smile that vanished as she turned down to face her empty cup once more.
"No!" Mimi opened her mouth in disbelief, giving her friend a surprised look. She didn't know for sure if she was right, but she had to be. That's it!
"Sora, were you trying to -" As she started to ask her friend the most important question of the afternoon, their conversation was interrupted by two girls wearing the Tennis Club uniform, one of them staying a few steps away, and the other one placing one of her hands on the table the two friends were sitting.
"Hello, Sora! Won't you introduce me to our brand new friend?" A black haired girl with expressive dark eyes turned face to stare at Mimi. She was tall, with strong, beautiful legs and a very curved body that could cause any girl envy. Her face was filled with soft makeup, highlighting the beautiful details of her delicate face. She was probably one of the most beautiful girls in school, and everyone could tell. Sora took a deep breath, still trying to organize her thoughts after the conversation she was about to have with her friend, now interrupted by one of the girls she really didn't enjoy talking to her. Mimi gave Sora an indignant look, closing her eyes a little bit to show how pissed she was by the tall girl's arrogance.
"Mimi, this is Mai Kirigawa. Mai, this is Mimi Tachikawa." Sora was quick and cold, trying to avoid any conversation with the dark haired girl.
"Hello, Mai! I see you already see me as your friend, huh? Thank you for such the highlight! I'm Mimi Tachikawa, as you already know." Mimi gave the tall girl her intimidating look, giving her a fake smile as she introduced herself. She usually didn't appreciate being ironic to someone, but she had no option with this girl, not considering how arrogant she was to Sora.
"I think you and I will see each other more than you expect." The sardonic reply Mimi gave her made the tall girl to also respond in an ironic tone. "Have you told her how close we are, Sora?" She once again faced the auburn girl, who tried her best to avoid talking to her.
"Maybe later, honey. We're in a hurry now to meet our friends, but eventually we'll catch up." Mimi replied before Sora even opened her mouth, keeping her ironic smile while grabbing her friend by her arm and leaving. She could promptly notice what a bitch she had just met, and somehow it pleased her to know she had a rival she could make fun of.
From all the history Mimi had with complicated girls back in the US, she could feel that she was about to have so much fun torturing Mai on her fake princess throne, the one she would fall when she wanted to. But there was still something that bothered her. Why is Mai such an arrogant bitch to Sora? She is definitely not the kind of person that likes to get involved with Mai's type, and mainly not the kind of girl who takes such an arrogance without giving an equal response. There are so many things she still needs to know about Sora and her other friends, boys and girls like Mai, but she'll just have to be patient. That night she just had one thing in mind: Talking to Taichi about the creepy bitch he's going out with.