Operation: Takari PI

Dunno when exactly I'll be able to update again, sorry! I will try!


Phase 04: Hikari's heart


"Hikari!"

"Miyako?" the brunette blinked at her friend. They didn't see each other as often anymore, after Miyako graduated. She'd decided to stay close though, enrolling into a local university. Needless to say, she made it in with flying colors.

"I want to have a... talk."

Hikari smiled, clutching several books to her chest. "No problem, Miyako." She'd lost weight, Miyako noted. How couldn't they notice before?

"It's about Takeru," the older girl started, pretending to ignore, but noting the way Hikari stiffened and clutched the books tighter to herself.

Bingo! Now, to proceed calmly and discreetly. Especially discreetly.

"Hikari, I think he loves you." Or not.

"Oh," Hikari breathed, seemingly just noticing they way her books were scattered on the floor. She bent to pick them up. "No. No, Miyako, you're just reading too much into things. He thinks of me as a best friend. That's all."

"He told you that?"

"... What else could it be, Miyako? What -else- could it possibly be?" Hikari's voice broke, letting a choked, strangled sob free as she tried to compose herself.

There was something like despair in her eyes. It seemed like a familiar companion on her face, though Miyako had to think hard to recall when she had last seen despair on Hikari; it was hard to see Hikari as anybody other than the sunny, cheerful girl they all knew.

"Miyako, we met when we were eight. We bonded by -trauma-, though, I suppose that the Digital World was also the best time of our lives. But we were chased around by a demented, deranged -clown- while our brothers and all our friends were being turned into keychains. After all that whole fiasco, he moved away, for three years. That was a very long time, Miyako. And--"

"... but still, both of you recognized each other, didn't you," her friend spoke softly. "At first glance, too. Daisuke said it was like you were friends that never separated."

Hikari laughed, but it sounded forced. "Don't you think Daisuke is the slightest bit prone to being overdramatic?"

Miyako shrugged. "Daisuke's exaggeration was something I didn't bother sharing. He said that you stared into each others' eyes for long moments and that you sparkled. Both of you."

"Fine," she conceded. "It was like he had never left. But that was only because we always got along well together."

"You two seemed very attached."

"We've been together longer than we've known you, no offence, Miyako."

Miyako frowned. She'd need something to shake Hikari out of this; it couldn't be healthy, this blatant self-denial of what could be seen by a -toddler-.

She smiled, coming up with the perfect retort. She spoke slowly, carefully.

"Your answers are very prepared. Like you've been trying to convince yourself."

Hikari blushed. Miyako's glasses flashed with triumph.

"Well...?"

Hikari colored even more. "Well... I sometimes used to think that there was some tiny hint of attraction towards him then. Puppy love, you know?"

"And now?"

"Now...? Now, I feel something, something the same from that time. It could be anything though, it could be -anything-."

Miyako arched an eyebrow. "'True love never dies for it is lust that fades away. Love bonds for a lifetime but lust just pushes away'."

Hikari laughed. "That's a nice quote, you didn't think of it yourself, did you?"

"Alicia Barnhart, actually. Don't change the topic. It won't work. You two have something, and if it's not love... I'll... I'll eat Takeru's hat. Ew."

Hikari chuckled. "I really don't think he'd appreciate it; he's kind of attached to his hat."

"True. But still. It's love, Hikari. Don't even try to deny it."

"If it's love, it's unrequited, Miyako. nothing else. He feels nothing for me that is the slightest degree more than platonic."

"It's not unrequited. It's the real thing, Hikari. It's reciprocated, why else would he watch out for you so much?"

"He's my best friend?"

"That doesn't cut it, Hikari, and you know it."

"He gave a promise to Sora when we were eight, to protect me."

"It seems to be too much to just be for an old promise."

"Takeru always keeps his promises," Hikari tried by way of explanation. He'd protect me if it killed him. He'd rather die that hurt me.

"That does -not- satisfy the given evidence, Hikari."

"Oh?" Hikari offered, before refusing to delve deeper in to the topic.