Part Three: Their Secret

Chapter Seventeen: The remains of our love

It had been the first properly cold morning of the season today and unfortunately, for Tai Kamiya and the rest of his soccer teammates, they had all been forced to get up early for a pre-school training session. However, given that it was now the second week of November, it should not have come as much of a surprise. In a few short weeks, December would be here and with winter in toe. Even though they had won on Saturday, the coach had worked them like the Numemon slaves of WaruMonzaemon. Unsurprisingly, he had been exhausted come his first class of the day. The only positive from the hellish workout had been it had worked wonders to take his mind away from Kari.

After their first date on Saturday, his sister had fallen ill and so spent all of Sunday in bed. Meaning that he still had no answers as to what exactly happened after they got off the train back in Odaiba. He'd gone to check on her a few times, but she'd been asleep. So, like it or not, he would have to wait until Kari was feeling better in order to find out what had happened. However, it had not stopped him worrying about her for the rest of the day.

Come this morning he had been surprised when she'd sat down at the breakfast table. It was difficult to explain, given that she had been dressed in her school uniform, but even with her lit match hair, she'd felt so ordinary. Like she had de-Digivolved back into her previous self. It had been heartbreaking to witness. Especially when her "good morning," had sounded so soulless. The only problem had been that he'd been forced to leave in order to make it on time for soccer practice. So there had been zero opportunity to talk with her beyond a greeting.

Come morning break, Tai found himself wandering the hallways aimlessly. He'd paid a visit to one of the vending machines to get an apple and a granola bar, both of which had been devoured and now had nothing but time to kill before class resumed. Unsurprisingly, his mind drifted back to Kari and he had just started to contemplate how long he should wait before broaching the subject with her himself when he heard raised voices coming from the classroom on his left. He knew those voices well. It was Matt and Sora. Not really knowing why, for it was absolutely none of his business anymore, he stopped to listen.

"…did you even stop to consider how I might feel?" Matt yelled and Tai could tell he was angry. Almost to the level that he typically only reached when the two of them were arguing. This must be bad.

"I've not even properly thought about it, yet you're acting like I've already decided!" Sora fired back.

Whatever this was about, it sounded serious Tai thought.

"That's because I'm always the lowest of your priorities. Yet I was the most understanding when your mom started making things difficult for you."

"Your solution was to tell her to fuck off and move in with you and your dad!"

"You never even considered it!"

"I didn't consider it because it was stupid!"

"So I'm stupid now, is that it!"

"You're twisting my words, Matt. Just like you always do."

"Well, maybe if you were more open about how you felt, I wouldn't have to search everything you said looking for any subtle hints you might have left. You give me nothing, Sora!"

"Well, I'm giving you this. It's over, Matt!"

At the sound of footsteps, Tai hurriedly moved away from the door. Before his eyes, it flew open and the ginger-haired girl stormed out. Even from his relatively safer distance, he could see that the anger on her face was simply masking her pain and that she was struggling to get enough distance between herself and Matt before she broke down into floods of tears. The empathy he had felt for her two weeks prior quickly resurfaced. However, not before the blonde-haired teen had stormed out of the room after her.

"You're a right cold bitch, Takenouchi!" he exclaimed as he made to go after her.

Tai felt a sudden surge of anger towards the other boy and as he watched him extend a hand to make a grab for her, the memory of TK doing the same thing to Kari surfaced in his mind. And it served only to intensify his rage. Without thinking, he darted forward and caught Matt's arm before it made contact with Sora's shoulder.

"Leave her alone, Matt," he yelled as he tightened his grip.

"This has nothing to do with you, Kamiya, now let go of me and fuck off," the other boy fired back as he tried to wrench his arm free.

"I'm not letting go until you calm down and decide to leave her alone. She doesn't want you following her."

"Screw you, Kamiya!" Matt spat as he threw a punch with his free hand.

Tai managed to duck in time and when the other boy's momentum caused his body to turn, he shoved him face-first against the wall and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Son of a… argh!" the blonde hissed when Tai increased the pressure. He did not actually need him to submit, merely to hold him there long enough for Sora to get far enough away that he would not be able to find her.

"Not letting go until you decide not to try and follow her," he said, unable to suppress the fact that he was enjoying this. Call it payback for the last time they'd spoke; when he'd called Kari a bitch.

"Fuck you, KaMIYAHH!"

Matt's breaths came through gritted teeth and Tai could see a few beads of sweat on his forehead. "Give up yet?"

"NO… ARGH!... ok, ok, you win," the blonde teen hissed bitterly.

Slowly he released the tension and then let go of Matt's arm. He took a cautionary step backwards in case retaliation should come his way, but it didn't. The other boy grimaced and rotated his shoulder a few times. "Trust you to spring to that bitch's defence," he spat.

"From what I heard, you were pretty nasty to her," Tai fired back. It seemed that he would quite happily take his old friend down again. They still had plenty of other reasons to fight. "No wonder she ditched you."

To his surprise, Matt started to laugh. "God, you really are clueless, Kamiya, if you think that Sora's the innocent victim in this one."

"I never said she was innocent. However, I guess I've got an issue with guys trying to grab girls I care about!"

Matt snorted, "figures that you still care about her. Well, you're welcome to her. Maybe once you've swallowed enough of her bullshit and bent over backwards trying to support her and make her happy, you'll realise I was right." He turned and without another word, stormed off.

Tai watched him go and quickly disregarded what he'd said as simply being the words of a bitter ex. It was rather ironic though, he thought as he automatically started making his way up the stairs to the art supply cupboard he'd found Sora in two weeks ago. A few months ago, had he witnessed this, he would still have been too blinded by hatred to have intervened. And even though he had still thought himself in love with the girl, he probably would not have been able to bring himself to ask her out. Only now that he was in a position where he could conceivably do just that, he was of no mind to. For he knew the truth about his feelings now.

Reaching the supply cupboard, Tai knocked on the door lightly before opening it. Intending it more as a 'for your information' act than a request for permission to enter. Like two weeks ago, he found Sora huddled on the floor, the sound of her sobbing almost deafening in the small, quiet room.

"Hey," he said softly as he turned on the light and closed the door. "Do you mind if I sit?"

If Sora said anything it was lost amidst her tears. Taking the initiative, Tai walked over and sat down beside her. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes as he allowed her to acclimatise to his presence. He was coming to realise that people in such emotional distress were much like injured animals. You had to approach slowly and make no sudden movements. When eventually he did say something it was a simple, softly spoken, "do you want to talk?"

Sora said nothing and instead, after a further minute of silence, fished in her bag and held out an envelope.

"What's this?" he asked as he took it from her.

"Read it," was all she managed to say before shying back into her huddled position.

Tai pulled the single sheet of paper out of the torn opening and unfolded it. His eyes widened as he scanned the page. "Dear Miss Takenouchi. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Kyoto University, pending a score of 80% or more on the National Center Test for University Admission." The rest was simply about attending an open day.

"Wow, Sora, you got into Kyoto!" Tai exclaimed, feeling a sense of excitement for her. Kyoto currently ranked as the country's top universities. "That's amazing! My only chance of getting in there is on a soccer scholarship." Granted he felt his best chance of getting into anywhere was with soccer.

"Try telling that to my mom… or Matt…" she trailed off as she started to cry again.

"So that's why you guys were fighting," he said sombrely, the pieces slotting into place inside his head. "What happened exactly?"

Sora took a few steadying breaths and her tears stopped. "I got the letter this morning and had a big fight with my mom over it."

"She doesn't want you to go?"

"No," she replied shakily. "She'd rather I stayed at home and went to Tokyo University. Though personally, I think she'd rather I didn't go at all and started working full time at the flower shop."

"That's a bummer," Tai conceded, feeling a stab of pity for the girl. Sora was an intelligent person who deserved the chance to follow her own dreams, not be stuck doing what her mom dictated.

"I told her that I hadn't even made a decision yet and she started going on about how we couldn't afford it." Her voice was then laced with regret as she continued, "I said I would get a job and save for it in the meantime and then find one once I got there. To which she said I already had one. We then got into a massive row over how she only gives me an allowance instead of paying me properly."

When she started to cry again, he reached out and put an arm around her. He'd known for a long time that her mother took advantage of her, but it seemed to have gotten far worse of late. Especially given how much Sora suggested she had been doing the last time they spoke. The ginger-haired girl then buried her head into his chest. This was becoming a somewhat familiar position Tai mused as he held her tightly in his strong arms.

"I take it Matt didn't like the idea of you leaving either?" he then said.

"He noticed that I was upset and I'd foolishly hoped he might offer me some comfort… He was supposed to be my boyfriend, Tai," she wailed. He could feel the damp patches on his shirt against his skin but did not relinquish his grip. "Instead, once I showed him the letter, he assumed I'd already decided that I was going and started making it all about him and how I hadn't taken his feelings into account."

"That's kinda where I came in," he confessed.

"So you eavesdropped?"

"Well, kind of, but to be fair you guys were quite loud," he admitted, hoping that he wouldn't be the next stop on her argument trail. "Although I probably shouldn't have stopped to listen."

"I'm glad you did, Tai," Sora replied, catching him slightly off guard. On any other day, he would have expected the riot act.

"Why? Eavesdropping isn't exactly the nicest thing to do."

She raised her head and looked at him. Her cheeks were blotchy and the skin around her eyes just as red as her pupils and quite puffy. "Sometimes we do a bad thing for the right reasons." He looked at her blankly, so she added, "if you hadn't stopped to listen, you wouldn't be here now when I need you most."

Tai did not know how to respond to what she had just said. The idea of Sora, the girl who looked after everyone else, admitting that she needed someone was huge.

She then let out a hollow laugh. "I suppose it's ironic, isn't it…"

"What's ironic?" he asked curiously.

"…that even after all I did to you with the choice that I made, it's you, not Matt, who's sitting here with me in this dingy cupboard and listening to my problems."

"I was just as much to blame," Tai asserted, though kept his voice soft. "I kept blowing hot and cold. Never giving you anything concrete that said I was definitely interested in you."

"I remember. You were a bit of a bonehead, while Matt made his feelings crystal clear…"

"Geez, thanks," he laughed lightly, knowing that her remark had summed the situation up perfectly.

Sora looked him straight in his eyes, her gaze so full of sorrow and regret"…and I made the wrong choice."

Hearing sora say those words brought a wave of confusion crashing down atop Tai. "What do you mean by, you made the wrong choice?" The thought passed through his mind and out of his lips before he even had a chance to properly process it, let alone try and stop it. Surely she couldn't be suggesting that…

"I picked the wrong person, Tai. It should have been you… it should always have been you…"

Before Tai knew what was happening, Sora reached up and kissed him full on the lips. Even though her own were cold, he could feel a warmth and love reminiscent of how it felt when he kissed Kari. However, no sooner had it begun, it ended as she pulled away.

"Oh my god, Tai, I am so sorry!" she blurted out as she hastily untangled herself from his arms. "I should never have put you in that position. I am so sorry."

Still struggling to overcome the sheer shock of what had just happened, Tai could only watch, his face still frozen in the position it had been when she'd kissed him, as Sora grabbed her bag, stuffed the letter back inside it and rushed to her feet. His head pivoted on his neck as she darted past him. When she reached the door, he managed to utter, "Sora, wait," but the girl did not stop. Scrambling to his own feet, mind racing, Tai skidded to a halt when the door latch clicked and he cannoned into the now-closed woodwork. "Ouch!" he grimaced as he staggered backwards slightly. It took him half a moment to recover from the impact before he managed to seize the handle and open the damn thing. Spilling out into the corridor, his eyes scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the ginger-haired girl but she had vanished.

Bastard! Tai thought as he kicked the door closed behind him. What on earth had just happened? Sora just indicated that she loves you, not Matt, Bonehead, his brain supplied helpfully. Surely she had not meant it. This had to simply be a reaction to her current emotional state. He just happened to be the one there to help her pick up the pieces. He shook his head. Unfortunately, he knew Sora too well. That had not been a knee jerk reaction. He'd seen it in her eyes. Why did his life have to complicate itself so spectacularly?

His mind felt like a complete train wreck when the chime to signal the end of morning break sounded. Not only did he have the whole Kari situation to deal with, but now Sora had just admitted she'd made the wrong choice a year ago and demonstrated the point by kissing him. This was completely messed up! Two months ago, despite his anger, he would have been over the moon to discover that Sora loved him, not Matt. Yet now, he'd discovered that he was in love with his own sister and become involved in a precarious incestuous relationship with her. One that he currently did not even know the state of. Shuffling along the corridor, Tai made his way back to class. It seemed that his girl problems had now multiplied. Now there were two of them than he needed to talk to. And he had no idea what to say to either.